Abel, Lord of Langeland

Abel Abelsøn (1252 – 2 April 1279), Lord of Langeland, was the third son of King Abel of Denmark, Duke of Schleswig and younger brother of Valdemar III, Duke of Schleswig and Eric I, Duke of Schleswig. As a member of the ducal family, he held several fiefs in Southern Denmark.

Life

Abel was born in 1252 as the third and posthumous son of King Abel of Denmark, Duke of Schleswig, by his wife, Mechtild of Holstein. In the settlement with his brother Eric after the death of their elder brother Duke Valdemar III, Abel received the cities of Svendborg, Rudkøbing and possibly also Faaborg on the island of Funen, and as fief the island of Langeland. Abel died on Easter Day 1279 in Svendborg and was buried in the city’s Greyfriars’ Abbey.

At his death, he left only a daughter Margaret, who entered the convent of Zarrentin in Mecklenburg and donated her father’s properties to her relatives, the counts of Holstein. They later sold it to King Eric VI of Denmark.

Marriage and issue

Abel appears to have married a daughter of Gunzelin III, Count of Schwerin:

• Margaret, abbess of Zarrentin. As abbess, she instituted a requiem mass for her father in 1317.

Ancestry

Family of Abel, Lord of Langeland

16. Canute Lavard               8. Valdemar I of Denmark                       17. Ingeborg of Kiev               4. Valdemar II of Denmark                             18. Volodar, Prince of Minsk and Hrodno               9. Sophia of Minsk                       19. Richeza of Poland               2. Abel of Denmark                                   20. Afonso I of Portugal               10. Sancho I of Portugal                       21. Maud of Savoy               5. Berengaria of Portugal                             22. Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona               11. Dulce of Aragon                       23. Petronila of Aragon               1. Abel Abelsøn, Lord of Langeland                                         24. Adolf II, Count of Holstein               12. Adolf III, Count of Holstein                       25. Matilda of Schwarzburg               6. Adolf IV, Count of Holstein                             26. Burchard II of Querfurt, Burgrave of Magdeburg               13. Adelheid of Querfurt                       27. Matilda of Gleichen               3. Matilda of Holstein                                   28. Bernhard II, Lord of Lippe               14. Hermann II, Lord of Lippe                       29. Heilwig of Are-Hostaden               7. Heilwig of Lippe                             30. Simon, Count of Tecklenburg               15. Oda of Tecklenburg                       31. Oda of Berg-Altena

References

• Biography in Dansk Biografisk Leksikon 1. ed.