[gatagato]

The Bocksten Man (Swedish: Bockstensmannen) (also spelled as Boxsten) is the remains of a medieval man's body found in a bog in Varberg Municipality, Sweden. It is one of the best-preserved finds in Europe from that era and is exhibited at the Varberg County Museum. The man had been killed and knocked to the bottom of a lake which later became a bog. The bog where the body was found lies about 24 kilometres (15 mi) east of Varberg on the west coast of Sweden, close to the most important medieval road in the area: the Via Regia. He was recently reconstructed to show what he may have looked like when he was alive.

The discovery
In the 1880s a farm called "Bocksten" (previously "Boxsten") was established in a bog. The bog was then regularly drained, and a harrow used to gather peat. Albert Johansson had previously found a leather shoe in the wetland that was given to the Varberg museum. A shoe sole was found in the bog in Summer 1934, but the curator of the local museum, Albert Sandklef did not recognize its importance.

The body was found while gathering peat on 22 June 1936 by Johansson. His harrow apparently caught on sackcloth. On examination Johansson saw parts of a skeleton. The day after, Johansson and his father contacted the local police and a doctor. On investigation, they realized it was too old to be of criminal interest.

Sandklef was contacted again. He took charge, inviting others — among them the well-known geologist Lennart von Post. The group visited on 24 June. They measured and photographed the find before excavating it. The upper parts of the man had passed through the harrow and were badly damaged while the lower parts were intact.

The Swedish Museum of National Antiquities was consulted after the midsummer weekend to assist conservation. Curator Gillis Olson and their textile expert Agnes Geijer took part in the conservation and evaluation. They came to Varberg on 9 July, assisting Sandkelf in the documentation and giving conservation advice.

The Bocksten Man has been part of the museum's exhibition since 1937.

Description
The man was 170–180 centimetres (67–71 in) tall and slenderly built. There is an injury covering about 8 by 5 centimetres (3 in × 2 in) on the right side of the cranium. Of the inner organs, parts of the lungs, liver and brain as well as cartilage are preserved.

The tunic is among the best-preserved medieval tunics in Europe, and made of woollen fabric. He was wearing a gugel hood with a 90 centimetres (35 in) long and 2 centimetres (0.79 in) wide liripipe ("tail"). On his upper body he wore a shirt and a cloak, while his legs were covered by hosiery.

Apart from the clothing he had a fabric bag, foot coverings, leather shoes, a belt, a leather sheath and two knives.

The leather sheath was 40 millimetres (1.6 in) wide and 62 millimetres (2.4 in) long, composed of three layers with a combined saltire and St George's Cross (thus giving a pattern similar to Union Jack) carved on the outer layer. On the inner layer a similar pattern was carved, though this time a pole was added to the symbol.

The man had been knocked to the lake bed by two poles; one of oak that hit his heart and one of beech which went through his back.

Interpretations
Several people have evaluated the finding, among them Albert Sandklef, Margareta Nockert and Owe Wennerholm.

Date
The find is generally dated to the 14th century. The dating is based on the clothing, especially the type of hood he wore. Albert Sandklef specified the date of the find to the 1360s, while Margareta Nockert suggests the 1330s. Owe Wennerholm argues that the hood he wore was used over a much larger time frame and only limits the date of the find to between 1250 and 1520. He does however put forward the hypothesis that the man might be Simon Gudmundi; a 15th-century priest, known to have died 1491.

A bit of the cloth was radiocarbon dated in the late 1980s. It gave as result a 68 percent likelihood of a date between 1290 and 1410 and a 95 percent likelihood of a date between 1290 and 1430. Some uncertainties do however arise as the conservation process might have affected the result. The fact that the find came from a bog is also of concern, as bog finds are known to be hard to date.

Age
Based on the teeth, Gunnar Johansson (forensic odontologist) has concluded that the man was between 25 and 35 years old when he died. Nils-Gustaf Gevall (osteologist) has, based on the skeleton, come up with an age of between 35 and 40 years, though the man might have been up to 60 years old.

Social group
Depending on the interpretation of the clothing, and in particular the hood, different conclusions can be made about the man's social background.

The hood he wore was usually worn by the more prosperous classes and it has therefore been suggested that he was a tax collector or a soldier recruiter.

The type of hood was also used within the church. Based on this and a symbol on a shield-shaped pendant, it has been suggested by Owe Wennerholm that the man belonged to the Ordo Sanctus Spiritus.

Local legend
Some days after the find was revealed a local farmer (Karl Andersson) told Albert Sandklef of a legend he had heard as a child. Two old people from Åkulla had told his father about a man who was recruiting soldiers in the area. He had been killed by the peasants and buried in a bog. He would start haunting late at night and in order to stop this poles were struck through his body, whereafter the haunting stopped. As far as the farmer could remember they mentioned Store Mosse, a bog about 10 miles from the find, close to Nackhälle village, though he acknowledged that his memory might fail him as he had grown up in the vicinity of that bog.

The farmer and Albert Sandklef went to Nackhälle and questioned several older people in the area. However, nobody recognised the legend.

Cause of death
It has been a matter of some discussion what actually caused the death of the man. In January 2006 a professor and a doctor at Sahlgrenska University Hospital performed an "operation" on a plastic model of the body, based on computed tomography of the body. As a result they concluded that he had first been hit at the lower jaw, then at the right ear and finally a lethal hit further towards the back of his head.

