Medieval Re-Enactment
a Key to Understanding the Conservation of Visby

Dr. Marita Jonsson
County Administration of Gotland

The Nordic Countries have 18 cultural and natural sites inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List. One of them is the medieval city of Visby, Sweden, situated on the island of Gotland in the middle of the Baltic. It was inscribed in 1995 "as the best preserved and most complete of the earlier Hansa towns. The town wall with its gates, towers and turrets dating mainly from the 13th century is practically intact. The ruins of a dozen Romanesque churches constitute a powerful testimony to its past, as do the well preserved medieval street plan and remains of more than two hundred warehouses and merchants' houses from the Romanesque period."

ICOMOS, acting for the World Heritage Committee, evaluated Visby with other cultural properties under more than one category, citing it for example as a north European walled town, as a medieval townscape, as a Hanseatic League town. It was ranked highly in any individual analysis; it is the most complete walled town in Europe north of the Alps; its townscape and layout is exceptionally well preserved in what is essentially its late 13th century form; of the medieval trading towns of the Hanseatic League and its contemporaries it is rivaled only probably by Bruges (Belgium) and perhaps Tallinn (Estonia) in its completeness.

The island of Gotland was a leading center for trade in the Baltic area from the Roman times to the Middle Ages. The great majority of Roman coins in the north have been found in Gotland. Evidence of far-reaching trade in the Viking period, both to the west and in the east to Russia and along the rivers to Constantinople, are found pottery from the orient and a great number of Arabic coins.

In the early Viking Period there were several harbors and trading sites on Gotland, one of which was Visby. Towards the end of the period trade was concentrated in only a few of them and Visby grew to take a completely dominant position. During the twelfth century foreign traders began to settle in Visby and it developed into a town of Western European type. Because of Visby's well-established connections with Russia, especially Novgorod, the town became very important for German traders. Recent research confirms that the cooperation of German towns in Visby was the origin of the Hanseatic League. This means that Visby is, in fact, the birthplace of the Hansa. Visible evidence of this is the great storage room above the vaults of the German church in Visby, the present cathedral, where the leading towns of the early Hansa - Visby, Lubeck, Soest and Dortmond - kept their records and where the money was brought from Novgorod after the trading season. The increasing German population and the Gotlanders developed forms for communal coexistence and administration with both a German and a Gotlandic mayor as well as a bilingual council. The town became an independent international trading center and steadily grew apart from the rest of the island. Eventually, this erupted in open hostility and was the main reason for erecting the town wall, which, in 1288, caused a civil war. Visby won the battle and became the main trading port of the island.

During this period extensive building work was carried out and Visby was transformed into one of the greatest towns in Northern Europe of the Early Middle Ages. And still, today, this is the basic character of Visby. From the 1290's Visby lost its leading position to Lubeck in what is now Germany. After this followed a series of disasters. The Black Death struck in 1350, when over 8000 people died in the town. The island was occupied by a Danish army in 1361. The incessant warfare and piracy of the 15th century severely affected trade in the Baltic and the economy of Visby deteriorated. The end of Visby's greatness came in 1525, when it was stormed by an army from Lubeck which put the northern parts of the town in flame.

Gotland and Visby ended up as a backwater. What had previously been the foundation of its prosperity - the sea - became a drawback. Gotland was isolated. Industrialization has come late, while traditions in building and agriculture have survived along with local customs and the distinctive folk-speech giving the island its individual character.

"Rome in a nutshell" was what the great botanist Carl Linnaeus called the town when he visited Gotland in 1751. The description still fits. Visby is filled to the brim with historical monuments and the atmosphere of the past, with which modern demands for comfort and commerce have been integrated. Gotland has in most respects caught up with developments on the Swedish mainland, but its traditional roots give it an exotic quality.

Interest in Visby and its buildings began in the 1860s and 1870s, when the Government provided funds for the restoration of the town wall and the church ruins. In 1912, a town plan was adopted which fixed the existing appearance of the town as "a town plan established by age"; at the same time the areas outside the wall were laid out in accordance with the garden city ideals of the time.

