Sarophas Posted June 15, 2022 Posted June 15, 2022 On this day in 1219 - 803 years ago, Dannebrog (the danish flag) descended from the sky during the battle of Lyndanisse (modern day Tallinn). According to the sources, King Valdemar had rallied his vassals and gathered a great army. No less than 1500 longships farried the crusaders to Estonia Upon landing, the crusaders began contructing a castle, the so called "Dane Castle" or Taani-linn (Tallinn) in Estonian. During the construction, the crusaders were met by many negotiators, whose task it was to stall construction, whilst the Estonians could muster an army of their own. During the evening of June 15. 1219 - just after supper, Estonian forces began a surprise assault from five directions. Chaos and panic struck and the crusaders fled from the attackers. At the point when all seemed lost, a flag descended from the sky and a voice promised the danes victory if they wielded it, and so it came to be. Or so the story goes.. In reality it was the kings wendish ally, Vitslav I, Prince of Rügen who managed to lead the counter-attack, that changed the tide of the battle. The oldest written records of this myth date to the early 1500's and seem to originate from two different sources. The other one mentioning the battle of Felinn (modern day Viljandi, Estonia) in 1208 during a different crusading campagin. The myth closely resembles other myths of divine intervention and divine legitimacy, noticeably that of Constantine the Great. According to this story, the sign of the cross appeared in the sky alongside a voice, proclaiming the famous phrase "In hoc signo vinces" meaning "In this sign thou shalt conquer". For a king, this story definitely has a better ring to it. I should also mention that some do consider the Wendish or Baltic Crusades a genocide. I thought it was worth mentioning, as we tend to look at history with a cultural or national bias. The whole Dannebrog myth really embodies this. I do find the story to be great and inspring and healthy for our national identity, but with all things, we owe it to ourselves to be honest and acknowledge the grim history of this period and the part our ancestors played in it. Quote
Sarophas Posted June 17, 2022 Author Posted June 17, 2022 3 hours ago, MontyMatte said: Cool Moc. Sweet trees! Thanks mate Quote
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