Jerker from Espenäs threw over Enar in Brännebacken
“In 1803 there was, and still is, on the eastern side of Lake Möckeln – in Karlskoga parish of Karlskoga bergslags härad – a small village called Brännebacken. But in the 16th century the area had a completely different appearance. Then green meadows spread out, was at that time a great and cohesive forest.”
This is how J.O Åberg begins his exciting story about the ancient castle just north of Degerfors.
Exactly in the same place, where Brännebacken is today, was in 1521 a small castle, mostly built of wood. There lived Enar Bengtsson, a cruel gentleman who had been appointed deputy to “by any means implant reverence and obedience for the Union King Christian II.” But the liberator Gustaf Eriksson Vasa made his entrance into the game about the kingdom and now “a little of both great and small tyrants began to tremble for their lives and their plundered possessions.”
Enar Bengtsson’s fiercest opponent was the respected and rich farmer Mårten in Ölsdalen. And well, the bailiff had more than once tried to lure the sixty-year-old Mårten to his side:
– No, not if you want to give me not only your possessions, but also a thousand others. I hate you and the lord you serve!
– But I’ll force you, the bailiff shouted and he also stomped on the floor.
But Enar did not dare more than threaten, for fear of being besieged by the common people of the area. After this verbal duel – and when the bailiff angrily spit left the yard – Mårten opened the door to a smaller room. And there, in one corner, a pile of clothes began to move and a light-curled and beautiful girl appeared. It was Mårten’s only child and the biggest treasure in life since his wife left it for two years.
Ingegerd was in full bloom as a woman at the age of twenty can stand. And Enar Bengtsson had become completely captivated by her. “But when, after a couple of weeks, he formally proposed to her, he received such a definite refusal that he backed down in the literal sense. For in his pride and belief in his irresistible power he had made himself quite sure that she would not dare to say no. “
– But at any cost, I will still own her. And if anyone dares to enter my way, I will crush him like a worm in the gravel.
“And yet there was one who dared to step in his way and that was the young and manly Jerker Månsson in Espenäs. He was a quick boy, poor, it is true, but like Mårten glowing with hatred for everything Danish and called . “
It did not take long before Enar Bengtsson was informed of the state of the country and then, of course, the persecution began. “But as Espenäs lay on the west shore of Möckeln, the bailiff did not dare to cross the lake in person, for the big cock like the tyrant was cowardly when it came to seriousness. Enar Bengtsson nevertheless had jacks, some of whom were obedient Danes. and these he sent out. More than once it happened that if four scouts came over to the west shore of Möckeln, only one came back and not even this one was unharmed “.
So Enar probably did his best to be careful.
One summer evening, the bailiff had made a tax collection visit to Knutsbol, but only a guard in company. Just as he was blasting over a rippling stream and the jack was about to follow him, an arrow with a hole in it whizzed through the air and hit the jack right in the heart. A youthful countenance appeared behind a tree trunk and a clear voice shouted:
– Your days are numbered, Enar Bengtsson. Down with the tyrant!
The bailiff hurried forward and admittedly did not get hold of the bold, but he saw so much, it was Jerker Månsson.
Now it started to get really hot. Jerker in Espenäs and Mårten in Ölsdalen, hated Enar in Bränna. Who was crazy about Ingegerd, who in turn loved Jerker. So Mårten and Jerker saw no other advice than to put Ingegerd in safety and join the angry crowd that would overthrow the bailiff.
But before that, Enar managed to burn Mårten’s farm, which he had found abandoned in a desperate attempt to rob Ingegerd. With both hands convulsively pressed against the violently beating heart, old Mårten looked at the strong glow of fire in the south. And leaden sighs worked their way out of his chest.
– Probably Stina in Rönningen promised to go home immediately and pick up Ingegerd, but if she had time to stand by her word …..
But now it so happened that this horrible raid of terror – during which he also burned Stina in Rönningen’s cabin without finding Ingegerd – became the beginning to the end for Enar Bengtsson. Blinded by love, he had taken with him fifty jacks and thus decimated the defense in the castle considerably.
Of course, the battle for the castle in Dufvedalen was not over for a coffee break for that, but it probably made it easier for Guttorm Base, Anders in Kilsta and Gubben Starck, among others, when the siege of Bränna dikes began.
Stina in Rönningen, who was to pick up Ingegerd, had guessed owls in the bog and taken the girl to an abandoned charcoal hut by Galten. But the husband of bad luck is difficult to muster, because when the two women wandered around in the miles of forests, they happened to run together with Sven in Stormossen. A Danish-friendly father killer, who took Ingegerd with him to Enar.
In a final attempt to bring his beloved to more Danish-friendly areas, Enar fled with his hostages to Kungsholmen.
“On the Ekenmanska Kartverket’s map of Karlskoga parish for the years 1867 – 1872, on the other hand, this islet is not occupied at all. so that it now lies so or so below the surface of the lake. “
In any case, it was to this islet that Enar Bengtsson managed to escape with his people and Ingegerd. But the end could still only be one because old man Starck in a cunning way made sure to fortify himself every single floating fabric, which was to be found on Möckeln’s east coast.
– I’ll show you who has the power, mocked Enar Bengtsson and jerked Ingegerd’s hair so violently that she plunged to the ground.
– Keep the villain, roared at the same Jerker in Espedalen’s voice, who, under cover of darkness, snuck ashore on the island. Your measure is raw. Chop down every single Dane who does not give in willingly!
And so it became. The bodies of the fallen Danes were left as food for birds of prey and the rest were taken to Bränna to meet their fate.
“The tyrants were hanged on the northern dike and an hour later the predatory nest Bränna gave reason for the name, ity it was then a single, very fiery sea. And about a month later there were only small traces of the castle from which Enar Bengtsson and his cattle have so long kept population in daily anxiety and fear. “
“When the great war of liberation was finally completed, Ingegerd and Jerker were united. Mårten in Ölsdalen had his farm built, both bigger and better, and there the two young people took their home. In the future, they told their children about the adventures they had experienced and about the tyrant on Bränna and his miserable, but well-deserved end. “
