The Lost Fort

My Travel and History Blog, Focussing mostly on Roman and Mediaeval Times


29 May 2016
  Unifinshed Perfection - The Architecture of Beaumaris Castle

When work on Beaumaris Castle was finally abandoned in 1330, the curtain walls had been completed and all towers raised to battlement level at least. The inner towers were supposed to have an additional storey and should have been crowned by turrets the way you can see in Caernarfon and Conwy, but that was never done. The harbour was dug out as well as part of the moat. The southern barbican had been completed (but not the gate house). The northern gate house was completed to the first floor, and some of the interior buildings, including the chapel, may have been finished, too, though little remains of them today.

Beaumaris Castle, both curtain walls seen from the moat

But when William de Emeldon, chancellor of the exchequer of Ireland surveyed several Welsh castles after Edward the Black Prince was invested as Prince of Wales in 1343, things didn't look too good in Beaumaris. The chamber above the sea gate was dilapidated, roofs were lacking in several towers and the chambers below therefore ruinous, the chapel tower needed to be completed, the kitchen was unuseable, parts of the battlement had fallen down, and the southern gate house was in bad repair; the twin towers flanking the northern gate house needed their staircases to be completed. William estimated the most important repairs to cost £ 685. We don't know if any of the suggested repairs had been undertaken.

Remains of the harbour

Minor repairs went on, and the castle was garrisoned in 1389 (towards the end of the second phase of the Hundred Years War) and again in 1403 during the rebellion of Owain Glyn Dŵr. But no substantial renovation was done, and and the castle constable Roland de Velville reported that there was scarcely a chamber in Beaumaris where a man could lie dry in 1534. Five years later, the new constable, Richard Bulkeley, wrote to Thomas Cromwell, secretary to Henry VIII, that Beaumaris was "ruynous and ferre in decay", and badly equipped with arms to boot. Since relations between England and Scotland - ruled by the Catholic James V - were more than a bit unruly at the time, Henry VIII feared a Scottish invasion via Wales. Bulkeley bought gunpowder, bows and arrows, sallet helmets and brigandines for the garrison at his own costs.

View through the south gate

In 1609, the castle was "utterlie decayed". Later, another of those poor Bulkeleys who got stuck with Beaumaris, Viscount Thomas, paid £ 3,000 out of his pocket to repair the castle in service of King Charles I (see also the first post) in 1642. During the time the castle was held by Cromwell's men under Colonel John Jones after its surrender, two men of the garrison were imprisoned for "stealing ye leads of ye castle".

Lead was expensive. The lead roofs were officially dismantled in Beaumaris and Conwy in during the Restoration in 1660. What existed in the way of inner buildings was taken down in during time as well (the stones were probably used ot build Beaumaris Gaol in 1829); the rest got grown over by ivy.

View towards the north gate

The 19th century saw a rise in interest for picturesque ruins, and ivy-clad Beaumaris with its formidable towers attracted the first tourists. It was the location for a 'Royal Eistedfodd', a meeting of poets and singers, in 1832. Among the visitors were Victoria duchess of Kent and her daughter Princess Victoria - the future queen.

The Bulkeley family was connected with Beaumaris Castle since 1440 and held the office as constables without interruption since the Civil War. The sixth Lord Bulkeley bought the ruins from the Crown in 1807, but his successor Sir Richard Williams-Bulkeley gave the castle to the Commissoners of Works in 1925. Repairing those dang roofs turned out to be too expensive. *wink*

View into the inner bailey

The Commissioners of Works got rid of the pretty but ultimately wall damaging ivy and carried out repairs and restoration neccesary to prevent further decline. They also dug out part of the moat which had filled with silt and refilled it with water - half of the castle is thus surrounded by it again. Makes for some really nice photos. :-)

Beaumaris was declared part of the Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd World Heritage site in 1986. Beaumaris Castle is today managed by Cadw, the Welsh Assembly Government's agency for historic monuments.

A model of the castle

The drawing above shows Beaumaris Castle as it should have looked when finished. You can see the almost perfect symmetry of the double curtain walls with their towers set up in regular intervals, and the double D-shaped south gate and north gate. The only feature that stands out is the sea gate (left of the south gate). The walls and towers, as well as the gates, remain today, albeit some of them are lacking their upper storeys. The buildings in the inner bailey have mostly disappeared except for some foundations, as did the part of the south gatehouse that should have housed living quarters - the north gatehouse is in better shape (though lacking the second floor). All wooden structures, including the floors, decayed long ago.

The passage between sea gate and barbican

The material used are limestone (a smooth grey variant and a more common brown laminated stone), grey sandstone and green schists, all quarried locally on Anglesey. The distribution of the various stones in the wall is random, contrary to Caernarfon where the horizontal lines of red sandstone are clearly set to form decorative bands. The praecambrian green schist has only been used during the first building phase until 1298 and can be found in the walls up to 20 feet heigth. None of the stones are suitable for intricate carvings, which adds to the sturdy impression of Beaumaris - no fancy archs and elaborate window transoms.

Remains of the south gatehouse with the foundations of the staircase turrets

It was not easy to get into the castle if you couldn't provide an inviation letter. :-) The way through the sea gate, barbican and south gate involved a drawbrige and a series of no less than fifteen doors or portcullises. And in between those were murder holes and arrow slits through which all sort of upleasant things could be thrown or shot.

The D-shaped double towers of the south gate are but lacking their upper storey, but the building attached to it that would have faced the inner bailey has never progressed even to the level of the - also unfinished - northern gatehouse. The staircase turrets exist only in foundations, and the first storey apparently was never roofed in when work ceased in 1330. No wonder that the biggest post of repair costs on William de Emeldon's list was the southern gatehouse.

Remains of the barbican adjacent to the south gatehouse

Beaumaris was not only a formidable defense structure but also designed as royal residence, either for Edward I and maybe a future queen (his wife Eleanor of Castile had died in 1290), or his son Edward II, the Prince of Wales - who might have liked to help with the thatching of those roofs and digging out the moat - and his household But King Edward I visited the castle but once, in July 1296. Some temporary wooden housing had been set up for the king then; since the main work concentrated on the defense structures. I don't know if Edward II ever stayed at Beaumaris, maybe Kathryn can enlighten me.

Fireplaces in the inner wall

The gate houses were clearly intended to be grand structures with large inward facing windows and halls and chambers befitting a king. Several of the buildings along the inner curtain wall may have been completed and later fallen into decay. Some fireplaces and door frames can still be seen, as well as holes in the wall to support floor beams, and bits of wall plaster.

