Trelleborg is a
localityUrban area is a common English translation of the Swedish term tätort. The official term in English, used by Statistics Sweden, is, however, locality. There are 1,940 localities in Sweden . They could be compared with census-designated places in the United States.A tätort in Sweden has a minimum of...
and the seat of
Trelleborg MunicipalityTrelleborg Municipality is the southernmost municipality of Sweden, in Skåne County. Its seat is located in the city Trelleborg....
,
Skåne CountySkåne County is the southernmost county or län, of Sweden, basically corresponding to the historical province Scania. It borders the counties of Halland, Kronoberg and Blekinge. The seat of residence for the Skåne Governor is the town of Malmö...
,
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
with 25,643 inhabitants in 2005. It is the southernmost town in Sweden.
The earliest written record of Trelleborg is from 1257, when Trelleborg and the adjacent city of
MalmöMalmö is the third most populous city in Sweden, situated in its southernmost province of Scania.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County. The administrative entity for most of the city is Malmö Municipality which has 290 007 inhabitants in eight different...
were presented as a wedding gift from the
DanishDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it is bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea...
royal family to the Swedish
Prince ValdemarValdemar Birgersson , English also Waldemar, King of Sweden 1250–1275/1288/1302, was the son of princess Ingeborg Eriksdotter of Sweden and Birger jarl, a.k.a. Birger Magnusson from the House of Bjelbo, who more or less ruled Sweden from 1248 under king Eric Ericsson the Lame, his brother-in-law...
. It was soon reconquered by the Danes, and it belonged to Denmark until 1658, when
ScaniaScania is a geographical region on the southernmost tip of the Scandinavian peninsula, an occupied province in the Kingdom of Sweden, before 1658 a province in the Kingdom of Denmark and part of the historical lands of Denmark.To the north, it borders the provinces Halland, Småland and Blekinge,...
was lost to Sweden by the
Treaty of RoskildeThe Treaty of Roskilde was concluded on 26 February 1658 during the Northern Wars between Frederick III of Denmark-Norway and Charles X Gustav of Sweden in the Danish city of Roskilde...
.
In medieval times, Trelleborg had an important part in
herringHerring are relatively small oily fish of the genus Clupea found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea. Two species of Clupea are currently recognized, the Atlantic herring and the Pacific herring , each of which may be...
fishing.
Trelleborg is a
localityUrban area is a common English translation of the Swedish term tätort. The official term in English, used by Statistics Sweden, is, however, locality. There are 1,940 localities in Sweden . They could be compared with census-designated places in the United States.A tätort in Sweden has a minimum of...
and the seat of
Trelleborg MunicipalityTrelleborg Municipality is the southernmost municipality of Sweden, in Skåne County. Its seat is located in the city Trelleborg....
,
Skåne CountySkåne County is the southernmost county or län, of Sweden, basically corresponding to the historical province Scania. It borders the counties of Halland, Kronoberg and Blekinge. The seat of residence for the Skåne Governor is the town of Malmö...
,
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
with 25,643 inhabitants in 2005. It is the southernmost town in Sweden.
History
The earliest written record of Trelleborg is from 1257, when Trelleborg and the adjacent city of
MalmöMalmö is the third most populous city in Sweden, situated in its southernmost province of Scania.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County. The administrative entity for most of the city is Malmö Municipality which has 290 007 inhabitants in eight different...
were presented as a wedding gift from the
DanishDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it is bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea...
royal family to the Swedish
Prince ValdemarValdemar Birgersson , English also Waldemar, King of Sweden 1250–1275/1288/1302, was the son of princess Ingeborg Eriksdotter of Sweden and Birger jarl, a.k.a. Birger Magnusson from the House of Bjelbo, who more or less ruled Sweden from 1248 under king Eric Ericsson the Lame, his brother-in-law...
. It was soon reconquered by the Danes, and it belonged to Denmark until 1658, when
ScaniaScania is a geographical region on the southernmost tip of the Scandinavian peninsula, an occupied province in the Kingdom of Sweden, before 1658 a province in the Kingdom of Denmark and part of the historical lands of Denmark.To the north, it borders the provinces Halland, Småland and Blekinge,...
was lost to Sweden by the
Treaty of RoskildeThe Treaty of Roskilde was concluded on 26 February 1658 during the Northern Wars between Frederick III of Denmark-Norway and Charles X Gustav of Sweden in the Danish city of Roskilde...
.
In medieval times, Trelleborg had an important part in
herringHerring are relatively small oily fish of the genus Clupea found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea. Two species of Clupea are currently recognized, the Atlantic herring and the Pacific herring , each of which may be...
fishing. At that time, this was conducted along the entire coast line of what is now Sweden, as the herring shoals were of such great numbers that fishermen were said to have been able to stand on the shore and land fish with nets. Trelleborg became an important merchant city as merchants from Germany came to trade herring. In 1619 following a devastating fire, the Danish King decided that one merchant city on the coast was sufficient and revoked Trelleborg's status as a merchant city in order to favour Malmö.
