HALMSTED, SWEDEN—According to a Live Science report, the remains of a man who stood about six feet, three inches tall, and an iron sword measuring more than four feet long, have been uncovered within the boundaries of a church at a medieval friary in southwestern Sweden. Archaeologist Johan Klange of Cultural Environment Halland said that the weapon is a late medieval longsword with an iron blade inlaid with small Christian crosses made from another metal. The blade was snapped at the hilt, perhaps during roadwork at the site in the 1930s. Klange thinks the man may have been a nobleman at the turn of the sixteenth century who supported the Kalmar Union, an agreement in which Sweden, Denmark, and Norway were ruled by a single king between about 1397 and 1523. “We hypothesize that he was part of the high nobility of the Kalmar Union, and may have owned property in both Sweden and Denmark,” Klange said. “These people became very, very powerful.” The Kalmar Union ended in 1520 when Sweden’s King Christian II executed nearly 100 of his enemies. DNA analysis of two burials found near the tall man’s grave may reveal if the three were related. To read about sword hilts that were found protruding from the earth in a Viking cemetery in southern Sweden, go to "Standing Swords."
Medieval Longsword Found in Nobleman's Grave in Sweden
News January 10, 2024
Recommended Articles
Artifacts May/June 2024
Medieval Iron Gauntlet
Digs & Discoveries January/February 2023
Storming the Castle
Letter from Germany September/October 2022
Berlin's Medieval Origins
In the midst of modern construction, archaeologists search for evidence of the city’s earliest days
Digs & Discoveries May/June 2022
First Falconer
-
Features November/December 2023
Assyrian Women of Letters
4,000-year-old cuneiform tablets illuminate the personal lives of Mesopotamian businesswomen
(Attraction Art/Adobe Stock) -
Letter from El Salvador November/December 2023
Uneasy Allies
Archaeologists discover a long-forgotten capital where Indigenous peoples and Spanish colonists arrived at a fraught coexistence
-
Artifacts November/December 2023
Sculpture of a Fist
(Museum of Fine Arts, Boston/Bridgeman Art Library) -
Digs & Discoveries November/December 2023
The Benin Bronzes’ Secret Ingredient