Besides the royal appartments, a great hall, and the kitchen, there would also have been lodgings for the constable and his household and maybe the local sheriff as well (if he didn't reside in Llanfaer), and those must have been habitable at the time when the castle was garrisoned

Remains of buildings along the inner curtain wall

The garrison would likely have lived in the towers of the inner curtain wall where several chambers were habitable during the time the castle was used, though originally barracks may have been planned, perhaps even in the outer ward. Some arched lintels that once supported a floor can still be seen. The towers were intended to be three storeys high, but the uppermost one was never finished. The tower halfway along the eastern inner curtain wall houses a little chapel that has been restored, but it was closed when I visited the place.

The interior of the north-east inner tower seen from an upper storey

I posted a photo of the inner passageways in my first post about Beaumaris. They would have run through the entire inner curtain walls at first floor level, and a significant part of them is still intact. Those passageways connected the various buildings and towers with their guardrooms, sleeping chambers and other rooms along the wall, and also held a set of 16 latrines which emptied into the moat by a system of drains. Yuck. The drains already needed mending in 1306.

Those passageways also still exist in Caernarfon and in Pembroke. The ones in Pembroke Castle are much lower than those in the Edwardian castles in northern Wales. He got his nickname 'Longshanks' for a reason.

The outer ward, with the outer curtain wall and the remains of battlements to the left

While the inner bailey was the place for accomodation, the outer ward was a defense structure. You didn't want to get caught between both sets of curtain walls and the twelve outer and six inner towers plus the inner gate towers. Arrowslits would allow a defense against outside besiegers, though some of them have been blocked, probably during the Civil War (when bows were mostly replaced by guns). The corbelled tables that supported the wooden battlements are still intact in part, though the upper crennellations are mostly gone.

Stairs leading to the battlements of the outer wall

Like the sea gate next to the southern gatehouse, there was another gate next to the northern gatehouse, the Llanfaes Gate. It was used during the time when the north gate had been blocked because its doors and portcullises were not yet working (they never did, it seems), but the Llanfaes Gate remained unfinished as well; their towers never got the outward looking D-shape outlined in the foundations. Today, the moat ends at Llanfaes Gate.

View from Beaumaris Castle across Conwy Bay to the mainland


Literature
Arnold Taylor: Beaumaris Castle - Cadw Guidebook, Cardiff 2004
 


16 May 2016
  Edward Longshanks and the Welsh Rebels - The History of Beaumaris Castle in Wales

In 1282, King Edward I was done with rebellious Welsh princes and Welsh risings which had plagued his predecessors ever sind William the Conquerer put a foot west of the Dee and Severn (1). He staged a massive invasion that led to the conquest of northern Wales, in particular the Principality of Gwynedd. Part of King Edward's domination was to build a ring of castles in northern Wales: Caernarfon, Conwy, Harlech, and Beaumaris on Anglesey.

Beaumaris was built on the plain with no geological restrictions upon its layout and therefore follows the 13th century pattern of a Norman castle to perfection. But it was never finished due to financial problems. What we can see today is more or less what the castle looked like since 1396, minus some timber structures and roofs.

Beaumaris Castle, the moat and outer curtain wall

The history of Llywellyn ap Gruffudd's rise in Wales, and King Edward I's conquest deserve a longer post. But to put the construction of Edward's Welsh castles in context, here is a short summary of the events. (With lots of photos - Beaumaris was presenting itself at its best in the summer sunshine.)

Llywellyn ap Gruffud of House Aberffraw (1223-1282; there are several Welsh rulers of that name) had used Henry III's problems with Simon de Montfort and other barons to extend his power in Wales and bring several Welsh rules under his hegemony, among them Gruffudd ap Gwenwynwyn of Powys. From 1258 on Llywellyn styled himself Prince of Wales, a title that was ackonwledged by King Henry III in the Treaty of Montgomery 1267. Llywellyn was granted the rule over Wales for the pay of an annual tribute of 3,000 marks gold.
Portcullis openings in the southern gate passage

But not all Welsh nobles were happy with that sort of overlordship, and in good Welsh tradtion Llywellyn's brother Davydd quarreled about the heritage (2) and eventually went into exile at the English court. Things changed with the death of Henry in 1272. His successor Edward I was a different sort of man. Ask the Scots. (The Welsh, too, but somehow Edward's Scottish conquest got more popular in the media.)

By 1267 Llywellyn had increasing problems with the Marcher Lords, among them Roger Mortimer with whom he was related (3); moreover King Edward had kidnapped his bride Eleaonor of Montfort, daughter of Simon of Montfort, and his brother Davydd made an alliance with Gruffudd ap Gwenwynwyn of Powys. So when Edward demanded Llywellyn to come to Chester and do homage for Gwynedd, Llywellyn decided it would be safer to stay at home. That of course, was an offense according to feudal law, and Edward went to Wales with an army to put the rebellious prince on the potty.

Edward invaded Gwynedd from the north-east (via Rhuddlan) with an army of some 15,000 men. Most of Llywellyn's Welsh vassals fell over their feet to make peace with Edward. Bereft of support, Llywellyn surrendered and agreed to the Treaty of Aberconwy. He kept the western part of Gwynedd and the tiltle Pince of Wales, while the eastern part was split between King Edward and Llywellyn's brother Davydd, and the vassalty of Powys and other noble houses was transfered to the crown. Lylwellyn was allowed to marry Eleanor, though.

At that time, King Edward already built or refortified some castles at the borders to Gwynedd, among them Rhuddlan, Flint, Builth, and Aberystwyth.

The sea gate with former drawbridge

But Davydd was not happy with what he thought a tiny bit of land. Also, King Edward had a talent to run roughshod over the people's feelings like personal dignity and national pride and angered Llywellyn and Davydd more than once. In 1282, Davydd started another rebellion which was soon joined by other Welsh rulers. Aberystwyth Castle was captured, Rhuddlan besieged, the Earl of Gloucester defeated in battle, as was a royal force crossing over from Anglesey.

Llywellyn initially wanted no part in the rebellion which he thought ill prepared and bound to fail, but he had no other option than support his brother if he did not want to lose everything. The archbishop of Canterbury, who mediated between King Edward and Llywellyn, offered him a large estate in England in exchange for the surrender of Wales, but Llywellyn refused. The offer well demonstrates the inability of the English king to understand the Welsh.

