Øksnebjergstenen – In Memory of the Count’s Feud
On the route between Assens and Glamsbjerg, you will pass the Øksnebjerg Stone. The Øksnebjerg Stone was erected in memory of the Battle of Øksnebjerg during the Count’s Feud in 1535.
The inscription on the stone reads:
"Here struck Johan Rantzau’s lightning, drove the Hanseatic power out of Funen. At the same moment, Papism was abolished on Nordic soil."
"Here struck Johan Rantzau’s lightning, drove the Hanseatic power out of Funen. At the same moment, Papism was abolished on Nordic soil."
The Count’s Feud was a civil war that ravaged Denmark from 1534 to 1536. It took place during the Reformation uprising, and the end of the civil war is considered the beginning of the Reformation in Denmark. The feud is named after the Protestant Count Christopher of Oldenburg, who supported Christian II, a Catholic king deposed in 1523.
After the death of King Frederick I in 1533, the Jutland nobility proclaimed his son, Duke Christian of Gottorp, as king under the name Christian III. Count Christopher organized a rebellion against the new king, demanding the release of Christian II. Supported by Lübeck and troops from Oldenburg and Mecklenburg, parts of the Zealand and Scania nobility rose up along with Copenhagen and Malmö. Fighting broke out in 1534, when a privateer captain, formerly in Christian II’s service, Skipper Clement, at Count Christopher’s urging, rallied peasants in Vendsyssel and northern Jutland against the nobility. The main base of the uprising became Aalborg, and many manors were burned in northern and western Jutland.
Christian III secured peace with Lübeck, freeing large troop forces to fight the rebels. Under Johan Rantzau’s leadership, royal troops pursued the peasants to Aalborg, where they had fortified themselves behind the city walls under Skipper Clement’s command. On December 18, Rantzau’s forces stormed the city, which fell. Skipper Clement escaped badly wounded but was later recognized, sentenced, and executed in 1536.
After the victory at Aalborg, Rantzau moved his troops to Funen, and on June 11, 1535, the Battle of Øksnebjerg took place, where the remnants of Count Christopher’s army were decisively defeated.
Upon capitulation, Count Christopher was exiled, and with Christian III’s entry into Copenhagen, the Count’s Feud was over.
