page_title: Flensburg
section_title: Middle Ages
hierarchical_section_title: Flensburg / History / Middle Ages
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Nordertor im Schnee (Flensburg, Januar 2014)
context_page_description: Flensburg is an independent town in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the region of Southern Schleswig. After Kiel and Lübeck, it is the third largest town in Schleswig-Holstein.
  In May 1945, Flensburg was the seat of the last government of Nazi Germany, the so-called Flensburg government led by Karl Dönitz, which was in power from 1 May, the announcement of Hitler's death, for one week, until German armies surrendered and the town was occupied by Allied troops. The regime was officially dissolved on 23 May.
  The nearest larger towns are Kiel and Odense in Denmark.
  Flensburg's city centre lies about 7 km from the Danish border.
  In Germany, Flensburg is known for
  the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt with its Verkehrssünderkartei, where details are stored of traffic offences
  its beer Flensburger Pilsener, also called "Flens"
  the centre of the Danish national minority in Germany
  the greeting Moin Moin
  the large erotic mail-order companies Beate Uhse and Orion
  its handball team SG Flensburg-Handewitt
  the Naval Academy at Mürwik with its sail training ship Gorch Fock
context_section_description: Flensburg was founded at the latest by 1200 at the innermost end of the Flensburg Firth by Danish settlers, who were soon joined by German merchants. In 1284, its town rights were confirmed and the town quickly rose to become one of the most important in the Duchy of Schleswig. Unlike Holstein, however, Schleswig did not belong to the German Holy Roman Empire. Therefore, Flensburg was not a member of the Hanseatic League, but it did maintain contacts with this important trading network.
  Historians presume that there were several reasons for choosing this spot for settlement:
  Shelter from heavy winds
  Trade route between Holstein and North Jutland (namely the Hærvejen or Ochsenweg, a name for a series of roads between hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein and Jutland, possibly dating from the Bronze Age)
  The Angelnway: Trade route between North Frisia and Angeln
  A good herring fishery
  Herrings, especially kippered, were what brought about the blossoming of the town's trade in the Middle Ages. They were sent inland and to almost every European country.
  On 28 October 1412, Queen Margaret I of Denmark died of the Plague aboard a ship in Flensburg Harbour.
  From time to time plagues such as bubonic plague, caused mainly by rat fleas (Xenopsylla cheopis, a parasite found on brown rats), "red" dysentery and other scourges killed a great deal of Flensburg's population. Lepers were strictly isolated, namely at the St.-Jürgen-Hospital (Helligåndshospital, built before 1290), which lay far outside the town's gates, where the St. Jürgen Church is nowadays. About 1500, syphilis also appeared. The church hospital "Zum Heiligen Geist" ("To the Holy Ghost") stood in Große Straße, now Flensburg's pedestrian precinct.
  A Flensburger's everyday life was very hard, and the old roads and paths were bad. The main streets were neither paved nor lit at night. When the streets became really bad, the citizens had to make the dung-filled streets passable with wooden pathways. Only the few upper-class houses had windows. In 1485, a great fire struck Flensburg. Storm tides also beset the town occasionally. Every household in the town kept livestock in the house and the yard. Townsfolk furthermore had their own cowherds and a swineherd.
caption: The Nordertor, a town gate, in winter
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