10. A Danish province
Medieval Visby and Gotland - The History and Archaeology of a Baltic Metropolis in its Context - Anders Andrén
Anders Andrén
Stockholm University
Description
The chapter provides an overview of Gotland from 1526 when the island became a fully integrated province of Denmark. The integration was emphasised by many parish priests of Danish origin which began to work on the island after the reformation in 1536. In 1572 Gotland became a Danish bishopric with the former German church in Visby as its cathedral. Many Danish merchants replaced German merchants in Visby during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries as well. The chapter will end with the peace treaty at Knäred in 1645, when Gotland was ceded to Sweden. In 1945 this was celebrated as a ”return” to Sweden, which it was not. Gotland had never been a Swedish province before, only a tributary land with loose links to the Swedish king.