Battle of Svold
"Svolder", by Otto Sinding
| date | September 9, 1000 |
|---|---|
| place | at Seeland or at Svold in the Baltic Sea |
| output | Victory of the Danish-Swedish fleet |
| consequences | Expulsion of the Norwegians from the Baltic Sea |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| over 60 ships | 11 ships |
| losses | |
|
unknown |
unknown |
The naval battle near Svold (sometimes referred to as the naval battle near Zealand ) was a decisive naval battle of the Viking Age that led to a change in the balance of power in the Baltic Sea region.
The battle took place between Danish troops under King Sven Gabelbart and Swedish troops under King Olof Skötkonung , supported by renegade Norwegians under Erik Håkonsson on the one hand, and Christian Norwegians under King Olav Tryggvason on the other on September 9, 1000 in the Baltic Sea. It ended with the complete defeat of Olav Tryggvason. Norway was divided between Sweden and Denmark.
Localization
According to Adam von Bremen , the battle between Scania and Zealand took place in a narrow sound near "Halsingburg". The brief Norwegian-Icelandic reports from the second half of the 12th century also report the same thing. The " Historia Norvegiae " says that Olav was attacked from behind like a sheep by wolves when he was sailing along Zealand. The " norrøne Ágrip " reports that Olav was attacked with only 11 ships near Zealand by the Swedish king Olav, Erik Jarl and Sven Gabelbart with a total of 82 ships.
Only in the later Heimskringla (around 1230) was the battle relocated to the Baltic Sea area, namely to Svolder Bay near the island of Svolderoie . The place cannot be precisely located today.
- There are historians who are of the opinion that it is the sea area around the island of Vilm in the Greifswalder Bodden in the Baltic Sea .
- The Szczecin Lagoon is also possible , as King Olav's fleet was on the return journey from the Polish princely seat in Poznan .
- Other historians suspect that it is the island of Greifswalder Oie ,
- the island of Riems or
- an island in the Danish Oresund .
- In addition, Grümbke assumes the existence of another island near Greifswalder Oie, today twisted by waves.
- An investigation from a geographical and military-tactical point of view comes to the conclusion that the battle off the southern tip of the island of Hiddensee could have taken place (region Hiddensee-Bock-Ummanz).
prehistory
The political background to the battle cannot be determined with certainty. Adam von Bremen said that the alliance between the Danish King Sven Gabelbart and the Swedish King Olof Skötkonung was seen by Olav Tryggvason as a danger that he wanted to counter militarily. His report was later expanded to include that Olav had moved south to emphasize the claims of his wife Tyra, Sven Gabelbart's sister, to their lands. Even later, especially with Snorri , Olav Tryggvason was no longer the attacker, but the attacked one. The woman Sven Gabelbarts, the Swede Sigrid Storråde, incited him in retaliation for insults that Olav had inflicted on her because of her paganism. However, historians consider these motifs to be unbelievable and the result of a rather romantic portrayal. It is possible that his opponents in the battle felt his journey to the Wends as an interference in the conditions in the Baltic Sea. In any case, Norway played no role after this battle in the Baltic Sea.
Course of the battle
Probably on the way back from the Wendish settlement areas on the Oderhaff , the ships of King Olav Tryggvason were ambushed by the united Swedish-Danish fleet near the island of Svolderoie . Jomsburg jarl Sigvaldi, who was under the influence of the Slavic ruler Bolesław Chrobry , committed treason by withdrawing his ships after the battle began and not taking part in the battle. The Norwegian king's fleet was no match for the numerical superiority of the Danes, Swedes and renegade Norwegians. According to the Danish-oriented sources, King Olav Tryggvason committed suicide by jumping into the sea - the so-called King's Leap - in order not to be captured . The Icelandic and Norwegian sources do not provide this version; according to them, the Norwegian king may have even survived the battle. After the defeat in the Battle of Svold , the Norwegians no longer played a role in the Baltic Sea region.
There are two rune stones related to this / a battle between kings. One is the mask stone (DR 66) (also Aarhus 4), the other is the rune stone on the Råda kyrka (Vg 40). In each case one companion is lamented who "found death when the kings fought".
See also
literature
- Walter Baetke : The Svoldr problem. In: Reports on the negotiations of the Saxon Academy of Sciences in Leipzig, Phil.-hist. Class. Year 58, Berlin 1951, pp. 59–135.
- Joachim Blüthgen: Greifswalder Oie und Ruden, in: Supplement No. 248 to Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen , Gotha 1952.
- Johann Jacob Grümbke : New and precise geographical-statistical-historical representation of the island and the Principality of Rügen, Berlin 1819.
- Claus Krag: Article “ Olav 1 Tryggvason ”, in: Norsk biografisk leksikon , accessed on March 26, 2011.
- Claus Krag: Vikingtid og rikssamling 800–1130. Aschehougs Norges historie vol. 2. Oslo 1995.
- Claus Krag: Article "Ólafr Tryggvason", in: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde. Vol. 22, Berlin 2003. pp. 64-65.
- Claus Krag: Olav Tryggvason og slaget ved Svolder . In: Per Erik Olsen (ed.): Norges Kriger. Fra Hafrsfjord to Afghanistan . Oslo 2011. ISBN 978-82-8211-107-2 . Pp. 10-17. Pp. 24-33.
- Lutz Mohr : On the Viking King Battle of Svoldr on the Pomeranian coast on September 9, 1000. In: Heimathefte für Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Vol. 3, Issue 1, Schwerin 1993, pp. 31-39
- Lutz Mohr: Dragon ships in the Pomeranian Bay. The Jomswikinger, their Jomsburg and the Gau Jom . Edition Rostock maritime series. Edited by Robert Rosentreter . Rostock: Ingo Koch Verlag 2013. ISBN 978-3-86436-069-5
Web links
- Lutz Mohr: Viking King Battle .
- Bernd Gerlich: Sea battle at Svolder .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Significantly more ships, namely around 420, are said to have been involved in the sea battle at Hjørungavåg in western Norway a few years earlier .
- ↑ who wanted to avenge the death of his father Håkon Jarl
- ↑ a b Krag (2011) p. 27 f.
- ↑ a b Blüthgen (1952) p. 2.
- ↑ Grümbke (1819) p. 11.
- ↑ Krag (1995) p. 103.
- ↑ Krag (2003) p. 65.
- ↑ Whether it was actually Bolesław Chobry is highly controversial among historians, as the sources contradict each other. See Svend Ellehøj: Olav Tryggvesons fald og Venderne ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . [Danish] Historisk Tidsskrift, Volume 11th series, 4 (1953-1956). Pp. 9-55.
- ↑ So z. B. the Icelandic Oddveria annáll around the year 1000.