Identity
A hypothesis has been presented that the identity of the man was Simon Gudmundi, the dean of the Diocese of Linköping who died on 12 May 1491. In his 1998 book, Vem var Bockstensmannen? (Who was the Bocksten Man?), Owe Wennerholm reasoned that Gudmundi's name fit with what might be initials found on what might be a micro shield. It is also likely that Gudmundi visited the area. He worked with a group which tried to get Catherine of Vadstena canonized. One of her reputed miracles had taken place in the neighboring village. Speculation was that he was killed by order of Hemming Gadh so that Gadh could assume the post of dean of the Diocese of Linköping.

Location
The bog in which the man was found is close to the border between Himle and Faurås hundreds. It is also close to the border between Rolfstorp, Sibbarp, Köinge and Svartrå parishes. The hundreds were responsible for the handling of murders, which meant that in this case there might be some confusion over the correct hundred to handle the case, to the advantage of the killer(s). It has therefore been assumed that the killer(s) had good local knowledge.
http://visitor.marknadvarberg.se/bockstensmannen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bocksten_Man
http://www.hkm.varberg.se/bockstensm...r-ett-ansikte/

[Pollucy]

Bockstensmannen has always interested me, thanks for posting this! Swedish pupils are introduced to this guy very early in their school years, probably to get them interested in swedish history, I suppose. When I was a kid we were reading a book about a cat who ran away from his family when they were on vacation around Varberg and later found his way back to their home (by walking across the country) and the little boy who loved him deeply. I was more interested in the very brief information about Bockstensmannen than I was in the heartwarming story about a boy and his amazing cat. If my memory serves me right, I was particularly fascinated by his big hair.

[Pollucy]

Just adding a few more interesting facts from the swedish wiki article about him:

While a leather shoe was found in the bog by Albert Johansson, it wasn't the same Johansson who found the skeleton. Instead, it was 11-year old Thure G. Johansson and his older brother Harry who made the discovery while harrowing.

Part of why experts believe he belonged to a social group of higher status, besides the clothes, is that he showed early signs of Forestiers disease, which has only been found in skeletons from higher standing social groups.

He is believed to have been blonde, and the lovely copper colour comes from substances in the bog, which can turn blonde hair red in just a couple of months. Also, his long haircut was apparently very popular during the 14th century.

He is believed to have died either in spring time or fall, because his clothes were not warm enough to withstand the winter cold, but the many layers could indicate that it wasn't summer (or at least not a warm summer) when he died.

The poles in his body were not two, but three. The oak pole was apparently part of a medieval roof construction, more precisely a pole that kept the straw from falling off. It was completely preserved in the bog. Since the oak pole must have been brought from a farm, it is believed that the killer(s) were local farmers. The other two poles were both of birch wood, but there were only smaller pieces of them left.

It hasn't been 100% confirmed that he really was murdered, but it is very likely. Poles through the corpse were typically used to prevent victims of wrongful death from haunting and taking revenge on their killer(s).

How he died isn't completely clear either, since some experts believe the crack in the skull to be from a fatal blow to the head, while others say it's probably from surrounding material in the bog putting a lot of pressure on it (apparently the cranium goes soft and leather-like after being buried in the bog for a while, making it easy to deform and crush).

Since his clothing and slender muscles reveal that he was of high status and not used to physical labor, and his femur showed he rode horses a lot, it is very likely that he came to the area to bring bad news for the locals, who then decided to kill the messenger, quite literally.

[gatagato]

Originally Posted by Pollucy ↗

Bockstensmannen has always interested me, thanks for posting this! Swedish pupils are introduced to this guy very early in their school years, probably to get them interested in swedish history, I suppose. When I was a kid we were reading a book about a cat who ran away from his family when they were on vacation around Varberg and later found his way back to their home (by walking across the country) and the little boy who loved him deeply. I was more interested in the very brief information about Bockstensmannen than I was in the heartwarming story about a boy and his amazing cat. If my memory serves me right, I was particularly fascinated by his big hair.

Guess what? A friend of mine used to tell me the story (happened in Sweden) of a cat who re-united with his best friend, a 9 years old boy or so; their family moved after leaving the cat somewhere, and to much of their surprise the cat tracked them down YEARS after, and thousands of miles far away from where they had left.
Maybe we're talking about the same cat. Anyway, thank you for your help with all those informations, that was much appreciated mate.

[Pollucy]

Originally Posted by gatagato ↗

Maybe we're talking about the same cat.

That sounds like a lovely story, but I don't think it's the same as the book I read as a kid. Interestingly enough though, new (true) stories about cats who find their way back against all odds keep popping up from time to time here in Sweden! Everything from hitchhiking cats to wanderers who walk hundreds of kilometers just to find their families again. It really is fascinating that they do that!

[vagabond]

Great post, Gato- thanks! And yes, cats do travel miles and miles to be with their 'person', just like dogs

[kustom80]

It doesn't look well preserved compared to some, besides having ridiculous hair.

[petedeamon]

Hair is in pretty good shape...It's a good thing this wasn't India or it would have been a wig by now!

[Kelseecat65]

Interesting!!! That is some crazy hair!!

[kellyhound]

interesting