Gotland: the land of the Gutes

Who rules

Name

the free farmers of Gotland in their assemblies; no lord, and no leader named for 1200

Title

the Gutnalthing, the assembly of all the Gutes, at Roma

Since

time out of mind; the Guta saga places the treaty with the Swedish king in the distant past (arranged by Awair Strabain)

Confidence

medium

Guta saga and Guta lag, both written down in the thirteenth century (the law about 1220: en.wikipedia), describe the island's order; nothing names an office-holder in 1200.

Overlord

the king of the Swedes, by treaty: tribute and a limited ship duty, not lordship over the land

What the realm holds

• the whole of Gotland with Fårö and the Karlsö islands
• the trading place of Visby (Visby)
• the farmers' ships and trade to Novgorod, Lübeck, Denmark and the Swedish coasts

How it was acquired

Self-governing since before written record; the treaty with the Swedish king is placed by the Guta saga before the end of the ninth century (en.wikipedia).

Allies and rivals

The Swedish king and jarl (treaty partners); the German merchants (partners and, later, rivals of the farmers); Lübeck; Novgorod; Danish traders. The pagan Oeselians and Curonians are the sea's danger.

The realm that morning

The farmers govern the island through their things; Visby is their trading place, with a German merchant community beside them. The Swedish king takes tribute and can call on Gotland's ships against the heathen, but has no officer, farm or castle on the island that the sources show.

Wealth

Trade above all: silver, furs and wax from Novgorod, cloth, salt and metalwork from the west; farming, sheep, limestone; the many stone churches built from about 1150 show the wealth.

Military

No castles and no lord's men: the farmers' levy and ships; the old ring forts (Torsburgen the largest) as refuges. The free-standing Powder Tower at Visby's harbour is thought to be twelfth century; the ring wall is later (see Visby).

Threats

• pagan raiders from Saaremaa and Courland in the sailing season
• the German merchants growing into a power of their own at Visby
• a Swedish king asking more than the treaty gives

Law and courts

The Guta law (Guta lag, written down about 1220) and the hundred, sixth, third and land things; the island's later chief judge (the land judge) is not pinned for 1200.

Treaty with sweden

Guta saga (written down in the thirteenth century; the only manuscript is about 1350): a yearly tribute in silver to the king and the jarl; seven ships for the king's levy, against heathen lands only and not against Christian ones, on due notice, with a fine paid instead if they do not go; free passage and trade in Sweden without tolls; the bishop of Linköping's visitation every third year. The Guta saga's figures are its own.

Germans and merchants

The Artlenburg privilege of Henry the Lion (18 October 1161) ended a quarrel of about 1159-60 between the Gotland traders and the Lübeck merchants: it confirmed the rights Emperor Lothair III had given the Gotlanders in Saxony, gave them toll freedom in Henry's lands and the same harbour rights at Lübeck that Lübeck men had on Gotland, and named Odelrich alderman of the German merchants on Gotland (de.wikipedia). In the later twelfth century the Lübeck merchants and the Danish Knud guild kept permanent houses at Visby (de.wikipedia). The Gotlanders' yard at Novgorod and a treaty of Novgorod with the Germans and Gotlanders of the early 1190s belong here too (not re-checked).

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

In 1200

1. spring 1200 (en.wikipedia)Bishop Albert of Livonia, who recruited crusaders on Gotland in 1199 (Henry of Livonia, not re-checked), sails for the Dvina with 23 ships and more than 1,500 armed crusaders (en.wikipedia's figures).Depends on: the sailing season; Gotland and German merchants joining Stopped by: a refusal by the Gutes, or Danish or German backing failing

Later, on the likely course

1. 1201 (after this year)Albert founds Riga together with Gotland merchants (en.wikipedia), opening a new market for the Gutes on the Dvina.Depends on: Albert's expedition succeeding Stopped by: the expedition failing in 1200

Places of note

• Gutnalthing at Roma: the assembly of all the Gutes, beside Roma Abbey (Cistercian, 1164: Church map)
• Visby: the Gutes' trading place and the German merchants' base

Where the sources disagree

• Brief: the Visby town wall is about 1280. en.wikipedia (Visby) says work on the ring wall was likely begun in the twelfth century and rebuilt to its height about 1300; the Powder Tower is usually dated to the twelfth century. Taken here: a harbour tower may stand in 1200, the ring wall does not.

Evidence: The treaty and the island's order rest on the Guta saga and Guta lag, written down a generation or more after 1200; the 1161 privilege is a charter. Nothing describes Gotland in the winter of 1199-1200 itself.

On the map: The whole island is the Gutes' own, drawn as the modern Gotland municipality (the island with Fårö, the Karlsö islands and Gotska Sandön).

Primary sources for this realm

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• The Chronicle of Novgorod (kept year by year; the Synodal manuscript written in the 13th and 14th centuries). Novgorod's own record, kept at St Sophia. Read online
• The Livonian Chronicle of Henry, Henry of Livonia (1225 to 1227). The chief source for the Baltic mission. Read online
• The birch-bark letters (11th to 15th centuries). Excavated letters and notes on birch bark, dated by the layer they lie in. Read online
• The Swedish diplomatarium and its main register, SDHK (documents of 817 to 1540). The register of every known Swedish medieval letter, with full texts for the early centuries. Read online
• The law of the Gotlanders; The saga of the Gotlanders (Guta lag about 1220, Guta saga about 1220 to 1275; manuscript of about 1350). The law and the short history of the self-governing island. Read online