Didn’t they say, “Rather dead than a slave”? That was the motto of the Stedinger farmers. We are standing near Altenesch. It was once the scene of a bloody battle. It’s now part of Lemwerder in the Wesermarsch district.
The Schlacht bei Altenesch or Battle of Altenesch was the final clash of the Stedinger War. The battle took place on May 27, 1234. Here, about 2,000 farmers faced around 8,000 crusaders. Bremen Archbishop Gerhard II led the crusaders. The Battle of Altenesch was the only crusade on German soil.
Let’s step back a bit. Who were these Stedingers? Around 1160, the Archbishop of Bremen settled farmers west of the city. Their job was to drain and embank the land. These farmers called themselves Stedinger or riverside residents. They received financial and legal concessions for their hard work. A kind of peasant republic developed. Even the emperor and pope respected it as allies.
The Stedinger achieved military successes. This made them confident enough to defy the archbishop. Bremen’s Archbishop Gerhard II wanted to control the marsh residents. He planned to make them dependent through higher taxes. The peasants refused to pay. To justify a war, Gerhard II accused the Stedingers of heresy to Pope Gregory IX in Rome. He claimed they killed priests and monks. He said they robbed and burned churches and monasteries. He also accused them of pagan magic using wax images. The Pope then issued a crusade bull. It allowed the Stedingers to be forced from their religious errors.
Back to the Schlacht bei Altenesch. The farmers were led by Thammo von Huntorp, Detmar tom Dyk, and Bolko von Bardenfleth. They were crushed. The Counts of Oldenburg took advantage of the defeat. They expropriated the farms and divided them among themselves. Peasant liberties were lost.
The Schlacht bei Altenesch was forgotten for 600 years. Pastor Gerhard Steinfeld initiated the erection of a black obelisk. It honored Steding. A century later, the National Socialists found the peasant struggle useful. In 1934, they used the 700th anniversary for an open-air performance. It was August Hinrichs’ play “De Stedinge.” 20,000 spectators in 16 special trains saw the performance. Three hundred actors performed in a specially built village near Altenesch. Today, the Altenesch Heimatverein maintains the memory of the battle.
The St.-Gallus-Kirche stands on the battlefield. It was consecrated in 1299. Since 1834, a cast-iron obelisk on Landstrasse 875 commemorates the battle. It is the St. Veit monument. In Bremen-Huchting, the streets Bardenfleth-, Huntorp- and Tom-Dyk-Straße remind us of the Stedinger leaders. The street Stedingsehre commemorates the Schlacht bei Altenesch.