Especially in medieval times. Absolutely brutal. Zero humanity. I would say we're lucky to live in the time we do, but things like this happen now. Only back then it was eye to eye
Thank you @Banijay History for making this documentary. The sad truth that these people fought and died in a hopeless battle gives me the chills. It showed me another pov to look at the ruin of the castle in our town and its' defenders.
Yikes. Cutting their feet/legs off - that's a level of brutality that kind of takes your breath away. Fascinating stuff, thanks for posting, I've really been enjoying this series.
I don't think the gotlanders wanted to fight, in fact I think they were probably a mass of confused frightened men who were trapped. From what you say in your documentary they had already fought and lost battle further to the south--this suggests these men were effectively a mass of fugitives who ran north and sought shelter in the fortified town. Only the folk in the town didn't want to back a losing force and so kept the doors shut. This leaves the militia in a bad place, On one side of them a closed gate and a high wall, on the other a far superior foe. I would think that they would have probably liked to have surrendered, but the invaders decided to slaughter them. It would have been less a battle and more of a devastating rout of an already beaten foe, hence the number of dead. I think my theory makes sense as the invader would see it as an opportunity to remove the future risk of more uprisings from a hostile peasantry. Plus if it was a massacre of barely resisting troops it's less likely to be written about at that time, after all, where's the glory in slaughtering beaten men? This would explain the lack of contemporary accounts of a battle.
Unbelievable bravery to stand with their backs to the wall(literally) knowing they are going to have to take on a professional army. Hand to hand combat, it must have been carnage.
