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The song recounts the legendary 14th-century execution of Klaus Störtebeker, the most famous leader of the 'Liekedeeler' pirates.
The term 'Liekedeeler' comes from the Low German 'Gleichteiler,' referring to the pirates' practice of sharing their loot equally among the crew and even with the poor. They were also known as the Vitalienbrüder.
Legend says that before his execution in Hamburg in 1401, Störtebeker asked that any of his men he could walk past after being beheaded should be set free. Allegedly, he walked past eleven men before falling.
These pirates initially served as privateers in a Scandinavian power struggle before becoming a menace to the Hanseatic League, the dominant commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds in Northern Europe.