Sea battle at Dänholm
Lübeck Hanseatic ship in the 15th century
| date | May 4, 1429 to May 8, 1429 |
|---|---|
| place | Dänholm , Strelasund |
| output | Danish defeat |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
|
supported by Pommern-Barth |
|
| Commander | |
|
|
|
| Troop strength | |
| 75 ships with 1,400 men |
3 Lübeck ships, 3 Wismar ships, 7 Stralsund ships |
| losses | |
|
a third of the crew, |
unknown |
The sea battle at Dänholm took place during the Danish-Hanseatic War (War of the Kalmar Union against the Hanseatic League ) on May 8, 1429 near the island of Dänholm in Strelasund near Stralsund and ended with a victory for the Stralsunders over a Danish - Swedish fleet .
prehistory
The Danish-Hanseatic War that broke out because of the Sundzolls in 1426 put Pomerania to the acid test. Most of the griffin dukes supported their related king Erich of Pomerania or at least showed him "benevolent neutrality". In contrast, the Pomeranian cities of Stralsund, Anklam , Greifswald etc. were members of the Wendish quarter of the Hanseatic League . Unlike Stralsund, Greifswald and Anklam declared themselves neutral out of consideration for their Pomeranian rulers and were in the meantime excluded from the Hanseatic League ("veranset").
Stralsund was not a free imperial city, but formally belonged to the Duchy of Pommern-Barth . Nevertheless, it came about that Stralsund's sovereign Barnim VIII led the Danish-Swedish fleet against the Hanseatic League in the Öresund in 1427 , while Stralsund ships were involved in the destruction of the Danish fleet in the port of Copenhagen in 1428 . Without consulting her husband King Erich , Queen Philippa organized a retaliatory attack and set up a new fleet, mainly consisting of Swedish ships, which she manned with particularly experienced Danish and Swedish mercenaries and seamen. Philippa deliberately chose Stralsund as the destination of the punitive expedition. When punishing the insubordinate city, Philippa believed she was acting in the interests of both King Erich and Duke Barnim, as both viewed Stralsund's participation in the hostile alliance as treason.
The battle
Danish attack on Stralsund
In the spring of 1429, a Danish-Swedish fleet of 70 to 80 small and large ships, manned by 1,400 armed men, sailed unnoticed through the Gellenstrom under the orders of Kurd von dem Hagen (Kurt / Curt von Hagen) and appeared in the early morning of Ascension Day 1429 , May 4th, surprisingly before Stralsund. The attackers succeeded in looting the warehouses and ships in the port and partially capturing and kidnapping the Sundian ships and partially setting them on fire, but their attempt to take the city itself was repelled. In the evening they sailed further south, as the wind only left this way open for them. They devastated the area around Stahlbrode and then, forced by the strong north wind, anchored on the small island of Ruden in the Greifswalder Bodden . Then they sailed on to Wolgast and anchored in the port of this city controlled by the dukes of Pomerania.
Stralsund counterattack
In the two days that the Danes occupied themselves with looting and pillage, six large and armed Sundian merchant ships from Lübeck and Wismar ran into Stralsund. The mayor of Stralsund, Nikolaus von der Lippe, convinced the citizens of the city to arm these ships even more and use them to ambush the Danes on their way back. So you manned these six ships as well as the ships that were still operational in the harbor and all available fishing boats and waited behind the island of Strale. When the wind changed to the southeast on Monday, May 8th, and the Danes wanted to sail past the city with it, the Stralsunders attacked so suddenly that they were able to capture some large ships in the first surprise. Many of the smaller Danish ships ran aground in a mess and had to be abandoned. The Danish fleet was partly captured, partly destroyed and partly dispersed. Even the flagship was captured, but the Danes on board managed to overpower the Stralsund Prize Commando and flee to Copenhagen. In total, the Danes lost more than 300 prisoners in addition to the fallen.
consequences
Under the mediation of Barnim's brother Swantibor II, Stralsund concluded a separate peace with King Erik in December 1430 . Rostock had already done the same in August. It was not until 1435 that the other cities concluded the peace of Vordingborg with Erik.
Doubt about the place of the battle
The Pomeranian historian Gustav Kratz denied in the 19th century that the island of Dänholm got its name only in 1429 after the battle against the Danes, the name Deneholm was already recorded for the island of Strale in 1288 . In general, it is doubtful that the battle off Stralsund took place, because the Pomeranian chronicler Thomas Kantzow had already located the battle in the 16th century, not on Dänholm, but in the mouth of the Peene, where there is also an island called Dänholm .
literature
- Friedrich Wilhelm Barthold : History of Rügen and Pomerania, fourth part, first volume. Friedrich Perthes, Hamburg 1843 (pp. 86–89)
- Friedrich Wilhelm Barthold: History of the German naval power , P. 281-470, in: Friedrich von Raumer (Hg.): Historisches Taschenbuch, third volume, first year. Brockhaus, Leipzig 1850 (pp. 438–439)
Individual evidence
- ^ Friedrich Aschenfeldt: Lübeckische Chronik , page 195 . Lübeck 1842
- ^ Arnold Brandenburg: History of the Magistrates of the City of Stralsund , page 48f . Carl Löffler, Stralsund 1837
- ↑ Ludwig Albrecht Gebhardi: History of the Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway , Volume 1, page 663 . Johann Justinus Gebauer, Halle 1770
- ^ Friedrich Wilhelm Barthold: History of Rügen and Pomerania , Volume 2, Part 1, Page 87ff . Friedrich Perthes, Hamburg 1843
- ^ Andr Fryxell: Tales from Swedish History , page 356 . Fritze, Stockholm and Leipzig 1843
- ↑ Daniel Georg von Ekendahl: History of the Swedish People and Empire , Volume 2, Part 1, Page 37f . Landes-Industrie-Comptoir, Weimar 1828
- ^ Johann Gottfried Ludwig Kosegarten: History of the University of Greifswald with documented enclosures , Volume 1, page 41 . Koch, Greifswald 1857
- ^ Gustav Kratz: The cities of the province of Pomerania - outline of their history, mostly according to documents , page 465 . Bath, Berlin 1865
