Battle of Hemmingstedt

Date	February 17th, 1500
Location	Hemmingstedt
Result	Victory for Dithmarschen's peasantry

Belligerents

Peasantry of Dithmarschen

Kalmar Union

Denmark

Commanders and leaders

Wulf Isebrand

John, King of Denmark
Frederick I of Denmark
Thomas Slentz

Strength

1,000 - 4,000 peasants

4,000 mercenaries (Great Guard)
2,000 armoured cavaliers
1,000 artillery-men
5,000 commoners

Casualties and losses

unknown

4,000, thereof 360 nobles

The Battle of Hemmingstedt took place on February 17, 1500 south of the village of Hemmingstedt, near the present village of Epenwöhrden, in the western part of present-day Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It was an attempt by king John of Denmark and his brother Duke Frederick, who were co-dukes of Schleswig and Holstein, to subdue the peasantry of Dithmarschen, who had established a peasants' republic on the coast of the North Sea. John was at the time also king of the Kalmar Union.

The ducal army consisted of the "Great Guard", 4,000 mercenaries from the Netherlands, commanded by a petty noble (Junker) named Thomas Slentz, 2,000 armoured cavaliers, about 1,000 artillery-men and 5,000 commoners. The defenders were about 1,000 men, all peasants. These men were a well-armed and well-organized militia, not the desperate, badly armed rabble one would associate with the term "peasant army".

After seizing the village of Meldorf, the ducal army advanced, but was stopped at a barricade equipped with guns (Geschütze). The defenders opened at least one dike sluice in order to flood the land, which quickly turned into morass and shallow lakes. Crammed together on a narrow road with no solid ground on which to deploy, the ducal army was unable to make use of its numerical superiority. The lightly equipped peasants were familiar with the land and used poles to leap over the ditches. Most of the ducal soldiers were not killed by enemy arms, but drowned. The conquest attempt was thus repelled. The casualties among the Dithmarsians are not known, but the Danish and the Dutch lost together more than half of their army, making about 7,000 men killed and 1,500 men wounded.

The farmer Wulf Isebrand (died 1506) was the leader and organiser of the peasants' defence. While he was a real person, the existence of other participants of the battle is not proven. For instance, the legendary Reimer von Wiemerstedt is said to have killed Junker Slentz, the chief of the "Great Guard"; another doubtful participant was the "virgin" Telse.

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Wikipedia