A new study (pdf) by Lund University researchers of the weapons found on the wreck of the 15th century Danish royal flagship Gribshunden has cast new light on the development of naval artillery in the Age of Discovery, and how the armed ships were used in battle. Part of 11 cannons and their oak gun beds found on the shipwreck in 20 years of excavations were recovered and digitally reconstructed.

Launched in 1485 as the royal flagship of King Hans of Denmark and Norway, Gribshunden was one of the first warships in Europe designed to carry artillery. It was not only heavily armed, it was also appointed with everything the king might need to run the government, a “floating castle,” a daunting instrument of royal power with the flexibility of movement.

The Gribshunden sank in 1495 after an explosion on board while it was anchored off the coast of Ronneby in southern Sweden. The king and his retinue had disembarked, headed for a summit in Kalmar where he was expected to score the trifecta and add the Swedish crown to his other two. The cause of the explosion is still unknown. There is no evidence of fire on the wood elements of the ship or its contents. The blast appears to have struck below the waterline, which is why the ship went down quickly with very little other damage.

The wreck was discovered by scuba divers in 1971, its structure and armaments preserved by the cold shipworm-less waters of the Baltic. Archaeological explorations began in 2001, and it was identified as the Gribshunden in 2002. It is the best-preserved ship from the Age of Discovery, and while it was a unique royal warship rather than an exploration vessel, its design and weaponry were virtually identical to those of the Spanish and Portuguese explorers.

Ocean-going ships like the Gribshunden, with its artillery, were crucial to the European voyages of discovery after 1492. Voyages to the Americas and into the Indian Ocean via the Cape of Good Hope led to European colonization around the world. The Gribshunden is a rare archaeological source – the most complete example of a late medieval caravel-built warship yet discovered.

The ship carried 50 or more small-caliber cannons that fired lead bullets with an iron core. They were intended for use against people at close range, a tactic designed to injure or kill an enemy crew on another ship. After firing the cannons, a storming operation was followed to capture the enemy ship. Led by Professor Nicolo Dell’Unto from Lund University, the team has been able to recreate the cannons by creating 3D models of the artifacts.

Bronze medallions from 1465 bearing the effigy of Pope Paul II have been discovered buried in the foundations of a building during construction of a new Metro station in Piazza Venezia in the historic center of Rome. The commemorative medallions were found inside a terracotta pot and were hidden in the foundations of the Palazzetto Venezia during its construction as an auspicious practice.

The Palazzetto Venezia was commissioned by Paul II in 1467 and stood next to its big brother the Palazzo Venezia. He lived in it for the rest of his papacy, even though it was only completed some years after his death by his nephew. It was removed and rebuilt on the other side of St. Mark’s Cathedral in the first decade of 20th century to make space for the construction the Victor Emmanuel Monument and the much-enlarged Piazza Venezia. It was lucky. Many other buildings from Papal Rome were demolished entirely.

The Victor Emmanuel Monument was dedicated to the first king of a unified Italy, Victor Emmanuel II, and was conceived as a secular altar to the newly united kingdom. The Pope had held out for a decade after the rest of Italy was unified, refusing to allow Rome to be absorbed into the new nation as its capital. Ultimately the Eternal City was wrested from his grip by the Italian army in 1870, and there was still a great deal of anticlerical sentiment in the government when the monument was in the planning stages in the 1880s. Medieval and Renaissance buildings, many of them constructed by the popes, a convent, a church, whole blocks and streets, were razed. All told, almost five acres of Rome and even some ancient remains were leveled.

Archaeologist of the city of Rome Rodolfo Lanciani, who had been vocally opposed to the demolitions, excavated the construction site. He reported finding similar pots containing coins and medallions, always three or five, in the foundations of the Palazzo Venezia. This is evidence of how widespread and consistent this ritual was, going back to antiquity.

Confirmation also comes from the words of Marta Baumgartner, archaeologist of the Superintendency and scientific director of the excavation: “Concealing these objects in the plinths of large and small buildings is an auspicious practice of a much older tradition, connected to a kind of foundation rite linked to the building of important complexes such as palaces and churches, for example, but which is also found, even today, in the most common private construction.”

