Cord Widderich

Cord Widderich (alternative spelling: Kort Wiederich) (died 1447) was a pirate active during political conflicts between Dithmarschen and North Frisia in the early fifteenth century.

In 1407, Cord Widderich and his men from Lunden, Germany occupied Eiderstedt and made the Pellworm church tower their base for looting the surrounding villages and tricking ships into stranding.

Only when the church tower swayed with the wind and a storm threatened to topple the building did Widderich and his men leave North Frisia for good.

The most famous part of his booty was a bronze baptismal font from the thirteenth century, which he gave as a consecration gift to the newly built Saint Clemens church of Büsum, Dithmarschen, where it resides to this day.

The next morning, he was captured and hanged without trial by Klaus von dem Damme, reeve for Count Henry of Segeberg.