Bocksten Man
Encyclopedia
Bog
A bog, quagmire or mire is a wetland that accumulates acidic peat, a deposit of dead plant material—often mosses or, in Arctic climates, lichens....
in Varberg Municipality
Varberg Municipality
Varberg Municipality is a municipality in Halland County, in southwest Sweden. Its seat is in Varberg.It was formed in 1971 through the amalgamation of the City of Varberg and the surrounding rural municipalities...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. It is one of the best-preserved finds in Europe from that era and is exhibited at the Varberg County Museum
Varberg County Museum
Halland Museum of Cultural History is a museum of cultural history in Varberg, Sweden. It is situated at Varberg Fortress. The museum was formerly known as Varberg County Museum...
. The man had been killed and knocked to the bottom of a lake which later became a bog. The bog where the body was found lies about 15 miles east of Varberg on the west coast of Sweden, close to the most important medieval road in the area: the Via Regia
Via Regia
Via Regia, i.e. "Royal Highway", denotes a mediæval historic road. The term, in the usual sense, means not just a specific road, rather a type of road. It was legally associated with the king and remained under his special protection and guarantee of public peace.There were many such roads in the...
. He was recently reconstructed to show what he may have looked like when he was alive.
The discovery
In the 1880s a farm called "Bocksten" (previously "Boxsten") was established in a bogBog
A bog, quagmire or mire is a wetland that accumulates acidic peat, a deposit of dead plant material—often mosses or, in Arctic climates, lichens....
. The bog was then regularly drained, and a harrow
Harrow (tool)
In agriculture, a harrow is an implement for breaking up and smoothing out the surface of the soil. In this way it is distinct in its effect from the plough, which is used for deeper tillage. Harrowing is often carried out on fields to follow the rough finish left by ploughing operations...
used to gather peat
Peat
Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter or histosol. Peat forms in wetland bogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world...
. Harry Johansson had previously found a leather shoe in the wetland that was given to the Varberg museum. A shoe sole was found in the bog in Summer 1934, but the curator of the local museum, Albert Sandklef did not recognize its importance.
The body was found while gathering peat on June 22, 1936, by Johansson. His harrow apparently caught on sackcloth. On examination Johansson saw parts of a skeleton. The day after, Johansson and his father contacted the local police and a doctor. On investigation, they realized it was too old to be of criminal interest.
Sandklef was contacted again. He took charge, inviting others — among them the well-known geologist Lennart von Post
Lennart von Post
Ernst Jakob Lennart von Post was a Swedish naturalist and geologist. He was the first to publish quantitative analysis of pollen and is counted as one of the founders of palynology. He was a professor at Stockholm University 1929-1950.-Early life:Lennart von Post was born in Johannesberg, near...
. The group visited on June 24. They measured and photographed the find before excavating it. The upper parts of the man had passed through the harrow and were badly damaged while the lower parts were intact.
The Swedish Museum of National Antiquities
Swedish Museum of National Antiquities
Swedish Museum of National Antiquities is a museum located in Stockholm, Sweden that covers Swedish cultural history and art from the Stone Age to the 16th century...
was consulted after the midsummer weekend to assist conservation. Curator Gillis Olson and their textile expert Agnes Geijer took part in the conservation and evaluation. They came to Varberg on July 9, assisting Sandkelf in the documentation and giving conservation advice.
The Bocksten Man has been part of the museum's exhibition since 1937.
Description
The man was 170-180 centimeters (5 ft 7 in - 5 ft 11 in) tall and slenderly built. There is an injury covering about 8 by 5 cm (3.1 by 2 in) on the right side of the cranium. Of the inner organs, parts of the lungs, liver and brain as well as cartilage are preserved.The tunic is among the best-preserved medieval tunics in Europe, and made of wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
len fabric. He was wearing a gugel
Gugel
A Gugel was a type of hood with a trailing point, popularly worn in medieval Germany. It was tailored to fit the head and shoulders, and was usually made from wool or loden. Originally worn by commoners, it became fashionable with the nobility from the 14th century...
hood with a 90 centimetres (35.4 in) long and 2 centimetre (0.78740157480315 in) wide liripipe
Liripipe
A liripipe is a historical part of clothing, the tail of a hood or cloak, or a long-tailed hood, in particular a chaperon or gugel, or the peak of a shoe...
