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{{Short description|1361 battle in what is now Sweden}}
{{infobox military conflict▼
{{More references|date=July 2023}}
| conflict = Battle of Visby
| partof =
| image =
| image_size = 300
| caption = The skull of a soldier who participated in the 1361 campaign.▼
| caption = Valdemar IV captures Visby, by Rasmus Christiansen
| date = 27 July 1361
| place = [[Visby]], [[Gotland]], [[Sweden]]
| coordinates =
| territory =
| result = Danish victory
| combatant1 =
| combatant2 =
| commander1 = {{Flagicon|Medieval Denmark}} [[
| commander2 =
| units1 =
| units2 =
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| casualties2 = ~1,700<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
| notes =
| campaignbox = {{Campaignbox Danish–Hanseatic Wars (1361–1370)}}
{{Campaignbox Dano-Swedish Wars}}
}}
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==Background==
On 22{{nbsp}}July 1361, King [[Valdemar IV of Denmark]] (''Valdemar Atterdag'') sent an army ashore on Gotland's west coast. The [[Gutes]] of Gotland paid taxes to and was a semi-independent part of Sweden under
==Forces==
The Danish force was led by [[Valdemar IV]] of Denmark, and composed of Danish and German soldiers, many of them [[mercenary|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 a padded [[gambeson]] or a leather [[jerkin]] or coat, 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
==Battle==
[[File:Visby Wall.jpg|thumb|300px|Picture of the Visby city wall, near the north gate. The main battle was fought within 300 meters of the city's fortifications.]]
The Danish troops moved
On 27{{nbsp}}July, a Gutnish [[yeoman|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.
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==Archaeological excavation==
{{Multiple image | align = right | direction = vertical | width = 230
[[File:Korsbetningen i VIsby utgrävning 1905.jpg|thumb|The mass grave at ''Korsbetningen'' during the 1905 excavation.]]▼
| image1 = Korsbetningen i VIsby utgrävning 1905.jpg
| image2 = Fornsalen - Invasion 1361 - Schädel mit Kettenhaube 1.jpg
▲
The first archeological excavations were done in 1905, led by Oscar Wilhelm Wennersten and master builder Nils Pettersson at the place now known as ''Korsbetningen'' in Visby, where the first mass grave from the battle was found. The excavation also revealed the location of the [[Solberga Abbey]].<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Ohlén |editor1-first=Carl-Eric |editor2-last= Scharp|editor2-first=Dag W. |editor3-last=Rehnberg|editor3-first=Mats|title=Från fars och farfars tid|trans-title=From father's and grandfather's time |date=1973 |publisher=Gotlandskonst AB |location=Visby |page=402 |edition=2nd |url=http://libris.kb.se/bib/1382413 |accessdate=10 April 2015 |language=Swedish}}</ref> It showed that at least a third of the Gotlandic army consisted of minors and elderly. Many of the dead defenders were, unusually, buried in their armour; according to historian [[John Keegan]] "...hot weather and their great number (about 2,000 bodies were disinterred six hundred years later) defeated the efforts of the victors to strip them before decomposition began". The site of the excavation "yielded one of the most fearsome revelations of a medieval battle known to archaeologists".<ref>[[John Keegan|Keegan, John]]. ''[[The Face of Battle]]''</ref>
Five mass
==Medieval Week in Gotland==
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*{{cite book |last=Thordeman |first=Bengt |title=Invasion på Gotland 1361: dikt och verklighet |trans-title=Invasion of Gotland in 1361: fact and fiction |year=1944 |publisher=Geber |location=Stockholm |language=sv}}
*{{cite book |last=Thordeman |first=Bengt |last2=Nörlund |first2=Poul |last3=Ingelmark |first3=Bo E. |title=Armour from the Battle of Wisby, 1361 |year=2001 |publisher=Chivalry Bookshelf |location=[Union City, Calif.] |isbn=1-891448-05-6}}
*{{cite book |last=Westholm |first=Gun|title=Visby 1361: invasionen |trans-title=Visby 1361: The
==External links==
*[http://www.visbysweden.com/2_medieval_battles.html The battle in Visby 1361] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227044358/https://www.visbysweden.com/2_medieval_battles.html |date=2021-02-27 }}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070429200812/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/peter.fairweather/docs/visby.htm Peter Fairweather page with photos of disinterred corpses.]
{{Authority control}}
{{Coord|57|38|N|18|17|E|display=title}}
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[[Category:Visby]]
[[Category:1361 in Europe]]
[[Category:1360s in Denmark]]
[[Category:14th century in Denmark]]
[[Category:Battles of the Middle Ages|Visby]]
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