Abstract
This article analyses how the peasants were treated during the wars fought in Southern Jutland during the early decades of the fifteenth centuries between the Danish King Eric of Pomerania and the Counts of Holstein as described by the Chronicon Holtzatiae (written c. 1448). During these wars the local peasants suffered greatly due to the attacks of armies and marauding bands of men-at-arms serving either the counts or the Danish king. The chronicle however also describes some important incidences during which the peasants actually took part in the fightings themselves and were able to fend off and even defeat their heavily armed foes among the knights and men-at-arms who were attacking their homesteads. The sympathies of the chronicler towards these peasant depended entirely on their suspected locality towards the counts of Holstein, with the loyal peasants fighting a just war supported by God, and the disloyal peasants being nothing more that ungodly beasts fighting an unjust war.
| Original language | Danish |
|---|---|
| Journal | Collegium Medievale |
| Volume | 25 |
| Pages (from-to) | 124-45 |
| Number of pages | 22 |
| ISSN | 0801-9282 |
| Publication status | Published - 2012 |
Keywords
- Faculty of Theology