A committee was set up in 1965 in conjunction with work on the preparation of a general plan, and it produced its report, Visby, the town within the walls. On the basis of this, the whole town was declared to be an environment of historic and cultural value to which special consideration must be given. The principle underlying all new building is adaptation to existing forms, details and materials. The 1989, Advice and guidelines was prepared containing detailed advice for various municipal bodies on the preservation of squares and open spaces, the closed streetscape, paving, street lighting, vegetation and greenery, shops, signs, television antennae and satellite dishes. Property owners are given advice on facade materials, color schemes, roofs, windows, doors and doorways, stairwells, flats, walls and ceilings, floors, wooden and metal fixtures and fittings, installations, and rules for rebuilding.

Every property under legal protection in the old town is fully documented and is provided with an individual maintenance plan. Government financial support of up to 90% is given to offset excess project costs incurred as a result of the special historical value of properties.

The climate of Gotland is such that it used to be a tourist center for a period of two months each year. Around one million visitors, mostly from the mainland, came for the sun, the white mile-wide seashores and the entertainments. The main attraction was the climate in summer time and the cultural heritage was not a focus.

Fourteen years ago this all changed. A cultural tourism program was formulated for the whole island. Visby focused on the Middle Ages and a certain well known event, the year 1361 when the town was invaded by the Danish king Valdemar Atterdag.

This is what happens: during eight intensive days in August every year, Gotland finds itself back in the Middle Ages. Visby is transformed. The gaudy market stalls selling sun-glasses, Bermuda shorts and plastic jewelry are replaced by baskets of fish, newly plucked hens, pastries, and medicinal herbs. People undergo a metamorphosis. Women dress in long gowns, wimples and surcoats, while men dress in tunics, hose and unusual headgear. Out come jesters clad in brightly colored costumes with bells round their ankles. Gotland is once again a medieval merchant's isle, and Visby a Hanseatic town from 1361. The island is perhaps in its most expansive phase. Trade with Danes, Germans, Russians and others is flourishing, and numerous foreigners have settled in Visby, where they have built trading offices and guild houses. The roadstead is packed with cogs bearing goods from far and near. But a rumor reaches the town: the Danish King, Valdemar Atterdag, has landed in southern Gotland and is on his way to Visby!

The town has two mayors, one German and one Gutnic. They make a joint appearance and address the burghers of Visby. "The town is impregnable thanks to its fortified ring-wall. We are well prepared. There is nothing to fear!"

Inside the Shore Gate in Roland Square and in the main street, trading is in full swing from the early morning. The town swarms with medieval people: smiths, cobblers, barbers and coopers. There are people selling eggs, honey, spices, flour, fish and meat. Merchants stroll around at a leisurely pace, discussing the day's business; barefoot beggars plead for a mite; jesters and musicians wander around. Roars of laughter and jokes echo between the houses. The sound of fiddles, hurdy-gurdies and flutes blend with the creaking of cart wheels and the cackling and grunting of poultry and swine. The smell of boiled meat and turnips wafts from the inn. Kegs of mead and small beer are on their way in through the Shore Gate, to heighten the glee still more. "Drink and be merry while there is still time!" The town bath-house opens; here you can be washed by the young bath girls. The occasional gambler slips in to try his luck at a game of dice.

Towards evening the atmosphere turns somber: the rumors about Valdemar Atterdag and his army intensify. Suddenly he is there, outside the walls, with his mighty host. What use is the bold resistance of the Gotlanders now? In the space of a few hours, some 1800 men have fallen in the battle at Solberga convent. The town gates are opened. How could it happen? Valdemar rides in through the South Gate at the head of his soldiers. Drum-rolls, smoke and dust, blood and terror. Yet the Danish army is prepared to negotiate. The town can buy its freedom with three barrels of silver and gold. The burghers of Visby are to be plundered! A throne is set up for Valdemar, and the barrels are rolled out. Into these the townspeople must place their possessions. Terrible scenes are enacted. Soldiers search the houses and haul off men, women and children to the square. The huge barrels seem to be bottomless. But the burghers are rich, and the barrels are filled to the brim. Valdemar is satisfied. The army marches out of Visby and the ships set sail for Denmark. The jesters shout warnings and threats after them: "Your ships will founder off the island of Stora Karlsö!"

