Klaus Störtebeker
Encyclopedia
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
s known as the Victual Brothers
Victual Brothers
The Victual Brothers were a companionship of privateers who later turned to piracy. They were hired in 1392 by the Dukes of Mecklenburg to fight against Denmark, because the Danish Queen Margaret I had imprisoned Albrecht of Mecklenburg and his son in order to subdue the kingdom of Sweden...
(German: Vitalienbrüder). The Victual Brothers (Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
"victualia") were originally hired during a war between Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
and Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
to fight the Danish and supply the besieged Swedish capital Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
with provisions. After the end of the war, the Victual Brothers continued to capture merchant vessels for their own account and named themselves "Likedeelers" (literally: equal sharers).
Life
Born in Wismar
Wismar
Wismar , is a small port and Hanseatic League town in northern Germany on the Baltic Sea, in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern,about 45 km due east of Lübeck, and 30 km due north of Schwerin. Its natural harbour, located in the Bay of Wismar is well-protected by a promontory. The...
, Störtebeker entered public consciousness around 1398, after the expulsion of the Victual Brothers from the Baltic
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
island of Gotland
Gotland
Gotland is a county, province, municipality and diocese of Sweden; it is Sweden's largest island and the largest island in the Baltic Sea. At 3,140 square kilometers in area, the region makes up less than one percent of Sweden's total land area...
, where they had set up a stronghold and headquarters in the town of Visby
Visby
-See also:* Battle of Visby* Gotland University College* List of governors of Gotland County-External links:* - Visby*...
. During the following years, Störtebeker and some of his fellow captains (the most famous of whom were Gödeke Michels, Hennig Wichmann
Hennig Wichmann
Hennig Wichmann was one of the leaders of the Likedeeler, an association of former Victual Brothers who had turned pirate.Together with Klaus Störtebeker and Magister Wigbold, he wreaked havoc in the North and Baltic Sea at the end of the 14th century. They owned fast ships which were able to...
and Magister Wigbold
Magister Wigbold
Magister Wigbold , also called “Master of the Seven Arts”, was a German pirate who belonged to the famous Likedeeler pirates of Klaus Störtebeker. Wighold was one of the most noted Likedeeler, along with Gödeke Michels and Störtebeker. The nickname Wigbold comes from wig and bold...
) captured Hanseatic
Hanseatic League
The Hanseatic League was an economic alliance of trading cities and their merchant guilds that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe...
ships, irrespective of their origin.
Störtebeker had a stronghold in Marienhafe, East Frisia, from about 1396. There, he married a daughter of the Frisian chief Keno ten Broke. There still exists a tower bearing his name in Marienhafe.
According to legend, in 1400, a Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
ian fleet led by Simon of Utrecht
Simon of Utrecht
Simon of Utrecht was a warship captain of the Hanseatic League during the Middle Ages. He was probably born in Flanders, but emigrated to Hamburg, Germany, where he received citizenship in 1400...
caught up with Störtebeker's force near Helgoland. According to some stories, Störtebeker's ship had been disabled by a traitor who cast molten lead into the links of the chain which controlled the ship's rudder. Störtebeker and his crew were ultimately overcome and brought to Hamburg, where they were tried for piracy. Legend says that Störtebeker offered a chain of gold long enough to enclose the whole of Hamburg in exchange for his life and freedom. However, Störtebeker and all of his 73 companions were sentenced to death and were beheaded. The most famous legend of Störtebeker relates to the execution itself. Störtebeker is said to have asked the mayor of Hamburg to release as many of his companions as he could walk past after being beheaded. Following the granting of this request and the subsequent beheading, Störtebeker's body arose and walked past eleven of his men before the executioner tripped him with an out-stretched foot. Nevertheless, the eleven men were executed along with the others. The senate of Hamburg asked the executioner if he was not tired after all this, but he replied he could easily execute the whole of the senate as well. For this, he himself was sentenced to death and executed by the youngest member of the senate.
When dismantling Störtebeker's ship, it was found the masts contained a core of gold (one of gold, one of silver, and one of copper). According to legend (but not to history), this was used to create the tip of St. Catherine's church in Hamburg. His famous drinking cup was stored in the town hall of Hamburg, until it was destroyed in the great fire of 1842.
Some historians have suggested it is more likely that Störtebeker died in 1400. A bill for digging graves for 30 Victual Brothers dated to this year survives in the Hamburg records. This would also suggest the story that Störtebeker was sentenced to death with 70 other privateers is at least misleading; at minimum, he certainly was buried with 70 other men. The year 1400 also excludes the involvement of Simon of Utrecht and the Brindled Cow, since the records show this ship was not completed until 1401. In fact, the Hanseatic fleet that attacked Störtebeker was commanded by Hermann Langhe and Nikolaus Schoke, who set sail for Helgoland in August 1400, and the course of the battle is not described by any reliable sources.
Störtebeker's appearance
Daniel Hopfer
Daniel Hopfer was a German artist who is widely believed to have been the first to use etching in printmaking, at the end of the fifteenth century...
