Missunde ( Danish: ''Mysunde'',

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...

''Mjósund'' "narrow

strait A strait is an oceanic landform connecting two seas or two other large areas of water. The surface water generally flows at the same elevation on both sides and through the strait in either direction. Most commonly, it is a narrow ocean chan ...

") is a village on the

Schlei The Schlei (; da, Slien, also ''Slesvig Fjord''e.g. in: Adolph Frederik Bergsøe: ''Den danske stats statistik'', Kjøbenhavn 1844, p. 156) (more often referred to in English as the Sly Firth) is a narrow inlet of the Baltic Sea in Schleswig-H ...

coast of Schwansen in

Southern Schleswig Southern Schleswig (german: Südschleswig or ', da, Sydslesvig; frr, Söödslaswik) is the southern half of the former Duchy of Schleswig in Germany on the Jutland Peninsula. The geographical area today covers the large area between the Eid ...

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sc ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

, about 7 miles from

Schleswig The Duchy of Schleswig ( da, Hertugdømmet Slesvig; german: Herzogtum Schleswig; nds, Hartogdom Sleswig; frr, Härtochduum Slaswik) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km ...

. It is part of the municipality Kosel. It has a

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water ta ...

over the

Angeln Anglia (German and Low German: ''Angeln''; Danish and South Jutlandic: ''Angel''; ang, Engla land) is a small peninsula on the eastern coast of Jutland (the Cimbric Peninsula). Jutland consists of the mainland of Denmark and the northernm ...

. Knud Lavard built a fort there in 1120. It is near the east end of the

Dannewerk Dannewerk ( da, Dannevirke) is a municipality in Amt Haddeby in Schleswig-Flensburg District, Germany. It is named after the historic Danish ''Danevirke The Danevirke or Danework (modern Danish spelling: ''Dannevirke''; in Old Norse; ''Danav ...

. The

site at Missunde was above all important and up to the 19th century much fought over, since it is at the narrowest place on the Schlei. Missunde was mentioned first in 1115 under the name Versund (= "ferry

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by ...

"). Since the Slavic

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 people ...

sometimes tried to settle in the area, the ferry site was repeatedly fortified. Thus are in Brodersby (beyond the Schlei in

) the remains of a

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

and the Margarethenwalls; but in the middle of the 11th century were several very bloody battles with the Wends. After King Charles X Gustav of Sweden, together with

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 squ ...

, had defeated the Polish army near

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

in 1656, its troops passed Missunde, where they wreaked destruction on the area. In the

Great Northern War The Great Northern War (1700–1721) was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swe ...

at the beginning of the 18th century, war again came to Missunde, and in 1849 in the First and in 1864 in the

Second Schleswig War The Second Schleswig War ( da, Krigen i 1864; german: Deutsch-Dänischer Krieg) also sometimes known as the Dano-Prussian War or Prusso-Danish War was the second military conflict over the Schleswig-Holstein Question of the nineteenth century. T ...

. The 1864 Battle of Mysunde, the first battle of the Second Schleswig War, was memorialized by Erik Henningsen in his painting ''Captain Hertel at Mysunde.'' The battle was also an important victory for the Danes, as they held the village against the Prussian infantry despite being outnumbers by 4 to 1. During these battles the inhabitants of Missunde likely fled to the castle in Brodersby. Since 1960 there has been a vehicle ferry connecting Missunde and Brodersby. In the year 2003 it was renewed. Until 1928 Missunde belonged to the property district Ornum. Today Missunde has about 500 inhabitants and is set up for tourism. There are a sport boat dock with approximately 30 beds, holiday houses, and catering trade enterprises.

References

Villages in Schleswig-Holstein {{SchleswigFlensburg-geo-stub