The story of the citadel of Karlshamn is not only the story of a provisional fortification incorporated for some 200 years in the Swedish coastal defense, but is also the story of the Danish province  of Blekinge and its incorporation in the expanding  Swedish kingdom and the oncoming period of Sweden as a great power and her desire to become dominum maris Balticum — The conquerer of the Baltic.

Europe was shaken by the Thirty Years War and Sweden, at this time a genuine military state, made use of this chaos. The Danish dominance in the Baltic was broken

once and for all through the Peace of Roskilde. Sweden, the great power, was at her largest.

Blekinge, a borderland

Blekinge was at this time a borderland. constantly threatened by the affliction of war. Both Swedish and Danish armies ravaged throughout the province. The farmers of the borderland did not willingly take part in the conflicts. The borderers made peace, so called ’farmers’ peace” and promised one another to trade freely and not to follow their masters farther than the border.

The trade along the border was lively. Timber, meat products, oxen and iron were transported from southern Småland down to the harbours in Blekinge. Salt, cloth, grain, fish, beer and wine were transported in the opposite direction.

Bodekull

Bodekull was at all events in the early sixteenth century a frequently used harbour and a place suitable for shipbuilding. Its hinterland extended far into Småland and the commerce was lively. Around 1640 the ”Hollandare route” was built and became an important trade route for the Swedish iron manufacturers in southern Småland.

”Delimit some fortlets then and a town”

The ink on the peace treaty of Roskilde had hardly dried before Car1 X Gustav sent Erik Dahlbergh, at that time a lieutenant general, to Blekinge and Bodekull. After exploring the ground which the king intended to turn into the region's trade centre, including a naval port and a naval dockyard, he was given an order to within a few weeks ”delimit some fortlets then and a town” which was to be founded there.

Boön

Dahlberg drew the ”Old fortlet” on Boön and drafted a fortlet on Ortholmen. His project scheme of a town plan for Bodekull has not been preserved but has probably underlain today's simple grid plan.

Bodekull was granted a town charter in 1664 and was given the name of Karlshamn in 1666. The fortlet of Boön was built provisionally during the summer of 1659 by committed dayworkers from the parish of Asarum and soldiers from the regiment in Kalmar. They worked day and night carrying soil, moving rocks and building houses.

Erik Dahlbergh

Erik Jönsson, knighted Dahlbergh, was among those who made a career within the new bureaucracy of powerful Sweden. Erik Dahlbergh was a talented man. He was a bureaucrate, an artist, an architect and an officer.

In large volumes written in copper- plate he glorified the king's feats. He published the magnificent work Svecia Antiqua et Hodierna — The former and present Sweden where the powerful country of Sweden is portrayed and also glorified. He designed the town plans for Gothenburg, Karlskrona and most likely Karlshamn. He designed forts, utility buildings and churches.

An occupied Blekinge

A deliberate try to make Scania a part of Sweden did not start until after the year of 1658. However, people soon became aware of the fact that new masters ruled. The demands on the inhabitants for taxes and duties got harder and the bailiffs gave them a rough time. On top of it all economy and trade dropped. The people of the occupied landscapes did not find it difficult to take sides when an army 15 0D0 thousand strong. disembarked south of the town of Helsingborg and the ”Scanian War” was a fact.

Frisholmen

When the Danes attacked people realized that the fortlet on Boön had to be moved. Dahlbergh chose Frisholmen. During a few hectic summer months in 1675 a provisional fortlet was built and two block-houses and a wall with four canon batteries facing the north-west where put in order. 

The citadel has had sixteen batteries. Only two of these were built of stone and could carry the heaviest canons. The rest was made out of wood and during long periods they could not be used as the risk of them collapsing was too great. The size of a canon was measured in pounds. A pound is about the equivalent of half a kilo. The largest canons measured 24 pounds and could hurl shells and weights weighing about 12 kilos.

The citadel during the 1740.

After the Conclusion of Peace in 1679 the ramparts were reinforced and during the Great Nordic War the fortlet beat off a Danish attack against Karlshamn. After a period of disrepair the fortlet was modernized and an outer wall was built around the whole island.

During the 1740‘ the citadel was fully expanded and contained a lot of buildings.

The Scanian War

In 1676 after a short siege the Danes captured Frisholmen. The fortlet became an important base for the independent marksmen of Blekinge. The fortune of war turned as it often does. lt did not take long until the fortlets were besieged and then surrendered. The Danish soldiers where forced off onto long murderous marches. The garrison in Karlshamn had to march to Röros in Norway. Two thirds of them died during the march.

The people of Blekinge who were inside the fortlets were killed. In Karlshamn a hundred or so were hung, shot, decapitated or torn to pieces.

Johan Gyllenstierna led the Swedish victory march through Blekinge and Scania, the ”oathdemand” march. In each parish people were forced to declare in writing their loyalty towards the Swedish king. If this assurance was not signed every tenth inhabitant would be killed.

The people of Blekinge become Swedes

The late seventeenth century was a peaceful period in the history of Sweden. Efforts were focused on the inner organisation and the strengthening of the country. In Blekinge a deliberate long-term plan concerning the turning of the people into Swedes was carried through. Every public official had to speak Swedish, sermons and the teaching of the catechism was to be held in Swedish. Children and youths were groups worth investing in and ABC-books in Swedish were distributed. 

”This resulted in Blekinge Swedes - encumbered with a certain provincial perculiarity concerning nature and dialect.”

The last governor

The last governor of the citadel was captain Carl Ludvig Carlström. He directed the garrison from 1851 to 1864 through written orders from the town to the officer in command of the garisson at the citadel.

The manning consisted of a corpral, twelve men from the regiment and four boatswains.

During this period the houses were in disrepair and undermined by rats. Firewood and light only existed from October to April and even then very scantily. It was a nasty place.

On December the 31" 1864 it was decided that the citadel was to be wound.

The garrison had only four men. One escaped in November and one died just before the new  year. The commanding officer and his two soldiers lowered the flag at 14.52 to the tones of a parade march played by the towns sharpshooter corps.

In 1901 the town of Karlshamn bought the citadel and Boön from the state for 25 000 kr. The citadel of Karlshamn is classed as an ancient monument and therefore protected by the law concerning ancient monuments. 

The county administrative board, the town of Karlshamn and Blekinge county museum are responsible for the care and restoration of the citadel. Since the end of the 1980’a large restoration project has been going on.

Two non-profit organisations have taken a special interest in

the citadel. One of them is the order of the Castellaner, the other is Lions Club in Karlshamn. The citadel church is a result of this interest. It was designed in 1742 but could not be built until 1975.

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