A visual explanation of why stars fall on Earth. Details of The Augsburg Book of Miracles, an illuminated manuscript made in Augsburg in Germany in the 16th century, anonymous author-ess.

In 1566 in the Baltic Sea a fleet of the Swedish navy met a fleet of ships from Denmark and Lübeck ( A small town in the north of Germany, but an important member of the Hanseatic league, with a great fleet of merchantmen and man o’ war ) in a battle during which Kristoffer Mogensøn, a Danish commander, was killed by a cannonball. A storm was brewing up and, as was custom, the opposing forces ceased fire and went their seperate ways.

The naval battle of July 26, 1566 is usually considered as a draw. But the Danish fleet suffered a fatal loss - the commander of Hercules, Kristoffer Mogensen, his head was shot off. © Petter Lönegård / Lönegård & Co

The Swedish fleet disappeared into the Stockholm archipelago and the nearest Danish territory, the island of Gotland. The Lübecker had wanted to go initially to Danzig, where their battle-scarred ships could be repaired, but the Danes insisted that the dead must be buried first. Arriving off the Gotland port of Visby, Jens Truidson, the Danish Vice- Admiral commanding the fleet, was advised by harbour authorities not to anchor in the roadstead as it was foul ground, and in anything other than a flat calm there was a great risk of anchors dragging. But the admiral, determined on honouring their dead, ignored the warning and ordered his 39 ships to anchor. They then began the gruesome business of ferrying the dead ashore.

The following day a burial service was held in Visby Cathedral, and the squadron prepared to leave the next morning. The weather was calm initially, but then the sky went a strange colour and the sea seemed to shimmer beneath the ships.

That night Visby was hit by a terrible storm that lasted for six hours. Anchors were ripped from the seabed and cables snapped. The unwieldy ships of the Danish-Lübeck fleet collided with each other or were dashed to pieces on the jagged shoreline as they tried to sail away.

The end of the Danish-Lübeck fleet © Petter Lönegård / Lönegård & Co

At daybreak of the 29th July, the beach was covered with debris and dead bodies. More then 1/3 of the fleet was gone : 15 ships had sunk and the storm had claimed between 5,000 and 7,000 lives. ( To put this in perspective, the poulation of Stockholm at the time was 9,000.) Among the dead were Vice- Admiral Truidson and his wife, the Danish admiral Hans Lauritsøn and the Lübeck admiral Bartholomew Thinnappel who was also mayor of Lübeck; their remains were buried in Visby Cathedral. It was a hot summer and the people of Visby fearing an epidemic could break out, hastily buried the rest of the dead in mass graves.

Today only Thinnappel’s tombstone remains in the church chancel. On the north wall you will also find an epitaph for Thinnappel depicting the sea disaster.

Gauntlet of “Lion” with super detailed gold inlay owned by Henry II, King of France, 1550

Also i dont know if you guys have ever seen medieval beekeeper garb, but:

Its the best!!!

Nope!

Woodcut from 1545! 😊 respect our basket faced cousins 😡

The Beekeepers, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1568

@aandrastes

I wish I could terrorize ancient people with things that are commonplace today

releasing a roomba into the greek forums

i hate these memes it only shows you people dont know anything about history and how jarring technology already was back then

you: *weirdly cocky lunatic vagabond coming to gloat and make a scene about his walking cylinder* : ) pretty cool huh

me chad 16th century learned man of faith: *releases my mechanical friar*