Beaumaris Castle, moat with corner tower

This was a much bigger affair than the troubles of 1277. Edward hired archer mercenaries form Gascony, gathered as big as a host as he could manage, including levies from southern Wales, and ordered the Cinque port fleet to supply and support the three armies. He marched from Rhuddlan again, Roger Mortimer of Chirk (4) from Mid-Wales, and the Earl of Pembroke (5) from the south.

It is not entirely clear what happened in December 1282. We know that Llywellyn marched south where he was killed at the Battle of Orewin Bridge, facing the army of the Mortimers and his old enemy Gruffyd ap Gwenwynwyn of Powys. It is said that Edmund Mortimer, who was related to Llywellyn, offered negotiatons and lured him into an ambush, but there is no proof. Llywellyn got separted from his army, though, and was killed when surrounded by but a few retainers. His head was taken to London and displayed on a stake.
A room in the northeastern tower

Davydd succeeded his brother as Prince of Wales, but his support was melting like snow in summer. Edward stroke right into the heart of Gwynedd and took Dolwyddelan Castle, the main seat of the Princes of Gwynedd in the 13th century. The rebellion ended when Davydd and his family who had taken to the mountains, were betrayed and captured in June 1283. Davydd was executed as traitor in September, his sons imprisoned and his daughters sent to nunneries (6). The Principality of Gwynedd ceased to exist (7).

Llywellyn's surving brother Rhodri had sold his Welsh possessions long ago and lied low on his estates in England. Rhodri's grandson Owain Lawgoch, Owain of the Red Hand, became a famous mercenary leader in France and would eventually claim the title, supported by exiled Welsh nobles and King Charles V of France. The threat of a French invasion in Wales - right in the middle of the Hundred Years War - was important enough for King Edward III of England (8) to have Owain assassinated in 1378.

King Edward stripped Gwynedd of all royal insignia and reorganised the land into counties and shires administered by English magistrates according to English law. In the Statute of Rhuddlan (1284) three new shires were created: Caernarfon, Merioneth and Anglesey; castles were built at Harlech, Caernarfon, and Conwy - the latter two including walled towns. They would be the administrative centres of the new shires and populated by English settlers. Plans were also made for a castle and settlement on Anglesey near the town of Llanfaes, but there was not enough money, so the plan was postponed. Edward's sheriff of Anglesey, Roger de Pulesdon, took his seat in the manor of Llanfaes.

The outer ward, with the inner curtain wall towers to the left

But there was still a rebellious spark in the subdued Welsh. In 1294, Madoc ap Llywellyn, member of a junior branch of House Aberffraw and fifth cousin of Llywellyn, used the growing discontent with the English administrators who often abused their power, and English taxes, to ally several Welsh nobles in an uprising that included southern lords from Glamorgan. The rebellion had been well planned and totally surprised Edward. Caernarfon and several other castles were taken, the castles of Harlech and Criccieth besieged, towns burned, Caerphilly partly destroyed; the unpopular sheriff of Anglesey, Roger de Pulesdon, was killed.

King Edward led an army into north Wales in December 1294. He reached Conwy Castle, having lost his baggage train in an ambush, and got stuck in the besieged castle for several months until his fleet could relieve him. But the Welsh could not withstand Edward's army in the field. They lost the battle of Maes Moydog in March 1295; Madoc ap Llywellyn escaped with nothing but his life and lived as fugitive until he was betrayed and captured. He obviously spent the rest of his life in prison in the Tower (9). The failed rebellion only resulted in further suppressions and restrictions for the Welsh people.

The inner bailey (it would have been filled with buildings along the walls)

Well, financial troubles or not, a castle was now to be built on Anglesey. The Welsh population of Llanfaes was moved 12 miles to the south-west because Edward wanted an English town to go with his castle (albeit other than Caernarfon and Conwy, the town was never walled in). Sure, the site was the same distance from Caernarfon and Conwy and thus strategically sound, but Llanfaes had been a busy trading town due to its location and would never prosper on the new site. Another thorn in the Welsh side.

The castle was called after the place name Beau Mareys, 'fair march'. The work was overseen by Master James of St.George who had the responsibilty for all of Edward's castles in Wales. In 1295, he concentrated on the repair of Caernarfon and the building of Beaumaris. His work here is well documented; I'll get to that in the next post.

Another view of the outer ward

Edward truly wanted that castle like yesterday. In February 1296, the inner curtain wall stood to 6-8 metres, work on four of the inner towers had been begun, as well as on ten of the towers of the outer curtain wall. The south gate was already fitted with portcullises, and construction of the harbour that would allow to supply the castle garrison by sea, was well under way. An average of 2,000 labourers worked on the site, plus 400 stonemasons, 200 quarrymen and an unspecified number of carpenters and smiths. The place must have looked like an anthill. The transport of material involved 30 boats, 60 waggons and 100 carts moving to and fro.

The fun cost £ 270 a week in wages, not to mention the costs for material. The following year only a third of that sum would be spent and work progressed much slower. Edward's increasing involvment in Scotland led to a shortage of money and in 1298, work on the castle almost ceased.

There was a second period of builiding going on since 1306 because Edward feared that the Scots and Welsh might ally and attack England from two sides. The south barbican was built during that time, the outer curtain wall and the moat finished, as well as the north gate which had simply been walled up in 1298. Work on Beaumaris finally ended in 1330. The considerable sum of £ 15,000 had been spent until then.

The south gate from the outside

Albeit unfinished, the castle was strong enough to serve as defense and was garrisoned. It was taken by the Welsh during the rebellion of Owain Glyn Dŵr in 1403 and recaptured by royal forces in 1405 (10). It thus played only a small part in the rebellion, but since I have covered several Welsh raisings in this post already, it's a good place to present a short version of Owain's rebellion as well.

Owain Glyn Dŵr was a descendant of both the princes of Powys and Deheubarth, and thus could claim the title Prince of Wales with some right after the princes of Gwynedd had died out. He got into trouble with Baron Grey de Ruthyn over some land and, as usual, the court decided in favour of the English lord. Grey then 'forgot' to tell Owain about a call of the levies, branding Owain as traitor at court. Owain, together with his son, brothers-in-law, the bishop of St.Asaph and other digruntled noblemen, launched an attack on Lord Grey's lands. The revolt soon spread to northern and central Wales which went over to Owain. King Henry IV's military invention in 1401 remained unsuccessful. The following year, Owain captured Baron Grey. King Henry paid a heavy ransom for him.
A wall passage - unusually high to fit Edward I Longshanks (those in Pembroke are much lower)

But when Owain captured Sir Edmund Mortimer at the battle of Bryn Glas, the king was not willing to pay the ransom (since Mortimer had a claim to the English throne). Mortimer negotiated an alliance with Owain instead, and later the Tripartite Indenture between Owain, Mortimer and Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland. The three basically wanted to divide England and Wales among them.

