TARJA KNUUTINEN, HANNA KIVIKERO & ELINA TERÄVÄ University of Helsinki Department of Philosophy, History, Culture and Art Studies, Archaeology Changing Coastal Landscapes Shore displacement and the strategies for defence and subsistence at the medieval castle of Raseborg ABSTRACT: Recent archaeological research around the medieval Castle of Raseborg has shown that in the Middle Ages the most prominent changes in the surroundings of the castle, both natural and man-made, are related to the littoral landscape of the site. Archaeological data offers new information on post-glacial shore displacement in the region, and suggests that during the first half of the 16th century the shore level around the castle was considerably lower than expected. Shore displacement also affected the castle’s strategies for defence and subsistence. KEY WORDS: Middle ages, Raseborg castle, landscape, post-glacial shore displacement, defence, warfare, subsistence, coastal resources. INTRODUCTION castle , and produced a novel body of material for future research (Haggrén, Jansson, Holappa & Kn- The ruins of Raseborg Castle are situated in Snap- uutinen 2009; Haggrén & Jansson 2012; Haggren pertuna, western Uusimaa (Nyland in Swedish), 2013). The archaeological field work in Raseborg some 12 kilometres southwest from the town of continued in 2014 with new excavations in and Karjaa (Karis in Swedish) (Fig. 1). Today the castle around the castle (Haggrén 2014b; Knuutinen site lies about 3 kilometres from the coastline, by 2014). the river called Raseborgså or Kungså. The focus of this article is on regional post-gla- The castle has a long history of archaeolog- cial shore displacement and its impact on the medi- ical and historical study, starting from the 1890s. eval landscape as well as the way it was organised. In 2008 the research project Raseborg Through the First, the complexity of shore displacement at the Ages initiated a new period of systematic archaeo- site is discussed in order to better understand its role logical research on the castle site. The central goal of in the formation of the landscape. The second part the project was to broaden the research scope from of the article focuses on the two central functions the main castle to its surroundings. The project in- of the castle, defence and subsistence, which are cluded archival research, archaeological surveying landscape bound and were affected by the changes and excavations at several sites in the vicinity of the caused by shore displacement. Tarja Knuutinen • Hanna Kivikero • Elina Terävä POHJA TENHOLA KARJAA INKOO RASEBORG Orslandet 1 4 2 3 Älgö Hanko 0 10 km Figure 1. The Raseborg Castle site is located on the southern coast of Finland. The map also presents the lo- cation of Hanko, Älgö in Tammisaari and Orslandet in Inkoo. 1 – Turku, 2 – Raseborg, 3 – Helsinki, 4 – Vyborg. Map: Maija Holappa. Raseborg castle 110). The castle was also an important agricultur- al centre. The historical sources indicate that there The historical sources concerning the castle are was a landed estate under the control of the castle at sparse before the reign of King Gustav Vasa. The least since the beginning of the 16th century, but it present understanding is that Raseborg was found- is probable that the large agricultural estates of the ed in the latter part of the 1370s by Bo Jonsson castle were organised under a manor or landed es- (Grip), the Lord High Steward of the Swedish realm tate even earlier. (Drake 1991: 91). The first mention of Raseborg is The importance of the castle was at its high- in a charter signed at Raseborg by Tord Bonde on 8 est during the 15th century and the beginning of September 1378 (Nationel Arkiv Databas, SDHK the 16th century, but after the 1530s the castle rap- 11301/ RA 0101). idly lost both its political and military relevance. The castle acted as the administrative centre of In 1550, a new administrative centre was found- the Castle Province of Raseborg (today's western ed in Helsinki, and Raseborg accordingly lost its Uusimaa) until the mid-16th century. It was en- administrative role. As recent studies by Georg Hag- feoffed to many of the most prominent men of the grén have shown, Raseborg was not abandoned im- Swedish realm, perhaps the most important being mediately, but the castle continued to be used in King Karl Knutson (Bonde), who held the castle as some capacity until 1558 when part of the castle his personal fief during the mid-15th century (e.g. collapsed, after which it fell into disuse (Haggrén Haggrén 2013). Besides administrative and residen- 2014a: 24–5, Fig. 2). tial functions, Raseborg undoubtedly had military Antiquarian interest towards the castle ruins importance as well. However, the only strong evi- grew during the first half of the 19th century, and dence for the castle in a military conflict is a battle since the 1890s the castle