This is succeeded by another gruesome scene. A young woman from southern Gotland, has been arrested and is to be tried in the square. Rumor has it that it was she who betrayed the town by opening the gates for Valdemar's horde. The story goes that the king was seen last winter in the south, preparing his invasion from there. The girl's trial is quick. The charges against her are read out, and the people cry out their wrath: "Wall her up! Wall her up in a tower!"

So the wench is brought through the town in a cart, to be walled up alive in a tower by the sea. The streets are lined with inquisitive, jeering people. The traitress arouses revulsion and rage. Everyone want to help to immure her.

And stone by stone the wall did grow,

And the maiden wailed in the moon's pale glow.

The girl is kept under close watch. Some poor peasant lads unsuccessfully try to set her free, but are put to flight. It seems as if all the people of Visby and the visitors to the island are present to witness the internment. The sun sets in the sea. Isn't that the girl's spirit floating over the waves in the sunshine, being carried away by the grim reaper with his scythe? No one knows, and no one really cares. It has been an eventful day. A fateful day, perhaps a turning point in the prosperity of Gotland and the Hanseatic town of Visby. The townspeople linger by the waterside to discuss the day's happenings and to have a bite to eat. Baskets of meat and bread, small beer and fruit come out, and the hum of voices fills the shore.

MEDIEVAL WEEK has been held since 1984. It always takes place in week 32, which is usually the second week in August, from Sunday to Sunday. The number of activities has increased to such an extent that the most spectacular feature - the tournament- is also held in July. Performances of jesting, medieval music, and ballad-dancing are given the whole year round at the medieval banquets arranged by the Historical Museum in Visby.

The Valdemar play is enacted on the two Sundays. The program for the rest of the week includes a hundred events in Visby and the rest of Gotland. There are open-air plays and tableaux; processions and masses are reconstructed in the church ruins, mystery plays in the spirit of Hieronymus Bosch are held at the midnight hour in the ruin of St. Lawrence's. Wandering minstrels give lunchtime concerts in the Botanical Gardens, and outside the ring-wall, you can see fire-eaters and fireworks when the sun has sunk. Mother Hildegard from the convent shares her knowledge of medieval nursing, and masons reveal the secrets of vault-building and lime plastering. Children are invited on special walking tours around the ring-wall, to gather medicinal herbs and then make their own healing portions. There are endless possibilities. There are competitions to find new champions in the old Gutnic sports of pärk (handball), stone-bowling, and tossing the caber. Paracelsus, the alchemist, proudly shows how he makes gold. Walking tours of the town alternate with lectures and demonstrations, and you can see how goods are made and medieval food is sold and served.

One of the high points of the week is the tournament outside the ring-wall. The princely couple invites everyone in medieval dress to take part in an impressive procession along the dry moat just outside the wall. Then the tournament begins. The archery club has a bird-shooting competition; the Society of Creative Anachronism has foot fights, wearing elaborate armor and bearing dreadful weapons; tumblers and jesters provoke laughter. The chivalrous society Tourneamentum is among Europe's elite. They tilt at the quintain, where the idea is to strike the buckler with the lance and gallop past without being hit by the iron ball. They compete in spearing rings on the tips of their lances. They contend at picking up rings with swords and lifting objects on their spears at full gallop.

The final is the clash of man against man in full armor, with shield and lance. The war-horses are large and powerful, with astonishingly fast reactions in their caparisons. The knights appear to have spent most of their lives in the saddle in martial training. When they are in full armor they cannot be identified without the aid of the bearings on their escutcheons and the colors on their banners. With its tough competitions, the tournament is a rehearsal for war, but it also gives the knights an opportunity to pay suit to the fair damsels of the court.

It is the adult educational associations in Gotland, together with the Historical Museum and the independent drama, dance, and music groups on the island, which draw the program for Medieval Week. The arranger is the Medieval Week Committee, which has an executive officer. The associated organizations are Gotland Municipality, the tourist association, the county administration, the Historical Museum, the adult educational associations, and a number of non-profit organizations. Most of the work is on a voluntary basis, but the cost of costumes and props is high. Help towards this comes from private individuals, companies, and organizations, as well as from the state.

