Helvig of Schleswig

Helvig of Schleswig
Queen Helvig shown on a contemporary fresco in St. Peter's Church, Næstved (Sankt Peders Kirke).
Queen consort of Denmark
Tenure	1340–1374
Died	c. 1374 Esrum Abbey
Burial	Esrum Abbey
Spouse	Valdemar IV of Denmark
Issue among others...	Christopher, Duke of Lolland Ingeborg, Duchess of Mecklenburg Margaret I
House	House of Estridsen Abelslægten line
Father	Eric II, Duke of Schleswig
Mother	Adelaide of Holstein-Rendsburg
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Helvig of Schleswig (da: Helvig af Slesvig, also erroneously Hedwig of Schleswig; 1320–1374), was a Danish Queen consort, spouse of King Valdemar IV of Denmark. She was the mother of Queen Margaret I of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

Helvig was the daughter of Eric II, Duke of Schleswig and Adelaide of Holstein-Rendsburg, and the sister of Valdemar V, Duke of Schleswig. Her date of birth is not known, but she and her brother were children at the time of her father's death in 1325, and she is estimated to have been born in around the year 1320.

Her brother had contended the Danish throne with Christopher II of Denmark, and was the king of Denmark in 1326-30 under the guardianship of their maternal uncle Gerhard of Holstein. In the late 1330s, her brother made an alliance with Christopher's son Valdemar IV against his uncle Gerhard of Holstein, and arranged a marriage between Helvig and Valdemar in connection to this. She was to bring the pawned province of Nørrejylland, one quarter of the territory of Jutland north of the Kongeå river, as a dowry. The wedding took place at Sønderborg Castle in 1340. After the wedding, the couple traveled to Viborg to be officially greeted as king and queen of Denmark.

There is little information about queen Helvig. She is not mentioned to have been politically active or as having played any personal role in any aspect: she would, for example had been expected to serve as regent during Valdemar's pilgrimage in 1346, but there is no mention that she did. Until the birth of the future Margaret I of Denmark in 1353, she is noted as living with Valdemar, but after that year, she is no longer documented to be living by his side as his queen.