The siege of Arkona was a short eight-day siege between the Danish forces under Valdemar I and the Wendish forces of the temple fortress of Arkona. It resulted in a decisive victory for the Danish forces, who proceeded to conquer all of

Rügen Rügen (; la, Rugia, ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic city of Stralsund, where ...

Background

During the

Danish civil war The Danish Civil War or The Danish war of Kings ( da, Kongekrigene, no, De danske kongekrige) was a period of perpetual civil wars fought in the Denmark, Kingdom of Denmark, first from 1131 to 1134 over the murder of Canute Lavard, then from 113 ...

, the king

Sweyn III Sweyn III GratheFor the significance of the epithet, see Tripartition ( da, Svend III Grathe) ( – 23 October 1157) was the King of Denmark between 1146 and 1157, in shifting alliances with Canute V and his own cousin Valdemar I. In 1157, ...

is said to have allied with the pagan

Wends Wends ( ang, Winedas ; non, Vindar; german: Wenden , ; da, vendere; sv, vender; pl, Wendowie, cz, Wendové) is a historical name for Slavs living near Germanic settlement areas. It refers not to a homogeneous people, but to various peopl ...

against his rivals for the throne, whereupon the Wends were sent to harry the lands of those who did not recognize his claim to the Danish throne. Sweyn was however defeated by King Valdemar, and so a hostile king sat on the Danish throne. After reunifying Denmark Valdemar I, began reorganizing his military very much akin to that of the Vikings, focusing heavily on amphibious assault and raiding. These raids culminated in the late 1160s where King Valdemar and Bishop

Absalon Absalon (21 March 1201) was a Danish statesman and prelate of the Catholic Church who served as the bishop of Roskilde from 1158 to 1192 and archbishop of Lund List of (arch)bishops of Lund. Until the Danish Reformation the centre of a gr ...

, set out to conquer Rügen.

The siege

Gesta Danorum ''Gesta Danorum'' ("Deeds of the Danes") is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th-century author Saxo Grammaticus ("Saxo the Literate", literally "the Grammarian"). It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark an ...

the chronicler

Saxo Grammaticus Saxo Grammaticus (c. 1150 – c. 1220), also known as Saxo cognomine Longus, was a Danish historian, theologian and author. He is thought to have been a clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, the main advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. ...

writes, that the siege only lasted for 8 days. This is due to a fire breaking out beneath one of the towers, the Wends are forced to divert a significant portion of their forces to put out the fire before it spreads. Here the bishop Absalon urges the King to assault the fortress and so the king orders a full assault, the Danish forces capitalize on the distracted Wends, who disorganized as they were can't prevent the Danes from taking the gate and the fortress with it. The Danes plunder the city, destroy the temple of Svandavitz and chop to pieces the great four headed statue of Svandavitz who they proceed to burn.

Aftermath

With the fort taken the island submitted to Danish rule, and the principality of Rügen was established, with

Jaromar I Jaromar is a masculine given name. It is the Polabian form of the West Slavic name, Jaromir. It may refer to: People: Jaromar, also Jaromar of Rügen, is the name of several members of Rügen's princely house: *Jaromar I (1141–1218), Prince of ...

becoming prince of the isle and Valdemar its king. The entirety of the isles population was christened and baptized, and islanders were forced to build churches to the Christian god. The absolute success of this crusade revitalized the idea of the northern crusades, as after the Wendish they were looked upon as foolish, this also confirmed to the Christian world that only through subjugation can you Christianise the northern pagans.

References

Works cited

* {{Cite book, last=Pratt, first=Fletcher, title=The Third King, date=1950, publisher= Sloane, location=

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, language=en, oclc=947721635, author-link=Fletcher Pratt Arkona Arkona