site has been a subject of between Swedes and Danes, presumably in 1523, in archaeological and historical research. Most of the which the castle was destroyed (Hartman 1986: 71; research has concentrated on the castle itself, but ex- Rask 1991: 71; Haggrén 2014a: 22; Terävä 2015: cavations have also been done in the surrounding 88 MASF 6 • 2018 • 87–105 Changing Coastal Landscapes areas. Unfortunately, the main body of the studies the moats around the castle. On the other hand, re- remain unpublished, excluding several publications cent excavations in the vicinity of the castle have by Knut Drake, mainly concerning the construction shown that even large-scale constructions carried history of the castle (e.g. Drake 1983; 1988; 1991). out during the Middle Ages have completely dis- solved into the modern landscape and thus are in- A landscape approach to the history visible to the researcher (e.g. Haggrén & Jansson of Raseborg 2012; Knuutinen 2012; 2014). Excavations also show that even in the Middle Raseborg represents a fruitful opportunity for land- Ages the most prominent changes in the surround- scape archaeology for many reasons, not least be- ings of the castle, both natural and man-made, are cause it is the only still-standing medieval royal related to the littoral landscape of the site. Changes castle in mainland Finland that is not surround- in the natural landscape have promoted processes ed by modern urban settlement. Historical sources wherein the environs of the castle were reorganised. tell very little of the early phases of the castle and Therefore, knowledge of the history of the region's they are not very informative about the develop- littoral environment is essential. ment of infrastructure supporting everyday life in and around the castle. The castle accounts offer rich information about life in Raseborg from 1540 on- SHORE DISPLACEMENT IN THE wards, but little information is available about the RASEBORG REGION surroundings of the castle and how they were or- ganised. However, the ruins of the castle and its sur- According to the isobase curves of Fennoscandia roundings have been depicted in several maps dat- presented by Ekman (1996), the mean rate of rel- ing from the 17th and 18th century. ative land uplift in the Raseborg region is 3.0 mm The unbuilt rural landscape in Raseborg offers per year.1 Similar curves for present relative land a multitude of opportunities for landscape studies uplift have also been presented by Eronen et al. (e.g. Knuutinen 2012; Haggrén 2013). On the other­­ (2001), Påsse & Andersson (2005: 261) and Vestøl hand, the seemingly unchanged landscape might in- (2006). Using the mean value of current land uplift duce the researcher to assume that the topographical for modelling shore levels over a period of hundreds features and other phenomena of the modern land- or thousands of years can be problematic, since the scape somehow represent the "original" or "medie- models are based on an assumption that the rate has val " landscape. This can lead to misinterpretations been linear through the ages. In line with the ma- when reconstructing and interpreting medieval land jority of the geologically orientated research on the use and the spatial organisation of the castle's sur- Baltic shore displacement, Ekman's research (1996: roundings (on the subject, see Uotila 1998: 127–8; 163–4) implies a linear land uplift since 5000 BC Knuutinen 2010; 2012). Therefore, some aspects of throughout the entire Fennoscandia region. How- the history of the landscape should be stressed. ever, this linearity has been repeatedly challenged, Raseborg is situated in a low-lying coastal re- mostly by archaeologists, in Finland and Sweden gion where the single most important factor in (e.g. Åse 1969; 1970; Ambrosiani 1981; Ödman the natural landscape has been shore displacement 1987: 45–74; Hiekkanen 1988: 60–4; Wahlberg caused by post-glacial land uplift (Fig. 2). The top- 1994; Uotila 1998: 84–6, 111,128,133; 2000). ographical setting of the landscape has also been af- fected by intentional construction and landscaping, both in the Middle Ages and in modern times. Be- 1 Relative land uplift refers to the land uplift relative to cause of lacking or insufficient documentation on the mean sea level. In the curves presented by Ekman a the modern landscaping, the dating of specific fea- sea level rise of 1.2 mm/year has been taken into account tures at Raseborg is very difficult. There are uncer- (Ekman 1996: 163. See also Påsse & Andersson 2005: tainties concerning, for example, the authenticity of 261). MASF 6 • 2018 • 87–105 89 Tarja Knuutinen • Hanna Kivikero • Elina Terävä Figure 2. The Castle of Raseborg from the southwest. The western part of the castle rests on a high rocky outcrop. The grass field at the foot of the outcrop lies approximately 1.0 to 1.5 meters above the present-day sea level.