Podcast: Sounds of the Dano-Swedish Wars

Calm before the storm

After the Peace of Roskilde in 1658, when we lost Skåne, Halland and Blekinge, there was real peace, but the Swedes were still in Denmark. The people of Langeland managed to get them kicked out, but when war broke out again, the Swedes needed supplies for their army on Zealand. Langeland was strategically well placed for this purpose.

A district judge and a Gøngehøvding

Just as southern Zealand had its Gøngehøvding and partisan movement, Langeland also had its own: H.C. Wardinghausen. He gathered an army of farmers and harassed the Swedes on Langeland and Ærø. District judge Vincens Steensen from Steensgård also gathered a peasant army and fought the Swedes' attempts to land. However, Steensen was hit by a cannonball on the beach and died.

Anne Holck in battle

Vincens Steensen's wife, Anne Holck, took over responsibility for the defence. When the Swedes reached Steensgård, she treated them to all kinds of drinks from the wine cellar. After getting them thoroughly drunk, she fetched the local peasants, who attacked the Swedes with pitchforks. But when the next division reached Steensgård and found their dead comrades, it is said that Anne Holck was punished by being tied up in the middle of the courtyard like a dog, without food or drink.

Ten attempts and three memorial stones

It was only on the tenth attempt that the Swedes managed to land. Three of the landing attempts – and the Langelanders' persistent defence against the Swedish forces in 1659 – are commemorated by three memorial stones: at Uglebjerg, at Andemose Knøs (commemorating Vincens Steensen, among others) and at Strandby. The memorial stones were erected in 1909 to mark the 250th anniversary of the violent events and were restored in 2019.