Battle Of Lyrskov Heath
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The Battle of Lyrskov Heath (or Hede) was fought on September 28, 1043, at Lyrskov, between a Dano- Norwegian army led by
Magnus the Good Magnus Olafsson (; Norwegian and Danish: ''Magnus Olavsson''; – 25 October 1047), better known as Magnus the Good (; Norwegian and Danish: ''Magnus den gode''), was King of Norway from 1035 and King of Denmark from 1042 until his death in ...
and an army of
Wends Wends is a historical name for Slavs who inhabited present-day northeast Germany. It refers not to a homogeneous people, but to various people, tribes or groups depending on where and when it was used. In the modern day, communities identifying ...
. It was a great victory for Magnus' forces; the Wendish army was crushed and up to 15,000 were killed. Lyrskov (German: ''Lürschau'') is today the name of a German municipality in the
Schleswig-Flensburg Schleswig-Flensburg (; ) is a district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is bounded by (from the south and clockwise) the districts of Rendsburg-Eckernförde, Dithmarschen and Nordfriesland, the Region Syddanmark in Denmark, the city of Flensb ...
district, and of a small town northwest of Schleswig in the same municipality.


Battle

In 1043, a large Wendish army invaded from the south in Southern Jutland and devastated the land as far as
Ribe Ribe () is a town in south-west Jutland, Denmark, with a population of 8,367 (2025). It is the seat of the Diocese of Ribe. Until 1 January 2007, Ribe was the seat of both a surrounding municipality and county. It is now part of the enlarged E ...
. The size is unknown, but sources say that there were 60 Wends for every Dane, a very large army. Palle Lauring has argued that this was in fact a migration of Wends who wanted to settle in Jutland. According to the chroniclers, King Magnus was on his way home from Wendland where he had destroyed the Viking fort
Jomsborg Jomsborg or Jómsborg () was a semi-legendary Viking stronghold at the southern coast of the Baltic Sea (medieval Wendland, modern Pomerania), that existed between the 960s and 1043. Its inhabitants were known as Jomsvikings. Jomsborg's exact lo ...
, possibly to destroy the Danish competitors to the throne, and they also plundered the Wendish town of Jumne (the contemporary
Wolin Wolin (; ) is a Polish island in the Baltic Sea, just off the Polish coast. Administratively, the island belongs to the West Pomeranian Voivodeship. Wolin is separated from the island of Usedom (Uznam) by the Strait of Świna, and from mainla ...
). Shortly before, Danes had killed the Wendish prince Ratibor and his sons. So the conflict between Wends and Vikings had been going on for a long time. Arriving in Schleswig again, Magnus heard about a large Wendish army on its way up Jutland.https://sacred-texts.com/neu/heim/09magnus.htm According to
Heimskringla () is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland. While authorship of ''Heimskringla'' is nowhere attributed, some scholars assume it is written by the Icelandic poet and historian Snorri Sturluson (117 ...
's story about 1230, Magnus got into battle when he saw his father, King
Saint Olav Saint Olaf ( – 29 July 1030), also called Olaf the Holy, Olaf II, Olaf Haraldsson, and Olaf the Stout or "Large", was King of Norway from 1015 to 1028. Son of Harald Grenske, a petty king in Vestfold, Norway, he was posthumously given the ...
, in dreams the night before the battle, and heard him say, "I will follow you in this battle." At dawn the men heard the bell ringing; and those of King Magnus' men who had been in
Nidaros Nidaros, Niðarós or Niðaróss () was the medieval name of Trondheim when it was the capital of Norway's first Christian kings. It was named for its position at the mouth (Old Norse: ''óss'') of the River Nid (the present-day Nidelva). Althou ...
thought they recognized the church bell Glad, which Olav the Holy had donated to Clement's Church in Nidaros (and where he was buried at this time). At Lyrskov Hede, 5-6 km northwest of the then Hedeby where the city of Schleswig is today, the Danish-Norwegian army under the leadership of King Magnus was waiting for them, ready for battle. The battle at Lyrskov Hede was short, and about 15,000 Wends are believed to have lost their lives. According to Snorre, the army of the Wends came "from the south across the river". King Magnus threw off his chain mail. With a red silk shirt on the outside, he grabbed the ax Hel, which his father had used. The Norwegian monk Theodoricus Monachus wrote in his Norwegian history from the end of the 12th century that King Olav's ax Hel was destroyed during the battle of Lyrskov Heath, and then kept in
Nidaros Nidaros, Niðarós or Niðaróss () was the medieval name of Trondheim when it was the capital of Norway's first Christian kings. It was named for its position at the mouth (Old Norse: ''óss'') of the River Nid (the present-day Nidelva). Althou ...
Cathedral. In Saxos Danmark's Chronicle it says that Magnus was nicknamed "the Good" because he killed so many Wends in the battle.


Coinage after the battle

The first coins with Saint Olav as a motif are Danish and minted in Hedeby, probably right after the battle in 1043. These are silver coins, typical of the first half of the 1000s. The coin master is Olav's son Magnus. The mint signature IOLI is known from coins with other motifs. (In Norway, a coin with Saint Olav was minted much later, a gold guilder from Bergen in King Hans's name, probably after 1497.) In the 1000s, a new figure entered European ideology: the Saint King. From then on, holy kings form a new category in the world of saints, such as Edward the Confessor (d. 1066) and Knud the Holy (d. 1086). The depiction of Olav the Holy on the coins from Hedeby is probably the oldest depiction of a saint king in Europe. The coin issue could make the battle of Lyrskov Heath reminiscent of a parallel to the battle of Ponte Milvio, where
Constantine the Great Constantine I (27 February 27222 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a Constantine the Great and Christianity, pivotal ro ...
defeated
Maxentius Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maxentius ( 283 – 28 October 312) was a Roman emperor from 306 until his death in 312. Despite ruling in Italy and North Africa, and having the recognition of the Senate in Rome, he was not recognized as a legitimate ...
in 312, as both King Magnus and Emperor Constantine were said to have had dream visions the night before the respective battles. On coins from the 1000s, the ruler is depicted either with a bust, from the front, in profile or sitting on his throne. Standing figures are Christ himself, angels, saints or persons attached to the narrative of Christianity. A standing man with an ax in his left hand can be no other than Saint Olav. Saints are associated with what made them martyrs; and when Olav was hit by an ax by Torstein Knarresmed before his death at
Stiklestad Stiklestad is a village in Verdal Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located east of the town of Verdalsøra and about southeast of the village of Forbregd/Lein. The village is mainly known as the site of the Battle of St ...
, the ax became his symbol. Another, contemporary coin from Hedeby shows a bust of Olav, with the ax in his left hand and a cross in his right. At the time, the penninge was the only valid coin in Norway (about 600 genuine coins have been preserved, and 1800 counterfeits have been found in Bergen), so the motif with Olav was an effective way of conveying his status as a saint to the population.


Memory of the battle

Niels Skovgaard's ''Magnus Stone'' was erected in 1898 in Skibelund Krat in memory of Magnus the Good and the battle of Lyrskov Heath.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyrskov Heath Battles involving Norway Battles involving the Vikings 1043