Wisby armour, iron

From the mass graves, the Cross Meadow, Visby parish, Gotland, 1250-1361 A.D. Based on studies of the different symbols found on the coat of plates, a theory has developed as to who might have worn it. In medieval Friesland, in what is currently the Netherlands, there was a noble family called Roorda. This noble family was divided into several different branches for which nine coats of arms have been identified. Symbols from six of these coats of arms have been identified on this coat of plates. One of the symbols on the coat of plates does not belong to the Roorda family. It is the scallop shells, which could be a symbol of the person wearing it having made a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. The coat of plates could have belonged to Bavo or Schelto Roorda, two brothers who lived in the 14th century and whose fates are unknown. SHM 19525:Prr8