Klaus Störtebeker was a German pirate. Reputed to be the leader of a group of privateers known as the Victual Brothers, his group was hired to assist in a war between Sweden and Denmark and continued
Reconstruction of head from skull ascribed to Störtebeker
Skull ascribed to Störtebeker, found in 1878
Portrait (Etching) of Kunz von der Rosen [de] the court jester of emperor Maximilian I by Daniel Hopfer, which is often erroneously identified as a portrait of Klaus Störtebeker
The summary execution of Störtebeker, 1401; tinted woodcut tby Nicolaus Sauer, Hamburg, 1701 (Hamburger Staatsarchiv)
The tom Brok family were a powerful East Frisian line of chieftains, originally from the Norderland on the North Sea coast of Germany. From the second half of the 14th century, the tom Broks tried to
Klaus Störtebeker
…of their origin. Störtebeker had a stronghold in Marienhafe, East Frisia, dating from about 1396. He married a daughter of the East Frisian chieftain Keno ten Broke (c. 1310–1376). A tower bearing his name (Störtebekerturm) still exists at the Evangelical Lutheran Marienkirche in Marienhafe. According to legend…