Bulwark: Floating Forts of the Ancient Baltic

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At the very end of the Scandinavian Viking age, a huge wooden castle was built on a lake in the island of Gotland. A large number of houses and other buildings were erected on a vast platform floating in the middle of the water. Around the construction, timber piles were driven vertically into the lake bed forming a pole blockage, a means of defense against encroaching ships.
It is known as "Bålverket" in Swedish, a word which has survived into English as "Bulwark". The Bulwark seem to have been constructed rather quickly, perhaps in just one season. However, the work required a labour force of approximately 38 000 man days, and the amount of necessary wood would be about 25 000 trees. Strangely enough, the Works saw little use, and was seemingly abandoned shortly after construction. But the question remains, as to why, the castle was built.
Sources:
Bålverket - Johan Rönnby
Ship and Society - Gunilla Larsson
Images sources:
By Berig - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index... Chpagenkopf, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index... RonnyKrüger - Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index... RonnyKrüger - Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index... Edgars Šulcs - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index... simka - web.archive.org/web/201610171..., CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index... Ivar Leidus (Iifar) - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index... Karl Brodowsky - Eget arbete, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
#history #vikings #vikingage

[@balticempire7244]

Subtitles are now available!

[@MickeyMouse-el5bk]

There is a German word: " Bollwerk" meaning a strong big construction to fight of attackers.

[@rblom1632]

In Dutch it's called bolwerk and in Frisian (a small part of Holland = friesland) its called bolwurk. The word has multiple meanings but is actually a (round) defense wall around a (viking) town. Bol refes to round, a place a canon can reach 270 degrees. Wurk or werk or wark means work. It's like a "roundwork", a defence platforn. nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolwerk_(bouwwerk) Also Amsterdam is built on wooden poles at about the same time. And Venice is also built on wooden poles???? Maybe it was built for the same reasons as venice was built? Terrible rulers and high taxes at land? So you build a tax free trading zone.

[@theicepickthatkilledtrotsk658]

Ancient floating forts really are fascinating. Interestingly enough they were not only built by civilization on the baltic. On the balkans an ancient kingdom obscure to most people, Paeonia build them as well. That was a civlisation of Thracian origins I believe. Herodotus gives a nice Idyllic glimpse of the life of the lakedwellers.

[@balticempire7244]

I might look into that for the video on floating forts in the rest of Europe

[@zipperpillow]

Venice of the North. Been there, done that.

[@INSANESUICIDE]

I am seeing you everywhere man xD

[@dmitritelvanni4068]

Thank you for your service.

[@maciejniedzielski7496]

​@@balticempire7244mythical port of Truso (near nowadays Elbląg in Poland, German name Elbing) on the southern coast of the Baltic sea could have been one of these floating forts as well.

[@alexrexaros9837]

Man. I thought Laketown was unrealistic, but I guess not. I'm sometimes wondering like how far were people willing to go to build such wonders without the machines we have today.

[@marwanmusa9368]

Here in South East Asia, the indigenous people (islanders) make similar structures.

[@szymonbaranowski8184]

​@@marwanmusa9368 yeah especially when typhoon floods village up to roof every so often....

[@Margoth195]

i was going to reference Laketown but you beat me to it!

[@cameronvallejo4157]

A video on the Slavonic ships would be awesome ! Great video as always !

[@__-qe3nd]

Also do one on Curonians and Finnic pirates. I saw memes of Finnic pirates fighting with logs.

[@orkako]

Since time immemorial in the Baltic, ships have been similar. People think that each nation had its own type of ships, but this is not true. In Europe, ships have always been divided into northern ships whose inspiration came from the Baltic, and southern ships, for which inspiration always came from the eastern Mediterranean. Sometimes Liberians created ships that combined features of northern and southern ships. Each nation had its own style of shipbuilding, but the general shape and technological applications were common to either the north or the south. For example, Scandinavian boats and Slavic boats were very similar to each other, but had several differences. In Scandinavian ships, the decorative smog heads were removable. In Slavs, they were permanently affixed and often depicted not only mythical beasts, but also ordinary animals. Scandinavian boats had a small draft, which allowed them to sail up rivers. Slavic boats had a large draft, but allowed horses to be transported, making it possible to conduct raids inland. As a curiosity, I would like to add that among the Germans, French and English, the myth of the Scandinavian - the wikinig who robs - has become firmly established. In the Slavs it does not function, because the Scandinavians mainly traded with the Western Slavs, and if someone plundered someone, it was usually the Slavs of the Scandinavians. However, much more often they plundered together. Viking is the name of an occupation, not a nation. They were simply pirates. Slavic Vikings were called Chansnycks.

