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. 2023 Jan 26;18(1):e0281010.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0281010. eCollection 2023.

The king's spice cabinet-Plant remains from Gribshunden, a 15th century royal shipwreck in the Baltic Sea

Mikael Larsson  1 , Brendan Foley  1   2
Affiliations

The king's spice cabinet-Plant remains from Gribshunden, a 15th century royal shipwreck in the Baltic Sea

Mikael Larsson et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Maritime archaeological investigations of the wreck of the medieval warship Gribshunden (1495), flagship of King Hans of Denmark and Norway, have revealed diverse artifacts including exotic spices imported from far distant origins: saffron, ginger, clove, peppercorns, and almond. The special circumstances of the vessel's last voyage add unique context to the assemblage. Gribshunden and an accompanying squadron conveyed the king, courtiers, noblemen, and soldiers from Copenhagen to a political summit in Kalmar, Sweden. At that conference, Hans expected the Swedish Council to elect him king of Sweden, and thereby fulfill his ambition to reunify the Nordic region under a single crown. To achieve this, Hans assembled in his fleet and particularly aboard his flagship the people and elite cultural signifiers that would convince the Swedish delegation to accept his rule. Along the way, the ships anchored near Ronneby, Blekinge. Written sources record that an explosion and fire caused Gribshunden to sink off Stora Ekön (Great Oak Island). Exotic spices were status markers among the aristocracy in Scandinavia and around the Baltic Sea during the Middle Ages (1050-1550 CE). Until the Gribshunden finds, these extravagances have rarely or never been represented archaeologically. Evidence of their use and consumption in medieval Scandinavia has been limited to sparse written references. We present here the botanical remains from the Gribshunden shipwreck and compare them to previous archaeobotanical finds from the medieval Baltic region. These opulent status symbols traveled with a medieval king en route to a major historical event. The combination of textual and archaeological evidence allows a novel analytical view of the social environment in which these luxurious foods were consumed.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Location of the Gribshunden shipwreck.
Map depicting the wreck site in southeastern Sweden (red quadrant), and showing the main medieval towns along the Baltic coasts with archaeobotanical data discussed in this paper. Area of detail show wreck site located north of Stora Ekön island. Republished from Media Tryck, Lund University under a CC BY license, with permission from Frida Nilsson, original copyright 2022.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Three-dimensional model of the wreck site.
The model produced during the 2019–21 field campaigns illustrates the Gribshunden shipwreck site. The square identifies the outline of the excavation trench from where the archaeobotanical samples were collected. Republished from Media Tryck, Lund University under a CC BY license, with permission from Frida Nilsson, original copyright 2022.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Saffron from the Gribshunden shipwreck site.
Plant parts of saffron: a-c) stigmas, d) petri dish showing a portion of the recovered saffron stigmas.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Black pepper from the Gribshunden shipwreck.
Plant parts of black pepper: a-c) different views of peppercorns, d) stalk segments, some with unripe berries of pepper.
Fig 5
Fig 5. Almond from the Gribshunden shipwreck.
Plant parts of almond: a) seed coats, b) nutshells.
Fig 6
Fig 6. Clove from the Gribshunden shipwreck.
Plant parts of clove: a-b) flower buds, c) stalks, d) side view of complete ovaries.
Fig 7
Fig 7. Clove from the Gribshunden shipwreck.
Different views of detached globular head of clove: a) side view with attached petals, b) side view without petals, c) proximal side (above) of globular head, d) distal side (below) of globular head.
Fig 8
Fig 8. Ginger from the Gribshunden shipwreck.
Plant parts of ginger: a-c) rhizome skin showing scales and auxiliary buds, d) close-up of black-spotted surface of skin.
Fig 9
Fig 9. Variety of plant species from the Gribshunden shipwreck.
Seeds of: a) cucumber, b) grape, c) black mustard, d) raspberry, e) hop, f) henbane.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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