New Älvsborg
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|
New Älvsborg | |
---|---|
Nya Älvsborg | |
Kingdom of Sweden | |
In use | 1657–1869 |
Materials | Granite, brick |
Battles/wars | Torstenson War, Scanian War, Great Northern War (Battles at Göta Älv), Theatre War |
New Älvsborg, so-called to distinguish it from the earlier fortress at
History
Background
During the
At the time, the main commercial settlement in the area was further upriver, at
Construction
By this time it had become clear that the mediaeval castle at
In May 1645, during the Torstenson War, the Danish admiral Ove Gjedde launched an attack on Gothenburg with 20 ships, but the city was successfully defended by a Dutch squadron in Swedish service commanded by Martin Thyssens, who was subsequently ennobled as Lord Anckarhjelm.[5]
The fact that a Danish squadron had managed to sail without difficulty all the way up to Gothenburg led to the proposal for a fortress on Kyrkogårdsholmen to be revived in 1652. In 1653 the government of Axel Oxenstierna approved the plans for this 'New Älvsborg', and construction work began the same year.[6]
Bad weather and lack of money meant that progress was initially slow,
In 1660, the decision was made to decommission Old Älvsborg, and much of the old castle's equipment and building materials were subsequently transferred to Nya Älvsborg, including the bells and pulpit from the chapel.[9]
Nya Älvsborg first saw action during the
Great Northern War
See main article: Battles at Göta Älv
During the final few years of the
As a result, there were frequent naval actions in and around the mouth of the Göta Älv during the years 1716–9. However, in general the Danish-Norwegian ships avoided coming too close to Nya Älvsborg, and so it was rarely involved in the fighting directly.
The exception to this was in the summer of 1719, when Tordenskjold decided to make a direct assault on Nya Älvsborg. Capturing an island fortress of this sort would be a difficult undertaking, but if it could be achieved then it would make the Göta Älv impassable to Swedish traffic at a single stroke. On July 19 and 20, Tordenskjold gathered his forces in the Gothenburg Archipelago, comprising seven
New Älvsborg had at this time a garrison of around 360 men. These men comprised two companies of the Älvsborg Regiment, a company of the Saxon Infantry Regiment, and the fortress's artillery detachment. The commander of the garrison was Johan Abraham Lillie.[13] The Swedish artillery amounted to around 90 pieces, varying in calibre and including both mortars and howitzers were also used.[14]
On July 21, Tordenskjold set his plan in motion. Protected by the Danish-Norwegian warships, the floating batteries approached Nya Älvsborg and began to bombard it, while the barges landed troops and mortars on the Aspholmar, a string of islets in the river directly to the north of Kyrkogårdsholmen.
From the Aspholmar, the Danish-Norwegian artillery could subject New Älvsborg to a heavy bombardment. The fortress suffered continuous fire for three days without pause, causing significant damage.[15] Lillie nevertheless refused to surrender, responding to the Danish-Norwegian calls for surrender with that he "would rather be brought back to Gothenburg as a dead Lillie than as a living Danckwardt", referring to the late Henrich Danckwardt, who had been convicted of cowardice by a Swedish court-martial for surrendering Marstrand and executed.[16]
On 24 July, troops of the Skaraborg Regiment commanded by Georg Bogislaus Staël von Holstein managed to set up cannons on the south side of Hisingen, from which they could begin counter-battery fire against the Danish-Norwegian mortars in Aspholmarna.[17] The Danish-Norwegian batteries were damaged but remained in operation. However, shortly thereafter three Swedish galleys from Nya Varvet, the Carolus, Wrede and the Lucretia, managed to mount a seaborne attack on the Aspholmarna batteries, capturing four mortars, 60 bombs and three barrels of gunpowder.[18] This rendered the siege untenable, and the Danish-Norwegian forces withdrew shortly thereafter. Swedish casualties during the siege amounted to 30 dead and 70 wounded, Captain Lillie himself being among the latter. 60 Danish-Norwegians died and 73 were wounded.[19]
Since 1720
Over the course of the eighteenth century, the defences at New Älvsborg were increasingly neglected. The fortress was placed on alert during the 1788-9
Most of New Älvsborg's guns were removed in the 1830s, with the exception of a few saluting pieces, and with that the fortress lost its military function and became a largely ceremonial installation. A custom arose whereby each ship passing Nya Älvsborg was obliged to make a small gift to the commander of the garrison, often a bottle of wine or spirits; as such this posting became highly coveted, and was generally given to retired army officers as a sort of sinecure.[22]
In 1868 the Army Administration took the decision to decommission Nya Älvsborg altogether.[23] On 22 April 1869 it was officially removed from the list of royal fortresses, and on 1 May the garrison left for the final time.[24]
The Commandant's House was converted into an inn in 1881,.[25] Today New Älvsborg is a listed building (byggnadsminne) and a popular tourist attraction.[26]
See also
References
- ^ Both Old Älvsborg and New Älvsborg must also be distinguished from a third fortified site, Älvsborg Fortress.
