He spent most of his childhood and youth in exile at the court of Emperor Louis IV in Bavaria, after the defeats of his father and the death and imprisonment, respectively, of his two older brothers, Eric and Otto, at the hand of the Holsteiners.

The mortgage on the rest of northern Jutland was paid off by taxes collected from King Valdemar's peasants above the Kongeå.

In 1344, he recovered North Friesland, which he immediately taxed to pay off the debt on southern Jutland (7,000 silver marks).

The bishop of Roskilde, who owned Copenhagen Castle and town, gave both to Valdemar, providing a secure base from which to gather taxes on trade through the Sound (the Øresund).

Danes had never migrated there in any numbers, and so for 19,000 marks Valdemar gave up Danish Estonia, a far-off eastern province, which allowed him to pay off mortgages of parts of Denmark that were more important to him.

Those who went aboard found the dead swollen and black-faced, but stayed long enough to take everything of value from it and thereby introduced the fleas that carried the disease into the population.

The old system established in 1282 was reinstated and everyone's rights reverted to the traditional ones from before Christopher II's charter which gutted the powers of the king.

[8] Valdemar responded by raising an army and marching through southern Jutland taking still more pieces of the lands that German counts had pried away from Denmark in the previous years.

When they reached the town of Middelfart to find a ship to carry them over to Jutland, the fishermen they hired to transport them, murdered them.

Even before the conclusion of the small conflict with King Magnus, Valdemar decided to attack the Swedish island of Gotland, specifically the town of Visby.

The churches were stripped of their valuables and the riches were loaded on Danish ships and carried home to Vordingborg, Valdemar's residence.

He persuaded the Hansa states to work with him because Valdemar threatened their access through the Sound and to the lucrative herring trade.

The Hansa sent a fleet and an army to ravage the coasts of Denmark, and they succeeded in capturing and pillaging Copenhagen and parts of Scania.

[16][17] Even while dealing with the Hansa states, he was trying to suppress rebellious nobles who tried to assert the rights they had forced Valdemar's father to concede and fight the Swedes and Norwegians.

He was in the process of taking gradual control of southern Jutland when he fell ill. Valdemar enlisted the help of Pope Gregory XI who agreed to excommunicate rebellious Danes.

But before anything along those lines was done, Valdemar died at Gurre Castle in North Zealand on 24 October 1375 and was buried at Sorø Abbey.

[18] King Valdemar was a pivotal figure in Danish history; he gradually reacquired the lost territories that had been added to Denmark over the centuries.

His heavy-handed methods, endless taxation, and usurpation of rights long held by noble families led to uprisings throughout Valdemar's reign.

His attempt to recreate Denmark as a power in northern Europe was welcomed by the Danes in the beginning, but Valdemar's policies were met with bitter opposition by the great landed families of Jutland.

He expanded the powers of the king based upon his military prowess and the loyal nobility that became the foundation of Danish rulers until 1440.

The sources give the impression of an intelligent, cynical, reckless, and clever ruler with a talent for both policies and economy.

Instead, his grandson Olaf II, the offspring of his daughter Margaret and Haakon VI of Norway, son of Magnus Eriksson, was elected as his successor.

His nickname "Atterdag" is usually interpreted as "day again" (its literal meaning in Danish), indicating that he brought new hope to the realm after a dark period of bad kingship.

The epithet has also been suggested as a misinterpretation of the Middle Low German phrase "ter tage" ("these days"), which can best be interpreted as "what times we live in!"

He was "reinvented' as one of the Danish hero kings during the mid-19th century when Denmark was fighting Germany for its traditional southern Jutland region.

[19] With his wife Helvig, Valdemar IV had the following children: Evidence indicated also an illegitimate son, Erik Sjællandsfar, at Orebygård on Zealand, buried in Roskilde Cathedral with a crown.