Battle of Visby

The Battle of Visby was fought in 1361 near the town of Visby on the island of Gotland, between the forces of the Danish king and the Gutnish country yeomen. The Danish force was victorious.

The Gutes of Gotland paid taxes to and was a semi-independent part of Sweden under King Magnus IV of Sweden, though the population of Visby was diverse and included people of Ruthenian descent, Danes, and Germans. In 1280 the city of Visby had joined the Hanseatic League along with Riga, Lübeck, Tallinn, and other large population centers from northern Europe, further separating Visby from the Gutnish countryside. Antagonism between the city dwellers and the Gutnish country yeomen heightened; the latter were defeated in battle in 1288, despite the aid of knights from Estonia. On 22 July 1361, King Valdemar IV of Denmark (Valdemar Atterdag) sent an army ashore on Gotland's west coast. The Danish king wished to establish firm control on the Gutelandian trade routes.

The Danish force was led by Valdemar IV of Denmark, and composed of Danish and German soldiers, many of them mercenaries from the Baltic coast of Germany, with recent experience in the various feuds and wars between the German and Scandinavian states. These men would have worn what was known as transitional armour, with iron or steel plates over vital areas and joints over a full suit of chain mail. The Gutes were commanded by an unknown leader, probably a minor noble with military experience, and the force composed mainly of other minor nobles, their retinues, and freemen. The ordinary freemen appear to have worn limited but still effective protection, with many excavated skeletons found wearing a chain-mail shirt or a coat of plates to protect the torso. Others may have worn padded gambesons, though these would not have survived decomposition in the ground after the battle. Unusually, many of the Gutes appear to have had minimal head protection, with many wearing only a mail coif, a metal skullcap; however any helmets may have been stripped from the bodies after the battle. Very few weapons have been discovered, but it is likely that both sides used round and heater-type shields, spears, axes, billhooks, pikes, and poleaxes. For close combat, both sides would have had swords, light axes, war hammers, and maces.

The Danish troops moved toward Visby. On the first day of the invasion, two minor skirmishes were fought on marshy ground between yeomen farmers and the army. About 1,500 Gotlandic Farmers were killed after the battle of Mästerby.

On 27 July, a Gutnish yeomen army fought the Danes just outside the city walls and was severely beaten, with an estimated death toll of about 1,800 yeomen and peasants; the Danish casualties remain unknown. Only a couple of items that can be linked with Danish soldiers have been found, including a purse and ornamented armor belonging to a member of the Roorda Family from Friesland. Casualties can be compared with those that the French suffered at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356 and would be considered high by medieval standards.

Following the devastating battle, the citizens of Visby decided to surrender to avoid further losses. To save the city from a sacking, the inhabitants paid a large amount of their wealth to King Valdemar. This extortion of contributions became a legendary event, although it cannot be confirmed to have taken place and, if so, the full details are still unclear. Despite the payment, the Danes still plundered several of the town's churches and monasteries.

King Valdemar appointed sheriffs to govern Visby and then set sail again. It would take another year before he officially added "King of Gotland" to his many titles. When Albert, King of Sweden, took the Swedish crown he claimed Gotland as part of his domains and held the island at least until 1369; thus, the Danish presence there couldn't have been strong, as it so rapidly and easily returned to the Swedish crown. The island would be disputed over by the House of Mecklenburg and the Danish crown until 1376, when Queen Margaret (the daughter of the late King Valdemar) officially claimed the island for Denmark.

In 1389 King Albert was defeated in a civil war, in which Queen Margaret supported the "rebels", and he was forced to abdicate. However, he was granted Gotland and its "capital" Visby, where he remained with a "pirate" organization called the Victual Brothers. It was not until 1408 that the last remains of the house of Mecklenburg and the above-mentioned pirates were driven out for good.