Lyckeby is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

Karlskrona Municipality Karlskrona Municipality (''Karlskrona kommun'') is a Municipalities of Sweden, municipality in Blekinge County in South Sweden in southern Sweden. It borders to Emmaboda Municipality, Torsås Municipality and Ronneby Municipality. The city of Karl ...

Blekinge County Blekinge County ( sv, Blekinge län) is a county or '' län'' in the south of Sweden. It borders the Counties of Skåne, Kronoberg, Kalmar and the Baltic Sea. The capital is Karlskrona. It is the smallest of the present administrative countie ...

, in southeastern

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, near the mouth of the

Lyckeby River Lyckeby is a village in Karlskrona Municipality, Blekinge County, in southeastern Sweden, near the mouth of the Lyckeby River. The town was originally known as Lyckå. History The first recorded mention of the town was in 1449, when Claus Niel ...

. The town was originally known as Lyckå.

History

The first recorded mention of the town was in 1449, when Claus Nielsen Sparre purchased lands on the southern edge of town, where he built an estate with a small castle. At the time,

Blekinge Blekinge (, old da, Bleking) is one of the traditional Swedish provinces (), situated in the southern coast of the geographic region of Götaland, in southern Sweden. It borders Småland, Scania and the Baltic Sea. It is the country's second ...

was part of the

Kingdom of Denmark The Danish Realm ( da, Danmarks Rige; fo, Danmarkar Ríki; kl, Danmarkip Naalagaaffik), officially the Kingdom of Denmark (; ; ), is a sovereign state located in Northern Europe and Northern North America. It consists of Denmark, metropolitan ...

under

Scanian Law Scanian law ( da, Skånske Lov, sv, Skånelagen) is the oldest Danish provincial law and one of the first Nordic provincial laws to be written down. It was used in the geographic region of Danish Skåneland, which at the time included Scania, ...

, and Lyckeby became the seat of Lyckå

Län Län (Swedish, ), lääni (Finnish, ) and len (Norwegian, ) refer to the administrative divisions used in Sweden and previously in Finland and Norway. The provinces of Finland were abolished on January 1, 2010. In Norway, the term was in use betw ...

. Due to its location on the borderland between Denmark and Sweden, Lyckeby was often subject to raids and fighting between the two kingdoms. In 1507, Blekinge was raided by Sweden, and Lyckeby was plundered and set on fire. In 1545, under the orders of Danish King

Christian II Christian II (1 July 1481 – 25 January 1559) was a Scandinavian monarch under the Kalmar Union who reigned as King of Denmark and Norway, from 1513 until 1523, and Sweden from 1520 until 1521. From 1513 to 1523, he was concurrently Duke ...

, the castle was rebuilt on its old foundations by

privy council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

member Ebbe Knudsen Ulfelt. It was intended to be a permanent residence that could better withstand attacks under an uprising. The reinforced castle was completed in 1560. However, in 1564, during the

Northern Seven Years' War The Northern Seven Years' War (also known as the ''Nordic Seven Years' War'', the ''First Northern War'' or the ''Seven Years War in Scandinavia'') was fought between the Kingdom of Sweden and a coalition of Denmark–Norway, Lübeck, and Polan ...

, Lyckeby was once again burnt down. In 1600, Lyckeby lost its

town privileges Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...

, because

Christian IV Christian IV (12 April 1577 – 28 February 1648) was King of Denmark and Norway and Duke of Holstein and Schleswig from 1588 until his death in 1648. His reign of 59 years, 330 days is the longest of Danish monarchs and Scandinavian monar ...

preferred to focus on developing the recently founded Christianople. In 1601, the king ordered the castle to be torn down so that its stone could be used to fortify Christianople. After the

Treaty of Roskilde The Treaty of Roskilde (concluded on 26 February ( OS), or 8 March 1658) ( NS) during the Second Northern War between Frederick III of Denmark–Norway and Karl X Gustav of Sweden in the Danish city of Roskilde. After a devastating defeat, ...

in 1658, Lyckeby was ceded to Sweden. In 1690, the town had become so poor it couldn't afford a priest, and in 1736, the church collapsed. Lyckeby later lent its name to

Lyckeby Rural Municipality Lyckeby is a village in Karlskrona Municipality, Blekinge County, in southeastern Sweden, near the mouth of the Lyckeby River. The town was originally known as Lyckå. History The first recorded mention of the town was in 1449, when Claus Niels ...

(''Lyckeby landskommun''), which was incorporated into

(''Karlskrona kommun'') in 1967.

Archaeology

In old Lyckeby, north of the castle, archaeological digs were undertaken in the early 1970s, and archaeologists found cobblestone roads and the remains of houses with field stone foundations.

Attractions

Attractions in Lyckeby include the town's cobblestone streets and the ruins of Lyckeby Castle (''Lyckå slott''). Lyckeby also features an old flour mill, Kronokvarnen, which was named a

UNESCO World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

in 1998.

References

Blom, K. Arne, and Moen, Jan. (1983). ''Försvunna städer i Skåneland'' (in Swedish), Liber. {{authority control Populated places in Karlskrona Municipality