It is noteworthy that the island only has 57,000 inhabitants and that more than 2,000 in medieval dress take part in the events. They each have a special role to play: a nun from Solberga convent or a Franciscan friar from St. Catherin's by the square, a peasant girl from Vibble who comes to Visby to sell eggs. For some people it is the highlight of their lives to live as a wealthy merchant for a few days, to be seen among like-minded people in the main street. Others feel that their dreams have come true when they can put on medieval armor and serve in Valdemar's victorious army.

In the winter there are courses in medieval painting, costume, and food. Weekend courses about life in the Middle Ages attract hundreds of interested people. Specialists are invited to teach medieval ballad-dancing. The jesters have been taught such tricks as fire-eating. A few years ago Gotland Municipality started a dressmaking studio for young unemployed people, who have produced several hundred medieval costumes and theatrical clothes for the tournaments. Clubs and societies rehearse and polish their demonstrations and plays. The archery club has a large band of enthusiastic members - they call themselves the Wild Rabbits. The Society of Creative Anachronism makes weapons and armor. The drama group Pax arranges theatrical events for children and works out program for the jesters. The Gotlanders are constantly deepening their knowledge of the Middle Ages and the medieval environment they are living in. Visitors know a genuine milieu with medieval people. The atmosphere, the smells, the sounds - in short, everything feels "for real".

Where did the idea come from to turn an historical period and an event into a tourist attraction? Throughout the ages visitors have been attracted to Gotland and Visby for the island's rich history and the multitude of historic monuments. The medieval atmospheres are there, despite the touristy knickknacks that transform the town during the summer. Tourism has become broadly similar the world over, which does not tally with what the individual wants to derive from a holiday, namely fresh experiences, the unusual, something new and out of the ordinary. Visby and Gotland are unique by virtue of their history and buildings. They provide the settings and the fragments necessary for enacting a truly exciting scenario. At the same time the interest of Gotlanders' roots deepens, the awareness of what the built environment stands for, the readiness to care for the fragments of history is flourishing. And this is what the Medieval Week really is about.

This is not the right moment to develop the historical sources of the events. Gotlanders nevertheless have very rich sources to turn to for knowledge of their history as well as that of medieval people and various aspects of the everyday life. There are many descriptions of how Valdemar Atterdag landed on the island, conquered the countryside, and captured Visby. In Fide church in southern Gotland a stone depicting Christ's passion is built into the chancel wall. A Latin inscription recounts: "Burnt is the farm, the people cry, struck in pain under the sword". The numerical value of the Latin letters is 1361, the year Valdemar conquered Gotland.

In Visby the mass graves of the battle were found in the early 1900s; nearly 1800 men were hastily buried close to the cemetery of Solberga convent. The finds bear witness to a violent conflict, where the Gotlanders fought with antiquated armor and primitive weapons. All those capable of bearing arms - both young boys and old men - had been mustered for the decisive battle. The site have a cross with the following inscription:

In the year of our Lord 1361, on the third day after St James

the Gotlanders fell before the gates of Visby into the hands of

the Danes. Here lie they buried. Pray for them.

The everyday life can be followed in the doorways to the ninety rural churches from 1200-1350 all around the island, that have friezes of sculpted everyday scenes: some building workers mixing mortar, a couple of men playing dice, a young peasant girl walking with a sack on her back and a pitcher in her hand, some musicians playing fiddles and hurdy-gurdies.

During Medieval Week, legend and historical fact are woven together into a whole. The people of Gotland take us more than six hundred years back into their history, assuming the roles of their ancestors. They recreate historical events by studying the documents and literature. They put on the medieval dress that is depicted in the reliefs on the church doorways. They construct medieval instruments in order to play the music of the times, and they use medieval equipment. They get to know the medieval families named on grave-stones and in documents, the names are brought to life. The setting - the narrow cobbled alleys, the tall corbie-gabled houses, the impregnable ring-wall, and the sea beyond it - everything is given and preserved for the enactment of this spectacle. The stage and the script are genuine!