[@MacScarfield]

I can’t help but wonder if JRR Tolkien got some inspiration for Lake-town/Esgaroth from Bulverket (or some of the other similar Baltic or European structures you mention), especially since The Professor was known to have an interest in both the Goths ("The Saga of Hervör and Heudrek" being one inspiration for the Rohirrim along with the Anglo Saxons) and the Geats ("Beowulf"), often tied at least in name to Gotland! Would also be interested in hearing more about the Gotland Sun Cult: Would be interesting to see possible links to the Nordic Bronze Age Sun Cults!

[@balticempire7244]

I've got a lot of videos planned on Gotland, it has a very unique and fascinating history

[@zipperpillow]

Tolien borrowed generously from the Slavic mythology and lore.

[@MacScarfield]

@@zipperpillow The clearest is that the name of the wizard Radagast the Brown is based on the deity Radogast, otherwise it is mostly indirectly through the Mythologies of the same Indo-European origin as the Slavic (such as the Germanic and Celtic) and cultural overlap with Finnish myths (the Finnish National Epic Poem “Kalevala” was a major inspiration for Tolkien, both for the story and the Elvish language).

[@zipperpillow]

@@MacScarfield Nice try at smoothing things over. Tolkien was a bootlegger. He wasn't even trying to create a common mythology, he was just exploiting and appropriating the folklore he could dig up and throw into his goulash recipe and hope for the best, which....in the 1970's when everyone was reading it, seemed really new, though the references were really old, and the University-level scholarship critics were really incompetent at critiquing. Tolkein would be roasted alive in the comments section today. Rightfully so. Because his work doesn't matter. It was Fiction. Like "German" History. Homo-erotic Fantasy, that little kids grow up believing is real.

[@gusess5743]

​@@zipperpillow found the Church burner 😂

[@geckoman1011]

I'm glad I stumbled onto this. Pre industrial engineering is so fascinating

[@Ziddings]

A video on Slavonic pirates would be cool.

[@gregfortenberry-hx2th]

There’s a video on the wends.

[@mariusrbech573]

Here in Bergen, at the UNESCO World Heritage site Bryggen, the buildings stands on bolverk, and it was built after the big fire in 1702. When they dug out after a fire in 1955, they found a total of 9 city fires, and all of those generations have used bolverk closest to the sea when expanding the harbor after every fire. When we restore the foundations, we also use bolverk.

[@overtonhallford54]

Yes. I would love to learn more about crannogs.

[@mossig]

A lot of exaggerations here, I have been to the Gotland site and passed over the site with a small boat. First it's a small fresh water lake and you can't reach it from the sea even in a small boat. The lake is now 44 meters above the Baltic sea and was around 20 meters above in the year 1200 according to Swedish government. But I think the rate of land rise is far less because you can find older viking graves in only 10 meters above the Baltic sea. Probably something changed. This Bålverket like many other fortresses was erected by local farmers as a refuge from raiders. I doubt that more then a hundred people was involved in building it and ever stayed there. Most likely it burned down pretty fast. More interesting is that there are fish on this island that came all the way from China a thousand years ago.

[@szymonbaranowski8184]

China? how was it even possible? 🤯

[@mossig]

@@szymonbaranowski8184 It has to do with that this species Carassius Auratus(gold fish) and the European relative Carassius Carassius has a small amount of alcohol in the blood during winter hibernation. If you pack the fish with ice in wet straw they will survive almost indefinitely. They were transported by camel caravans over wast areas to use for breeding in monasteries around Asia and Europe. On the island of Gotland there is now a interesting thing going on. All Auratus are females and they breed with male Carassius but all offsprings are clones of the mother. So over the years their DNA is different then both parent species. Kind of an hybrid but still not. I held the Swedish fishing record years back with one weighing over 2.9 kgs. I always claimed it was not a true Carassius Carassius but no one believed me. Now 20 years later it's an established fact. I had many Auratus in my swimming pool and it sprung a leak at winter and all the water disappeared. When spring came I removed by hand the ice and only the big ones where dead by crushing, but the small one's survived sheltered by the bodies of the big, even without any water at all.

