Dr. Martin Rundkvist is a Swedish archaeologist, journal editor, public speaker, skeptic, atheist, lefty liberal, bookworm, and father of two.
In addition to the archive reports on my two seasons of fieldwork at the Late Medieval and Early Modern harbour of Djurhamn, I have now published a paper that discusses and interprets the results. It's in a symposium volume from the Royal Academy of Letters, edited by my friend Katarina Schoerner and bearing the name Skärgård och Örlog. Nedslag i Stockholms skärgårds tidiga historia. ("Archipelago and naval warfare. Case studies in the early history of the Stockholm archipelago"). Other contributors are Jonathan Adams, Kajsa Althén, Jan Glete, Sven Lilja, Peter Norman, Mary Pousette, Johan Rönnby and Bengt Windelhed.
Order the book here if you read Scandy!
Humanities & Social Science
Comments
My knowledge of Swedish naval history extends as far as one museum. on that basis, it's obvious that the whole book is about how to make boats that capsize.
Not that the English would ever do anything as silly, oh no.
Posted by: Bob O'H | November 9, 2009 9:02 AM
Don't forget the guy who got thrown out of an exploding ship, flew over an enemy man o' war and landed in the sail of a friendly ship. I wish I could find that entry at my old blog.
Posted by: Martin R | November 9, 2009 9:10 AM
Martin: This one?
Lucky Sparrfeldt
Posted by: Robert | November 9, 2009 9:57 AM
Xlnt, thanks!
Posted by: Martin R | November 9, 2009 10:02 AM
So for those of us who don't read Scandy, how worthwhile would it be? Is it text heavy, or are there lots of diagrams and pics? I have a friend who would love it but he speaks as little Scandy as me, ie. can figure out what about 1/3 of the words in a sentence mean. He's the sort of person who would get a dictionary and persist if he also had plenty of visual cues to help.
Posted by: eleanora. | November 9, 2009 5:57 PM
I'd say that if you care a lot specifically about the Stockholm archipelago and 16/17th century ships, then it's a worthwhile buy.
Posted by: Martin R | November 10, 2009 2:54 AM
And it is text heavy, not intended as a source book.
Posted by: Martin R | November 10, 2009 2:57 AM
@Bob - I remember seing a shipwreck in a Portsmouth museum, something called the Mary Rose. A flagship for Henry VIII until it keeled over and sank when facing the enemy in 1545. Such things happened. But I agree that the Royal Swedish Navy has done a lot for Maritime Archaeology by capsizing more frequently than other navies...
Posted by: Claes | November 10, 2009 10:18 AM