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 forces were victorious . Background . On 22 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 the King of Sweden , though the population of Visby was diverse and included Russians , Danes and Germans . In 1280 , the city of Visby had joined the Wendish City - alliance along with Riga , Lübeck , Tallinn and other large population centres from northern Europe , further separating Visby from the Gutnish countryside . Antagonism between city - dwellers and the Gutnish country yeomen heightened , and the latter were defeated in battle in 1288 despite the aid of knights from Estonia . Battle . The Danish troops moved towards Visby . The first day of the invasion , two minor skirmishes were fought on marshy ground between yeomen farmers and the army . The next day , from 800 to 1000 farmers were killed after massing for battle near Fjäle myr . 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 peasants killed , while the Danish casualties remain unknown . Only a couple of items that can be linked with Danish soldiers have been found , including a purse and an ornamented armour 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 should be seen as high in medieval standards . Aftermath . Following the devastating battle , the citizens of Visby decided to surrender to avoid further losses . To save the city from sacking the inhabitants paid 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 . Despite the payment , the Danes plundered several churches and monasteries . King Valdemar appointed sheriffs to govern Visby and then set sail again . It would take another year before Valdemar 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 . King Albert was defeated in a civil war in 1389 , 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 " organisation 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 . Archaeological excavation . 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 . Many of the dead defenders were unusually buried in their armour ; because supposedly , 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 . " Five mass - graves were located outside the city ' s walls .