("tail"). On his upper body he wore a shirt and a cloak, while his legs were covered by hosiery.
Apart from the clothing he had a fabric bag, foot coverings, leather shoes, a belt, a leather sheath
Scabbard
A scabbard is a sheath for holding a sword, knife, or other large blade. Scabbards have been made of many materials over the millennia, including leather, wood, and metals such as brass or steel.-Types of scabbards:...
and two knives.
The leather sheath was 40 millimetres (1.6 in) wide and 62 millimetres (2.4 in) long, composed of three layers with a combined saltire
Saltire
A saltire, or Saint Andrew's Cross, is a heraldic symbol in the form of a diagonal cross or letter ex . Saint Andrew is said to have been martyred on such a cross....
and St George's Cross
St George's Cross
St George's Cross is a red cross on a white background used as a symbolic reference to Saint George. The red cross on white was associated with St George from medieval times....
(thus giving a pattern similar to Union Jack) carved on the outer layer. On the inner layer a similar pattern was carved, though this time a pole was added to the symbol.
The man had been knocked to the lake bed by two poles; one of oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
that hit his heart and one of beech
Beech
Beech is a genus of ten species of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia and North America.-Habit:...
which went through his back.
Interpretations
Several people have evaluated the finding, among them Albert Sandklef, Margareta Nockert and Owe Wennerholm.Date
The find is generally dated to the 14th century. The dating is based on the clothing, especially the type of hood he wore. Albert Sandklef specified the date of the find to the 1360s, while Margareta Nockert suggests the 1330s. Owe Wennerholm argues that the hood he wore was used over a much larger time frame and only limits the date of the find to between 1250 and 1520. He does however put forward the hypothesisHypothesis
A hypothesis is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. The term derives from the Greek, ὑποτιθέναι – hypotithenai meaning "to put under" or "to suppose". For a hypothesis to be put forward as a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it...
that the man might be Simon Gudmundi; a 15th century priest, known to have died 1491.
A bit of the cloth was radiocarbon dated
Radiocarbon dating
Radiocarbon dating is a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 to estimate the age of carbon-bearing materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years. Raw, i.e. uncalibrated, radiocarbon ages are usually reported in radiocarbon years "Before Present" ,...
in the late 1980s. It gave as result a 68 percent likelihood of a date between 1290 and 1410 and a 95 percent likelihood of a date between 1290 and 1430. Some uncertainties do however arise as the conservation process might have affected the result. The fact that the find came from a bog is also of concern, as bog finds are known to be hard to date.
Age
Based on the teeth, Gunnar Johansson (forensic odontologist) has concluded that the man was between 25 and 35 years old when he died. Nils-Gustaf Gevall (osteologistOsteology
Osteology is the scientific study of bones. A subdiscipline of anatomy, anthropology, and archeology, osteology is a detailed study of the structure of bones, skeletal elements, teeth, morphology, function, disease, pathology, the process of ossification , the resistance and hardness of bones , etc...
) has, based on the skeleton, come up with an age of between 35 and 40 years, though the man might have been up to 60 years old.
Social group
Depending on the interpretation of the clothing, and in particular the hood, different conclusions can be made about the man's social background.The hood he wore was usually worn by the more prosperous classes and it has therefore been suggested that he was a tax collector or a soldier recruiter.
The type of hood was also used within the church. Based on this and a symbol on a shield-shaped pendant, it has been suggested by Owe Wennerholm that the man belonged to the Ordo Sanctus Spiritus.