[@mageillus]

Slavonic pirates let’s GO!

[@merafirewing6591]

Man, floating forts are cool.

[@dylanesworthy9532]

Please do a video about Slavonian pirates. The Vikings need their reputational monopoly broken

[@zipperpillow]

Vikings=Boring. Slavs=Interesting.

[@zipperpillow]

@@jamesa1841 Vikings were gay.

[@zipperpillow]

@@jamesa1841 Lost what? They are the majority of Europe. How is that losing?

[@szymonbaranowski8184]

​@@zipperpillow meat and fish = interesting grain and beer = not interesting

[@zipperpillow]

@@szymonbaranowski8184 To each, their own.

[@VG111-n7f]

They left the bullwark because a wizard, a hobbit, and a band of dwarves accidently awoke an ancient dragon whilst visiting the area one day.

[@kai_plays_khomus]

Even a high percentage of germans aren't aware about it which is an absolute shame, but the wends as a people with a distinct western slavic identity, culture and language actually survived to this day and are germany's only autochtone minority and officially recognized as such. To be precise it's even about two peoples called _Sorbs and Wends_ who are related but still distinct enough for each having its own western slavic language, settling in the region around the state border of Saxony and Brandenburg. There you will find bilingual public signage, official documents etc. and there are schools with sorbic or wendic as first, second or third language, and you can have your school exams in of those languages, besides other things. It's actually pretty amazing that they managed to maintain their culture and identity as a small minority since german people settled and conquerd what's the east of modern Germany today roughly 800 years ago.. To this day in all of east Germany way beyond what's wendic and sorbic area of settlement today many towns, villages and geographical features have names derived from the western slavic languages spoken here before, as the abundance of town and village name ending on "-tz" or "-ow such as _Rudow, Storkow, Straupitz or Lankwitz._

[@rrn7769]

That's right.

[@_p3t3r_34]

A video about slavic raids would be nice, yes. You could mention how Racibor of Pomerania with his army burned and sacked norweigan city Konungahela in 1135. Also I've been to Biskupin, pleasant place, but someone who's into ancient slavs would appreciate it more than I could.

[@INSANESUICIDE]

Victual brothers did the same in Bergen I believe

[@szymonbaranowski8184]

they were cool but they weren't very Slavic people living close to sea there have much less Slavic genes R1b vikings can hardly be called Slavic "Vikings" more like exViking blood waking up to own natural blood ways.. so more like RatsiBiorn if with R1b sea wasn't ever our thing as we are forest and mountain people

[@tomaskormark1747]

Kungälv 10 min north of Gothenburg

[@colinbarnard6512]

Today, I learned about a New Thing. Something I've never known before. And now I do. A good day.

[@user-hq8pj3zl5u]

Morrowind music came in so well, floating fortress idea for some wouldn’t be more usual then living in a naturally occurring mushroom😅

[@oldmanwillyboy2786]

As Teenagers in the 70's we would swim out would out to the Crannogs in the Scottish Loch's and camp for the weekends, sometimes longer..............we floated supplies over on small inflatable dinhgy's...........Firewood/food/alcohol etc.........they were great places to escape the clouds of giant Midges..........

[@changeshifter4852]

Yes please to the extra video. Thanks!

[@user-qk4gk1sw9n]

спасибо что показали постройки это так необычно до вас никто не показывал

[@peterhoulihan9766]

I'd be very interested in a video about crannógs. I visited a recreated one when I was a kid and I was fascinated by them ever since.

[@MaximusOfTheMeadow]

If you could make a video about the Irish floting citys Mr Baltic Empere, That would be Awsome Just like this video, it almost blew my mind It kind of makes me think were Tolkien had the idea from for Laketown😏

[@Cherb123456]

Enjoyed! Thank you for your work!

