Schleswig (, , ; da, Slesvig;

South Jutlandic South Jutlandic or South Jutish (South Jutish: ; da, Sønderjysk; german: Südjütisch or Plattdänisch) is a dialect of the Danish language. South Jutlandic is spoken in Southern Jutland (''Sønderjylland''; also called Schleswig or Slesvig) ...

: ''Sljasvig''; nds, Sleswig; archaic English: ''Sleswick'') is a town in the northeastern part of

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. It is the capital of the '' Kreis'' (district)

Schleswig-Flensburg Schleswig-Flensburg (; da, Slesvig-Flensborg) is a district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is bounded by (from the south and clockwise) the districts of Rendsburg-Eckernförde, Dithmarschen and Nordfriesland, the Region Syddanmark in Denma ...

. It has a population of about 27,000, the main industries being leather and food processing. It takes its name from the Schlei, an inlet of the

Baltic sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

at the end of which it sits, and ''vik'' or ''vig'' which means "bay" in

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 ...

and Danish. Schleswig or Slesvig therefore means "bay of the Schlei".

History

The

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

settlement of

Hedeby Hedeby (, Old Norse ''Heiðabýr'', German ''Haithabu'') was an important Danish Viking Age (8th to the 11th centuries) trading settlement near the southern end of the Jutland Peninsula, now in the Schleswig-Flensburg district of Schleswig-Holst ...

, located south of the modern town, was first mentioned in 804. It was a powerful settlement in the

Baltic region The terms Baltic Sea Region, Baltic Rim countries (or simply the Baltic Rim), and the Baltic Sea countries/states refer to slightly different combinations of countries in the general area surrounding the Baltic Sea, mainly in Northern Europe. ...

, dominating the area for more than 200 years. In 1050, following several destructions, the population was moved to the opposite shore of the Schlei, becoming the city of Schleswig. In 1066 Hedeby was finally destroyed, and Schleswig remained as a part of the Danish kingdom. In 1544, Gottorf Castle became the residence of the local rulers. The dukes of Gottorf were vassals of the Danish kings and ruled over much of present-day Schleswig-Holstein. In 1721, when 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 ...

ended, the dukes of Gottorf lost their power and their land became Danish crown land. After 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 ...

(1864), Schleswig was annexed by the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...

Geography

Schleswig lies at the western end of the Schlei Förde, which separates the two peninsulas of Angeln and Schwansen, and is on the western edge of the

Schleswig-Holstein Uplands The Schleswig-Holstein Uplands or Schleswig-Holstein Morainic Uplands Dickinson, Robert E (1964). ''Germany: A regional and economic geography'' (2nd ed.). London: Methuen. . (German: ''Schleswig-Holsteinisches Hügelland'') is one of the three l ...

on the transition to the

Geest Geest is a type of landform, slightly raised above the surrounding countryside, that occurs on the plains of Northern Germany, the Northern Netherlands and Denmark. It is a landscape of sandy and gravelly soils formed as a glacial outwash ...

country. The urban area ranges from 0 to above sea level.

Brautsee Brautsee ( da, Brudesøen) is a lake in Schleswig, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. At an elevation of 12 m, its surface area is 7.2 ha. Lakes of Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig, Schleswig-Holstein {{SchleswigHolstein-geo-stub ...

(lake) is in the town. The nearest major cities are

Flensburg Flensburg (; Danish, Low Saxon: ''Flensborg''; North Frisian: ''Flansborj''; South Jutlandic: ''Flensborre'') is an independent town (''kreisfreie Stadt'') in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the ...

Husum Husum (, frr, Hüsem) is the capital of the ''Kreis'' (district) Nordfriesland in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The town was the birthplace of the novelist Theodor Storm, who coined the epithet "the grey town by the sea". It is also the home o ...

and

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland ...

Autobahn 7 is the longest German Autobahn and the longest national motorway in Europe at 963 km (598 mi). It bisects the country almost evenly between east and west. In the north, it starts at the border with Denmark as an extension of the Danish part o ...

runs immediately west of the city.

Highways A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access ...

76 and 77 end in Schleswig and B 201 runs to the north of the town. Schleswig station is a stop for

InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...

and

Intercity-Express The Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE ()) is a system of high-speed trains predominantly running in Germany. It also serves some destinations in Austria, Denmark (ceased in 2017 but planned to resume in 2022), France, Belgium, Switzerl ...

trains and is on the Hamburg–Neumünster–Flensburg and Husum–Kiel lines.

Climate

The climate is oceanic ( Köppen: ''Cfb''), humid and mild with a slight continental influence. The annual mean temperature is 8 °C and precipitation averages 925 mm.

Sights

* Schleswig Cathedral (1134), with the tomb of King Frederick I of Denmark * Gottorf Castle (built 1161), former residence of the dukes, with the baroque Neuwerk garden, containing a replica of the

Globe of Gottorf The Globe of Gottorf is a 17th-century, large, walk-in globe of the Earth and the celestial sphere. It measures 3.1 meters in diameter. Conceived and constructed at Gottorf Castle near Schleswig, it was later transferred to the Kunstkamera museum ...

