Waited too long? We know that we promised you to report some more from Gotland, but at the time we were there we did not get the chance to do that, so here we write some more about it. We always keep our promises

We went to a medevial trilogy there, which I hope will be there for next year too, because it was really educational about Gotlands medevial history. But in a fun and easy way, not so boring dry as usual…. So we really recommend it for next year!

Ohh, and be sure to come in your medevial outfit to really blend in and feel the timestamp!

Catch the story:

The year is 1313. Swedish king is Birger Magnusson (with his wife Märta from Denmark) and his financies is really lousy, he has borrowed money that he has to pay back. Now he want to raise the taxes for Gotlands folk (“Gutar”).

And you can imagine how unpopular that was – just like nowadays!

Day 1) Medevial session of the district court in Tingstäde and the threat from the king Birger. Announcement of disembarking of the kings army (“Svear”). Sorry, we missed that part so can not report more about it.

Day 2) The battle at Röcklinge, at Laikarhaid in Lärbro. A historical professor was helding a lecture for us about it. And he did it really well! I have never heard such a different and FUN lecture that kept your interest all the time. And if you despite that loosed your concentration for a while, he woke you up by yelling loud. He was good at it, we liked him a lot.

Then we got to see it with our own eyes, they played it out on the spot. After some negotiations that did not go well, there was a real battle at the field with Svear in armours, knights, archers, Gutar (local farmers). The riders from Svea was on big swedish horses and the ones from Gotland was on small local ponys, called Gotlandsruss on swedish.

But still, the farmers did beat the kings army! Yeeeahhhh!

Ooooops, they nearly chopped the kings head of, but a farmer saved him in the last second. Pheeeww…

Day 3) The kings feast in Hejnum. He and the queen invites the countryjudges and Gotlands folks to a big country feast. The king made the farmer (that saved his head) to a knight. There was medevial music, food, jesters, fire-eaters and entertainers of all kinds.

And what happened after the feast? Then it was time for the hang-over…..

The (not?) fun part is that they still had to pay the higher taxes, somehow they messed it up afterwards. No one knows exactly what happened. The burghers in Visby probably saw that they would gain some benefits from the king, so they sold them out in the end.

The king got his money to pay his debts and the farmers had to pay the higher taxes. The same as today, we are sorry to say.

Anyway, it was a smart way to get the facts to stick in our heads – at least for a while!