Lyckeby is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

Karlskrona Municipality Karlskrona Municipality () is a Municipalities of Sweden, municipality in Blekinge County in South Sweden in southern Sweden. It borders to Emmaboda Municipality, Torsås Municipality and Ronneby Municipality. The city of Karlskrona is the seat of ...

Blekinge County Blekinge County () is a county or '' län'' in the south of Sweden. It borders the Counties of Skåne Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces () of Sweden ...

, in southeastern

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, near the mouth of the Lyckeby River. The town was originally known as Lyckå.

History

The first recorded mention of the town was in 1449, when Claus Nielsen Sparre purchased lands on the southern edge of town, where he built an estate with a small castle. At the time,

Blekinge Blekinge () is one of the traditional Swedish provinces (), situated in the southern coast of the geographic region of Götaland, in southern Sweden. It borders Småland, Scania and the Baltic Sea. It is the country's second-smallest provin ...

was part of the

Kingdom of Denmark The Danish Realm, officially the Kingdom of Denmark, or simply Denmark, is a sovereign state consisting of a collection of constituent territories united by the Constitution of Denmark, Constitutional Act, which applies to the entire territor ...

under

Scanian Law Scanian law (, ) is the oldest Danish provincial law and one of the first Nordic provincial laws to be written down. It was used in the geographic region of Danish Skåneland, which at the time included Scania, Halland, Blekinge and the isla ...

, and Lyckeby became the seat of Lyckå

Län ( Swedish, ), ( Danish, ), ( Finnish, ) and ( Norwegian, ) refer to the administrative divisions used in Sweden and previously in Denmark, Finland and Norway. The provinces of Finland were abolished on 1 January 2010. In Norway, the term was ...

. Due to its location on the borderland between Denmark and Sweden, Lyckeby was often subject to raids and fighting between the two kingdoms. In 1507, Blekinge was raided by Sweden, and Lyckeby was plundered and set on fire. In 1545, under the orders of Danish King

Christian II A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words ''Christ'' and ''Ch ...

, the castle was rebuilt on its old foundations by privy council member Ebbe Knudsen Ulfelt. It was intended to be a permanent residence that could better withstand attacks under an uprising. The reinforced castle was completed in 1560. However, in 1564, during the

Northern Seven Years' War The Northern Seven Years' War (also known as the ''Nordic Seven Years' War'', the ''First Northern War,'' the ''Seven Years' War of the North'' or the ''Seven Years War in Scandinavia'') was fought between the Kingdom of Sweden (1523–1611), K ...

, Lyckeby was once again burnt down. In 1600, Lyckeby lost its

town privileges Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the traditio ...

, because

Christian IV Christian IV (12 April 1577 – 28 February 1648) was King of Denmark and Norway and Duke of Holstein and Schleswig from 1588 until his death in 1648. His reign of 59 years and 330 days is the longest in Scandinavian history. A member of the H ...

preferred to focus on developing the recently founded Christianople. In 1601, the king ordered the castle to be torn down so that its stone could be used to fortify Christianople. After the

Treaty of Roskilde The Treaty of Roskilde was negotiated at Høje Taastrup Church and was concluded on 26 February ( OS) or 8 March 1658 ( NS) during the Second Northern War between Frederick III of Denmark–Norway and Karl X Gustav of Sweden in the Danish ci ...

in 1658, Lyckeby was ceded to Sweden. In 1690, the town had become so poor it couldn't afford a priest, and in 1736, the church collapsed. Lyckeby later lent its name to Lyckeby Rural Municipality (''Lyckeby landskommun''), which was incorporated into

(''Karlskrona kommun'') in 1967.

Archaeology

In old Lyckeby, north of the castle, archaeological digs were undertaken in the early 1970s, and archaeologists found cobblestone roads and the remains of houses with field stone foundations.

Attractions

Attractions in Lyckeby include the town's cobblestone streets and the ruins of Lyckeby Castle (''Lyckå slott''). Lyckeby also features an old flour mill, Kronokvarnen, which was named a

UNESCO World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

in 1998.

References

Blom, K. Arne, and Moen, Jan. (1983). ''Försvunna städer i Skåneland'' (in Swedish), Liber. {{authority control Populated places in Karlskrona Municipality