There are battles famous for their victories, for example, the famous "Battle on the Ice" and the Battle of Kulikovo. There are battles "not glorious", but rich in finds on the battlefield - this is, for example, the place of the battle at the Zolotarevskoe settlement near Penza. There are battles, glorified for both the result and the fact that they were depicted by talented artists - this, of course, the Battle of Grunwald in 1410. There are many other battles, to one degree or another, glorified, and against their background, the Battle of Visby is glorified in a very specific way. It is mentioned by everyone who writes about the history of weapons and armor, but no one is interested in either its result or its significance. Only one single fact is interesting, namely that it was, and that those killed in it … were buried! And all in a crowd in a mass grave, and in addition in all their equipment!
Armor from the burial at Visby. Gotland Museum.
The building of the museum, where all this is exhibited.
It is known that the Middle Ages were poor in iron. Iron armor and weapons were valued; they were not abandoned on the battlefield, but collected, if not for themselves, then for sale. And then they buried "a whole treasure" in the ground. Why? Well, today we can only guess about this, but the battle itself should be told in more detail.
Visby city gates and fortress wall.
The same towers and gates on the opposite side.
It all began with the fact that on July 22, 1361, the Danish king Valdemar IV moved his army to the western coast of the island of Gotland. The inhabitants of the island paid taxes to the Swedish king, but the population of the city of Visby was very multinational, and Russians, Danes, and Germans lived there, and everyone traded! Since 1280 the city has been a member of the famous Hanseatic League, which, however, led to the fact that the inhabitants of Visby were on their own, and the peasants of Gotland served them and … they were not very fond of them. Well, people lived well and, in the opinion of the peasants, did nothing. And here they are … The song is familiar, isn't it? And it came to direct hostility between the townspeople and the villagers. Moreover, it came to swords, and although the peasants called for help from the Estonian knights, the townspeople beat them in 1288! And they began to live and live and make good money, but only the local peasants have already laid their eyes on their wealth (“peasants are peasants” - the movie “The Last Relic”), but now the king of Denmark.
Battle of Visby. Drawing by Angus McBride. Surprisingly, for some reason he dressed one of the warriors in a sheepskin, although … it happens in July.
So this is where the Danish troops came from on the island and why they were moving towards Visby. People lived by robbery at that time! Some have, while others do not! So, we must go and take away !!! Here, however, local peasants got involved in the matter. It's one thing when you rob your rich people, and quite another thing when they come to rob you, and besides, there are foreigners. On the first day of the invasion, two clashes broke out between the Danish army and the peasants. The very next day, the peasants gathered from everywhere and attacked the Danes, but the forces were unequal, and they killed from 800 to 1000 people of the local peasant militia. But … the brave peasants did not give up, did not give up, and on July 27 … they gave the aggressors a battle 300 meters from the city wall! And here about 1800 people died, but how many Danes died is unknown. In any case, there were killed among them, but there were not many of them. Archaeologists managed to find only a few items - for example, a wallet and armor of a certain Dane from the Roord family from Friesland. As noted above, the battle was fought at the very walls of the city, but … the city militia did not go beyond the wall and did not support "their" fighters, and such cynicism embarrasses many people.
Plate armor from Visby.
But there was a reason for such a relationship, and it was serious. The fact is that the peasants of the island had another interesting "business" besides agriculture. They plundered the merchant ships that crashed on the coastal rocks, sailing to Visby, and the people who escaped from them were simply killed, having previously robbed them to the bone. This, incidentally, explains the good weapons that the "peasants" had, and which they could not have, by definition. But if you have been robbing merchant ships thrown ashore by the storm for many years, then … you will have cloth, velvet, a good sword, and chain mail, even if you are a peasant three times.
Coat of Plates is a typical armor from the Visby burial.
Interestingly, in the end, the Gotland lost as many people in this battle as the French in the famous Battle of Poitiers in 1356.
