Hans was on a mission to quell the dissent and revive the union by becoming king of Sweden, too. In Poland, Nicolaus Copernicus was beginning his studies in astronomy.Īcross the Baltic Sea, Denmark, Norway and Sweden had been ruled together under an agreement called the Kalmar Union for close to 100 years, but Sweden had broken away, and rebels there, led by a nobleman named Sten Sture, sought independence. In Italy, Leonardo da Vinci was starting work on The Last Supper. Dukes and kings ruled from giant castles, and every nobleman’s wardrobe included a suit of armor. Europe was then emerging from the Middle Ages into the Renaissance. The accounts describe how King Hans, who reigned over Denmark and Norway from 1481 to 1513, sailed east from Copenhagen in the summer of 1495 toward Kalmar, Sweden, to attend a political summit. The story of Gribshunden is preserved in several “Chronicles,” narrative histories written in northern Europe in the 16th century, and in an eyewitness account by a young nobleman who survived the disaster. He steps off the deck with a splash and makes an OK sign before disappearing from view. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for two years,” he says. After extensive planning and a long pandemic delay, Foley is visibly eager to enter the water. Because the water temperature is below 50 degrees, the divers are wearing drysuits and heated underwear that will allow them to work for two hours or more.
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Despite the springtime sun, a cold wind blows. What Gribshunden represents, researchers think, is nothing less than the end of the Middle Ages and the birth of the modern world.Īt the edge of the raft, Brendan Foley, an archaeologist from Lund University in Sweden, and his chief safety officer, Phil Short, are getting ready to dive. More than that, the relic provides a unique opportunity to examine a state-of-the-art warship from a little-understood period, when a revolution in shipbuilding and naval warfare was reshaping geopolitics and transforming civilization. That promises them an unprecedented look at the life of a medieval king who was said to travel with an abundance of royal possessions, not only food and clothing but weapons, tools, textiles, documents and precious treasures. But these organisms don’t survive in the fresher waters of the Baltic, and archaeologists believe that much of Hans’ vessel and its contents are preserved. Unless a ship is buried quickly by sediment, the wood is eaten away over the centuries by shipworm, actually a type of saltwater clam. Shipwrecks from this period are exceedingly rare. Historical sources record how the ship sank in the summer of 1495, along with a large contingent of soldiers and Danish noblemen, although not the king himself, who was ashore at the time.
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The floating platform was busy with divers and archaeologists, here to explore what lies beneath the waves: the wreck of a ship called Gribshunden, a spectacular “floating castle” that served as the royal flagship of King Hans of Denmark more than 500 years ago. Guibert Gatesįor a few weeks in May, however, a new island intruded on this peaceful scene: A square wood raft topped with two converted shipping containers just a few hundred feet from Stora Ekon’s shoreward coast. For centuries, the spot was a popular anchorage point, but the waters are now mostly quiet the most prominent visitors, apart from the occasional pleasure boat, are migrating swans. Sprinkled with pine trees, sheep and a few deserted holiday cottages, the low-lying island is one of hundreds that shelter the coast from the storms of the Baltic Sea. At the southern edge of Sweden, not far from the picturesque town of Ronneby, lies a tiny island called Stora Ekon.