With the Hundred Years War still being in full swing, Owain could also draw on French support, and the Scots never liked the English, either. Scottish and French privateers operated round Wales and a French army invaded Herefordshire. Several companies of English archers - probably of Welsh descent - went over to Owain. 1404 was his year. Owain called the first Parliament of all Wales at Machynlleth where he was crowned as Prince of Wales. Wales was to be an independent state with its own laws again (which had been replaced by English laws and courts since Edward I) and its own church.

But it would not last. In 1405, the king of France wanted peace with England and withdrew his support, while the young prince Henry (the latter Henry V; 11) adopted a strategy of economic blockade instead of punitive expeditions which often failed - he had led some of them himself, but the Welsh used guerilla strategies which were difficult to deal with. Some nobles began to look for reconciliation with the English, and many commoners went back to their fields and tools.

The southern gatehouse seen from the inner bailey

In autumn 1407, Owain had lost the castles of Aberystwyth and Harlech to the English; his wife and daughters were captured, his ally Edmund Mortimer died in battle. Owain remained free and still launched raiding parties, even managed to capture and ransom one of King Henry's supporters in 1412, but the rebellion more or less petered out. But contrary to his predecessors Davydd ap Gruffudd and Madoc ap Llywellyn, he was never betrayed, despite the handsome reward put on his head.

Wen Henry V became King in 1413, he decided for a more reconciliatory course and offered pardons to the leaders of the revolt. Owain refused and vanished into obscurity and legend. Even the date of his death is not known, it may have been 1415. Owain's legacy is his legend as Owain Glyn Dŵr and a bunch of statues in Wales.

The inner facade of the northern gatehouse

Beaumaris castle fell into disrepair, lacking roofs, with timber structures rotten away, until the Civil War when it was repaired and held for the king by Thomas Viscount Bulkeley since 1642 (he spent some £ 3,000 on those repairs); the commander of the garrison was Colonel Richard Bulkeley. The castle was situated at a strategically important site on the route to the king's bases in Irleand. It surrendered to a Parliament army 1646 and was garrisoned by Parliament forces. It was briefly recaptured by royalists two years later, but eventually fell to the Parliament again. Contrary to other conquered castles, Beaumaris was not slighted since Cromwell feared an invasion from Scotland. It was instead garrisoned under Colonel John Johnes, a relative by marriage of Cromwell.

Charles II restored the Bulkeley family as constables of Beaumaris when he returned to the throne in 1660. But the castle was soon stripped of its valuable lead roofs and abandoned for good. It says something about those big Norman walls that so much of it survives until today.

(The next post will cover the architecture of Beaumaris Castle.)

Another view of the moat and the outer curtain wall

Footnotes
1) Actually, William's invading Wales was a response to Welsh border raids. He had his hands full with England already and probably would have left the conquest of Wales to the next generations.
2) There were more brothers and half-brothers involved, but Davydd was the most important.
3) Roger's mother was Gwladys Dhu, a daughter of Llywellyn the Great who also was Llywellyn ap Gruffudd's grandfather.
4) Edmund Mortimer and Roger Mortimer of Chirk took over from their father who died in October 1281, bereaving King Edward of one of his most able commanders.
5) William de Valence of Pembroke had replaced the inept Earl of Gloucester.
6) As was Llywellyn's daughter. All children died in captivity.
7) The Principality of Powys-Wenwynwyn was changed into a Marcher lordship; its rulers took the surname de la Pole.
9) At the time of Owain's death, the underage Richard II was king of England, but the assassination was likely set into motion by Edward III. The assassin, one John Lamb, needed time to gain Owain's confidence. He got £ 20 for his job.
9) We know he was not executed since that would have been mentioned in the sources, but there is not really any further information about Madoc.
10) Owain's main problem was the lack of artillery which was needed to conquer castles, and the lack of a fleet (though he would later get some help from the French and Scots there). He mostly took to guerilla strategies instead.
11) Henry IV's health failed since 1405, and his son, who had fought at his side in the Battle at Shrewsbury 1403, took up more responsibilies, often in conflict with his father.

Literature
R.R. Davies: The Age of Conquest. Wales 1063-1415, Oxford 1987, repr. 2000
Arnold Taylor: Beaumaris Castle - Cadw Guidebook, Cardiff 2004
 


7 May 2016
  Shiny Things from Viking Times - The Gold Treasure of Hiddensee: The Craftmanship

As promised, here is the second post about the Hiddensee Gold Treasure where I'll take a closer look at the pieces, the craftmanship involved in creating them, and the cultural context in which they were created.

Hiddensee Treasure, the ring

Rings of all sizes are a well-known feature in Mediaeval Scandinavian culture where kings were known as 'ring givers'. Those rings were usually arm rings or neck rings and served as payment as well as decoration (some rings that have been found show that material has been hacked off (1)). Surely, the art was valued, but more so the material. Older jewelry has often been melted down to create new pieces - the whole set of Hiddensee was made of re-used gold (2). Viking goldsmiths were pretty skilled at separating the various metals from an alloy, which explains the high purity of the Hiddensee gold of ~ 97%.

The neck ring of the Hiddensee Treasure weighs 152,8 gram and has an outside diametre of 13,5 cm. It is thus a ring more fit for a child or a woman. It consists of four entwined gold wires in the way that first two wires were wound round each other and the both two-wire sets were entwined again, giving the ring a sort of braided look. The ends have been flattened and end in an hook and eye clasp to fasten the ring. The purity of the gold and the structure of the ring make it possible to bend it to some extent without breaking, so it can easily be fixed around a neck (3).

Silver ingots, wire, and wire drawer (Museum Haithabu)

The photo above shows a set of silver ingots, wire, and a wire drawer (in the lower part of the photo) from the toolmaker's hoard found in Haithabu. Silver or gold wire is created by casting an oblong ingot which is then drawn through a set of holes in a piece of harder metal - bronze or iron - which get subsequently smaller. The gold or silver is heated during the process to make it softer, but not the point of melting.

To create the filigree beadwork that adorns several of the pieces from the Hiddensee Treasure, the wire is treated with a beading file or a beading press. The latter looks a bit like a thumbscrew, with several bead shaped hollows into which the heated wire is pressed. The beadwork therefore consists of bits of bead-shaped wire, not of single beads.

