Margaret Sambiria (in Danish: Margrethe Sambiria, Sambirsdatter or Margrethe Sprænghest; c. 1230 – December 1282) was Queen of Denmark by marriage to King Christopher I, and regent during the minority of her son, King Eric V from 1259 until 1264. She is the first woman confirmed to have formally ruled as regent of Denmark. She was the reigning fief-holder of Danish Estonia in 1266–1282. Life Margaret was born around 1230 to Sambor II, Duke of Pomerania and Matilda of Mecklenburg. She had a Danish connection from her maternal grandparents Henry Borwin II, Lord of Mecklenburg and Lady Kristina from Scania, who was reportedly a daughter of the Danish magnate Galen clan from Eastern Denmark, and related to the Hvide clan of Zealand. Margaret received her first name, then yet relatively rare in North Germany and Poland, in honor of her maternal Scandinavian relations, where the name Margaret came in the late 11th century with the family of Inge I of Sweden, presumably of her aunt, the countess of Schwerin, and her great-aunt, the Princess of Rugia. Queen In 1248, she married Prince Christopher, the youngest son of Valdemar II of Denmark and Berengária of Portugal. In accordance with the then succession custom of agnatic seniority, her husband ascended the throne of Denmark in 1252. Margaret was crowned with him. Already as queen, Margaret was reportedly involved in politics. During the reign of Christopher, there was a conflict between the king and Jakob Erlandsen, Archbishop of the Diocese of Lund who demanded autonomy of the church from the crown, with the right to hold his own armies, a demand which lead to his arrest. This was a conflict which Margaret was to inherit as regent. Regent Her husband died on 29 May 1259, rumored to have been poisoned. Their son and heir Eric V of Denmark was a child, and Margaret was made regent until her son's maturity in 1264. This was unprecedented in Denmark, as no queen or queen dowager, as far as it is known, had until then formally and officially have the mandate as regent of Denmark. Regent Margaret was faced with the unresolved conflict between the crown and the archbishop Jakob Erlandsen. She was forced to release the archbishop to consolidate her position as regent, but resolved the conflict of power between the church and the crown by banishing the archbishop from the kingdom: the question of