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In the church of the Nativity in Bethlehem the marble columns of the nave bear paintings of the most significant biblical characters and early Christian saints. The Norwegian king is wearing the robe of a Byzantine ruler, although his shield is of the Norman type, and his head is surrounded by an enormous halo. Thus the Christian ruler is depicted as a warrior, which fits both the context of the crusade and the contemporary ecclesiastical leaders’ vision of the proper way to rule over one’s subjects. As Gniezno was the main religious centre and capital of Poland under the early Piast rulers, this adaptation of the architectural form, imitating the church built over the Holy Sepulchre represents the ambitions of a limited circle of new Christian elite. Schleswig was Denmark’s most important merchant city and Valdemar’s permanent domicile in the period of the Wendish crusade.