Not until 1840 was Trelleborg allowed to become a merchant city, and not until 1867 it regained its rights as a city of Sweden. Mostly this was thanks to the work of a few stubborn men, who had continuously been petitioning the Swedish
RiksdagThe Riksdag is the national legislative assembly of Sweden. The riksdag is a unicameral assembly with 349 members , who are elected on a proportional basis to serve fixed terms of four years...
with these requests since 1658. The
local government reformThe municipalities of Sweden are the local government entities of Sweden. The current 290 municipalities are organized into 21 counties...
of 1971 made Trelleborg the seat of
Trelleborg MunicipalityTrelleborg Municipality is the southernmost municipality of Sweden, in Skåne County. Its seat is located in the city Trelleborg....
, covering both rural and urban areas.
The name
The first written record of the name is from 1291,
Threlæburgh. The name is found in many places in
ScandinaviaScandinavia is a geographical region in northern Europe that includes, and is named after, the Scanian Province. It consists of the kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark...
.
Borg means
castle or
stronghold and
träl can be
thrallThrall was the term for a slave in Scandinavian culture during the Viking Age. They were the lowest in the social order and usually provided unskilled labor during the Viking era. -Background:...
, but can also refer to the leaning poles on the outside of the
medieval Viking stronghold. Remains of the original stronghold were excavated in 1988.
Today
At the end of the 19th century, Trelleborg became an industrial town and the foundation of modern Trelleborg has largely been created by a few large companies; most notably
Trelleborg IndustriesTrelleborg AB is a global industrial company based in the town Trelleborg in southern Sweden, producing rubber products. It has a total of 23,000 employees worldwide....
and the ferry company and business related to the seaport. Much of it has been the work of the influential businessman Johan Kock. Other important industries he established were
Akzo Nobel Inks, Today called Flint Group Sweden, manufacturing printing inks (established as
Gleitzman Industries in the 1890s), and DUX, who make beds. Later in the 1950s, Perstorp (Flooring) Industries was established in Trelleborg and it manufactures flooring boards and other plastic material. Trelleborg continues to be a working-class oriented city and is politically a traditional stronghold for the
Swedish Social Democratic PartyThe Swedish Social Democratic Party, , contests elections as 'Labour' Party - Social Democrats' , commonly referred to just as 'the Social Democrats' or colloquially 'the Socials' ; is the oldest and largest political party in Sweden...
. However, since the latest elections in 2006 the Social Democratic Party is in opposition in the municipality.
It is today often visited by people travelling from Sweden to
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
because of the ferries to
RostockRostock is the largest city in the north German state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Rostock is located on the Warnow river; the quarter of Warnemünde 12 km north of the city centre lies directly on the coast of the Baltic Sea.-Geography:Rostock is located nearly centrally on...
,
SassnitzSassnitz is a town on the Jasmund peninsula, Rügen Island, in the Federal State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. The population in 12/31/2006 was 10,747....
and
LübeckThe Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage is on UNESCO's list of World...
-
TravemündeTravemünde is a borough of Lübeck, Germany, located at the mouth of river Trave in Lübeck Bay. Travemünde arose out of a stronghold placed here by Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony, in the 12th century to guard the mouth of the Trave, and the Danes subsequently strengthened it...
in Germany. These ferries began sailing on May 1, 1897 with the Sassnitz line; the route to Travemünde was established in 1962, while the line to the former East German city Rostock was inaugurated after the fall of the
Berlin Wall|-||-||-||-||}The Berlin Wall was a physical barrier erected by the German Democratic Republic completely encircling West Berlin, separating it from East Germany, including East Berlin. The longer inner German border demarcated the border between East and West Germany...
in 1989. The ferries carry both passengers on one-day journeys, cars with vacationing families, and heavy trucks on their way through Europe. In April 1917, Lenin arrived with the ferry from Sassnitz to Trelleborg on his way from exile back to
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
to lead the
RevolutionTheOctober Revolution , also known as the Soviet Revolution or Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution. It began with an armed insurrection in Petrograd traditionally dated to 25 October 1917 Julian calendar...
.
Today Trelleborg has the second largest seaport of Sweden, behind
GothenburgGothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest amongst the Nordic countries. Situated on the south-west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 502,833 with 622,287 in the urban area and total of 911,406 inhabitants in the metropolitan area.The City of...
. Every year it transports more than 10 million metric tonnes of cargo.
Overlooking the harbour of
SmygehukSmygehuk is a harbour and fishing village near Trelleborg in Skåne, Sweden. It's most known for being the southernmost point of Sweden and the Scandinavian Peninsula . To the west of the harbour is Smygehuk Lighthouse and Smygehuk Hostel....
near Trelleborg is a statue of a nude woman that was installed in 1930.
Uma ThurmanUma Karuna Thurman is an American actress. She has performed predominantly in leading roles in a variety of films, ranging from romantic comedies and dramas to science fiction and action thrillers. She is best known for her work under the direction of Quentin Tarantino...
's grandmother, the mother of
Nena von SchlebrüggeBirgitte Caroline 'Nena' von Schlebrügge was a fashion model in the 1950s and 1960s and is now a psychotherapist. She is the mother of actress Uma Thurman....
, was the model for this statue.
See also
- Chronicle of the Expulsion of the Grayfriars#Chapter 9 Concerning the Friary in Trelleborg
External links