Then the most interesting thing began. Do you think that the inhabitants of the city are under siege? Not at all! Having watched from the walls and towers the rout of the hated peasants, they hastened to surrender to the king of Denmark and thus save the city and their property from plunder. It is believed that they gave almost half of their wealth to the winners, and this “payment” itself became a truly legendary event, although it is not known for sure whether it actually happened or not, and if it did, how it went. True, although the Danes took a tribute, they nevertheless plundered several churches and monasteries. Then King Valdemar appointed several sheriffs to govern the city of Visby, left a detachment of soldiers for them, gave the inhabitants a letter of protection, in which he confirmed their rights and freedoms (!), And … left the island.
King Valdemar collects tribute from the people of Visby. Painting by K. G. Helqvist (1882).
A year later (what he was waiting for, it is not known!) He added the title of King of Gotland to his title. But then the king of Sweden Albrecht said that the island is part of his possessions, that his right is inviolable, and if Valdemar allows himself to do this, then let the swords speak. The island was so easily returned to Swedish control that it is obvious that Denmark's power over it was not strong. And only in 1376, under Queen Margaret I, Gotland officially belonged to Denmark.
Another variant of plate armor found in a burial near Visby.
King Albrecht became involved in the civil war of 1389, in which Queen Margaret supported the "rebels" and forced him to abdicate. But … the king is the king, so he was given the island of Gotland with the "capital" of Visby, which at that time was captured … by the most real robbers - the Vitalian brothers, moreover … they supported him and recognized his rights. Such a "touching friendship" between aristocrats and robbers happened in those days. They were knocked out of the island only in 1408.
Gauntlet.
Well, now about the most important thing. And the main thing in this battle is that those who died in the battle were buried in mass graves. Moreover, no one took off their armor or clothes from the soldiers. They were simply thrown into pits and covered with earth from above. Why this happened is not known for certain, but there are two versions that explain this oddity.
Another plate gauntlet.
Historian John Keegan, for example, believes that the reason was the July heat and fear of the plague, which was then believed to have originated from "malign miasms" and a large number of corpses (the remains of about 2,000 people were found!). This is the first reason.
The second could be the result of banal disgust: the Danes seized such prey that they were too lazy to tinker with corpses swollen from the heat, to cleanse blood, drained brains and dirt from chopped armor, and that is why they hurried to bury all the dead. But practically all the iron was collected from the field itself, so there is simply nothing on it.
Chainmail hood.
Be that as it may, but for archaeologists this unusual "necropolis" has become a real gift. It was possible to find out very interesting things, about which no chronicles then reported. For example, that a third of the island's army consisted of … minors and elderly people. That is, the weakest and the most inept perished, and the strong and the most skilled … fled!
The study of bone remains in five mass graves outside the city walls provided rich material for the analysis of combat damage, but, most importantly, archaeologists have obtained many well-preserved samples of military equipment. In the graves, they found chain mail, chain-mail hoods, lamellar mittens of more than ten types (!) And even 25 pieces of quite well-preserved armor made of plates. Moreover, at least one of them was made of plates made in Russia, with which Visby traded and traded actively.
Sword from 1400, possibly Italian. Philadelphia Museum of Art.
The injuries sustained by the soldiers who died in the battle of Vizby are very interesting. Judging by them, the actions of the soldiers in it were very organized, which speaks of their training and discipline. The Danes acted - it was the Danes, because their victims were buried, something like this: one Dane strikes with a sword or an ax a Gotland standing right in front of him. He raises the shield to reflect the blow, but at the same time his left side opens up and another Dane delivered his blow there. That is, the Danish warriors fought in pairs, or they were taught to stab where it opened, and not wait for “who will win”!
Perhaps this is what the Danish warriors looked like when they entered the island of Gotland. Rice. Angus McBride.
English historians have received full confirmation that the main type of armor at that time was coat-of-plates, that is, "plate jackets". These were clothes made of fabric or leather, on which plates were riveted from the inside, giving out themselves as rivet heads. The mittens were made according to the same principle: metal on the bottom, cloth on top. But it is clear that between leather and metal there was another thin glove made of leather or fabric. True, neither the helmets nor the shields of the grave at Visby were preserved for us. Perhaps the helmets were removed from the dead, but the shields … were they used for firewood?
In any case, the Battle of Visby is important precisely for what it was, and this “brotherly burial” remained after it.