The medals have been cleaned, and will now be conserved for their long-term stability. After conservation and study are complete, they will go on display in the new Metro station.

Five hundred years after they were separated by political scheming and the executioner’s axe, Henry VIII’s and Thomas Cromwell’s bibles are together again. The unique, personalized copies of the Great Bible of 1539, the first authorized edition of the Bible in English, have been reunited as part of the Treasures exhibition at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth.

The two matching Bibles were commissioned by Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s right-hand-man in governance and strong supporter of religious reform. They were printed on parchment and the black-and-white woodcut illustrations were then painted in vivid color to look like the illuminated manuscripts of old.

Cromwell had these two presentation copies made to propagandize his idea of spreading copies of the Bible in English throughout the realm to the king himself. The beautifully painted cover page depicts Henry handing out bibles to his people. Despite his break with Rome, Henry was used to Latin being the language of services and prayers, and as an anointed king and now head of the Church of England, he was not keen on democratizing the scriptures.

Cromwell managed to persuade the reluctant king, and in September 1538, the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal Thomas Cromwell issued a royal order that every church in England and Wales buy a printed copy of the Great Bible and put it “in sum convenient place” where parishioners could access it. The first copies were on sale in April 1539. Just over a year later, Thomas Cromwell was dead, executed on a long list of spurious grounds including supporting various heresies.

All Great Bibles published after July 1540 excised his heraldic insignia on the frontispiece, and changes were made to the presentation copies as well. They are now at National Library of Wales and the other at St. John’s College, Cambridge, and have recently undergone scientific analysis and study as part of the Hidden in Plain Sight research project.

Using a range of scientific tools, from x-ray to microscopes and even DNA analysis, new light has been shed on the books, revealing some unknown histories and leading to discoveries about how the books were made and changed over time.

The project has revealed that Cromwell had his portrait painted and pasted into the title page of the St John’s copy, a move expertly hidden for centuries. The opening title page was further manipulated to gain Henry’s support, by altering an image of a courtly woman to resemble Jane Seymour, his beloved and recently deceased consort. Other discoveries are set to be revealed during the course of the exhibition. […]

Prof. Eyal Poleg, Queen Mary University of London, said: “These are two of the most important artefacts of the Tudor Court. New technologies have unearthed modifications, hidden for centuries.

“We can now appreciate how Cromwell manipulated the appearance of the Bibles as they were being printed, carefully navigating the religious and political turmoil of Henry’s court.

“The ability to see the Bibles side-by-side, for the first time in nearly 500 years, is a rare opportunity to witness first-hand this unique period.”

After two years of repair, infrastructure upgrades and the restoration of the original appearance of artworks, the Studiolo of Federico III da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, has reopened to the public.

The Studiolo was the duke’s private study in the 15th century Ducal Palace of Urbino. It is a masterpiece of marquetry inlay exquisitely crafted to give the illusion of realistic perspective, capturing landscapes, architecture, furniture, musical instruments, armor, allegorical figures and more in wood veneer. The striking paneling was originally crowned by portraits of 28 learned men in two rows, but half of them were removed in a 15th century renovation and are now in the Louvre Museum. The Ducal Palace couldn’t get the originals back, but they collaborated with the museum to get ultra high-resolution images of the missing portraits that were framed and returned to the walls so the Studiolo looks like it did when Federico da Montefeltro was alive.

The restoration has also led to two further significant discoveries, allowing the reintroduction into the Duke’s Apartment of what were considered major comforts of the time: the Duke’s latrine (a space for bodily needs, now fully interpreted), located in the small room adjacent to the Studiolo, and the lavish washbasin, which had been removed in the 19th century when the palace became the Prefecture’s headquarters. In the 20th century, it had been reassembled incorrectly. Even Pasquale Rotondi did not recognize that certain scattered stone elements were in fact part of a single large structure, now identified through archival documents and, in particular, thanks to the detailed views by Romolo Liverani. It was thus possible to reassemble this luxurious furnishing piece in its original position in the Duke’s bedroom, contributing—alongside the Studiolo—to restoring the original character of this essential part of the Ducal Palace apartment.