[@Leitis_Fella]

Ah yes, Morrowindish, my favorite Norse music genre

[@eardwulf785]

Bulwark to boardwalk. I love the origins and journey of language

[@fjdkfdfjdf33]

Thanks for floating this topic!

[@maciejniedzielski7496]

@Baltic Empire thx algorithms for recommended me your video. Sub! I come from Gdańsk Danzig (at the Baltic sea of course). I read that in the ancient times first Gddanytz (premier port and city of Gdańsk) was built on huge wooden trunks directly stuck by ingenious constructeurs in the swamps typical of landscape of Pomerania seaside).

[@szymonbaranowski8184]

before Dutch came with melioration technology

[@rebralhunter6069]

Yes id love an entire video on the topic

[@grizzmax]

Fascinating. Well done.

[@TheQuallsing]

This was pretty interesting. I like your content!

[@alaricsjourney5375]

Awesome video man:) Önskar en trevlig dag!

[@silentone11111111]

Great vid. Keep up the content. Happy to subscribe ❤

[@TheDocLamkin]

I would love to see some thing on floating scottish and irish homes as its my heritage. Thanks for the great content

[@unearthlyenemy]

W history lesson, W imagery, W Morrowind music

[@etee08]

Great Video!

[@1992zorro]

I hope this channel becomes big, this guy found a very interesting niche of history to talk about

[@1d1ane]

Brilliant TY shared.

[@chillywonka25]

This is so fire.

[@johnwige2905]

Absolutely riveting, what good coverage on the ingenuity of early man. Anything more as far as content in this vain would be splendid.

[@ddc2957]

Never heard of this. Thank you.

[@justanotherguy965]

Cheers for the fascinating video. I was going to ask you to please make a video about the Wends... but I see that you already have - nice one :)

[@mMAmericanSpiritMm]

First time I've ever used patreon, hope you got it and continue making these great vids on rare topics. Thanks mate.

[@balticempire7244]

thank you so much!! I publish videos once a month on this channel, I'm glad you enjoy them

[@timandrews2023]

Very interesting thanks

[@basilbrushbooshieboosh5302]

Yes, a vid about the Crannog's would be great, thanks.

[@cabowerks3973]

Great video ❤ please do one on the Scottish bog villages🙏

[@gitmoholliday5764]

in Dutch we also have "Bolwerk"

[@sirreginaldfishingtonxvii6149]

Very interesting! Never heard of this before.

[@AhriOfAstora]

Oh my god, this was so interesting!

[@hughgrection7246]

Have my algorithm food dude. Great content .

[@beau4129]

Good job your channels r great sir ty

[@danielmalinen6337]

I find it interesting that many researchers don't even know about these. I first heard about the floating cities in the radio podcast. But when I wanted to know more about these castles, the historians I asked about them explained that they had never heard of such and suspected that they must be myths and legends like Atlantis because they don't sound believable. I was disappointed because the expert on the podgast was sure of the existence of these floating castles and this video just confirms that they really were real and not local myths and legends. So thank you for this video and for removing the uncertainty about whether these castles existed or not.

[@nicholaswoollhead6830]

Insanely interesting video! I would love a video on the Vendic pirates. I grew up near Corselitze on Falster in Denmark, where the Corselitze woods cover the entire north-eastern corner of the island. I was recently told, by a man who tends the woods out there, that the wood was originally planted to discourage a landing by the Vends, as a wooded coast would look inoccupied from afar. Similarly, many towns and villages in southern Denmark are placed a few kilometers inland, with a smaller town by the coast by the same name, but with the suffix of "harbour". A good example is Rødby and Rødby Havn on Lolland. Id love to learn more about those people.

[@balticempire7244]

The Wends-video is out: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bYKUeYR-rZ2ng6M

[@zwaggyzergling5272]

A video about Crannogs would be very interesting

[@BigOilApologist69]

Good vid

[@timkbirchico8542]

good vid

[@JasperKlijndijk]

This is awesome

[@whyukraine]

I think we all know why it was abandoned: too much Smaug in the city.

[@inquisitorwalmarius6650]

love that use of the morrowind soundtrack for this theme

[@handthing9709]

Love the Morrowind music, so peaceful

[@PaulRoberts61877]

More of this please

[@leoscheibelhut940]

Great presentation! I'd be very interested in seeing a presentation on the Wends.

