How The Ditmarshers Kept Their Freedom
The name of Ditmarshers was given to the inhabitants of a broad, marshy
region adjoining the district of Holstein on the Baltic shores of
Germany. They were not pure Germans, however, but descendants of the
ancient Frisian tribes who had long occupied the northwest parts of
Germany and Holland and were known as far back as the times of the Romans
for their courage and love of liberty.
For age after age th
many a gallant stand against the princes who sought to subdue them. Geert
the Great and other princes of Sleswick and Holstein had suffered defeat
at their hands, and the warlike Valdemar III. of Denmark had been sadly
beaten by them. At a much later date the Emperor Frederick had formally
given the lands of the Ditmarshers to Christian I. of Denmark, to be
joined to Holstein, but the marshmen declared that they were not subjects
of Denmark and would not be given and taken at its king's will.
It was in the year 1500 that the most striking event in the history of
the Ditmarshers took place. King Hans, the son of Christian I., then
ruled over Denmark and Norway and five years before had been crowned king
of Sweden. It was due to his dealings with the bold sons of the marshes
that he lost the latter throne. This is the story of this interesting
event.
When Hans was made king of Denmark his ambitious brother Frederick, who
had sought to obtain the throne, was made duke of Sleswick-Holstein, and
called upon the Ditmarshers to pay him taxes and render homage to him for
their lands. This they declined to do, not recognizing the right of the
Emperor Frederick to hand them over to Denmark and to decide that the
country which had belonged to their fathers for so many centuries was
part of Holstein.
Finding that he had tough metal to deal with in the brave marshmen,
Frederick induced his brother Hans to invade their country and seek to
bring them to terms. King Valdemar had done the same thing three
centuries before, with the result of losing four thousand men and getting
an arrow wound in his eye, but undeterred by this, if they knew anything
about it, the nobles and knights, who were very numerous in the army led
by Frederick and Hans, went to the war as lightly as if it were an
excursion of pleasure.
Disdaining to wear their ordinary armor in dealing with peasant foes,
they sought to show their contempt for such an enemy by going in their
ordinary hunting costume and carrying only light arms. It was a piece of
folly, as they were to learn. The marshmen fought like their fathers of
old for their much-valued liberty, and the knights found they had no
cravens to deal with.
It is true that the royal troops took and sacked Meldorf, the chief town
of the Ditmarshers, cruelly killing its inhabitants, but it was their
only victory. It proved a lighter thing to get to Meldorf than to get
away from it, and of the Danes and Germans who had taken part in the
assault few escaped with their lives.
It was the depth of winter, cold, bitter weather, and as the army was on
its march from Meldorf to Hejde the advance guard suddenly found itself
in face of a line of earthworks which the marshmen had thrown up in front
of a dike. This was defended by five hundred Ditmarshers under their
leader, Wolf Isebrand.
The German guards rushed to the attack, shouting:
"Back, churls, the guards are coming!"
Three times they forced the marshmen to retreat, but as often these bold
fellows rallied and came back to their works. In the midst of the
struggle the wind changed, bringing a thaw with it, and as the troops
struggled on, blinded with the sleet and snow that now fell heavily, and
benumbed with the cold, the men of the marshes opened the sluices in the
dike. Through the openings poured the waters of the rising tide, quickly
flooding the marshes and sweeping everything before them.
The soldiers soon found themselves wading in mud and water, and at this
critical juncture the Ditmarshers, accustomed to make their way through
their watery habitat by the aid of poles and stilts, fell upon the
dismayed invaders, cutting them down in their helpless dilemma or
piercing them through with their long lances.
The victory of the peasants was utter and complete. Six thousand of the
invaders, nobles and men-at-arms alike, perished on that fatal day, and
the victors fell heir to an immense booty, including seven banners. Among
these was the great Danish standard, the famous Danneborg, which was
carried in triumph to Oldenwoerden and hung up in the church as the
proudest trophy of the victory.
As for King Hans and his brother Duke Frederick, they barely escaped
falling into the hands of the marshmen, while the estimate of the losses
in money, stores, and ammunition in that dread afternoon's work was
200,000 florins.
King Hans lost more than money by it, for he lost the kingship of Sweden.
The nobles of that country, when the news of the disastrous defeat
reached them, rose in revolt, under the leadership of Sten Sture, drove
the Danes out of Stockholm, and kept his queen, Christina of Saxony,
prisoner for three years. Hans had no more armies to send to Sweden and
he was obliged to renounce its crown.
Norway also rose against him under a brave leader, and his power over
that country was threatened also. It was finally saved for him by his son
Prince Christian, who used his power so cruelly after order was restored
that he nearly routed out all the old Norwegian nobles.
Thus, from his attempt to make the Ditmarshers pay taxes against their
will, King Hans lost one kingdom and came near losing another. The only
successful war of his reign was one against the traders of Luebeck, who
had treated him with great insolence. In a war which followed, the fleet
of the Luebeckers was so thoroughly beaten that the proud merchant princes
were glad to pay 30,000 gulden to obtain peace. Then, having this one
success to offset his defeat by the Ditmarshers, King Hans died.
More
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