The researchers shed new light on a 15th century “floating castle” filled with firearms

In the late 1400s, Europeans began to cross the Atlantic and colonize a large part of the world. Two factors, among others, played an important role in the successful propagation of European nations: ships and firearms.

In a study published this summer in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, the researchers highlighted late medieval artillery aboard the GribonThe Danish Danish-Norwegian Royal ship flowed more than five centuries ago off the coast of Sweden. The wreckage represents the best preserved ship in the era of exploration, the emblematic and brutal period of European world domination which began with the journey of Christopher Columbus 1492 and ended in the 17th century.

“”Gribon is a rare archaeological resource. This is the most complete example of an yet -discovered of a late Carvel Carvel War Ship with existing cannon elements, “wrote the researchers in the study.” A large part of the structure of the wooden ship and in particular the oak rifle beds have survived Gibshunden, as well as other organic materials rarely found on seams in other bodies of water. »»

Diving divers accidentally discovered the Gribon Shipwreck in 1971, but official archaeological surveys did not start until much later, the first test excavations took place in the early 2000s.

Anti-personal weapons for enemy ships

Gribon Once hosted at least 50 small caliber cannons with lead or projectile shot, with an iron nucleus. These weapons were used against the staff of enemy ships at close range before embarking and capturing the sea. While most of the wrought iron cannons were wasted at the bottom of the sea, the researchers were able to recreate them digitally by studying the forms they left in their wooden weapons beds, illustrated below.

“The study of this site offers a new knowledge of the combination of carvel ships and firearms at a crucial historical point, because the lights and firearms perfected it in the form it finally supposed in the middle of the 18th century – and which then remained significantly unchanged for more than three centuries,” explained the researchers.

Gribon Was built between 1483 and 1484 near Rotterdam, probably affirming about 8% of the Danish national budget in 1485. According to the researchers, King Hans of Denmark and Norway used the ship in a unique way. Rather than using it for exploration, he treated it as a kind of floating castle. He personally used it to travel around his kingdom and beyond, consolidating his reign through the economic, diplomatic, social, cultural and administrative soft power supported by the hard power represented by the military power of the ship.

Consolidate a kingdom or develop its borders?

If you are wondering why King Hans did not participate in the era of exploration – his Viking ancestors would have been proud, after all – the researchers suggest that he was more concerned with stabilizing his reign on the Baltic region. In addition, Pope Alexander VI granted Spain’s rights to the Americas in 1493, and King Hans probably did not want to be excommunicated. As for the Indian Ocean, Spain and Portugal have agreed that it would be the domain of Portugal.

Grshunden caught fire in June 1495 when he was anchored off the Swedish city of Ronneby. King Hans was not on board at the time. A number of artillery shots discovered include one or two flattened sides, potentially because the explosion made the projectiles stored near the Canon powder in the ship.

The study ultimately joins a host of other historical shipwrecks over the past few years, giving an overview of the way humans have explored, traveled, exchanged and dominated for thousands and thousands of years.