The battle of Gata Forest 1365

[Susofrick]

I'm planning on buildig a very small and humble diorama about this battle. In English it would be called the battle of Street Forest, but that sounds even more strange. Could call it The Battle of the Three Kings too, since it was fought by the German duke Albrecht of Mecklenburg (who had been chosen as king of Sweden by some noblemen) (and brother-in-law to Magnus), and the Swedish king Magnus (inherited the crown) and his son Håkan, king of Norway. Albrecht won and Magnus became prisoner and later pirate. It was fought just a couple of kilometers east of my town and it is pretty difficult to find any facts about it, even which time of year it was fought. Found a page where it says March the 5th, so I'll try to do something like that (I hope). Will probably take some time, but I hope I'll finish before the 700-years anniversary.

Here are the figures, and as you can see I plan to mix Airfix and Strelets. Italeri was to clean-cut and Zvezda just wasn't in the collection yet.


And here are two guys that came to close to one of my guitars. Fatal contact with a G-string.

[Martin]

Hi Suso,

Nice collection of figures you have there.
And you chose a not-well-known battle.
Hope to see more pics (of painted figures, of course) from you.
One question runs through our minds: who is the man in the newspaper?
He has a vague familiar face..............

[Peter]

I'll be there in 2065!, I'll be there!!

But in the mean while show us now and then your progression!

Greetings Peter

[ColeF]

I always knew the guitar would kill someone.

[Susofrick]

The man in the newspaper is a local soccer-, hockey-, and bandycoach. Yes he did all three sports. And he was huge according to the local (very local) newspaper. He coached from the 30s until the 60s, but his name has slipped my mind (not very interested in sports). I think he looks like any middleaged dude from the 50s/60s. And, yes, you will see them painted and based. Hopefully before the 700-years anniversary. And at least it's not my playing that killed them (I think).

[Benno]

I'm excited how the end result looks like.

[T. Dürrschmidt]

Very interesting projekt. Never heard about this battle.

[Susofrick]

Here is some more info on the participants, though this particular battle isn't mentioned:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_IV_of_Sweden

and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haakon_VI_of_Norway

and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_of_Sweden

and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valdemar_IV_of_Denmark

but I haven't planned to bring any of those kings into the diorama.

[Adam]

Hi Suso, we also use Gate or Gate for Street names in Northern England (we are proud of our viking heritage as it makes us better than the southerners ) Does it mean street literally in the swedish? where was the battle? Was it a forest track or route? IT might translate better as the Battle of Forest Way?

[Susofrick]

Gata is usually a street in a town or village. Way (väg in Swedish) is more like a road. And the forest is called Gata (or Gaatha in old documents) (outside the very little village Hummelsta (=Bumble Bee Town ), why I don't know. The battle was fought in and around the forest and Albrechts soldiers caught king Magnus on the border between Uppland and Västmanland at Sagån ((and this is getting ridicolous, but fun)=Fairy Tale Creek). If you travel on road E-18 to Stockholm you'll pass this forest. Sometimes names can't be translated. If I find the time I can try to check up on the history of the name.

[T. Dürrschmidt]

Yes I know the problem with untranslateable names. In my area there are many villages and towns with melodic names, which sound also good for foreign people. Best examples are Rosenberg or Nuremberg. But we have also "Kirchenreinbach" (Churchcleancreek), Neidstein (Grudgestone - this is the Castle Nicolas Cage bought two years ago - 1 Mile away from our village) and last but not least Kotzheim (Vomithome)

[Martin]

Aaah,
That is why I never heard of Hummelsta.
On holidays We normally come from the south-west over the E4 to Stockholm so we don't come near this small town (1005 inhabitants in 2005).

[Susofrick]

Checked up the OLD meaning of gata. And it means opening. The same as the English gate. And the forest was pretty open. Have to go there and take some pics so I have something to work on. See what kind of trees and so on. Or I'll just take one of my old dogwalks (new dog planned for this spring ). And Hummelsta is famous for it's huge (very huge) candy-store. Enköping (closest town) is famous for it's parks. And Martin is checking up on things.

[Adam]

Cool- we still retain gate over th ewhole country but I only know of words like gate being used in streets in places like York (Ousegate, Coppergate etc) and we also have words like Snicket and Ginnel in northern england for small lanes, I know they descend from forms of old norse but wonder if they have any modern scandinavian form.

BTW0 Grudgestone sounds cool as hell, would make a great band name!

[MABO]

In my area there are many villages and towns with melodic names

Hey Thomas, you forget the famous three abdomen cities

Darmstadt Intestinaltown
Pforzheim Farthome
Hodenhagen Testicelhagen

[MABO]

I have to learn to quote

[Susofrick]

Me to have to learn that quote-thingy , but! You Germans have funny names . And snicket and ginnel is not used in Sweden. Sounds Danish to me, but you had many Danes in your part of the country, Adam (as I think you are very aware of, thinking of your profession). Fun discussion and I'm going to take pictures of the battlefield late February (just a forest and some fields, but I want something to work with).

[Susofrick]

Been painting some of the figures. Some work left.

[Susofrick]

Some small progress. Painted skin on the first figs and the first base (of 4 planned) is made. The base is a little flat, but I don't think it will matter in the end.

[Fenton]

Hi Suso, we also use Gate or Gate for Street names in Northern England (we are proud of our viking heritage as it makes us better than the southerners ) Does it mean street literally in the swedish? where was the battle? Was it a forest track or route? IT might translate better as the Battle of Forest Way?

Actually on a completely different note, any town whose spelling ends in by is a viking settlement