The castle was built in 1175 by King Valdemar I (Valdemar the Great) as a defensive castle and as a base from which to launch raids against the German coast. His half-brother built another castle in a remote location, which is now Copenhagen. Valdemar II (Valdemar the victorious) similarly used the castle for expansion into the Baltic, and in 1241 it was where he created the reformed legal system, the Law of Jutland. By the time of King Valdemar IV (Valdemar Atterdag, 1340-1375), the castle had nine towers and a defensive wall 800 metres long. The castle was the birthplace of Queen Margaret I of Denmark, daughter of Valdemar IV, in 1353.
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