Hiddensee Treasure, one of the pendants with granulation decoration

Granulation is a different technique. The irregular little granules on some of the pendants are created by mixing little gold splinters with charcoal in a crucible. When heated in an oven, the metal particles will form into granules, the shape with the smallest surface.

Both beaded wire and granules are fixed to the surface of the pendant by soldering. The soldering alloy is a mixture of gold, silver and copper with a lower melting point than pure gold. It was created by filing off tiny particles from an ingot which were spread onto the surface of the pendant and heated to melting point; then the beaded wire was fixed to it. With complicated ornaments that would likely have required several steps. Granules were simply strewn onto the soldering alloy.

Metal press models for fibulas and pendants (Museum Haithabu)

You have seen in the first post that several of the cross shaped pendants have the same form - they were indeed some sort of mass product, though the ones from Hiddensee are of particularly high quality. Among the finds from Haithabu is a set of 41 press models for various sorts of pendants. Press models and other tools of gold- and silversmiths have also been other found in Viking settlements like Sigtuna, Trelleborg, Lund, even York or Old Ladoga in Russia, but the Haithabu find is the largest.

Moulds and press models made from antler (Haithabu)

The press models of bronze or brass, or sometimes antler, present the basic shape of the fibula or pendant - a slightly elevatd disc, four cross, or bird are the most common - and often also lines for the beadwork. A flat ingot of gold or silver would be hammered into sheet metal which was then punched into shape on the model with a wooden or rounded metal punch. Excess metal was cut off. In a next step, the shaped sheet metal was soldered onto an undecorated second sheet, thus forming a hollow pendant that is rather light in weight. Some of the pendants have tiny cross bars inside to give the structure better support.

Hiddensee Treasure - the fibula

Here is the photo of the fibula again so we can have a closer look at the ornaments. It is 8 cm in diametre with a slighly elevated front, making it 1,4 cm thick in the middle. Like the pendants, the fibula is hollow inside. The bronze needle on the back side has been lost, but the hook and the fittings remain; they are of a somewhat lesser purity than the show side of the fibula, but that alloy makes the gold less soft to carry the weight of the fabric fastened by the fibula.

The show side displays four animals seen from above. Their heads meet in the middle where five little fields, now empty, form a cross. They had once been filled with green glass - an unusal addition. The beasts show the typical elongated and twisting shape found on a number of Viking time decorations. Neck, body and tail are very long while the shoulder is triangular and the hindquarter pear shaped. The style is a mix of the Borre style (with the round shapes and twists) and the Jellinge style (the elongated form) and often referred to as Hiddensee style. Some 50 fibulas in that style exist, but most of them are made of silver and smaller than this one.

Two of the six largest pendants

All ten cross shaped pendants consist of a hollow tube in the shape of a bird's head seen from above, and a cross from whose three arms springs another cross each. The openings at the sides of the tube are made of an alloy with a higher percentage of copper to support the strain of a chain or band. The bird's heads with the two eyes and beak likely belong to some bird of prey, though probably not an eagle, since eagle shaped pendants usually show the bird's head from the side (4). The combination of the pagan bird motiv and the Christian cross makes those pendants interesting in their cultural context. About 40 of them have so far been found in places connected with the Viking culture.

One of the pendants with simple knotwork

The braided bead ornaments on the cross part of the pendants are more typical for continental and AnglosSaxon ornaments. Their origins lie in Roman and Byzantine decoration. The six largest pendants (about 7 cm in length) show braided bands, two smaller ones of about 5 cm length show bead knotwork, and two have granulations ornaments (see photo above). The four 'intermediate' pendants of 2 cm length don't have a bird on the tube; their ornaments are braided bands.

Clover shaped brooch and a fibula in the Terslev-style (Museum Haithabu)

Haithabu had been a centre of trade and craft from the late 9th to the mid 11th century, and the finds of tools and jewelry show a development of style. The older type is the so-called Terslev style (named for the silver hoard of Terslev in Denmark). The ornaments are four-point symmetrical braided bead bands or knot work on round fibulas, but there are no animal shapes like in the later Hiddensee style. Models for both styles and intermediate forms can be found in Haithabu. Gold fibulas are rare and there are few that can compare to the Hiddensee one in size and craftmanship. The cross shaped pendants are more common, but most finds are made of silver.

We cannot be sure how the Hiddensee jewelry was worn, except for the fibula (to hold a cloak or mantle) and the neck ring. The cross shaped pendants don't fit into a necklace where they would bump against each other, so it is likely they were worn as pectoral of several parallel sets held by horizontal bands or chains connected by vertical chains at the sides. If the whole set was worn together, it must have been a pretty impressive sight, jewelry worthy a queen indeed.

Moulds, a thong and other tools for metalwork (Haithabu)

Footnotes
1) An example is the ring from Tissø which weighed about 2 kg - a bit heavy to wear - and shows traces of material having been removed.
2) There were no gold mines in the part of Scandinavia where such jewelry was created, so the material for the Hiddensee treasure is assumed to have come from older jewelry or coins. While the purity of the gold and the way those pieces were created has been researched with modern methods, I could not find any information about a possible origin of the gold, which surprises me - those informations can usually be obtained today. It would be interesting to know if the gold is more local - from the British Isles for example, or as exotic as coins from the Arabian Caliphate. Other metals necessary for alloys, like copper, tin or zinc, had to be obtained by trade or re-melting as well.
3) And it survived being bent to fit into a jar.
4) In most cases, the rest of the fibula, pendant or whatever is also shaped as stylized bird.

Literature
B. Armburster, H. Eilbracht: Wikingergold auf Hiddensee. Rostock, 2010
Kurt Schietzel: Spurensuche Haithabu. Neumünster/Hamburg, 2014

 




The Lost Fort is a travel and history blog based on my journeys in Germany, the UK, Scandinavia, the Baltic Countries, and central Europe. It includes virtual town and castle tours with a focus on history, museum visits, hiking tours, and essays on Roman and Mediaeval history, illustrated with my own photos.


