THE MAIN AUTHOR of this volume is Thomas Neijman, while Kurt Villads Jensen has contributed with some of the general background chapters. Both have read and commented on each other's chapters.

Thomas Neijman's in-depth studies of the events in Gotland 1361 began back in 2011 as part of the preparation for a memorial event, which he organized together with his dear wife Maria Neijman and friend Peter Ahlqvist. Thomas had been a re-enactor for long time, and the memorial event was to include re-enactments of the battle of Mästerby and Visby. This involvement led to Thomas being offered work at The Swedish History Museum on the production of a new exhibition focusing on the excavated remains from mass graves after the battle of Visby. To curate this exhibition, knowledge regarding the material culture of arms and armour was needed, as well as a more modern perspective on violence. At that time, Thomas was a serving commissioned officer in the army, so the use of violence was something that he had been much concerned with. As a soldier, studying the human remains of persons who had suffered a fate that you could relate to—to be killed in action—brought a solemnity to the topic and an understanding of the need to respect the fallen subjects of this work.

In the early twenty-first century, when the National Historical Museum in Stockholm decided to arrange a new, permanent exhibition on the Battle of Visby, Thomas Neijman was engaged to curate it. He began a new study of the mass graves, of the military equipment as well as of the bone material, including new isotope analyses to determine, if possible, the origin of the individuals in the armies.