| Conflict: | War in Gotland |
| Place: | Gotland |
| Width: | 315 |
| Partof: | the Swedish War of Liberation |
| Date: | 20 May – Early October 1524 |
| Result: | See result |
| Combatants Header: | Belligerents |
| Combatant1: |  Sweden Lübeck[1] Supported by Hanseatic League |
| Combatant2: | Søren Norby's forces |
| Commander1: | Ivar Fleming |
| Commander2: | Søren Norby |
| Units1: | Two squadrons |
| Units2: | Visborg garrison Sassen Kravelen |
| Strength1: | 2-8,000 men 2 squadrons 3 Fire ships 6 guns First squadron Unknown amount of ships Second squadron 11 ships |
| Strength2: | Unknown amount of men ~10 ships Several guns |
| Casualties1: | 6 ships captured Several ships damaged by fire |
| Casualties2: | Negligible |
| Territory: |
|
The War in Gotland (1524) also called the Gotland expedition (Swedish: Gotlandsexpeditionen) was a Swedish invasion of Gotland led by Berend von Melen against Gotland which was controlled by Søren Norby during the Swedish War of Liberation. The Swedes left the island in early October after peace was signed with Denmark at the Malmö Recess[2]
In 1524, the fighting between Denmark and Sweden during the Swedish War of Liberation had mostly died down, although the Swedes had one enemy left, this being Søren Norby who controlled Gotland.[3] He had previously been named lord of Gotland by Christian II, however, after he was deposed, Sø
Norby had been engaging in piracy around the Baltic ever since he received the island in 1517, his ships fought against every ship that passed Gotland, which disrupted the activities of the Hansa.[5] Despite his deposition, Sø
See main article: article. The Meeting at Vadstena decided to send Swedish troops to conquer Gotland from Søren, with Berend being designated as the leader of this campaign.[6] [7] This campaign was also heavily encouraged by Lübeck, since they were being heavily affected by Sørens piracy.[8] [9] The Swedes and Lübeckians were also supported by the Hanseatic League.
The maritime forces commanded by Søren were quite significant, he had at his disposal the following:
His fleet consisted of both warships and more or less armed merchantmen, most of which were likely captured in raids. One such ship was the Sassen, which was captured in 1521 from the Swedish-Lübeckian captain Staffan Sasse and thus named after him.
The heaviest ship in Søren's fleet was the Kravelen, which possibly has its origins from Finland in 1523.
On 14 May, a Swedish squadron sailed from Kalmar, it had Bered von Melen, who was a German mercenary in Gustav Vasa's service and the commander of the Swedish forces. On board the Swedish ships, there were 2,000-8,000 Swedish, Finnish, and German men. Despite the expedition being quickly reported to Søren by scouts, he was not able to stop the Swedes and they landed at Västergarn on 20 May, around 2.6 miles away from Visby. The Swedes also landed at Kronvalls, Östergarn, and Hall
Søren's forces retreated behind the walls of Visborg and left the rest of the island to the Swedes, at the same time, another Swedish squadron of around 11 ships commanded by Ivar Fleming[10] was dispatched from Stockholm with siege artillery and ammunition. After Søren's forces had retreated, the Swedes were able to easily capture the entire countryside.[11] [12] Berend had previously forgotten to block the harbor in Visby, which allowed Søren to send out some of his ships to attack the Swedish squadron. The result being that not more than six Swedish ships were captured along with its commander, Ivar Fleming before they managed to reach Gotland, after which they were brought into Visby.
The Swedes later attempted to assault Visborg from the sea, but these attempts ended in failure. Three Swedish Fire ships were sent into Visby harbor, but they were instead led by the wind into the rest of the Swedish fleet, igniting several of them. The artillery inside the fortress also sank more Swedish ships, and during a sortie from the defenders they managed to burn part of the Swedish camp. The Swedish siege artillery lacked ammunition, which led to the Swedes being stopped at Visby. After a long siege, the German mercenaries besieging Visborg began to mutiny out of anger from their wages not being paid on time. Gustav Vasa was also informed that Berend had gone over to Søren's side since they had been old friends.
During the Swedish expedition to Gotland, Søren wrote the following report:Rough translation:After being disappointed with the Lübeckians, and the poor distribution, Gustav Vasa decided to end his participation in the war on Gotland, and pulled back the Swedish troops.
At the same time the expedition was ongoing, an intensive diplomatic game was going on between Denmark and Sweden. During these, Denmark managed to secure control over Gotland once again, and the Swedish expedition troops were to leave the island.
Despite the invasion being a failure for the Swedes,[13] the conflict can not be considered a victory for either side.[14]