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I'm a blogger from Germany with a MA in Literature and History, interested in everything Roman and Mediaeval, avid reader and sometimes writer, opera enthusiast, traveller with a liking for foreign languages and odd rocks, photographer, and tea aficionado. And an old-fashioned blogger who still hasn't got an Instagram account.
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Historical Places

Germany
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England
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Estonia
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Hiking Tours and Cruises

Germany
United Kingdom
Scandinavia
Baltic Sea


Historical Places

Germany

Towns

Bad Sooden-Allendorf
Historical Town and Graduation Tower
Bruchteiche Reservoir

Binz
A Seaside Resort

Braunschweig
Lion Benches in the Castle Square
The Quadriga

Erfurt
Mediaeval Erfurt

Goslar
Mediaeval Goslar
Chapel in the Klus Rock

Heiligenstadt
Churches St.Martin and St.Mary

Lübeck
St. Mary's Church

Magdeburg
Church of Our Lady: History

Mainz
The Temple of Isis and Mater Magna

Paderborn
Mediaeval Paderborn

Quedlinburg
Mediaeval Quedlinburg
The Chapter Church

Speyer
The Cathedral: Architecture
Jewish Ritual Bath

Stralsund
The Harbour
The Old Town

Treffurt
Mediaeval Lanes and Old Houses

Trier
The Roman Amphitheatre
The Aula Palatina
The Imperial Baths
The Porta Nigra

Weimar
Sites of the Weimar Classicism
The Park at the Ilm

Wismar
The Old Harbour

Xanten
Roman and Mediaeval Xanten
The Gothic House

Castles

Adelebsen
The Keep

Altenstein (Werra)
A Border Castle

Bramburg
Weser River Reivers

Brandenburg (Thuringia)
The Beginnings
Albrecht II of Thuringia

Coburg Fortress
History
Architecture

Ebersburg
The Marshals of Ebersburg
Architecture

Grebenstein
History

Grubenhagen
History of the Keep

Hanstein
Introduction

Hardeg Castle
The Great Hall

Hardenberg
History

Heldenburg (Salzderhelden)
A Welfen Seat

Hohnstein (Harz)
The Counts of Hohnstein
Between Welfen and Staufen
14th-15th Century

Krukenburg
Built to Protect a Chapel

Kugelsburg
The Counts of Everstein
Later Times

Plesse
The Counts of Winzenburg
The Lords of Plesse
Architecture

Polle Castle
An Everstein Stronghold

Regenstein
History

Reichenbach (Hessia)
History

Sababurg
Photo Impressions

Scharfenstein
From Castle to Convention Centre

Scharzfels
History
Architecture

Sichelnstein
History

Stauffenburg (Harz)
A Secret Mistress

Stapelburg
A Little Known Ruin in the Harz

Trendelburg
Photo Impressions

Wartburg
A Virtual Tour

Weidelsburg
History
Architecture
Revisiting the Weidelsburg

Abbeys and Churches

Bursfelde
Early History of the Abbey

Fredelsloh
A Romanesque Basilica

Gehrden
A Romanesque Church

Göllingen
The Byzantine Crypt

Hahnenklee
The Stave Church

Helmarshausen
Remains of the Monastery

Lippoldsberg
Early History of the Abbey
Interior of the Church

Lorsch
The Carolingian Gate Hall

Pöhlde
Remains of the Monastery

Scharzfeld (Harz)
The Cave Church

Vernawahlshausen
Mediaeval Murals

Walkenried
The Monastery - Introduction

Wiebrechtshausen
Romanesque Church and a Ducal Burial

Wilhelmshausen (Kassel)
The Romanesque Church

Roman Remains

Augusta Treverorum / Trier
The Amphitheatre
The Aula Palatina
The Imperial Baths
The Porta Nigra
The Roman Bridge

Colonia Ulpia Traiana / Xanten
Roman Xanten
The Amphitheatre in Birten

Limes Fort Aalen
The Barracks

Limes Fort Osterburken
The Discovery
The Cohort castellum
The Annex Fort
The Garrisons

Limes Fort Saalburg
A Reconstructed Limes Fort
Shrine of the Standards

Romans in North Rhine-Westphalia
Playmobil Romans, LWL Museum Haltern
Varus Statue, Haltern am See

Romans at the Moselle
The Villa Urbana in Longuich

Romans at the Rhine
Boppard - The Roman Baudobriga
The Villa at Wachenheim

Neolithicum and Bronze Age

Neolithic Burials
Neolithic Burials in the Everstorf Forest and Rugia
The Necropolis of Oldendorf

Bronze Age
Bronze and Iron Age Remains at the Werra

Museums / Reconstructed Sites

Palatine Seat Tilleda
The Defenses

Viking Settlement Haithabu
The Nydam Ship

Open Air Museums
European Bread Museum Ebergötzen
Open Air Museum Oerlinghausen

Post-Mediaeval Exhibits
Historical Guns, Coburg Fortress
Vintage Car Museum, Wolfsburg


England

Towns

Chester
Roman and Medieaval Chester

Hexham
The Abbey - Introduction
The Old Gaol

York
Clifford Tower
The Guild Hall
Monk Bar Gate with Richard III Museum
Museum Gardens
Houses in the Old Town
York Minster: Architecture

Castles

Carlisle
History

Richmond
Conquest to King John
Henry III to the Tudors
Architecture

Scarborough
Romans to the Tudors
Civil War to the Present
Architecture

Roman Remains

Eboracum / York
Roman Bath in the Fortress

Wall Fort Birdoswald
The Dark Age Timber Halls

Wall Fort Segedunum
Museum and Viewing Tower
The Baths

Other Roman Sites
The Mithraeum at Brocolita
The Signal Station at Scarborough


Scotland

Towns

Edinburgh
Views from the Castle

Stirling
The Wallace Monument

Castles

Doune
A Virtual Tour
History: The Early Stewart Kings
History: Royal Dower House

Duart Castle
Guarding the Sound of Mull

Dunstaffnage
An Ancient MacDougall Stronghold
The Wars of Independence
The Campbells Are Coming
Dunstaffnage Chapel

Stirling
Robert the Bruce

Abbeys and Churches

Inchcolm
Arriving at Inchcolm Abbey

Neolithicum and Bronze Age

Neolithic Orkney
Ring of Brodgar
Skara Brae

Brochs and Cairns
Clava Cairns
The Brochs of Gurness and Midhowe - Introduction

Picts and Dalriatans
Dunadd Hill Fort
Staffa


Wales

Towns

Aberystwyth
Castle and Coast

Caerleon
The Ffwrwm
The Roman Amphitheatre
The Baths in the Legionary Fort

Conwy
The Smallest House in Great Britain

Castles

Beaumaris
History
Architecture

Caernarfon
Master James of St.George
The Castle Kitchens

Cardiff
From Romans to Victorians

Chepstow
Beginnings unto Bigod
Edward II to the Tudors
Civil War

Conwy
History
Architecture

Criccieth
Llywelyn's Buildings
King Edward's Buildings

Manorbier
The Pleasantest Spot in Wales

Pembroke
Photo Impressions
The Caves Under the Castle

Roman Remains

Isca Silurum / Caerleon
The Amphitheatre
The Baths in the Legionary Fort


Denmark

Museums

Viking Museum Roskilde
To come


Norway

Castles and Fortresses

Akershus Fortress in Oslo
Kings and Pirates
The Time of King Håkon V
Architecture

