Gotland: The island of roses and ruins
Sweden’s largest island; A true Mediaeval treasure
A tiny green jewel with a gigantic past, surrounded by a vast dark blue sea whose waters are neither salty nor sweet. An ancient island filled with mediaeval treasures still to be discovered, in a place where secrets ceased to exist long ago.
Situated in the Baltic Sea, we find Sweden’s largest island. Even though it is located in relative proximity to the mainland, culturally it is light years apart. In fact, there is almost nothing that connects its independent and colourful history to that of the rest of the strict and grey motherland.
Among other Swedish provinces, it has always been an ugly duckling. With its underground caves, gorgeous sea shell-filled sandy beaches, lushly green forests and fresh blue sweet water lagoons Gotland is almost tropical, at least in these latitudes. Squint your eyes on a hot summer day and you could be in the Mediterranean.
The island enjoys a warm and mild climate most of the year, roses have been known to bloom here as late as November. Besides, a journey to Gotland is a step back in time. It is a very ancient land, as proof, we find fossil-filled, naturally sculpted “Raukar”, these mysterious figures tell stories from prehistory. Pictured stones containing runic letters reveal the lives and journeys of the early indigenous: the Gutes, during the Viking era.
Or the sad tale of how the defenceless inhabitants dug holes in the ground to hide their possessions and silver, in a desperate attempt to hide their life savings during fierce and bloody enemy invasions, only to later perish in battle or vanish in mass graves leaving their silver treasures underground, lost forever in the islands historical ancient earth.
Gotland is literally a land of hidden treasures.
Raukar; Ancient and Mysterious Stone Figures
Gotland is a unique island with characterful wilderness and a coastline punctuated with sandy white beaches and sculptural sea stacks, known here as Raukar. These iconic natural sculptures shaped by the forceful waves of the sea, either stand majestically and alone or form part of a large group, so-called Rauk fields.
Each and every one has its own characteristics and appearance. These ancient stone formations are hard on the inside but with a softer outer layer shaped by the waves of the Baltic Sea over thousands of years.
At a closer look, these Raukar also contain fossils of small animals that lived under the water a long, long time ago, a time when Gotland itself was part of the vast Baltic Sea bottom. The island’s earliest history is visible on these ancient almost otherworldly stone sculptures, a sight to behold.
Vallhagar was one of Gotland’s earliest settlements, a site today only accessible through a narrow footpath leading through the centre of the location, that used to be a village, where all that remains is stone foundations, a burial mound and your own imagination.
It was perhaps here, at the first settlement, that according to the legend, the great Tjelvar, a mythological figure mentioned in the “Gutasaga” as the first human arrived on the island. The legend tells that in early times Gotland was sinking into the sea, little by little.
When Tjelvar landed on the island, he came up with a brilliant idea, a solution to the island’s problem. He made a gigantic fire and prevented the island from further sinking into the Baltic Sea. Tjelvar’s son, Havde, married Vitastjerna and they had three sons thus they became, according to the legend, the first ancestors of the Gutes and the very first couple to settle down on Gotland.
A Lush, Green Hub Along an Important Trade Route
It was Gotland’s strategic location, in the middle of northern Europe’s most important trading routes, that were to become the deciding factor and the origin of its great prosperity; it also assured it a great position as one of the leading mercantile centres in these northern latitudes.
Already in the Bronze Age, its citizens engaged in trade with other Baltic groups. As time went by Gotland gained importance thanks to its great location along the shipping routes between Russia and Western Europe. Foreign traders also settled on the island, and it was the German merchants that later established the island’s capital, even though it is only a town, Visby.
By 1161 the town developed into one of the principal Northern European mercantile centres, and soon enough it occupied a leading position within the Hanseatic League. It reached its zenith in the 13th century, earning the Epithet Regina Maris (queen of the sea), it even developed its maritime code and coined its own money.
The unavoidable decline came in the form of a ladder, of several unrelated steps, first Lübeck’s rising power, as they started to expand their influence. In 1299, Visby’s Hanseatic privileges were removed. The second blow came with the Black Death 1349–50.
After a long and difficult struggle with death Gotland faced more hardships, and in 1361 started yet another deadly trial. In a brutal clash with Danish elite troops under Valdemar Atterdag that would turn out to be devastating.
During the brutal attack, the Gutes hastily assembled a peasant army, consisting mainly of farmers, and attempted to halt the invasion of the professional Danish army near Visby. Before heading out to war many of the islanders hid their silver underground, in holes dug in the soil, when filled with the silver these holes were later covered with earth and hidden.
The ill-equipped islanders fought fiercely but the town fell. The last battle was fought beneath Visby’s town’s wall. Both children, the elderly and women helped in the battle, everyone helped as the pest had claimed a lot of the population.
The dead soldiers and their equipment were swiftly buried alongside women, children and the elderly in large mass graves after the battle. King Valdemar was victorious and more than half of all the farmers of Gotland were killed.
The remains of the dead, their armour and weapons, are internationally unique in the sense of so much remaining in a state of preservation was found when archaeologists excavated the site in the 1920s. Ever since the brutal slaughter of the 29th of July 1361, old silver treasures keep being uncovered until today. Treasures left by the civilians who lost their lives as a consequence of the brutal conquest.
Visby, a Town of Roses and Ruins
Today Visby is a very unique town, it is rare to find such a well-preserved, intact Mediaeval city in these northern latitudes, a very special historical treasure. Despite its tiny size, Visby has the largest number of preserved ruins in all of Northern Europe.
