The Viborg Bang (, ), as it is traditionally called in

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

historiography, was a possibly legendary explosion which occurred at

Viborg Castle Vyborg Castle (; ; ) is a fortress in Vyborg, Russia. It was built by the Swedes during the Middle Ages around which the town of Vyborg evolved. The castle became the stronghold of the Swedish realm in the Karelian region. Throughout the centur ...

in November 1495. It occurred during an assault on the castle by forces of the

Grand Duchy of Moscow The Grand Principality of Moscow, or Muscovy, known as the Principality of Moscow until 1389, was a late medieval Russian monarchy. Its capital was the city of Moscow. Originally established as a minor principality in the 13th century, the gra ...

and is supposed to have had a crushing effect upon the morale of the besiegers, causing the attack to fail.

Background

The explosion took place during the Siege of Viborg, the opening engagement of the Russo-Swedish War of 1495-7. The war was essentially a border dispute between the

Kingdom of Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a 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 country by both area ...

, which at the time extended across the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

to encompass what is now

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

and parts of

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, and the

. Sweden was at the time led by the regent

Sten Sture the Elder Sten Sture the Elder (; 1440 – 14 December 1503) was a Swedish statesman and regent of Sweden from 1470 to 1497 and again from 1501 to 1503. As the leader of the victorious Swedish separatist forces against the royal unionist forces led by De ...

, under whom the kingdom found itself in an ambiguous position, ''de facto'' independent but theoretically still part of the

Kalmar Union The Kalmar Union was a personal union in Scandinavia, agreed at Kalmar in Sweden as designed by Queen Margaret I of Denmark, Margaret of Denmark. From 1397 to 1523, it joined under a single monarch the three kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden (then in ...

along with the Kingdoms of

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The Danish-Norwegian kings made periodic efforts to re-integrate Sweden into the Union, and in the early 1490s King Hans attempted to put pressure on Sten by concluding an alliance with Sweden's eastern neighbour Moscow, then ruled by Grand Prince Ivan III. Ivan calculated that Sten would be too preoccupied by the threat from Denmark-Norway to deal with a Muscovite incursion into

Swedish Finland Finland was an integral part of Sweden from the Middle Ages until 1809. The starting point of Swedish rule is uncertain and controversial. It is traditionally linked to the First Swedish Crusade in the mid-12th century. Historical evidence of ...

, and in late 1495 sent an army to seize the vital border castle at Viborg. The garrison at Viborg was commanded by

Knut Jönsson Posse Knut Jönsson Posse (; died 25 March 1500) was a Swedish general in Sweden and Finland remembered for the Viborg Bang (1495) and for his surprise attack on the Danish Army at the Battle of Brunkeberg (1471). Military career Knut Posse was appo ...

, an aristocrat and seasoned commander who was also a strong supporter of Sten Sture, his wife being one of the regent's cousins. In late November, the Muscovites attempted to storm the castle.

The Bang

According to traditional Swedish accounts of the siege, Posse rigged one of the castle's

gunpowder magazine A gunpowder magazine is a magazine (building) designed to store the explosive gunpowder in wooden barrels for safety. Gunpowder, until superseded, was a universal explosive used in the military and for civil engineering: both applications re ...

s to explode and then deliberately weakened the defences in that sector in order to encourage the Muscovites to attack. When the besiegers duly stormed the weakened area of the walls, Posse detonated the magazine, causing a massive explosion which killed a large number of Muscovite soldiers and prompted the survivors to abandon the assault and lift the siege. If the story is true, then this would be one of the earliest recorded instances of the use of explosive

mines Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging *Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun Mi ...

in European

siege warfare A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characte ...

. Some versions of the story claim that the explosion had such a dramatic effect upon Muscovite morale because the assault took place on

St Andrew's Day Saint Andrew's Day, also called the Feast of Saint Andrew or Andermas, is the feast day of Andrew the Apostle. It is celebrated on 30 November, during Scotland's Winter Festival. Saint Andrew is the disciple in the New Testament who introduc ...

(30 November), and the superstitious soldiers interpreted the flash of light as a

miraculous A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divin ...

apparition of the St Andrew's Cross. This retelling was clearly inspired by the existing Swedish legend of the appearance of a golden cross in the heavens during St Erik's apocryphal Finnish crusade. UG EZY wikimeetup in Vyborg 2021-01-02 - 08

UG EZY wikimeetup in Vyborg 2021-01-02 - 08

Other accounts have it that the Muscovites were so terrified by the explosion because they believed it to be the work of

black magic Black magic (Middle English: ''nigromancy''), sometimes dark magic, traditionally refers to the use of Magic (paranormal), magic or supernatural powers for evil and selfish purposes. The links and interaction between black magic and religi ...

. Indeed, Danish propaganda seized on the story of the Viborg Bang to claim that Posse must be in league with

the Devil Satan, also known as the Devil, is a devilish entity in Abrahamic religions who seduces humans into sin (or falsehood). In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the '' yetzer hara'', or 'e ...

; Posse was already loathed in Denmark because he had played a leading role in the great Swedish victory over the Danes at Brunkeberg in 1471. Despite the fame of the Viborg Bang, there is some doubt as to whether it actually occurred in the way described in the legend. Posse's letters reporting on his successful defence of Viborg make no reference to any such explosion, and nor does the near-contemporary ', which simply claims that Posse slew a large number of Russians at Viborg, but without specifying the circumstances. There are no direct references in surviving source material to a massive explosion in connection with Viborg prior to 1539, when the Swedish

polymath A polymath or polyhistor is an individual whose knowledge spans many different subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems. Polymaths often prefer a specific context in which to explain their knowledge, ...

Olaus Magnus Olaus Magnus (born Olof Månsson; October 1490 – 1 August 1557) was a Swedish writer, cartographer, and Catholic clergyman. Biography Olaus Magnus (a Latin translation of his Swedish birth name Olof Månsson) was born in Linköping in Octo ...

depicted it on his famous map the Carta Marina, and the actual term 'Viborg Bang' was not used until much later.

References

Sources

* * *{{cite web, url= https://sok.riksarkivet.se/sbl/Presentation.aspx?id=7380 , title=Knut Posse , website=Svenskt biografiskt lexikon , access-date=August 1, 2020 Explosions in Finland Explosions in Russia Medieval Finland 1495

Background

The Bang

See also

References

Sources