Battle of Visby
Coordinates: 57 ° 38 ′ 0 ″ N , 18 ° 17 ′ 0 ″ E
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| date | July 27, 1361 |
|---|---|
| location | Visby , Gotland |
| exit | Victory of the Danish troops |
| Territorial changes | Gotland to Denmark |
| consequences | Visby is subject to tribute, the trigger for the First Waldemark War between Denmark and the Hanseatic League |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
unknown |
|
| Troop strength | |
| approx. 2000-3000 men | up to 2000 men |
| losses | |
|
about 300 men |
approx. 1800 men |
The battle of Visby took place on July 27, 1361 between the army of the Danish king Waldemar IV and a peasant army on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea .
prehistory
The Danish King Waldemar Atterdag (1321-1375) had united the Danes , and he succeeded in wresting the province of Skåne from the inactive Swedish King Magnus II . After that, his attention turned to the affluent island of Gotland .
The battle
On July 22, 1361, the 40-year-old Danish king Waldemar Atterdag landed on the island of Gotland. Most likely he set foot on the island near Västergarn on the west coast. He had carefully prepared the invasion and carried 70 ships with around 3000 mostly German mercenaries with him, who were faced with the hastily assembled Gotland peasant army. Since the Gotland Civil War of 1288, which ended with the victory of Visby, there had been no more armed conflicts on Gotland. Correspondingly, the Gotland farmers lacked combat experience and their equipment, which mostly came from the equipment of a farm, was correspondingly out of date: spears, axes, perhaps arrows and bows, and heavy weapons such as swords were hardly available. The traces on the skeletons found indicate that the Danish army used war hammers, crossbows, longbows and two-handed swords. In the first battle at Mästerby on July 24, 1361, the hastily formed Gotland peasant army was defeated. On July 27, 1361, the last fighters gathered at the gates of Visby . To this day it is unclear why the last remnants of the peasant army moved there. Perhaps, despite differences in the past, they were hoping for military support or protection within the heavily fortified city. If so, then the hopes of the peasant army were not fulfilled, because the city of Visby did not allow entry. Thus the last contingent of the peasant army had to face the enemy and was crushed. After the defeat, the fortified city of Visby also surrendered and Waldemar Atterdag was able to move in.
The aftermath of the battle
The city of Visby had to pay tribute to the Danish king, but was allowed to keep its trading privileges. The country and its farmers had to pay dearly for its resistance: men were slain, houses looted and burned down. According to the latest research (2017), between 2000 and 5000 Gotlanders from around 1500 farms died as a result of the fighting. This would mean half of the male population would have perished. The effects can be proven to this day: No new church was built, projects that had already started were rushed to completion. Culture and handicrafts sank to a provincial level. Gotland peasant traders lost their possessions in the Baltic Sea region. The cogs of the Hanseatic had greater range and needed Gotland as a stopover no more. Gotland lost its status as an independent power factor in the Baltic Sea region and finally became the plaything of foreign powers. The ships that were supposed to transport the loot (gold, silver, art treasures) to Denmark probably sank in a storm near the Charles Islands .
The Wendish cities felt the conquest of Gotland by Denmark as a threat to their trade connections, and so the battle was a trigger for the First Waldemark War of the Hanseatic League against Denmark.
Importance of the battle from a research perspective
The historical reports of the great losses of the peasant army were long considered greatly exaggerated until mass graves were discovered. Two mass graves were discovered in 1811 and 1903 but destroyed. Three other graves were discovered in 1905, 1912 and 1928–1930 and carefully examined, measured and described. Another grave has not yet been investigated. A total of 1200 skeletons were excavated, both from Gotlanders and members of the Danish troops. Most of the wounds were caused by the use of axes, crossbows, arrows, swords, clubs, spears and lances. As was customary in the Middle Ages, weapons, helmets and shields were stripped from the dead. However, some of the fallen were buried in their armor - mostly chain mail. One explanation for this unusual approach could be the great summer heat with rapidly accompanying decomposition.
For archeology , the Battle of Visby is a special case, as graves of medieval battles were rarely found, in which fighters with their armor were found. In addition to the 200 chain armor , 25 armor of the plate skirt type were found . They represent a transition type from chain armor to plate armor . The variety of plate skirts found is remarkable: the simplest consisted of vertical metal plates that were riveted to a leather skirt . There were 15 plates around the torso and three in the upper chest area. In addition to providing good protection against arrows, such armor could be produced in a few days, while chain armor took three weeks and was correspondingly more expensive. The most elaborate record skirt consisted of 550 small sheets that were sewn onto the inside of a leather kollers. However, plate armor was also found that bore the badge of a Danish noble family (fleur-de-lis, lily trees or French lily). There is no documented case of a knight wearing a coat of arms that was not his own, so there is no doubt that he belonged to the Danish nobility. It could not be clarified why the knight was buried with his armor.
swell
- Book of Arms. Econ Verlag, 1976, pp. 55-57.
- Daniel Ossenkop: Peasants Against Mercenaries - The Battle of Visby 1361. Grin Verlag, 2010.
- Ulrich Quack: Gotland. DuMont, Cologne 1997.
- Fornsalen - Gotlands Museum, exhibition 2017.
