Victual Brothers - Guild of The Victual Brothers

Guild of The Victual Brothers

While Queen Margaret and Albert of Mecklenburg were battling for Scandinavian supremacy and Margaret's forces were besieging Stockholm, privateers named the Victual Brothers engaged in war at sea and shipped food to keep the city supplied. The name Victual Brothers is derived from the Latin word "victualia" — meaning provisions — and refers to their first mission, which was to supply food to the besieged city of Stockholm.

The Victual Brothers were organised as a brotherhood or guild, and attracted men from all over Europe. Their main naval enemy in 1392 was the powerful Hanseatic town of Lübeck, which supported Denmark in the war. Apart from Lübeck, the Hanseatic League initially supported the Victual Brothers. Most of the Hanseatic towns had no desire for a victory for Denmark, with its strategic location for control of the seaways.

For several years from 1392, the Victual Brothers were a strong power in the Baltic Sea. They had safe harbours in the cities of Rostock, Ribnitz, Wismar and Stralsund. They soon turned to open piracy and coastal plunder. In 1393 they sacked the town of Bergen for the first time and in 1394 they conquered Malmö. They also plundered Turku, Vyborg, Faxeholm, Styresholm and Korsholm and occupied parts of Frisia and Schleswig.

At the climax of their power, the Victual Brothers occupied Gotland in 1394 and set up their headquarters in Visby. Maritime trade in the Baltic Sea virtually collapsed, and the herring industry suffered from their depredations. Queen Margaret even turned to King Richard II of England and sought to charter English ships to combat the pirates.

From 1395 onwards, Queen Margaret gained the upper hand politically. She united Denmark, Sweden and Norway and formed the Kalmar Union. The Hanseatic League was forced to cooperate with her, foreshadowing its eventual decline.

At the same time, the Victual Brothers were impartially raiding everyone's shipping. Their famous battle cry was "God's friends and the whole world's enemies". Queen Margaret and King Albert of Sweden conceded Gotland to the allied Teutonic Order as a pledge (similar to a fiefdom). An invasion army under Konrad von Jungingen, the Grand Master of the Order, conquered the island in 1398, destroying Visby and driving the Victual Brothers out of Gotland.