Vardøhus Fortress
History

Museums

The Fram Museum in Oslo


Sweden

Neolithicum and Bronze Age

Gotland
Gnisvärd Ship Setting

Museums

The Vasa Museum in Stockholm


Finland

Towns

Porvoo
Mediaeval Porvoo


Estonia

Towns

Tallinn
The History of Mediaeval Tallinn


Latvia

Towns

Riga
The History of Mediaeval Riga


Lithuania

Towns

To come


Poland

Towns

Gdańsk / Danzig
History of Mediaeval Gdańsk
Mediaeval and Renaissance Gdańsk

Kraków
The Old Town
Jewish Kraków - Kazimierz and the Ghetto

Wrocław / Breslau
The Botanical Garden
The Wrocław Dwarfs

Castles

Ogrodzieniec Castle
A Virtual Tour
First Castle to the Boner Family


Czechia

Towns

Cheb / Eger
The Old Town

Karlovy Vary / Karlsbad
Brief History of the Town

Kutná Hora
The Sedlec Ossuary
The Medieaval Town and St.Barbara's Church


Belgium

Towns

Antwerp
The Old Town

Bruges
Mediaeval Bruges

Ghent
Mediaeval Ghent

Tongeren
Mediaeval Buildings

Roman Remains

Atuatuca Tungrorum / Tongeren
Roman Remains in the Town


Luxembourg

Towns

Luxembourg City
A Tour of the Town


City Trips

St.Petersburg (Russia)
Impressions from the Neva River

Strasbourg (France)
A Tour of the Town


Hiking Tours and Cruises

Germany

Baltic Sea Coast
Flensburg Firth
Rugia: Jasmund Peninsula and Kap Arkona
Rugia: Photo Impressions
Rugia: The Pier of Sellin
A Tour on the Wakenitz River

Lüneburg Heath
Hiking Tours in the Lüneburg Heath

Harz National Park
Arboretum (Bad Grund)
Bode Valley and Rosstrappe Cliff
Devil's Wall
Ilse Valley and Ilse's Rock
Oderteich Reservoir
Rappbode Reservoir
Views from Harz mountains

Nature Park Meissner-Kaufunger Wald
Bruchteiche / Bad Sooden Allendorf
Hessian Switzerland

Nature Park Solling-Vogler
The Forest Pasture Project
Raised Bog Mecklenbruch

Nature Park Reinhardswald
Old Forest at the Sababurg

Thuringian Forests
Oberderdorla and Hainich National Park

Rivers and Lakes
The Danube in Spring
Edersee Reservoir
A Rainy Rhine Cruise
Vineyards at Saale and Unstrut
Weser River Ferry
Weser Skywalk

Wildlife
Harz Falcon Park
Ozeaneum Stralsund: The Baltic Sea Life
Ozeaneum Stralsund: The North Sea Life
Red squirrels

Seasons
Spring Impressions from Göttingen
Spring in the Hardenberg Castle Gardens
Spring in the Meissner
Memories of Summer
Summer Hiking Tours 2016
Autumn in the Meissner
Autumn at Werra and Weser
Winter at the 'Kiessee' Lake


United Kingdom

The East Coast
By Ferry to Newcastle
Highland Mountains: Inverness to John o'Groats
Some Photos from the East Coast

Scottish Sea Shores
Crossing to Mull
Mull: Craignure to Fionnphort
Dunollie and Kilchurn: Photo Impressions
Pentland Firth
Staffa
Summer in Oban

Scotland by Train
West Highland Railway

Wales
Views of Snowdownia

Wildlife
Sea Gulls


Scandinavia

Coast of Norway: Hurtigruten-Tour
A Voyage into Winter
Along the Coast of Norway - Light and Darkness
Along the Coast of Norway - North of the Polar Circle

Norway by Train
From Oslo to Bergen
From Trondheim to Oslo

Wildlife
Bearded Seals
Dog Sledding With Huskies
Eagles and Gulls in the Trollfjord


The Baltic Sea

A Baltic Sea Cruise

The Curonian Spit in Lithuania
Beaches at the Curonian Spit
Geology of the Curonian Spit



Mediaeval History

General Essays

by Country
- Germany
- England
- Scotland
- Wales
- Denmark
- Norway
- Sweden
- Livonia
- Lithuania
- Poland
- Bohemia
- Luxembourg
- Flanders

Roman History

The Romans at War
Famous Romans
Roman Life and Religion

Other Times

Neolithicum to Iron Age
Post-Mediaeval History
History and Literature
Geology


Mediaeval History

General Essays

Mediaeval Warfare

Sieges
Trebuchets

Weapons
Late Mediaeval Swords

Mediaeval Art and Craft

Mediaeval Art
The Choir Screen in the Cathedral of Mainz
The Gospels of Heinrich the Lion
The Hunting Frieze in Königslutter Cathedral
Mediaeval Monster Carvings
The Viking Treasure of Hiddensee

Craftmanship
Goldsmithery
Medical Instruments

Feudalism

The History of Feudalism
The Beginnings
Feudalism in the 10th Century

Special Cases
The privilege of the deditio

The Hanseatic League

The History of the Hanseatic League
Introduction and Beginnings

Hanseatic Architecture
Examples of Brick Architecture
Hall Houses (Dielenhäuser)

Goods and Trade
Stockfish Trade

Towns of the Hanseatic League
Riga
Stralsund
Tallinn / Reval

The Order of the Teutonic Knights

Wars and Battles
The Conquest of Danzig
The Siege of Vilnius 1390

The Vikings

Viking Material Culture
The Viking Treasure of Hiddensee

Viking Ships
The Nydam Ship


Essays by Country

Germany

Geneaology

List of Mediaeval German Emperors
Anglo-German Marriage Connections

Kings and Emperors

The Salian Dynasty
King Heinrich IV

Staufen against Welfen
Emperor Otto IV

Princes and Lords

House Welfen
Heinrich the Lion's Ancestors
The Dukes of Braunschweig-Grubenhagen
Otto the Quarrelsome of Braunschweig-Göttingen

