Duchy of Schleswig - History

History

Roman sources place the homeland of the Jute tribe north of the river Eider and that of the Angles to its south who in turn abutted the neighbouring Saxons. Towards the end of the Early Middle Ages, Schleswig formed part of the historical Lands of Denmark as Denmark unified out of a number of petty chiefdoms in the 8th to 10th centuries (The heyday of the Viking incursions).

During the early Viking Age, Haithabu - Scandinavia's biggest trading centre - was located in this region, which is also the location of the interlocking fortifications known as the Danewerk. Its construction, and in particular its great expansion around 737, has been interpreted as an indication of the emergence of a unified Danish state.

In May 1931 scientists of the National Museum of Denmark announced the finding of eighteen Viking graves with the remains of eighteen men in them. The discovery came during excavations in Schleswig. The skeletons indicated that the men were bigger proportioned than twentieth-century Danish men. Each of the graves was laid out from east to west. Researchers surmised that the bodies were entombed in wooden coffins originally, but only the iron nails remained.

During the 10th century, ownership over the region between the Eider River and the Danevirke became a source of dispute between the Holy Roman Empire and Denmark, resulting in several wars. In 974, Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor concluded a successful campaign by erecting a fortress, which was razed to the ground by Sweyn Forkbeard in 983.

By the early Middle Ages the population of Schleswig consisted of Danes to the north of Danevirke and Schlei and on the peninsula Schwansen, North Frisians on the west coast below a line slighly south of the present border and on the islands, and Saxon (or Low German) in the far South. During the 14th century the population on Schwansen began to speak German, but otherwise the ethnic borders remained remarkably stable until around 1800 with the exception of the population in the towns that became increasingly German from the 14th century onwards.