Battle
The Danish troops moved towards Visby. The first day of the invasion, two minor skirmishes were fought on marshy ground between yeomen farmers and the army. The next day, from 800 to 1000 farmers were killed after massing for battle near Fjäle myr.
On 27 July a Gutnish yeomen army fought the Danes just outside the city, and was severely beaten, with an estimated death toll of about 1,800 peasants killed, while the Danish casualties remain unknown. Only a couple of items that can be linked with Danish soldiers have been found, including a purse and an ornamented armour belonging to a member of the Roorda Family from Friesland. Casualties can be compared with those that the French suffered at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356 and should be seen as high in medieval standards.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Visby
Famous quotes containing the word battle:
“Hell grant soon we hear again the swords clash!
And the shrill neighs of destriers in battle rejoicing,
Spiked breast to spiked breast opposing!”
—Ezra Pound (1885–1972)
“In a battle all you need to make you fight is a little hot blood and the knowledge that it’s more dangerous to lose than to win.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“Probably the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing-fields of Eton, but the opening battles of all subsequent wars have been lost there.”
—George Orwell (1903–1950)