This PowerPoint describes a military campaign in southern Sweden 445 years ago, in 1567 during the Nordic Seven Years War. Through studies of old maps, in archives and by battlefield archaeology our research project has been able to reconstruct some of the events during this violent conflict. The excavations and metal detecting has been concentrated on the Hovmejan site, the scene of a minor battle - a skirmish where professional Danish soldiers outflanked and overran Swedish forces consisting of some regular troops but the where the majority were local militia. The finds tells us of a slaughter...

1. The Battle and its Aftermath
Tracing the Danish military campaign of 1567
Claes B. Pettersson
Jönköping County Museum
Sweden

2. Astrid Lindgren
Småland
the most peaceful place you could
ever imagine…?

3. The Nordic Seven Years War 1563 - 70
The first ”Modern” War in Scandinavia
The Siege of Älvsborg 1563

4. The Paths of War
Devastation!
Västbo Hundred – an example
The situation according to the Tax
Registers - Smålands handlingar 1566:3
Tax paying farms and villages in the region:
Red = burned
Pink = plundered
Blue = deserted
Orange = reduced tax
Yellow = normal tax

5. The Campaign of Daniel Rantzau 1567-68
A decisive blow against the heartland of Sweden…
The Danish Army
8500 people
• 4000 soldiers on foot
• 3000 cavalry
• 900 wagons
• 12 field guns
• Included are a large number
of mercenaries from Scotland
and Germany
• The troops are trained,
provided with modern arms,
well led and battle wise…
Rantzau’s Raid – the Route through Småland and Östergötland

6. Metal detecting in a dense forest
Battle-field-work in May 2011

7. Bergsliderna – a forgotten battlefield
Local militia facing professional soldiers…
Bolt from a crossbow
Main
defensive
position
Wheellock with pyrite in place
Swedish
encampment
Advanced position
The Swedish defensive position and encampment on October 31, 1567

8. Da
Jönköping, late autumn 1567
„Ein Kloster, welchs der Konig zu Schweden
angefangen hat zubefestigen, ligt oben in dem
Stettlein an einem schönen fliessenden wasser. War
also statlich mit hohen wellen, tiffen graben vnd
pasteien zubefestigen angefangen, dass sie es vor
vnser macht, wo sie sich selbst getrauet, leichtlich
hetten halten konnen.” (Rördam 1884:20)
Daniel Rantzau – the first eyewitness
Jönköping castle
excavated today
445 years later!
The first picture Early 17th century fortifications

9. Consequences I
Parishes that
disappeared
A No Mans Land...
• How many people starved to death
during the harsh winter of 1567-68?
• How long did it take for the wounds
to heal?

10. Vallgårda 1567
…a village that never
recovered
Clearance cairns & fields
Site of Vallgårda Church Fireplace / baking oven

11. Unwelcome Guests – Västra Jära village
Farmland used
for the Danish
encampment on
October 30th,
1567
The village in 1849
Went up in flames on
October 31th….
GPR - Searching for a church
The road, the village and the site of the church

12. Consequences II
Jönköping evolves into a
key fortress and a centre
for supplying arms to the
Swedish army
Jönköping Castle in 1690 – impressive but untested…
A gunsmiths workshop,
excavated in 2004
…but no monuments
commemorates the
suffering and the men
Plans for a modern fortified town - 1624
fallen in 1567!

13. The official silence & the living traditions…
A rich oral tradition in the
region explains almost all
strange structures as traces
from the Border Wars of the
16th and 17th centuries…
The Danish bullets left their marks…
(Ödestugu church, East of Jönköping)
Danish soldiers graves
…or Roman Iron Age?
…and ”new” finds appear
(the misericorda from Lilla Älgås)