The Danish flag allegedly falls from the sky during the Battle of Lyndanisse - June 15th, 1219

On this day in 1219, according to Danish legend, the country’s familiar red and white flag fell from the sky as a sign of God’s favor.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of I
Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class,
a show that flies the flag of history every day
of the week. I'm Gay Bluzier and today we're looking
at the legendary story of the Danibro, the national flag
of Denmark that supposedly appeared out of thin air. The

(00:28):
day was June twelve, nineteen. According to Danish legend, the
country's familiar red and white flag fell from the sky
as a sign of God's favor. The miracle banner arrived
just in the nick of time, too, as the Danes
were currently locked in a losing battle against the Estonians.

(00:50):
They rallied at the sight of the flag, though, and
the Danish army was ultimately victorious that day. The banner
that had changed their fortunes became known as at Dannebro,
the cloth or banner of the Danes. Soon after, it
was adopted as a royal symbol, then as a trading banner,
a military endsign, and later as the official flag of Denmark,

(01:14):
making it one of the oldest national flags in continuous use.
The popular legend of how the beloved flag came to
be begins in twelve nineteen with the Danish invasion of
present day Estonia. Danish King Valdemar the Second led the
campaign with a threefold purpose in mind. First, he hoped

(01:35):
to put an end at the pirate attacks that had
long plagued Denmark's otherwise thriving sea trade. Second, he sought
to bring northern Estonia under Danish rule, a claim that
even the Pope had recognized. And third, and perhaps most importantly,
he wished to convert the Estonians from their pagan religion
to Christianity. However, on the afternoon of June fifteens, it

(02:01):
didn't look like King Valdemar would achieve any of his goals.
The Estonians had caught the Danes off guard, attacking from
five different directions while the crusaders rested in the castle
they had constructed. This put the Danish army on the defensive,
and they quickly found themselves overwhelmed. Luckily, it wasn't just

(02:21):
soldiers on the battlefield that day. Archbishop sun Nissen had
accompanied King Valdemar on his crusade, and when he saw
how badly the Danes were faring, he raised his arms
to the sky and began to pray for some heavenly assistance. Suddenly,
a red lambskin banner bearing a white Nordic cross began

(02:43):
fluttering down from the sky. King Valdemar took up the flag,
waved it above his head, and urged his troops to
fight on. Now believing that God was on their side,
the Danish forces pressed forward with renewed strength, eventually pushed
back the Estonians and capturing the city of Lundanissa now

(03:04):
known as Talin today. The Danes victory established a foothold
in northern Estonia, and they went on to rule that
territory well into the fourteenth century, converting many Estonians to
Christianity in the process. As you probably guessed, there's little
historical evidence to support the story of divine intervention. King

(03:27):
Valdemar's crusade definitely happened, but his victory was due more
to the aid of nearby allies than it was to
a heavenly flag. In fact, contemporary accounts of the Battle
of Lundanissa don't mention a falling flag at all. That
detail didn't appear until the fifteenth century, when monks began

(03:48):
recording wildly different versions of the story. By the early
sixteenth century, even historians had begun, including the miracle of
the flag and their accounts of the battle. Still, none
of that's to say there wasn't a falling flag that day.
Red and white flags with crosses were frequently used by
various European crusaders between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries. The

(04:13):
motif was a symbol of Christianity rather than a specific
nation or people. With that in mind, it's entirely possible
that such a flag was there during the Battle of Lundanissa.
Maybe it even fell onto the battlefield from atop the
Danes castle and then provided some much needed inspiration to
the weary troops. Either way, the flag didn't become a

(04:36):
royal symbol of Denmark until around the mid fourteenth century,
and it wasn't viewed as a symbol of the entire
nation until the early nineteenth century. The flag of Denmark
may not have started out is inherently Danish, but it
certainly is today. In fact, the Danes used their national
flag in more ways than the people of most countries.

(04:58):
It's used not only for a fish a functions and ceremonies,
but for all kinds of occasions, including birthday parties, graduation ceremonies, funerals,
and even at Christmas time. It might sound kind of
random too, for instance, put little paper Danish flags on
the cake at an office birthday party. But for many

(05:18):
people in Denmark, displaying the flag is a way to
express festivity rather than nationalism. After all, the design of
the flag has been ingrained in Danish culture for centuries,
over eight hundred years, well before it was officially adopted
as a state symbol. As a result, it represents not
only the government or nation of Denmark, but the Danish

(05:40):
spirit the people in the history they share. According to
Torben kierskar Nielsen, an author and historian at Aalbor University
in Denmark, the different perceptions of the Danish flag are
what make it such an effective and compelling symbol. As
he said quote, everyone uses and interprets the Danish flag

(06:02):
in their own way. Paradoxically, this is what makes it
a uniting symbol. That's also why it doesn't matter if
the legend of the Danna bro is true or not.
The story and the sharing of it is now woven
into the fabric of the culture, just like the flag itself.

(06:23):
I'm Gade Lucier and hopefully you now know a little
more about history today than you did yesterday. You can
learn even more about history by following us on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram at t d i HC Show, and if
you have any comments or suggestions, you can always send
them my way at this Day at I heart media

(06:45):
dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing the show,
and thanks to you for listening. I'll see you back
here again tomorrow for another day in history class.