Battle of Visby
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| Battle of Wisby | |||||||
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The Battle of Visby was fought in 1361 in Visby on the island of Gotland, between the forces of Sweden and Denmark. The Danish force was victorious.
On July 22, 1361, King Valdemar IV of Denmark (Valdemar Atterdag) set his army of 2,500 men ashore on Gotland's west coast. They marched towards Visby. On July 27 an unorganized peasant army fought the Danes just outside of Visby, and were severely beaten, with an estimated toll of 1,800 peasant compared to 100 Danish soldiers.
Graves have been excavated in modern times to bring clarification in the events. It showed that at least a third of the Gotlandian army consisted of minors and elderly.
Following the devastating battle, the citizens of Visby decided to surrender to avoid further losses. To save the city from plunder and demolish, the inhabitants were bound to give a large amount of their wealth to King Valdemar. This extortion of contributions became a legendary event, although it can not be confirmed to have taken place, and if so, the events are unclear. The famous painting Valdemar Atterdag holding Visby to ransom, 1361 tries to depict a possible scenario.
Not withstanding the extortion, the Danes proceeded to plunder several churches and monasteries.
King Valdemar appointed sheriffs to govern Visby and then set sail again. Before long the citizens had killed or forced off the sheriffs and again declared their loyalty to the Swedish crown.
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