Battle of Altenesch
| date | May 27, 1234 |
|---|---|
| place | Altenesch , Stedingen |
| output | Defeat of the Stedinger |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
Thammo from Huntorp |
|
| Troop strength | |
| approx. 2,000 to 4,000 men | approx. 4,000 to 8,000 men, including approx. 600 to 1,000 knights |
| losses | |
|
high |
unknown |
The battle of Altenesch on May 27, 1234 was the decisive battle of the Stedinger War . It took place near Altenesch , today the Wesermarsch district .
history
In the battle, the Stedinger farming families faced the crusade armies of Bremen's Archbishop Gerhard II and his allies. It was the only crusade on German soil.
prehistory
The power relations in the Stedinger Land were inconsistent. The Oldenburg counts were under the suzerainty of the Bremen archbishops build advocacies, leaving castles, but also the city of Bremen tried to establish themselves in the region and established, among other things Vredeborg that in today's Nordenham was. Assaults from the castles were blamed on the people of Bremen and the Stedinger no longer felt obliged to the contracts they had concluded.
The first rebellions began north of the Hunte as early as 1204. From 1212 to 1214 the Stedinger destroyed some castles and in 1216 concluded an armistice with Archbishop Gerhard II, but from 1220 onwards they refused to accept any taxes. The Stedingers were then excommunicated by Gerhard II and persecuted as heretics after the Bremen Lent Synod in 1230 . In 1232 the Archbishop convinced Pope Gregory IX. to allow him to preach a crusade against the Stedingers; among other things because of an attack by the Stedinger on the Hude monastery in Hude .
In June 1233 a moderately successful raid by the crusade army took place in Ost-Stedingen. The attack on West-Stedingen in July 1233 ended, however, with a defeat against the Stedinger at Hemmelskamper Walde (near Hasbergen ), whereby Burchard Graf von Oldenburg-Wildeshausen fell.
The battle
After equipping a numerically far superior army of an estimated 4,000 to 8,000 armed men (including around 600 to 1,000 knights), the last battle against the Stedinger took place near Altenesch in 1234. In addition to the motto “Lewer dod as Sklav” (“ Better dead than slave ”), the 2,000 to 4,000 Stedinger fighters led by Thammo von Huntorp (Huntdorf), Detmar tom Dyk (tom Dieke) (Deichshausen or Deichhausen) and Bolko von Bardenfleth but not to set much against the opponents. They were crushed.
losses
The stated number of Stedinger dead fluctuates widely between all including women and children in the annals of Erfurt, 6,000 for Albert von Stade , 4,000 in the Rasteder Chronik and only 2,000 in the Cologne royal chronicle. Many or only some were able to flee to the Rüstringer Frisians in today's Stadland .
From now on, all Stedingers were subject to the tax obligation, including those who had previously been exempt from it through other contracts.
Afterlife and memory
- The St. Gallus Church , which was consecrated in 1299, stands on the battlefield itself . A cast-iron obelisk on Landstrasse 875 in Lemwerder -Altenesch has been commemorating the battle since 1834 , the St. Veit memorial .
- During the Third Reich, a play in memory of the battle was performed on the Stedingsehre open-air stage in Bookholzberg .
- In Bremen- Huchting , district of Grolland , the streets Bardenfleth-, Huntorp- and Tom Dyk-Straße are reminiscent of the Stedinger military leaders and the street Stedingsehre reminds of the battle of Altenesch.
- On May 27, 2009, on the 775th anniversary, a meadow spectacle with re-enacted battle scenes took place.
literature
- Michaela Carl, Tobias Schmidt (Ed.): Stedinger Chronik. Annals of the parish Altenesch 1807–1846 by Pastor Gerhard Steinfeld . Stedinger Verlag, Lemwerder 1999, ISBN 3-927697-21-4 .
- Gerhard Kaldewei: “Stedingsehre” should become a place of pilgrimage for all of Germany. Documentation and history of a Nazi cult site on Bookholzberg 1934–2005 . Aschenbeck & Holstein, Delmenhorst 2006, ISBN 3-939401-07-2 .
- Karl Ernst Hermann Krause: Dike, Detmar vom . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, p. 223.
- Jens Schmeyers: The Stedinger Peasant Wars . True events and historical considerations. In memory of the Battle of Altenesch on May 27, 1234 . Stedinger Verlag, Lemwerder 2004, ISBN 3-927697-38-9 .
- Heinrich Schmidt: On the history of the Stedinger in Bremisches Jahrbuch , Volume 60/62, P. 27 f, Bremen 1982/83.
- Ernst Andreas Friedrich : The hill St. Veit near Altenesch , pp. 84–86, in: If stones could talk , Volume II, Landbuch-Verlag, Hanover 1992, ISBN 3-7842-0479-1 .
Web links
Coordinates: 53 ° 7 '39.3 " N , 8 ° 37' 24.9" E