Johann Wittenborg (1321 – August/September 1363) was a merchant and mayor of the free port of Lübeck in what is now north Germany. He was admiral of the Hanseatic fleet at the

Battle of Helsingborg The Battle of Helsingborg was the last major engagement of the Great Northern War to take place on Swedish soil, and resulted in a decisive victory of a Swedish force of 14,000 men under the command of Magnus Stenbock against a Danish force of e ...

and was tried and beheaded after losing this battle. Rehbein Wittenborch Hinrichtung

Wittenborg was the son of the Lübeck citizen and merchant Hermann Wittenborg. From his early days, trips to

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...

(probably

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the countr ...

) and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

are reported. As a merchant, he traded cloth, grain and fur from the Baltic area to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and Flanders. His business is documented in a traditional book of accounts from the years 1346-1359, which was already started by his father. As Mayor of Lübeck and the free port's representative in the

Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label=Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe. Growing from a few North German to ...

, Wittenborg was made supreme commander over the Hanseatic fleet in the war with King Waldemar IV of Denmark in 1362. The fleet met the Danish fleet off Helsinborg in the

Øresund Øresund or Öresund (, ; da, Øresund ; sv, Öresund ), commonly known in English as the Sound, is a strait which forms the Danish–Swedish border, separating Zealand (Denmark) from Scania (Sweden). The strait has a length of ; its width v ...

strait and lost 12 ships in the ensuing action, at least partly because Wittenborg had put too many of his sailors ashore to fight the Danes on land. On his return to Lübeck Wittenborg was relieved of his duties and imprisoned. Brought before the Hanseatic Council in January 1363, he was condemned to death for the Øresund defeat and "other reasons". He was beheaded in Lübeck market place in August or September 1363 and buried with the Dominicans of the Lübeck Castle Monastery. He had married Elizabeth, daughter of the Lübeck councilor Arnold von Bardewik, and had six or seven children.

References

* Emil Ferdinand Fehling: ''Lübeckische Ratslinie'', 1925 Nr. 366 *

Philippe Dollinger Philippe Dollinger (born 1 December 1904 in Strasbourg; died 14 September 1999 in Strasbourg) was a French historian, known particularly for his work on the history of the Hanseatic League, Hanse. Biography Philippe Dollinger attended the Gymnasi ...

: ''Die Hanse'', S. 223 ff, * A. Bruns (Hrsg.): ''Lübecker Lebensläufe'', 1993, * Mayors of Lübeck Admirals of Germany 1321 births 1363 deaths Executed politicians People executed in the Holy Roman Empire by decapitation 14th-century executions Executed people from Schleswig-Holstein 14th-century German military personnel 14th-century German businesspeople Medieval German merchants Businesspeople from Lübeck {{Germany-politician-stub