A Swedish and a Danish Chronicle

In the Franciscan monastery in Visby, the monks wrote down important events that took place from the mid 14th century to the early 16th century.

The chronicle tells us that the Danes killed 1,800 Gotlanders and that Visby surrendered following negotiations. Whether the notes were written at the time of the events is not entirely clear. It is more likely that they were written down after the event, perhaps in the early 15th century.

There are also a few lines that describe the Danes’ looting, that King Valdemar sailed from Gotland “bringing with him a priceless treasure of gold and silver that he had taken from the city and country”. (Translated from the Swedish translation in Gun Westholm’s “Visby 1361 Invasionen”.)

The original document, 35 pages written in Latin, can be found at the National Library of Sweden in Stockholm.

The Danish “Zealand Chronicle” covers approximately three hundred years 1028-1363.

It describes events including what happened after the battle outside the city walls. In English something along the lines of:

“Thereafter he makes a move for Visby, which opens up for him. He collects gold and silver, furs of different kinds and inordinate amounts of other treasures in the city and subsequently happily made it back with his people to his own country.”