ABSTRACT
The following chapter has been partly inspired by Michael Gelting’s idea of integrating aspects of Danish history which have often been deemed foreign elements into a more ‘encompassing view of the Danish medieval kingdom’. 1 It investigates the involvement and portrayal of prince Jaromar II of Rügen, a Danish fief, in the struggle for the right to the Danish throne and why he, above all others, was blamed for the events of 1259. It also takes up the old issue of whether the Abel lineage was denied its inheritance, the Danish throne, with the purpose of shedding new light on one of most turbulent periods of Danish medieval history from the perspective of the Rügish involvement. 2 While Lars Kjær in his chapter ‘Runes, Knives and Vikings’, in this volume, examines how the Valdemarian kings utilized the ‘Nordic’ past, this article will similarly look at how history is used, omitted, and altered over time by placing blame in order to create legitimacy.
