Which European monarch of the middle ages died furthest from home?
score:29
The Danish King Erik I Ejegod (The Good) died in Paphos, Cyprus, 1736 miles / 2794 km from the then capital of Denmark, Roskilde.
Erik, who was born around 1056 or 1060 and reigned from 1095 to 1103, was the fourth of five brothers (sons of Sweyn II Estridsson) who all became King of Denmark (not concurrently, they reigned at different times between 1076 and 1134). Before the pilgrimage, Erik also travelled to Italy in 1098-99, visiting the pope and founding a guest home for pilgrims in Piacenza. Erik seems to have been a physically imposing man with a strong personality; he had at least three illegitimate children. The name 'Ejegod' means 'eternal good', given to him because he upheld the law to protect the people from powerful men.
Erik I set out on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with his wife Boedil Thurgotsdatter, probably in early 1103 (some sources state 1100), travelling via Novgorod and Constantinople. Despite falling ill in the Byzantine capital while a guest of the emperor Alexios I Komnenos, they travelled on to Cyprus where, on 10th July 1103, Erik died of a fever. He was buried in Paphos, though the exact location of his grave is unknown. Erik was the first king to go a pilgrimage to the Holy Land following the recapture of Jerusalem during the First Crusade. He was succeeded as King of Denmark by his younger brother Niels (1104 - 1134) who was chosen ahead of the acting regent, Eric's illegitimate son Harald Kesja.
One of the cemeteries in Cyprus where he may be buried. He reigned from 1095 to 1103. Image source: cphpost.dk
His wife continued on to Jerusalem (Mount of Olives) and died there, also in 1103 (1995 miles / 3211 km from home).
Note: One of the sources above wrongly states that Eric I was the only Danish king to be buried abroad. Canute (king of England 1016-35, Denmark 1018-35, Norway 1028-35) was buried in Winchester and his son Harthacnut (King of Denmark 1035-42, England 1040-42) is also there.
Other source:
Erik 1. Ejegod (in Danish)
Upvote:5
Not as far as some others mentioned here, but I'd toss him in as a well known monarch:
Frederick I (Barabrossa) Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire died near Silifke in Asia Minor on his way to the Third Crusade.
It's a bit complicated to set a capital for him, as the Stauffer kings had a moving court. Taking Mainz in Germany as the last central point where the court resided, he died roughly 2000km from home.
PS: I've just seen he has been mentioned before, but I do not have enough reputation to comment, and I think setting Rome as the capital is not correct.
Upvote:7
One possibility is Olav Trygvason who, according to one legend, died in Palestine.
For some time after the Battle of Svolder, there were rumors that Olaf had survived his leap into the sea and had made his way to safety. Accounts reported by Oddr Snorrason included sightings of Olaf in Rome, Jerusalem, and elsewhere in Europe and the Mediterranean. Both King Ethelred the Unready and Olaf's sister Astrid allegedly received gifts from Olaf long after he was presumed dead.
Trondheim - Jerusalem: 3927 km / 2440 miles.
Upvote:11
Just to throw in a few other names to add to Lars' answer:
Guy of Lusignan, King of Jerusalem and Cyprus, born in France, died in Cyprus. (Nicosia is ~3,000km away from Lusignan, so it's actually slightly more distant than Erik I of Denmark, but Cyprus arguably was his home by then.)
Frederick I (Frederick Barbarossa), Holy Roman Emperor, born in Germany, died in Armenian Cilicia (South East Turkey nowadays). The distance is a bit hard to gauge, as your metric of "capital city" makes Rome the capitol, but he appears to have lived mostly in Germany. Using the location of his German coronation, we get 1160 miles, 1867 kilometers.
Louis IX, King of France, born in France, died in Tunisia as you found already (922 miles, 1484 kilometers).
Upvote:20
Very likely Grand Prince Yaroslav II Vsevolodich or one of the many other princes in Eastern Europe who were ordered to go to Mongolia and died there. Mikhail Yaroslavich of Tver was canonized for his bravery in making the trip to the Mongol capital of Sarai, knowing that the Mongols would probably execute him (which they did, on 22 November 1318), although this distance is less than some of the crusaders’.
While I found three contradictory accounts of his death, the posthumous winner might be Yaroslav, who traveled from his capital of Vladimir to Karakorum and died there or on his way back on 30 September 1246, a journey Google thinks is 5,176 km long, and also was an uphill trip that climbed 2.5 km in elevation. (It’s an even greater distance if you measure from his other title of Grand Prince of Kiev.) His son, Alexander Nevsky, also died on the return leg of a trip to Mongolia, although he made it most of the way back and is buried in Gordodets monastery.
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