Tracing a Danish campaign of the Nordic Seven Years War Logistics, tactics and consequences

Claes Pettersson, Jönköping County Museum, Sweden

(King Erik XIV of Sweden, in his diary on October 31, 1567)

SmålandThe Most Peaceful Place on Earth?

Astrid Lindgren

The First “Modern” Conflict in Scandinavia

The Siege of Elvsborg Castle 1563

Västbo hundred – an example

The situation after the first two years –(Source: Smålands handlingar 1566:3)

Villages and farms mentioned in the cadastre:

Red = “burned”Pink = “plundered”Blue = “laid waste”Orange = reduced taxYellow = pays normal tax

The aim – to deliver a decisive strike against central Sweden

The Danish Army

8500 soldiers • 4000 infantry • 3000 cavalry• 900 wagons and carts• 12 field guns

The army included a large number of mercenaries, most of them of German and Scottish origin.

The campaign was an impressive logistic feat and has been studied ever since

Rantzau’s Raid of 1567-1568. The line of approach through the counties of Småland and Östergötland

The Arms of the Militia

The levied farmers with their traditional weapons

A battle in Sweden by the German Landsknecht Paul Dolnstein in 1502

Regular soldiers and local peasantsA total of about 2000 men

In the autumn of 1567 the professional soldiers under the command of FeldoberstDaniel Rantzau were:

• Well armed & equipped• Well trained• Expertly led• Battle-wise

The mercenaries included men from Gemany, Scotland, Denmark and the Borders.

On the 31st of October the vanguardled by Chrisoffer von Dohna numbered about 1800 men, including cavalry and auxiliaries. Three light field guns were included.

An elite force and a formidable adversary!

The medieval Eriksgatan highway, excavation in Jönköping 2010

Hålvägar i Sandhem

Hollow ways in Sandhem parish

The log roads across the vast Dumme mosse bog

An anonymous gravel road…

A ”wall” of stones – traces of road work in the 19th century

An Iron Age cemetery by the road

Swedish advanced position 1567

The Swedish main line of defence

What remains to be seen at Getaryggen?

…hardly anything!

The second campaign on the battlefield 2010-2014

Crossbow bolt

Advanced Swedish position

The Swedish positions at Bergsliderna and the finds made 2010 - 2014

Hammer for wheel-lock rifle

The Swedish Camp

The Swedish line of defense

LBolt

Bullet

Weapon

Site of blockhouse

Horse gear

Coin

Other

Marsh

• A line of defense on high ground. A free view and a free field of fire.

• A roadblock

• A blockhouse in a dominating position

18th century military drawing of a prepared ambush with gun positions

The foundation for the Swedish blockhouse

…but it seems like the Swedish commander had left the marsh to the south of the encampment unguarded. A fatal mistake!

Earthworks fortification at Långaryd, close to the border

Defence in depth – The Nissastigen road

Fortifications

Still exists

Probable

Refuge

Missing

Danish

Getaryggen

Jönköping Castle

A system made useless by the rapid Danish advance

Örbyhus

Mapping a battle site – understanding the tactics and the decisions

LIDAR map of the Getaryggen/ Bergsliderna battlefield

The Hovmejanfarm

The Swedish camp

The main Swedish line of defense

The Danish vanguard

Area with clearance cairnsThe 16th

century highway

Peat bogs

The Beginning

The Main Battle

The Rout

From a Swedish advantage to outflanking movements ending in a rout…

The action as interpreted from Daniel Rantzauswar diary, the terrain and the distribution of finds

The Professional Soldiers

Bullets for pistol and musket

Barrel from cavalry pistol

Hammer for a wheel-lock rifle

Pommel for a short sword, 1520-1570

Small axe blade from a cavalry hammer

Cavalry spur with long neck

Short sword or weapon knife, a simple “Katzbalger”

Asymmetrical stirrup, suitable for riding in hilly terrain

Farmers in Arms

Wedges from a crossbow

Crossbow bolts

Arrowhead

Spearhead

Caltrap from the Swedish camp

A pick axe – a stone masons tool. But also a formidable weapon in close combat!

A plate from a simple set of armour

Jack-knife from Lund

Knife from Vadstena nunnery

Olaus Magnus 1555 – a barber surgeon carrying a jack-knife

Jack-knife from Skara

The jack-knife from the advanced Swedish position south of the road. Lost in the aftermath of the battle?

Where were the graves, found in the early 19th century situated?

Old gravel pits where the soldiers graves might have been…

The site of the grave marker, mentioned in 1859?

The disarticulated remains of fallen soldiers being collected from a Civil War battlefield, USA.

…or were the soldiers and peasants that fell at Getaryggen buried at all?

The road, the battlefield, the farm & the charcoal kilns

Clearance cairns, field terraces – traces of a farm. And a suitable place for a large military encampment!

A medieval farm building at Bollarp, Viredaparish, being excavated

In a No Mans Land...• How many starved to death in the harsh winter of 1567-68?• How long did it take for the mental wounds to heal?

The vanished parishes…

The site of Vallgårda parish churchFireplace/ baking oven

Fields, terraces & clearance cairns

The Danish bullets left their marks in 1612... (Ödestugu church, east of Jönköping)

Buried Danish soldiers …or Iron Age burial mounds?

A rich oral tradition in this war-torn region explains almost every ancient monument as something in connection with the border wars of the 16th and 17th centuries…

”New” finds appear from local collections – like this misericord (early 16th century)

Thanks for following me in the tracks of Daniel Rantzau!

Daniel Rantzau

The full gear used by an English professional soldier in 1588

E-mail: claes.pettersson@jkpglm.seBlog: https://arkeologijonkoping.wordpress.com/Articles: https://jkpglm.academia.edu/ClaesPetterssonJönköping County Museum: http://www.jkpglm.se/