The Landgraves of Thuringia
The Ludowing Landgraves of Thuringia
Albrecht II and Friedrich I of Thuringia

Dukes and Princes of other Families
Duke Otto of Northeim
Prince Wilhelm Malte of Putbus

Counts and Local Lords
The Marshals of Ebersburg
The Counts of Everstein
The Counts of Hohnstein
The Lords of Plesse
The Counts of Reichenbach
The Counts of Winzenburg

Feuds and Rebellions

Royal Troubles
Otto IV and Bishop Adalbert II of Magdeburg

Local Feuds
The Lüneburg Succession War
The Thuringian Succession War
The Star Wars


England

Kings of England

House Plantagenet
Richard Lionheart in Speyer
King Henry IV's Lithuanian Crusade

Normans, Britons, Angevins

Great Noble Houses
The Dukes of Brittany
The Earls of Richmond

Contested Borders

Northumbria
King Stephen's Troubles with King David of Scots


Scotland

Kings of Scots

House Dunkeld
Malcolm III and Northumbria
Struggle for the Throne: Malcolm III to David I
King David and the Civil War, Part 1
King David and the Civil War, Part 2

Houses Bruce and Stewart
The Early Stewart Kings

Local Troubles

Clan Feuds
MacLeans and MacDonalds
A Scottish Wedding

Scotland and England

The Wars of Independence
Alexander of Argyll
The Fight for Stirling Castle


Wales

Welsh Princes

The Princes of Gwynedd
The Rise of House Aberffraw

Wales and England

A History of Rebellion
Llywellyn ap Gruffudd to Owain Glyn Dŵr


Denmark

Kings of Denmark

House of Knýtlinga
Harald Bluetooth's Flight to Pomerania

Danish Rule in the Baltic Sea

The Duchy of Estonia
Danish Kings and German Sword Brothers


Norway

Kings of Norway

Foreign Relations
King Eirik's Scottish Marriages
King Håkon V's Swedish Politics
Beginnings of the Kalmar Union

Feuds and Rebellions

Rebels
Alv Erlingsson of Tønsberg


Sweden

Troubles and Alliances

Scandinavian Unity
Beginnings of the Kalmar Union


Livonia
(Latvia and Estonia)

Contested Territories

Livonian Towns
The History of Mediaeval Riga
The History of Mediaeval Tallinn


Lithuania

Lithuanian Princes

The Geminid Dynasty
Troublesome Cousins - Jogaila and Vytautas

The Northern Crusades

The Wars in Lithuania
The Siege of Vilnius 1390


Poland

Royal Dynasties

The Jagiełłonian Kings
Władysław Jagiełło and the Polish-Lithuanian Union

The Northern Crusades

The Conquest of Pomerania / Prussia
The Conquest of Danzig


Bohemia

Royal Dynasties

The Bohemian Kings of House Luxembourg
King Sigismund and the Hussite Wars


Luxembourg

House Luxembourg
King Sigismund


Flanders

More to come


Roman History

The Romans at War

Forts and Fortifications

The German Limes
The Cavalry Fort Aalen
Limes Fort Osterburken
Limes Fort Saalburg

The Hadrian's Wall
Introduction
The Fort at Segedunum / Wallsend

Border Life
Exercise Halls
Mile Castles and Watch Towers
Soldiers' Living Quarters
Cavalry Barracks

Campaigns and Battles

Maps
The Romans in Germania

The Pre-Varus Invasion in Germania
Roman Camp Hedemünden
New Finds in 2008

The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
Museum Park at Kalkriese

The Battle at the Harzhorn
Introduction

The Batavian Rebellion
A Short Introduction

Roman Militaria

Armour
Early Imperial Helmets
Late Roman Helmets
The Negau B Helmet

Weapons
Weapon Finds at Hedemünden
The pilum
Daggers
Swords

Other Equipment
Roman Saddles


Famous Romans

The Late Empire

Alaric
The Legend of Alaric's Burial


Roman Life and Religion

Religion and Public Life

Religion
Curse Tablets and Good Luck Charms
Isis Worship
Memorial Stones
The Mithras Cult

Public Life
Roman Transport: Barges
Roman Transport: Amphorae and Barrels
Roman Water Supply

Architecture
Roman Public Baths

Domestic Life

Roman villae
Villa Urbana Longuich
Villa Rustica Wachenheim

Everyday Life
Bathing Habits
Children's Toys
Face Pots


Other Times

Neolithicum to Iron Age

Germany

Development of Civilisation
European Bread Museum, Ebergötzen
The Hutewald Project in the Solling
Open Air Museum Oerlinghausen

Neolithic Remains
Stone Burials of the Funnelbeaker Culture
The Necropolis of Oldendorf

Bronze Age / Iron Age
The Nydam Ship

Scotland

Neolithic Orkney
The Neolithic Landscape of Orkney
Ring of Brodgar
Skara Brae
Life in Skara Brae

Bronze Age / Iron Age
Clava Cairns
The Brochs of Gurness and Midhowe - Their Function in Iron Age Society

Scandinavia

Bronze / Iron Age
The Ship Setting of Gnisvärd / Gotland


Post-Mediaeval History

Explorers and Discoveries

Explorers
Fram Expedition to the North Pole
Fram Expedition to the South Pole

Discoveries
Otto von Guericke and the Magdeburg Hemispheres
Raising a Wreck, Now and Then (Vasa Museum in Stockholm)


History and Literature

Germany

The Weimar Classicism
Introduction


Geology

Geological Landscapes: Germany

Baltic Sea Coast
Chalk Cliffs on Rugia
Flint Fields on Rugia

Harz Mountains
Bode Valley and Rosstrappe Cliff
The 'Hübichenstein' Rock
Karst Formations in Southern Harz
The Lonau Falls
The Rhume Springs
Sandstone Formations: Daneil's Cave
Sandstone Formations: Devil's Wall
Sandstone Formations: The Klus Rock

Meissner / Kaufunger Wald
Blue Dome near Eschwege
Diabase and Basalt Formations
Karst Formations
Salt Springs at the Werra

Solling-Vogler
Raised Bog Mecklenbruch
Hannover Cliffs

Geological Landscapes: Great Britain

The Shores of Scotland
Staffa

Geological Landscapes: Baltic Sea

Lithuania
Geology of the Curonian Spit

Fossils and Other Odd Rocks

Fossilized Ammonites
The Loket Meteorite (Czechia)



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