Magnus Heinason

Magnus Heinason or Danish Mogens Heinesen (* 1545 in Oyndarfjørður , Faroe Islands , † January 18, 1589 in Copenhagen ) was a Faroese-Norwegian sea hero in the 16th century.

The name Magnus Heinason is famous in the Faroe Islands, where many consider him a national hero like Nólsoyar Páll or Jóannes Patursson . The reason for this is more that he was executed in Copenhagen than that he was truly innocent.

origin

Magnus was the son of the Norwegian Heini Havreki (1514–1576), who after the Reformation in the Faroe Islands (1538) became pastor on Eysturoy and later provost of the Faroe Islands. His mother was also Norwegian and was called Gyri Arnbjørnsdatter. He stayed on the Faroe Islands until he was 17 or 18 and was an avid seafarer.

Then his father went to Bergen in 1566 , and Magnus quickly became the captain of the Bergen-Faroe Islands route through ties of his Norwegian relatives.

Because of his Norwegian parents and his work in Norway, he is often regarded by Norwegians as one of their own as well as the Faroese. Lucas Debes noted in his standard work Færoæ & Færoa Reserata in 1673 :

“The Norwegians and the Faroe Islands are also fighting over this Magnus Heinesen after his death, whose compatriot he should be. The Faroe Islands unanimously say that he was born with them because his father lived here in the country, his brothers and siblings lived here in the country and died there, and his relatives and friends still live here to this day. "

- Lucas Debes : Færoæ & Færoa Reserata

Magnus Heinason had, among other things, the illegitimate son Rasmus Magnussen (1560-1670), who was 110 years old and at 103 was again a father (from Guttormur í Múla ).

Monopoly trade with letter of war

On the third voyage from Bergen to the Faroe Islands, his ship was ambushed and looted by pirates . This seemed to have moved him to give up the merchant shipping and he left Norway to join the Dutch Navy, in which he served about 10 years.

He is said to have been an excellent fighter at sea and in 1578 went to Denmark-Norway to King Frederik II with the best recommendations to enter his service. He is said to have been a good friend of the king, and his name was soon known beyond the borders of Denmark.

His half-brother Jógvan Heinason (1541–1602) had already become Løgmaður of the Faroe Islands in 1572 , and Magnus wanted nothing more than to be able to drive a route to the Faroe Islands again. In 1579 he was awarded the monopoly trade over the Faroe Islands as the first Faroese in history in Bergen .

After Tórshavn was attacked by the Scottish pirate Klerck in 1579 , Heinason received a letter of piracy to assert himself against both the English pirates and the Dutch merchant ships that sailed around the North Cape to Russia despite the Danish ban . Half of the booty was to go to the king, and the other half to Magnus Heinason. The following year Heinason was at the height of his power. With the Faroe Islands as a base, he fought against the often superior pirates in the North Atlantic.

In 1673 Lucas Debes reported in Færoæ & Færoa reserata of a special ruse that Heinason used to eliminate a vastly superior enemy. Instead of looking for a hopeless fight with the enemy ship, Heinason is said to have disguised himself as a fisherman and rowed alone in a boat to the pirate ship that lay off the Norwegian coast. He actually fished and sold his catch to the pirates. Once on board, he quickly gained sympathy among the seafarers and he was allowed to moor his boat at the stern to spend the night there. The guards took no further care of the supposed poor fellow, and when everyone was asleep Heinason got to the helm of the ship. He stuffed nails into the bearings of the oar, glued them, and poured lead into them. Calmly he rowed away the next morning, boarded his own ship and was able to bring the pirate ship, which was now unable to maneuver, to bear without any particular resistance and take all men prisoner.

Another episode tells of a pirate who tried to ambush him in Tórshavn himself. When Heinason noticed this in time, he retired to the island of Hestur , where he busily collected large stones. When the enemy went ashore, Heinason let the chunks roll down on him, so that he was forced to flee. Heinason, however, did not give up and wanted revenge. He later learned that the pirate ship was in Norway, sailed there and devised a new ruse: disguised as a farmer, he went on board undisturbed and entertained the sailors with fools. At some point he pretended to be very drunk on her beer and pretended to want to climb the main mast, but couldn't. Of course he suddenly made it after all, pulled out a dagger with which he cut off the top sail and then pelted the people on deck with stones he had brought with him. As they fled below deck, Heinason's remaining people came and were able to capture the pirates.

Heinason is said to have been captured once and answered the question of the overwhelming what he would do in his place:

"If I had power over you, if you have over me, you should have to experience the harshest death I could ever imagine."

In the face of this courage to die, Heinason was let go without his having asked for it.

The Faroese not only told hero stories, they also increasingly suffered from Heinason's monopoly trade, in which he was considered a fraud. Complaints about this could not get out, especially since Løgmaður was his half-brother and the feudal man Hans Lindenov in Bergen was also a co-conspirator.

