Søren Norby

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Soeren Norby (1525)

Søren Norby , also Severin Norby (* around 1470; † shortly after March 12, 1530 in Florence ), was a Danish naval commander and royal bailiff in the early 16th century. He played a key role in the wars between Denmark and Sweden and the Hanseatic city of Lübeck . As a supporter of the hapless King Christian II of Denmark, he was able to delay the course of history, but not stop it, and conveys the image of a political adventurer. From a Swedish point of view, he was more of a pirate than an admiral .

Life

Søren Norby came from an impoverished noble family on the island of Funen . His date of birth is unknown. He is first mentioned in 1504 as a seaman under Svante Sture .

During the attack on the Åland Islands , Norby was the squadron chief. During the Danish-Hanseatic War he led punitive expeditions against the "Wendish" Hanseatic cities in 1509 and 1511 . After the battles under Admiral Jens Holgersen Ulfstand for the Baltic island of Bornholm and the sea battle with the Lübeckers (1511), he was rewarded with the Børringe monastery in Skåne and Haraldsborg (near Roskilde ). The sea war with Lübeck was settled by the Peace of Malmö (1512) . In 1514 he became a royal Danish bailiff in Iceland .

In 1517 Christian II appointed him commander-in-chief of the Danish fleet and Danish- Gotland bailiff in Visby , who had his official residence at the Visborg fortress, in the war against the rebellious Sweden . In 1519 he took the island of Öland with Borgholm Castle . In 1520 he set up a sea blockade off Stockholm and fought Gustav Vasa and the rival of his employer, the later King Frederick I of Denmark, along with his Lübeck allies. It thus flanked Christian II's coronation as King of Sweden and the subsequent Stockholm bloodbath . Also in 1520 he became a feudal lord at Kalmar Castle . He fought against Gustav Vasa in Dalarna and drove the Swedes out of Finland and Åland. In the naval battles near Bornholm and before Hela in 1522, he and the Danish fleet he led were defeated by the Lübeck fleet under the leadership of councilors Hermann Falcke and Joachim Gercken .

Christian II rewarded his loyalty in 1522 with Finland and Norrbotten as a fiefdom, but in 1523 Norby lost control of Öland and Kalmar again to the Lübeckers under councilor Hermann Plönnies . Beyond the deposition of King Christian II, he remained a loyal vassal and stood up for his cause. Without Norby, the parties to the Malmö Treaty (1524) had agreed that Gotland should become Swedish again. After Gustav Vasa failed to capture Visborg in 1524, Norby led a peasant revolt in Skåne in early 1525 , which was suppressed by Johann Rantzau in the battles near Lund and Bunketofte . Norby himself managed to escape, as he had often done before.

In the early summer of 1525 the Lübeckers stormed Visby and expelled Norby together with the Danes. As compensation for the task of Gotland, he received Lyckå and Sölvesborg . Gotland, which Lübeck could not hold, became Danish again, contrary to the Treaty of Malmö, because Gustav Vasa wanted to suppress the interests of the powerful Lübeck. However, in order to compensate for the expenses caused by Norby's resistance, the Lübeckers retained all income from the island of Gotland that would otherwise have been granted to the Danish Krone for five years from King Friedrich I. They also secured the pledge on the island of Bornholm, which is geographically more convenient for them, for 50 years.

Norby continued his fight against Vasa and Lübeck, but was defeated in the sea battle of August 24, 1526 at Blekinge by the combined Danish, Lübeck and Swedish fleets. He was able to escape again, this time to Livonia . Now he went to the Netherlands , where he joined the deposed King Christian II, who sought the support of his brother-in-law Charles V there . In 1529 Norby entered imperial service and took part in the siege of Florence , which was intended to reinstate the Medici . He fell off Florence in the course of this conflict in 1530.

Norby's Gotland Coins

Norby had Gotland coins struck in his own name from 1523 to 1525. His Visby Skilling and his Hvide show his coat of arms and Visby's Lamb of God with the Latin inscription: Agne Dei, miserere mei , in German: Lamm Gottes, have mercy on me . In 1526 he minted sextuplets in the name of Friedrich in Blekinge .

Aftermath

The Danish Navy named a torpedo- armed speedboat of the Willemoes class developed with the help of Lürssen after Norby, which was in service from 1978 to 2000.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ However, Anders Fryxell describes Norby as brave and says of him: "A hero himself, he appreciated heroes"
  2. ↑ Georg Galster: The coins of Denmark (until about 1625). Halle (Saale) 1939 ( gladsaxegymnasium.dk ( Memento of the original dated August 14, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. ). @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gladsaxegymnasium.dk
  3. ↑ P 545 Norby  ( 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.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.marinehistorie.dk  
personal data
SURNAME Norby, Søren
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Norby, Severin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Danish naval commander and royal bailiff
DATE OF BIRTH around 1470
DATE OF DEATH after March 12, 1530
Place of death Florence