Peace of Stralsund

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Stralsund town hall (built 1250–1400), in the background St. Nikolai

The Peace of Stralsund was signed on May 24, 1370 between the Danish King Waldemar IV and the Alliance of Hanseatic Cities in the Hanseatic City of Stralsund .

It ended the Second Waldemark War between the two parties and thus a conflict that had started with the First Waldemark War after the Danish conquest of the Hanseatic city of Visby on the island of Gotland in August 1361 and was only interrupted by a brief period of peace from 1365 to 1367.

prehistory

The Danish King Waldemar IV had freed his country from foreign rule by Holstein , Mecklenburg and Sweden and thus made trade on the Baltic Sea safer again. With the conquest of Skåne and the pillage of Visby and the withdrawal of important privileges, the Hanseatic cities were severely restricted in their trade. They declared war on the Danes in September 1361 in negotiations in Greifswald under the direction of Lübeck's mayor Johann Wittenborg , in which the German Order of Knights and ambassadors from Sweden and Norway also participated.

In preparation, the cities involved raised a pound tariff to finance the war. The Hansen and the Kings were to provide ships and 2,000 armed men each. The objectives of the fighting were also contractually fixed: Scania and Gotland were to fall to Sweden, the Hanseatic privileges were to be restored and the towns were to be offered lien in the conquered areas. Johann Wittenborg brought together the fleet of 48 ships (including 27 cogs ) with 2240 armed men in April 1362 off the Hiddenseer Dornbusch. Lübeck provided 600 gunmen, Stralsund and Rostock 400 each, 200 each Wismar , Greifswald and Stettin , 100 Kolberg , 50 each Stargard and Anklam and 40 Kiel . Another 300 came from Bremen and Hamburg . Johann Wittenborg besieged Helsingborg for twelve weeks without the promised help coming from Sweden or Norway. Then he was defeated by Waldemar's failure. An armistice was agreed and extended in Rostock in November 1362 until January 6, 1364, whereby the conditions for the Hanseatic cities improved. The peace of Vordingborg , concluded in 1365, remained worthless, as the Danes continued to hinder the Hanseatic trade.

conflict

At the Hanseatic Day on November 19, 1367 in Cologne , an alliance came together, the Cologne Confederation , which consisted of up to 57 Hanseatic cities. On February 2, 1368, in Lübeck, they concluded a war alliance with King Albrecht of Sweden and northern German and Danish nobles. Parallel to a declaration of war on Denmark, the Hanseatic League sent letters to 27 North German rulers, the kings of England and Poland, as well as to the emperor and the pope, in which they declared their actions.

In April 1368 the Hanseatic fleet sailed with 37 ships and 2000 armed men to Denmark and took Copenhagen on May 2, 1368 and destroyed it. Swedish and Hanseatic troops took Skåne in July, and South Jutland and Norway were also quickly defeated. King Waldemar fled. Only Helsingborg withstood the attacks of the Hansen, so that the armed besiegers under the leadership of Brun Warendorp had to winter here. In the spring of 1369 they attacked again, but could not take the city until September 8, 1369. At the end of November 1369, Denmark and the Hansen signed an armistice.

Peace treaty

Facsimile of one of the two documents in the Kulturhistorisches Museum , original in the Stralsund City Archives

On May 1, 1370, the representatives of 23 cities met in Stralsund with the Danish ambassadors under the direction of Hennings von Putbus , captain of the Kingdom of Denmark, the archbishop of Lund and the bishops of Roskilde and Odense . The Danish king had left his kingdom after the defeat. The representatives of the Hanseatic cities of Lübeck, Stralsund, Greifswald, Stettin, Kolberg, Stargard, Kulm , Thorn , Elbing , Danzig , Riga , Reval , Dorpat , Kampen , Zuidersee , Briel , Harderwijk , Zutphen , Elburg , Stavoren , Deventer , Dordrecht and Amsterdam were Mayors or councilors of their city.

Stralsund's role in the Wendish quarter of the Hanseatic League at that time was undoubtedly to be placed just after Lübeck . The two outstanding foreign policy leaders of the Hanseatic League during this period were Lübeck's mayor Jakob Pleskow and Stralsund's Bertram Wulflam . In both wars against Denmark Stralsund had played an important role and also made great financial and material contributions. Stralsund's role was also obviously strong politically: between 1358 and 1370, 20 Hanseatic Days were held here, 18 in Lübeck, 14 in Rostock and six each in Wismar and Greifswald . This political role was rightly expressed in the choice of Stralsund to seal the results of the negotiations with the Danish Council.

Since the Hanseatic cities, in contrast to their war allies, were not interested in territories, but mainly in advantages for trade, they were able to cede the conquered areas in Skåne to the already compliant opponent Denmark and regain their former privileges. They were given the fortresses Helsingborg , Malmö , Skanør and Falsterbo for 15 years, to be raised for 12,000 marks of pure silver. This brought customs on the Øresund from Denmark to the Hanseatic League. In addition, the Danish Imperial Council was not allowed to elect a king without the prior consent of the Hanseatic League. The peace was concluded without Duke Albrecht II of Mecklenburg, so that he felt ignored and concluded his own separate peace in which he stipulated that his grandson Albrecht IV of Mecklenburg should become king.

On May 24, 1370, the representatives of the Imperial Council of the Kingdom of Denmark under Henning Podebusk and the cities united in the Cologne Confederation sealed the Stralsund Peace, which for a long time enshrined the strong role of the cities. In the treaty, Visby's freedom was restored, and Denmark had to guarantee the Hanseatic League free trade on the Baltic Sea , including those traveling around the area . The Hanseatic League was then able to secure the monopoly in the economically very important herring trade at the Scandinavian Fair in Falsterbo .

The Peace of Stralsund marks the height of the power of the Hanseatic League of Cities in the Baltic Sea region . He also achieved that Waldemar's successor could only be elected with the prior consent of the Hanseatic League.

literature

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