“A man charges forth like a dog”

The idea that the Danish pillaged the rural communities of Gotland after the battle is plausible. They hoped to find spoils of war, but the troops also needed supplies. Any opposition was brutally cut down. It was mostly women and children that remained at the farms. One example is the farm Stora Hellvigs.

A Swedish source from around the same time tells us that King Valdemar “brought a heavy tax in gold and silver, which he took from the town and surrounding communities”.

A text from Fide Church, on the small neck of land between southern Gotland and the rest of the island, has been interpreted as a description of the Danish pillaging: “The houses are ablaze, a suffering people cut down … watch as a man charges forth like a dog, sword in hand, and Gotland is conquered by the Danish.”