The city wall or Ringmuren was built in 1250 and stretches across 3.5 kilometres, it contains several gates and 27 defensive towers which are still intact. With its 27 preserved towers of the original 29 military defence outposts built to protect it, it is a remarkable number!
Some 200 ancient warehouses still stand but are nowadays private homes along with a few lofty merchants’ mansions, all of which are examples of the island’s glorious past.
Visby also has many more churches within its city wall than any other town in Sweden. Every August Visby’s streets are filled with jesters, peasants and storytellers sharing the island’s ancient, sad and fantastic tales as locals dress up in mediaeval attire and return to the Middle Ages for the popular celebration; Medeltids veckan.
Gotland is an island steeped in history, a historical island of pristine mediaeval beauty. It is a green jewel in the middle of the Baltic Sea, where time has nearly stood still on this tiny island that has escaped modern development. Like many other things on the island, its ancient haven looks much the same as it did centuries ago when big ships came from faraway places with their trade goods.
Gotland’s history is filled with ancient Viking stories, old trading routes, mediaeval stone walls and warfare among greedy neighbours. scattered ruins and ancient paintings tell stories dating back to 100 AD. This ancient land is so filled with treasures and silver and is home to the world’s greatest Viking treasures.
Pictured stones containing runic letters tell stories about the lives and journeys of the early Gutes. Old stone foundations of entire villages remain, and still stand in the countryside with sheep grazing in and among the time-worn fragments.
Without a doubt, Gotland was and still is home to sheep and shepherds. Their roots run deep in the soil of this green island. The modern neat and orderly farms reveal the love and pride they have in their homeland and in rising sheep here.
Broad Spectrum Ethnic Variety
The island was historically home to the Gutes, but modern-day DNA studies tell a more interesting story, it shows a colourful and ethnically different population stretching from Gutes, Swedes, Finns, Mediterraneans, Middle Easterners and much more. A whole spectrum of different originating settlers.
The number of Arab dirhams discovered on the island alone is astonishingly high. It is only here on Gotland we find an ancient Swedish farmer, who came from the Mediterranean.
Gotland’s History and Traditions
Gutasaga contains legends of how the island was first settled by Tjelvar and populated by his descendants.
It also tells the tale of when a third of the island’s population had to immigrate to Southern Europe, a tradition associated with the immigration of the Gutes, also known as Goths. After the bloody war with the Danes, the Gutes later, voluntarily, submitted to the king of the Swedes and joined them based on mutual agreement, the details of the agreement are mentioned and explained in Gutasagan.
Gotland or Gutland in Gutnish is Sweden’s largest island, even so, the tiny island only makes up 1% of the total area of the main country. Gotland or Gutland means “homeland of the Gutes” in Gutnish, the mother language of the Gutes.
Traditional games of skill like Kubb, Pärk and Varpa were played starting from a long ago on Gotland, they form part of what has become known as “Gutniska lekar” and are mostly performed on midsummer’s eve celebrations on the island. These historical games have widespread renown, some of them are played as far away as the US.
Another old tradition special for Gotland is the cultivation of the typical rose of Gotland. The composition of the earth on Gotland is especially suitable for the rose, this beautiful famed flower thrives here on the ancient island’s calcium-rich historical earth.
The rose already existed long ago, in abbeys on the tiny island, but it was rather the interest for roses that grew significantly with time, especially in the 19th century. Few people could differentiate between these distinct species.
The island was filled with wild roses as well, but it was the pure specie of rose “the Gotland’s rose” that interested the flora enthusiasts particularly. This pure rose has not been occulted nor inoculated but is pure and much stronger than today’s modern roses. It is this pure rose that has become a symbol of the island. It is hard for tourists visiting the island to choose what to focus on, the pretty roses or the magic scenery.
Conclusion
Gotland has always been a natural hub in one of the world’s busiest waters, the Baltic Sea, but the island’s journey started long, long ago under the sea when the animals, corals and plants sank into the sediment that became the limestone platform of modern Gotland.
The island was historically significant and its main town, Visby, a Viking-era wonder and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Visby was, in the Middle Ages, much bigger and more powerful than any other city or town in Northern Europe. Anyone who has set foot on Gotland’s soil would agree, that there is something magical about it.
To wander around the stone-cobbled streets of the Mediaeval town of Visby, streets that still radiate a unique and mystic feeling is a true privilege. A walk through Visby’s rose-filled streets with its unique townscape, crammed with ruins and ancient fragments that time has spared and all of it neatly surrounded by the iconic city wall.
This is as close as we will ever get to experiencing a Northern European Mediaeval Age settlement and what makes it even more special is that was once a flourishing international trading centre, in the time of its climax, when it still was: The queen of the Sea!
Sources:
Larson, Per. Oväntade Fynd I grotta på stora Karlsö Stockholms universitetet 28 August 2021.
Falta on Gotland. Länsstyrelsen Gotland 31 May 2014.
Gutagatan, based on Ganholm’s 1992 edition. www.runeberg.org Project Runeberg, 13 June 2004.
Ström, Jonas Världens största Vikingatida skatt. Historíala Museet 17 June 2004.
Yawing, Hugo (1986) Visby-Hansestad på Gotland ( in Swedish)12 June 2014.
Nichols, Henry 26 April 2012 Ancient Swedish farmer came from the Mediterranean.