Treaty of Knäred

Historisk sevärdhet

The Treaty of Knäred (Danish: Freden i Knærød, Swedish: Freden i Knäred) was signed on January 20th 1613 and ended the Kalmar War (1611-1613) between Denmark and Sweden.The War took place in order to dominate the Baltic Sea, the southern part of the Scandinavian Peninsula and the northern coast of Norway (both of which belonged to Denmark). The war resulted in victory for Denmark. Danish troops, who began a siege of the Swedish city and fortress of Kalmar in the spring of 1611, captured it in August 1611, and in May 1612 they captured Älvsborg, the most important Swedish fortress and only Swedish port at that time in the Kattegat StraitsThe Treaty is named after the village of Knäred in Halland, where it was signed. As a result of the Treaty, Sweden had to pay the Älvsborg Ransom of one million Rixdollars for the return of the fortress of Älvsborg. The ransom was paid by 1619.A memorial cenotaph was raised in 1925 by Halland's museum at Sjöared between Knäred and Markaryd