Valkendorff's revenge

While Heinason was busy building the Skansin fortress in Tórshavn in 1580 , which is still there today, a German ship came to the Faroe Islands to conduct illegal trade with the residents there. His rival, the royal rent master and governor of Norway and Iceland, Christoffer Valkendorff , took the opportunity and subsequently ensured that Heinason lost the monopoly trade again with the king, especially since the crown allegedly lost considerable income through Heinason's (in) activity .

In order to change the king's mind again, Heinason went to Denmark in 1581 and suggested finding a sailing route to the lost colonies in Greenland with two ships . However, drift ice off East Greenland prevented the expedition from going ashore, which therefore had to be canceled without success.

In the same year, Heinason was charged with rape in Norway. It was Margrethe Axelsdatter Güntersberg (1565–1589), to whom he got engaged in 1580 and had a child who died as an infant. But since he married her younger sister in 1582, the matter was initially set. His bride was called Sofie Axelsdatter Güntersberg (1566–1607) and the wedding took place on Christmas Day in Bergenhus Fortress . With her he had the daughter Elsebe Magnusdatter.

However, in 1583 the matter was taken up again and ended at Heinason's expense. At the same time he was accused of irregularities in the monopoly trade over the Faroe Islands in Bergen von Valkendorff. Heinason lost the trade monopoly and fled again to Holland, where he entered the service of Moritz of Orange in the summer of 1585 , who gave him a letter of piracy. After two years Heinason returned to Denmark to visit his former friend, the king, who drew a line under the story. Heinason settled in Ålborg .

Frederik II died unexpectedly in 1588, but Heinason still managed to get the promised fief over the island of Egholm in the Limfjord . That should have been his last stroke of luck.

Valkendorff did not give up and now received support from an English embassy, ​​which accused Heinason of having taken up an English ship on behalf of Moritz von Orange in 1585. Although one could hardly be charged for this in Denmark, Heinason sensed the danger and fled with his family, but was caught in Norway. Valkendorf used the opportunity for a quick arbitrary trial against Heinason on January 16, 1589. Two days later, on January 18, Magnus Heinason was beheaded on the Palace Square in Copenhagen .

He is said to have addressed his last words to the executioner who wanted to blindfold him:

"No! I've seen many a drawn blade, I'm not at all afraid, just don't be afraid. "

Rehabilitation

The modern marine research ship of the state government of the Faroe Islands bears the proud name of Magnus Heinason .

In 1590 the matter was taken up again in court because of the obvious irregularities of Heinason's widow Sofie Axelsdatter Güntersberg and his friend Hans Lindenov. Heinason was posthumously acquitted of all charges on August 6th in Kolding . The body was given an honorary burial in the church of Lindenovs Gut Ørslev Kloster, and Valkendorff lost all his offices.

Many (but not all) Faroers consider Magnus Heinason to be a national hero, not least because of this, but many historians believe that he was to blame for attacks and irregularities and that his role in the monopoly trade with his own compatriots was anything but heroic.

A monument at Jægerspris Castle commemorates Magnus Heinason, where he stands in line with Tordenskiold , Ludvig Holberg , Snorre Sturlason and other heroes of the Danish-Norwegian Empire.

The Faroese research ship Magnus Heinason is named after him.

literature

• Lucas Jacobson Debes : Natural and Political History of the Faroe Islands . Translated from the Danish [original from 1673] by CG Mengel. Copenhagen / Leipzig 1757. Reissued, annotated and with an afterword by Norbert B. Vogt. Mülheim ad Ruhr 2005, p. 129 [211] ff.
  • therein: Norbert B. Vogt's biographical footnote 535 on p. 129
• Troels Lund: Heinesen, Mogens . In: Carl Frederik Bricka (Ed.): Dansk biografisk Lexikon. Tillige omfattende Norge for Tidsrummet 1537-1814. 1st edition. tape 7 : I. Hansen – Holmsted . Gyldendalske Boghandels Forlag, Copenhagen 1893, p. 274 (Danish, runeberg.org ).
• John F. West: Faroe - the emergence of a nation . London / New York 1972

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Lucas Debes 2005 / [1757] p. 129 f. [211 f.] Note: With "Faroe" are Faroese meant for the translator, the country always called Faroe as "Färöe".
2. ↑ Lucas Debes 2005 / [1757], p. 131 [214 f.]
3. ↑ Lucas Debes 2005 / [1757], p. 132 [216 f.]
4. ↑ Lucas Debes 2005 / [1757] p. 133 [219]
5. ↑ www.look.no/anita/slekt ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Norwegian genealogy website) 
6. ↑ Lucas Debes 2005 / [1757] p. 133 [220]