Bibliography:

Baessler, Ruth. Gotland: Sonneninsel der Ostsee. Munchen; Prestel-Verlag, 1990

Bohn, Robert. Gotland: Handbuch . Kiel; Conrad Stein Verlag, 1989

Eckhoff, Emil. The Town Wall of Visby . Uppsala;1923

Gotland: Tausand Jahre Kultur- und Wirtschaftgeschichte im Ostseeraum. Siegmaringen; Thorbecke, 1988

Gueissaz, Ulla. Gotland: 100 églises Médievales. Saint-Sulpice, Ed. Les Chantes, 1994

Jonsson, Marita. Gateway to Gotland.. Visby; Gotlands Fornsal, 1997

Jonsson, Marita. Medieval Week in Gotland. Stockholm; Rabén & Sjögren, 1990

Quack, Ulrich. Gotland: Die grösste Insel der Ostsee. Eine schwedische Provinz von besonderem Reiz-Kultur, Geschichte, Landschaft. Köln; Dumont Buchverlag, 1991.

Spencer, Arthur. Gotland. London; David & Charles, 1974

Svahnström, Gunnar. Visby. Stockholm; Almqvist & Wiksell förlag AB, 1984

Westholm, Gun. Hanseatic sites, routes and monuments. Council of Europe, 1994

World Heritage Convention. The Hanseatic Town of Visby. Visby; 1994

Abstract

English version

The medieval town of Visby, Sweden, situated on the island of Gotland in the Baltic was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1995 as the best preserved and most complete of the earlier Hansa Towns. The town wall, the ruins of a dozen of churches and remains of more than two hundred warehouses and merchants' houses from the 13th century constitute a powerful testimony of the past.

Fourteen years ago a cultural tourism program was formulated for the whole island. Visby has each year in August a Medieval Week, when every citizen dresses in medieval clothes. Visby once again becomes a Hanseatic town. The town swarms with medieval people. Here you meet smiths, cobblers, barbers, and traders. Merchants stroll around, musicians play. Carts, horses, pigs, sheep and hens jostle among the market stalls. The sounds, the music, and the voices evoke a bygone world, and they feel authentic. Towards evening events take a dramatic turn: the Danish king, Valdemar Atterdag, rides into the town at the head of his troops. Outside the town wall they have just defeated the army of Gotland peasants, and now they ride into Visby...

The program for the week has over a hundred events. Medieval mystery plays, masses, choral and instrumental music, tournaments and princely processions, displays of horses and caparisons, archery competitions, fire-eaters, belly-dancers, fireworks and balled dancers are intermingled with lectures, excursions, and walking tours of the medieval town.

French version

La ville médiévale de Visby, Suède, située sur l'île de Gotland de la mer de Baltique fut enscrit sur la Liste du Patrimoine mondial en 1995 comme la ville hanséatique la mieux préservée et la plus complète. La mur de la ville avec ses portes, tours et tourelles datant pour l'essentiel du 13éme siècle est pratiquement intact. Les ruines d'une douzaine d'églises romaines ainsi que le plan urbain très bien préservé et les vestiges de plus de 200 entrepots et maisons de marchands de la période romane constituent un puissant témoignage de son passé.

En 1984 un programme du tourisme culturel est formulé de l'île entier. Visby a depuis ce temps-là, au mois d'Août, une Semaine médievale, dans laquelle tous les citoyens se dressent en vêtements médievals. Visby redevient la ville hanséatique de l'an 1361. Sur le port fourmille d«une foule médiévale qui chemine dans les étals du marché. Vous y rencontrerez forgerons, savetiers, barbiers et marchands vendant des pulets plumés, des oeufs, de la farine, des herbes, des épices et du miel. Les commercants déambulent à làise en discutant les affaires de la journée. Charettes, chevaux, cochons, moutons et poules se bousculent parmi les étals. Son, musiques et voix évoquent un monde passé qu 'on sent authentique. Vers le soir, l'affaire tourne au drame: Valdemar Atterdag, roi des Danois, entre à cheval dans la ville à la tête de ses troupes. A l'extérieur des remparts, il vient de battre l'armée de paysans de Gotland, et voici les vainqueurs entrant dans Visby pour ranconner ses habitants...

Le programme de la semaine comporte plus d'une centaine d'événements: mystères médiévaux, messes, chorales et musique instrumentale, tournois et processions princières, cavalcades, competitions de tir à l'arc, cracheurs de feu, danses du ventre, feux d'artifice et chanteurs des rues alternent avec conférences, excursions et promenades dans la ville médiévale.

Marita Jonsson

Klosterbrunnsgatan 6

S-621 56 Visby

SWEDEN

Phone/Fax 46 498 279732