- ^ The name form Kjyrckiegår[dz] Holmen is attested from 1640, and one can assume that at one time there was a graveyard on the island. Källa: Ortnamnen i Göteborgs och Bohus län II : ortnamnen på Göteborgs Stads område (och i Tuve socken) jämte gårds- och kulturhistoriska anteckningar, (Tredje häftet), Hjalmar Lindroth, Institutet för ortnamns- och dialektforskning vid Göteborgs Högskola, Elanders Boktryckeri, Göteborg 1929, s. 142
- ^ ISBN 3-8258-7755-8.
- ^ Törnquist 2007, p. 144
- ^ Skarback 1992, p. 95
- ^ Nyström 1960, pp. 1–4 ff
- ^ Ljungberg 1924, p. 76
- ^ Isacson 2002, p. 38
- ^ Gyllencreutz, A. (1946). Älvsborg - några drag ur dess historia. Sjöfartsmuseet i Göteborg. p. 50.
- ^ Göteborgs försvar: 1925, red. Sune Bergelin, Måns Mannerfelt, utgiven av Föreningen för Göteborgs försvar, Göteborg 1925, s. 25, "Gyldenlövefejden och Göteborg", av Carl A. Tiselius.
- ^ Bothén 1980, p. 8
- ^ Kuylenstierna 1899, pp. 88–89
- ^ Berättelser ur Göteborgs Historia under Frihetstiden, 1719-1772, Hugo Fröding, Göteborg 1919, p. 32ff
- ^ Ljungberg 1924, p. 127
- ^ Kuylenstierna 1899, p. 90
- ^ Kuylenstierna 1899, pp. 80–81
- ^ Göteborgs försvar: 1917, red. Måns Mannerfelt, utgiven av Föreningen för Göteborgs försvar, Göteborg 1917, s. 30
- ^ Feiff 1988, p. 9
- ^ Feiff 1988, p. 10
- ^ Gabrielsson med flera (2004), s. 70, 79
- ^ Gabrielsson med flera (2004), s. 100f
- ^ Gyllencreutz, A. (1946). Älvsborg - några drag ur dess historia. Sjöfartsmuseet i Göteborg. p. 56.
- ^ Ljungberg 1924, pp. 176–177
- ^ Feiff (1988), s. 4
- ^ Cederblad (1884), p. 266
- ^ Törnquist 2007, p. 146
Sources
- Bothén, Anders (1980). Nya Älvsborg: Fästning. Göteborg: Västkustens turistråd.*Isacson, Claes-Göran (2002). Karl X Gustavs krig : fälttågen i Polen, Tyskland, Baltikum, Danmark och Sverige 1655-1660. Lund: Historiska media. ISBN 91-89442-57-1.
- Feiff, Christer (1988). Att Nya Älvsborg till sista blodsdroppen förswara. Mölndals Bokförlag. ISBN 91-7970-280-5.
- Feiff, Christer (2004). Fästningsfångarna på Nya Älvsborg. Mölndal: Mölndals bokförl. ISBN 91-631-5591-5.
- Gulowsen, I. (1906). Gyldenløvefeiden 1675-1679. Christiania.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Kuylenstierna, Oswald (1899). Striderna vid Göta älfs mynning åren 1717 och 1719. Stockholm: Norstedt.
- Ljungberg, Valdemar (1924). Göteborgs befästningar och garnison. Skrifter utgivna till Göteborgs stads trehundraårsjubileum genom jubileumsutställningens publikationskommitté, 99-0061987-0 ; 8. Göteborg: Göteborgs litografiska AB.
- Nyström, Lars (1960). Ny Elfsborg : historik över Ny Elfsborgs f.d. fästning. Göteborg: Repro-print.
- Skarback, Sören (1992). Göteborg på 1600-talet. Göteborg: Tre böcker. ISBN 91-7029-103-9.
- Törnquist, Leif (2007). Svenska borgar och fästningar : en historisk reseguide. Stockholm: Medströms. ISBN 978-91-7329-001-2.
- Gyllencreutz, A. (1946). Älvsborg - några drag ur dess historia. Sjöfartsmuseet i Göteborg.