, often erroneously identified as a portrait of Klaus Störtebeker, is actually of Kunz von der Rosen, the court jester
Court jester
A jester, joker, jokester, fool, wit-cracker, prankster, or buffoon was a person employed to tell jokes and provide general entertainment, typically for a European monarch. Jesters are stereotypically thought to have worn brightly colored clothes and eccentric hats in a motley pattern...
of Emperor Maximilian I
Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor
Maximilian I , the son of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor and Eleanor of Portugal, was King of the Romans from 1486 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1493 until his death, though he was never in fact crowned by the Pope, the journey to Rome always being too risky...
. However, a tentative reconstruction of Störtebeker's appearance has been made using a skull alleged to be his. This skull, displayed at the museum since 1922, was stolen in January 2010.. In March 2011 he was found by the police.
Störtebeker today
Long after his death, Störtebeker would become a figure of legend and political propaganda. Leftists made him a hero of medieval class struggle against the capitalistic Hanseatic LeagueHanseatic League
The Hanseatic League was an economic alliance of trading cities and their merchant guilds that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe...
and right-wingers turned him into a Germanic Francis Drake
Francis Drake
Sir Francis Drake, Vice Admiral was an English sea captain, privateer, navigator, slaver, and politician of the Elizabethan era. Elizabeth I of England awarded Drake a knighthood in 1581. He was second-in-command of the English fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588. He also carried out the...
. A statue depicting him stands in Hamburg. He is main hero of Willi Bredel
Willi Bredel
Willi Bredel was a German writer and president of the Akademie der Künste. Born in Hamburg, he was a pioneer of socialist realist literature....
's story (Die Vitalienbrüder ?).
Störtebeker was portrayed on television by Ken Duken
Ken Duken
Ken Duken is a German actor.Ken Duken is the third child of film and stage actress Christina Loeb; his father is a doctor. Duken never attended a drama school but took courses in drama, including under James Reynold...
in Störtebeker, a 2006 miniseries based very loosely on his life. He was also the subject of a 2007 documentary and of the feature-length movie 12 Paces Without a Head
12 Paces Without a Head
Zwölf Meter ohne Kopf is a 2009 film set in the Baltic in AD 1401. The film centers on the German folk hero Klaus Störtebeker, who was a pirate at the time...
, currently in production.
The German punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
band Slime
Slime (band)
Slime is a German punk rock band, founded in 1979 and disbanded in 1994. The pre-Slime band was called Screamer, and the post-Slime band is – contrary to the occasional rumors – not Emils , but Rubberslime, with the member Elf...
wrote and recorded a song about the exploits of Störtebeker on their album Alle gegen alle
Alle gegen Alle
Alle gegen alle is the third album by the German Punk rock band Slime, released in 1983.-Track listing:# "Linke Spiesser" – 2:07# "Störtebecker" – 2:12# "Untergang" – 2:31# "Zu kalt" – 2:50...
. There is also a song by the heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
band Running Wild
Running Wild (band)
Running Wild is a German heavy metal band, formed in 1976 in Hamburg. They were part of the German heavy/speed/power metal scene to emerge in the early to mid 1980s. The band has carved its niche in the metal world as the first "pirate metal" band, a theme which took off with the release of Under...
about Störtebeker's life in their album Death or Glory
Death or Glory (album)
Death or Glory is a heavy metal album by German band Running Wild. One of their most successful releases, it contains the concert favourites "Riding the Storm" and "Bad to the Bone". The final track, "March On", was not included on the vinyl release due to space constraints.The album is the best...
. Another German artist who made a song about Störtebeker is Achim Reichel
Achim Reichel
Achim Reichel is a musician, producer and songwriter from Hamburg, Germany. He is known for his 1991 single "Aloha Heja He", and serving as the frontman for the 1960s beat group The Rattles, who, among other achievements, were selected to open for The Beatles on the Fabs' last-ever tour of Europe...
, who recorded Das Störtebekerlied, which can be found on his album Klabautermann.
Störtebeker is also a beer brand in Stralsund
Stralsund
- Main sights :* The Brick Gothic historic centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.* The heart of the old town is the Old Market Square , with the Gothic Town Hall . Behind the town hall stands the imposing Nikolaikirche , built in 1270-1360...
, whose slogan means, Beer of the Righteous. There is also a punk venue bearing his name in a former squat of Hafenstrasse, in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
.
External links
- Agreement on reparations for injuries and damages by vitalians (made between King Henry IV of EnglandHenry IV of EnglandHenry IV was King of England and Lord of Ireland . He was the ninth King of England of the House of Plantagenet and also asserted his grandfather's claim to the title King of France. He was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, hence his other name, Henry Bolingbroke...
and the Hanseatic League) - Male Pirates: Klaus Störtebeker at Outlaw Wolf, an Outlaws Blog
- Pirates of the Caribbean - Klaus Störtebeker
- Germans Revive A Legendary Pirate by Nicholas Kulish, International Herald Tribune, November 6, 2008