Local legend
Some days after the find was revealed a local farmer (Karl Andersson) told Albert Sandklef of a legend he had heard as a child. Two old people from Åkulla had told his father about a man who was recruiting soldiers in the area. He had been killed by the peasants and buried in a bog. He would start haunting late at night and in order to stop this poles were struck through his body, whereafter the haunting stopped. As far as the farmer could remember they mentioned Store Mosse, a bog about 10 miles from the find, close to Nackhälle village, though he acknowledged that his memory might fail him as he had grown up in the vicinity of that bog.The farmer and Albert Sandklef went to Nackhälle and questioned several older people in the area. However, nobody recognised the legend.
Cause of death
It has been a matter of some discussion what actually caused the death of the man. In January 2006 a professor and a doctor at Sahlgrenska University Hospital performed an "operation" on a plastic model of the body, based on computed tomographyComputed tomography
X-ray computed tomography or Computer tomography , is a medical imaging method employing tomography created by computer processing...
of the body. As a result they concluded that he had first been hit at the lower jaw, then at the right ear and finally a lethal hit further towards the back of his head.
Identity
A hypothesis has been presented that the identity of the man was Simon Gudmundi, the dean of the Diocese of Linköping who died May 12 1491.In his 1998 book, Vem var Bockstensmannen? (Who was the Bocksten Man?), Owe Wennerholm reasoned that Gudmundi's name fit with what might be initials found on what might be a micro shield. It is also likely that Gudmundi visited the area. He worked with a group which tried to get Catherine of Sweden
Catherine of Sweden
Saint Catherine of Sweden, Katarina av Vadstena or Catherine of Vadstena has been called the patron saint of protection against abortion and miscarriage...
canonized. One of her reputed miracles had taken place in the neighboring village. Speculation was that he was killed by order of Hemming Gadh so that Gadh could assume the post of dean
Dean (religion)
A dean, in a church context, is a cleric holding certain positions of authority within a religious hierarchy. The title is used mainly in the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church.-Anglican Communion:...
of the Diocese of Linköping.
Location
The bog in which the man was found is close to the border between Himle and Faurås hundredHundred (division)
A hundred is a geographic division formerly used in England, Wales, Denmark, South Australia, some parts of the United States, Germany , Sweden, Finland and Norway, which historically was used to divide a larger region into smaller administrative divisions...
s. It is also close to the border between Rolfstorp
Rolfstorp
Rolfstorp is a locality and former parish situated in Varberg Municipality, Halland County, Sweden with 502 inhabitants in 2005.The name is formed out of Rolf and thorpe...
, Sibbarp, Köinge
Köinge
Several Swedish villages has the name Köinge:#A village in Falkenberg Municipality, see Köinge, Falkenberg Municipality#A village in Hörby Municipality, see Köinge, Hörby Municipality...
and Svartrå
Svartrå
Svartrå is a former village and parish in Falkenberg Municipality, Sweden with about 200 citizens. It formed a parish until 2006, when the parish merged with Köinge and Okome parish to form Okome parish. It was a municipality between 1863 and 1951. A brook, Svartån, flows through the area. It is...
parishes. The hundreds
Hundred (division)
A hundred is a geographic division formerly used in England, Wales, Denmark, South Australia, some parts of the United States, Germany , Sweden, Finland and Norway, which historically was used to divide a larger region into smaller administrative divisions...
were responsible for the handling of murders, which meant that in this case there might be some confusion over the correct hundred to handle the case, to the advantage of the killer(s). It has therefore been assumed that the killer(s) had good local knowledge.
External links
- Bockstensmannen at Hallands kulturhistoriska museum (Swedish)
- Swedish bog man murdered - 700 years ago. The Local. 24 January 2006.
Sources
- Wennerholm, Owe (1998) Vem var Bockstensmannen? Fjärås: Bokförlaget Carse. ISBN 91-971061-7-8
- Sandklef, Albert (1985) Bockstensmannen. Fyndet, konserveringen, dateringen, dräkten. ISBN 91-7842-056-3