Suddenly, in the clash of steel upon steel and the wild tumult of
the conflict, there arose a great and wondering cry "the banner! the
banner! a miracle!" and Christian and pagan paused to listen. Out of
the sky, as it seemed, over against the hill upon which the priests
knelt, a blood-red banner with a great white cross was seen falling
into the ranks of the Christian knights, and a voice resounded over
the battle-field, "Bear this high, and victory shall be yours." With
the exultant cry, "For God and the King," the crusaders seized it,
and charged the foe. Terror-stricken, the Esthlanders wavered, then
turned, and fled. The battle became a massacre. Thousands were
slain. The chronicles say that the dead lay piled fathom-high on the
field that ran red with blood. Upon it, when the pursuit was over,
Valdemar knelt with his men, and they bowed their heads in
thanksgiving, while the venerable archbishop gave praise to God for
the victory.
That is the story of the Dannebrog which has been the flag of the
Danes seven hundred years. Whether the archbishop had brought it
with him intending to present it to King Valdemar, and threw it down
among the fighting hordes in the moment of extreme peril, or
whether, as some think, the Pope himself had sent it to the
crusaders with a happy inspiration, the fact remains that it came to
the Danes in this great battle, and on the very day which, fifty
years before, had seen the fall of Arcona, and the end of
idol-worship among the western Slavs.
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