Something different for a change…
Skeletons of Wallenstein mercenaries found
Stralsund/Northeastern Germany. The scene back in 1628 must have been a dramatic one. Coming out of the Stralsund old town which was surrounded by a ring of fortifications Protestant mercenaries fiercely attacked the empirial troops under Wallenstein. His lansquenets (German term: Landsknechte; literally: “servants of the country” - FTG) -who had withdrawn to a trench just outside of the town- saw only one chance to save their lives. In panic they dropped their weapons and dashed to the rear. Two of them however recognized the threat too late. Still holding out in their trench they were ran over and killed by the mercs.
Almost 400 years after this surprising attack archaeologists recovered the remains of this bloody scenery. The lansquenets still lying face down are still wearing their leather boots, pieces of cloth cover parts of the bodies. Their weapons are lying unsortedly below and next to them: six spears embattled with iron pikes and maces, six swords and three muskets. The wooden butt ends of the fire arms are labelled with the initials “W.N.” and O.N.".
“A battle scene frozen in time” says Marlies Konze, chief of the archaeological team. “This finding reveals the dramatic of the Thirty Years’ War way better than any exhibition.” Especially the accumulation of the historical weaponry which was typical for this armed conflict is described as spectacular. Stralsund was one of the hardest-fougt towns during the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648). Wallenstein himself is said to have once mentioned: “Even if this town was fixated to the skies with seven locks and chains I’ll still get it down!” For him however the Hanseatic city remained impregnable. In mid 1628 -after a siege of several weeks- Wallenstein’s troops were forced to retreat. According to historical sources about 12,000 mercenaries lost their life in course of the battle.
Thee skeletons of the two lansquenets will now be sketched and documented, afterwards the mortal remains will be examined piece by piece. Close-by two massgraves with 10 and 25 skeletons were found lately. One of them can be related to the Thirty Years’ War, the other one seems to be more recent, supposedly from the Great Northern War (1700-1721).
Text: an-online.de
Photo: dpa
Additional info on Albrecht von Wallenstein: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallenstein
