Rungholt

Last updated
Germany Schleswig-Holstein adm location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location of Rungholt in present Schleswig-Holstein
North Frisian coastline before 1362 UdlandeRungholt.png
North Frisian coastline before 1362
The island of Strand after the Grote Mandrenke (Danish: Den Store Manddrukning) with German and Danish place names StrandAfter1362.png
The island of Strand after the Grote Mandrenke (Danish: Den Store Manddrukning) with German and Danish place names
Rungholt and Strand in the Middle Ages, on a map from 1850 Strand i Valdemarernes Tid.png
Rungholt and Strand in the Middle Ages, on a map from 1850

Rungholt was a settlement in North Frisia, in what was then the Danish Duchy of Schleswig. The area today lies in Germany. Rungholt reportedly sank beneath the waves of the North Sea when a storm tide (known as Grote Mandrenke or Den Store Manddrukning) hit the coast on 15 or 16 January 1362.

Contents

Location

The exact location of Rungholt has yet to be conclusively identified. It is likely that Rungholt was situated on the island of Strand, which was overwhelmed by the Burchardi Flood of 1634, and of which the islets of Pellworm and Nordstrandischmoor and the Nordstrand peninsula are the only remaining fragments.

One possible location is west of the Hallig Südfall, where in 1921 significant ruins were discovered: wells, trenches and part of a tidal lock. Another theory places Rungholt to the north of the Hallig Südfall. [1] [2] [3]

In June 2023, the German Research Foundation announced that researchers had found the probable location of Rungholt under mudflats in the Wadden Sea and had already mapped 10 square kilometers of the area. [4] [5] [6] [7]

History

Today it is widely accepted that Rungholt existed and was not just a local legend. Documents support this, although they mostly date from much later times (16th century). Archaeologists think Rungholt was an important town and port. It might have contained up to 500 houses, with about 3,000 people. Findings indicate trade in agricultural products and possibly amber. Supposed relics of the town have been found in the Wadden Sea, but shifting sediments make it hard to preserve them. [1] [2]

There definitely was a great storm known as the Grote Mandrenke (Store Manddrukning), and sometimes also named after the saint Marcellus, on 15 or 16 January 1362. [1] Estimates put the number of deaths at around 25,000. [8] Possibly 30 settlements were destroyed, and the coastline shifted east, leaving formerly inhabited land in the tidal Wadden Sea. [2] [3]

One theory [9] provides the following specifics:

"It was like a natural landscape of peat bogs and fenland. It was very uninhabitable, and they completely colonized it. They completely changed the landscape," ... "Once you remove all this peat and get the water out, you have very, very rich soils that are perfect for agriculture [but] "with rising sea levels and increasing storminess, one day these dikes they built were not sufficient enough, and these settlements just drowned."

Legends and later reception

Sometimes referred to as the "Atlantis of the North Sea", the Rungholt of legend was a large, rich town, with the catastrophe supposedly a divine punishment for the sins of its inhabitants. [1]

Impressed by the fate of the town, the relics, and not least the legends' excessive descriptions, the German poet Detlev von Liliencron wrote the 1882 poem "Trutz, Blanke Hans" about the lost town, which begins: Heut bin ich über Rungholt gefahren, die Stadt ging unter vor sechshundert Jahren. ("Today I traveled over Rungholt; the town sank 600 years ago."). [10]

The Sinbadventurers (German: Die Hamburger Sindbadauken) is an opera for children composed by Benjamin Gordon  [ de ] with a libretto by Francis Hüsers. [11] It was commissioned by the Hamburg State Opera and was first performed on February 8, 2015. In the opera, three children set out to discover the lost gold of Runghold. In the Interlude before the final act, the main character, Lotte, tries desperately to warn the citizens of Rungholt of their impeding destruction by reciting verses from Liliencron’s ballad.

German singer Achim Reichel put Liliencron's poem to music on his 1977 album Regenballade  [ de ].[ citation needed ]

German band Santiano released a song called "Rungholt" in their 2015 CD "Von Liebe, Tod und Freiheit". It also includes verses from von Liliencron's poem.[ citation needed ]

Theodor Storm mentions Rungholt in his novella Eine Halligfahrt. [1]

Christian Kracht mentions Rungholt in his novella Faserland. [1]

The Danish writer Dorothea Petersen mentions Rungholt in her historical novel Havets rytter. [12]

Ursula Hegi mentions Rungholt in her 2020 novel The Patron Saint of Pregnant Girls. [13]

Local myth has it that one can still hear the church bells of Rungholt ringing underwater when sailing through the area on a calm night. [1]

See also

Related Research Articles

Year 1362 (MCCCLXII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wadden Sea</span> An intertidal zone in the southeastern part of the North Sea (Netherlands, Germany and Denmark)

The Wadden Sea is an intertidal zone in the southeastern part of the North Sea. It lies between the coast of northwestern continental Europe and the range of low-lying Frisian Islands, forming a shallow body of water with tidal flats and wetlands. It has a high biological diversity and is an important area for both breeding and migrating birds. In 2009, the Dutch and German parts of the Wadden Sea were inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List and the Danish part was added in June 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sylt</span> German island in the North Sea

Sylt is a former island in northern Germany, part of Nordfriesland district, Schleswig-Holstein, and well known for the distinctive shape of its shoreline. It belongs to the North Frisian Islands and is the largest island in North Frisia. The northernmost island of Germany, it is known for its tourist resorts, notably Westerland, Kampen and Wenningstedt-Braderup, as well as for its 40-kilometre-long (25-mile) sandy beach. It is frequently covered by the media in connection with its exposed situation in the North Sea and its ongoing loss of land during storm tides. Since 1927, Sylt has been connected to the mainland by the Hindenburgdamm causeway. In later years, it has been a resort for the German jet set and tourists in search of occasional celebrity sightings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Frisian Islands</span>

The North Frisian Islands are the Frisian Islands off the coast of North Frisia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Storm tides of the North Sea</span> Storm tides in the North Sea are coastal floods caused by storms

Storm tides of the North Sea are coastal floods associated with extratropical cyclones crossing over the North Sea, the severity of which is affected by the shallowness of the sea and the orientation of the shoreline relative to the storm's path, as well as the timing of tides. The water level can rise to more than 5 metres (17 ft) above the normal tide as a result of storm tides.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park</span> National Park in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany

The Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park is a national park in the Schleswig-Holstein area of the German Wadden Sea. It was founded by the Parliament of Schleswig-Holstein on 1 October 1985 by the National Park Act of 22 July 1985 and expanded significantly in 1999. Together with the Lower Saxon Wadden Sea National Park, the Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park and those parts of Elbe estuary which are not nature reserves, it forms the German part of the Wadden Sea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nordstrand, Germany</span> Municipality in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany

is a peninsula and former island in North Frisia on the North Sea coast of Germany. It is part of the Nordfriesland district in the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein. Its area is 50 km² and its population is 2,300. Nordstrand has two municipalities, Nordstrand and smaller Elisabeth-Sophien-Koog, which are part of the Amt Nordsee-Treene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Detlev von Liliencron</span> German lyric poet and novelist

Baron Detlev von Liliencron born Friedrich Adolf Axel von Liliencron was a German poet and novelist from Kiel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Halligen</span> Islands off the Danish/German coast

The Halligen or the halliger are small islands without protective dikes. They are variously pluralized in English as the Halligen, Halligs, Hallig islands, or Halligen islands. There are ten German halligen in the North Frisian Islands on Schleswig-Holstein's Wadden Sea–North Sea coast in the district of Nordfriesland and one hallig at the west coast of Denmark (Langli).

Saint Marcellus's flood or Grote Mandrenke was an intense extratropical cyclone, coinciding with a new moon, which swept across the British Isles, the Netherlands, northern Germany, and Denmark around 16 January 1362, causing at least 25,000 deaths. The storm tide is also called the "Second St. Marcellus flood" because it peaked on 16 January, the feast day of St. Marcellus. A previous "First St. Marcellus flood" drowned 36,000 people along the coasts of West Friesland and Groningen on 16 January 1219.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burchardi flood</span> Storm tide that struck 17th century North Frisia and Dithmarschen

The Burchardi flood was a storm tide that struck the North Sea coast of North Frisia, Dithmarschen and southwest Jutland on the night between 11 and 12 October 1634. Overrunning dikes, it shattered the coastline and caused thousands of deaths and catastrophic material damage. Much of the island of Strand washed away, forming the islands Nordstrand, Pellworm and several halligen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strand (island)</span>

Strand was an island on the west coast of Nordfriesland in Schleswig, which was a fiefdom of the Danish crown. The area now belongs to Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Büsum</span> Municipality in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany

Büsum is a fishing and tourist town in the district of Dithmarschen, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the North Sea coast, approx. 18 km southwest of Heide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ravenser Odd</span> Former port in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England

Ravenser Odd, also spelled Ravensrodd, was a port in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, during the medieval period, built on the sandbanks at the mouth of the Humber estuary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Frisian Barrier Island</span>

North Frisian Barrier Island is the collective term for three barrier islands due west of the German Halligen in the North Frisian Islands archipelago. The shoals act as natural breakwater for the Halligen and other islands closer to land. Uninhabited, they remain one of the few areas in the Wadden Sea that are unaffected by direct human activity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rantum</span> Ortsteil of Sylt in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany

Rantum is a village and a former municipality on the island of Sylt in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Since 1 January 2009, it has been an Ortsteil (part) of the municipality Sylt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trischen</span>

is an uninhabited island in the Meldorf Bay, about 14 kilometres off the North Sea coast of Dithmarschen in north Germany – about 12 kilometres from the Trischendamm embankment. The island belongs to the municipality of Friedrichskoog and is only occupied from March to October by a bird warden from the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union or NABU. Otherwise it is out-of-bounds. Trischen originated about 400 years ago and moves about 3 m per month towards Büsum on the mainland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Südfall</span>

Südfall is a small island in the Wadden Sea off the west coast of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, one of the ten German Hallig islands. It has a permanent population of two people. It covers an area of 0.56 square kilometres (0.22 sq mi) and is administratively part of Pellworm Municipality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lundenberg Hundred</span> Mediaeval area of North Frisia, Schleswig

Lundenberg Hundred was a mediaeval hundred located in the southern part of North Frisia in the Danish region of Southern Schleswig, part of the Frisian Uthlande. Lundenberg Hundred was one of the so-called Five Hundreds or Strand Hundreds on the island, the others being Edoms Hundred, Beltring Hundred, Southern Goes Hundred, and Pellworm Hundred. It encompassed the southeastern part of the former island of Strand, between what are now the peninsulae of Nordstrand and Eiderstedt.

The Sinbadventurers is an opera for children composed by Benjamin Gordon with a libretto by Francis Hüsers. The subtitle is Ein Kinderoperabenteuerspaß. The German title refers to the name the three child protagonists give themselves, a combination of "Sindbad" and "Rabauken" (ruffian) which is used either to refer to rude adults or jokingly, for ill-behaved children. It was commissioned by the Hamburg State Opera and was first performed on February 8, 2015, with the composer conducting.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Heed, Levke (13 July 2012). "Rungholt – "Atlantis der Nordsee" (German)". Norddeutscher Rundfunk. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 Steinlein, Christina (15 August 2012). "Rungholt – das deutsche Atlantis (German)". Focus Online. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
  3. 1 2 "Rungholt – auf den Spuren einer versunkenen Welt" [Rungholt: In the footsteps of a sunken world]. Husumer Nachrichten (in German). 22 August 2014. Retrieved 15 June 2016 via sh:z.
  4. "Scientists map medieval town that's been buried beneath the sea for 661 years". CBC Radio. 8 June 2023. Retrieved 11 June 2023. Researchers find what they believe is the central church of Rungholt, the 'Atlantis of the North Sea'
  5. "Vermisst seit 1362" [Missing since 1362]. uni-kiel.de (in German). Kiel University. 23 May 2023. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  6. "Lost since 1362: Researchers discover the church of a sunken medieval trading place". uni-mainz.de. University of Mainz. 24 May 2023. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  7. "Vermisst seit 1362" [Missing since 1362]. schleswig-holstein.de (in German). Archäologisches Landesamt Schleswig-Holstein. 23 May 2023. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  8. Stephen Moss (2011-01-20). "Weatherwatch: The Grote Mandrenke". Guardian. Retrieved 2020-01-16.
  9. "Scientists map medieval town that's been buried beneath the sea for 661 years". CBC Radio. 8 June 2023. Retrieved 11 June 2023. Researchers find what they believe is the central church of Rungholt, the 'Atlantis of the North Sea'
  10. von Liliencron, Detlev (1883). Trutz, Blanke Hans  (poem). Adjutantenritte und andere Gedichte (in German). Leipzig: Wilhelm Friedrich. OCLC   837192716 via Wikisource.
  11. "Uraufführung Die Hamburger Sindbadauken" (in German). Retrieved 2023-09-11.
  12. "Forlaget Mellemgaard: Havets rytter".
  13. "The Patron Saint of Pregnant Girls". US Macmillan. Retrieved August 18, 2020.

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Rungholt at Wikimedia Commons