*Holm: old fishing village at the Schlei shore *Hedeby, Viking settlement

Twin towns – sister cities

Schleswig is twinned with: * Hillingdon, England, United Kingdom * Mantes-la-Jolie, France *

Vejle Vejle () is a city in Denmark, in the southeast of the Jutland Peninsula at the head of Vejle Fjord, where the Vejle River and Grejs River and their valleys converge. It is the site of the councils of Vejle Municipality ('' kommune'') and the ...

, Denmark * Waren, Germany

Notable people

Herman Wilhelm Bissen (Christian Albrecht Jensen)

Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-548-0725-28, Nordafrika, Bernhard-Hermann Ramcke (cropped)

Valdemar I of Denmark Valdemar I (14 January 1131 – 12 May 1182), also known as Valdemar the Great ( da, Valdemar den Store), was King of Denmark from 1154 until his death in 1182. The reign of King Valdemar I saw the rise of Denmark, which reached its medieval ze ...

(1131–1182), King of Denmark from 1154 until his death in 1182. *

Christian III of Denmark Christian III (12 August 1503 – 1 January 1559) reigned as King of Denmark from 1534 and King of Norway from 1537 until his death in 1559. During his reign, Christian formed close ties between the church and the crown. He established ...

(1503–1559), King of Denmark * Adolf Frederick, King of Sweden (1710–1771), King of Sweden * Frederick August I, Duke of Oldenburg (1711–1785), nobleman * Asmus Jacob Carstens (1754–1798) a Danish-German painter, committed to German

Neoclassicism Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassicism ...

. * Princess Louise Caroline of Hesse-Kassel (1789–1867), matriarch of the

House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

Herman Wilhelm Bissen Herman Wilhelm Bissen (13 October 1798 – 10 March 1868) was a Danish sculptor. Biography Bissen was born at Schleswig in the Duchy of Schleswig. He was the son of Christian Gottlieb Wilhelm Bissen (1766-1847), a farmer, and Anna Margreth ...

(1798–1868), Danish sculptor *

Friedrich Bernhard Westphal Friedrich Bernhard Westphal (5 October 1803, Schleswig – 24 December 1844) was a German-Danish genre painter and illustrator. He was also known by his nickname Fritz Westphal. Life From 1821 to 1826 he studied at the Royal Danish Academy ...

(1803–1844), German-Danish genre painter and illustrator * Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Jessen (1821–1889), botanist *

Friedrich Krichauff Friedrich Edouard Heinrich Wulf Krichauff (15 December 1824 – 29 September 1904) was a politician in colonial South Australia. Krichauff was born in Schleswig, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, the son of Carl Krichauff, a judge of the Supreme Co ...

(1824–1904), politician in colonial South Australia * Victor Hensen (1835–1924), zoologist *

Ove H. Berg Ove H. Berg (December 20, 1840 – March 30, 1922) was an American politician and businessman. Born in the Duchy of Schleswig (then a Danish fief) Berg was educated in the public schools. He held what he later described as "several responsibl ...

(1840–1922), American politician and businessman, emigrated to the US in 1881 * Julius Friedrich Theodor Engel (1842–1926), judge and politician * Hans von Seeckt (1866–1936), military officer * Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau (1869–1928), politician and diplomat, first Foreign Minister of the Weimar Republic * Christian Hansen (1885–1972), general *

Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke (24 January 1889 – 4 July 1968) was a German general of paratroop forces during World War II. He led units in Crete, North Africa, Italy, the Soviet Union and France, and was captured by American forces at the conc ...

(1889–1968), General of paratroop forces *

Bernhard Rogge Bernhard Rogge (4 November 1899 – 29 June 1982) was a German naval officer who, during World War II, commanded a merchant raider. Later, he became a Konteradmiral in West Germany's navy. Rogge became a ''Vizeadmiral'' (vice-admiral) by the end ...

(1899–1982), naval officer * Bernd Kröplin (1944–2019), engineer and academic *

Ralf Rothmann Ralf Rothmann (born May 10, 1953 in Schleswig, Schleswig-Holstein) is a German novelist, poet, and dramatist. His novels have been translated into several languages with Knife Edge (''Messers Schneide'') and Young Light (''Junges Licht'') being ...

(born 1953), novelist * Thomas Heberer (born 1965), musician and composer * Ekkehard Wölk (born 1967), pianist, arranger and composer

Sport

* Jobst Hirscht (born 1948), athlete who competed mainly in the 100 metres * Hole Rößler (born 1949), modern pentathlete * Jan-Ingwer Callsen-Bracker (born 1984), footballer

References

External links

Official website
* * * * {{Authority control Towns in Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Flensburg