[@sheep1ewe]

This was super interesting! I hawe seen the fist sites location, but it has always been a mystery to me despite all the previous explanations about it from older sources. Yes, of course we want to hear more about the Vendel ships!

[@sheep1ewe]

A thing i remember from whan i was a kid was that one could create smjall iislands by gatering a lot of reeds in a big lump, and it would soon form a small island one could stand on. If one continue to build ut the reeds on top every year i think it would last for many years, but probably not leave many traces for the future. There are also smalll natural islands of floating moss i tried to cut loose pices of those chunks whan i was a mkkid in order to buld an actual floating island, much more labour intense, but i think it would last much longer.

[@Kobanyai_enjoyer]

I once visited such a structure at lake Ohrid, North Macedonia. Originally it was a fishing village, not a fortress, but it still looked the same as the ones you showed in your video.

[@arth-ritisoutdooradventure7467]

I am not the first person to make the Laketown connection here, and I certainly won't be the last. Just make sure if any dwarves turn up that they actually kill the dragon they're looking for instead of setting it loose.

[@rrn7769]

Many Germans are Slavs, just germanised.

[@ac_pejk3113]

You sir got my subscription! Thank you for this wonderful content 🙏

[@nakenmil]

I'm not sure if the use here of the term "floating" is correct. They're earthworks connected to the bottom, or otherwise resting on poles. Nothing, besides the boats, is really "floating" as far as I know.

[@TheZebinator]

Nice choice of music, love the Morrowind OST

[@mrsmo3d]

Great!

[@Sk0lzky]

My hometown was built using these techniques, the current version of the oldtown (including some buildings from middle ages) sitting between 0,5 to a few meters over the original ones, which essentially sank down as the soil gradually stabilised further. There's a funny spot in one church which shows the uncovered original entrance arch about adult man's height below ground level - it's inside the current church and slightly offset to the side from current entrance ^^

[@MrChillerNo1]

yes make a video about the floating houses/crainoks (?) in Ireland and Scotland!

[@user-xx4qg4bv8i]

River crannogs and Celtic pirates would be some great videos

[@MagnumGreenPanther]

Yes please do a video on the subject of cavalry ships

[@andrewrackliff8223]

This is wild. I wonder if we could even do this today.

[@Sandhoeflyerhome]

Point of order, they were not floating as such they stood off the bottom by poles or stakes ....

[@markhughes7927]

Great interest!❤ I think the defensive advantage against casual marauding of lake building must make such structures ubiquitous over time and space. King Hiram of Tyre built a whole city off-shore and supplied it with water using leather pipes from a sub-marine freshwater source and it lasted centuries. I think the idea is good for a come back and would love to see young people buck the current system which robs and degrades them by taking to lakes, estuaries and even the sea. (There is a structure called a ‘syncopated cubeoctahedron’ - its module comprises 18 elements which can be modeled using bar mats (5-8-5) and it extends in 3D into a matrix - khatmatrix - and which locks up water for bulk and stability. Many variations too - and even deep ocean possibilities in my humble estimation.)

[@UnclePutte]

The slavonic pirates are fascinating, and I would gladly hear of them. Almost as mysterious as the victual brothers.

[@Club420]

Finally, I know where this word comes from

[@culturedape279]

A presentation of the constructions on lake Constance would be nice.

[@gozer87]

I was going to mention those. We visited on the open air museum on vacation.

[@user-zp7jp1vk2i]

as a Canadian Boy Scout I spent some major time on lakes , and in the summer to clouds of mosquitos that would come up at dusk you couldn't BREATHE without inhaling them. A fresjh water lake with llittle water movement??? black flies, no-see-uhms, horse flies, mosquitos...the torture would be all day every day.

[@insanityward1516]

This is how Venice was made the drive trees into a swamp to make platforms and then built on top

[@nozrep]

ohhhh this also reminds me of a Venezualan guy explaining to me why Venezuela is called Venezuela. Because….Venice! Haha the Spanish conquistadors saw the natives in dwellings on stilts in the water when first arrived, apparently. And it reminded the Spanish sailors of Venice, Italy’s structures so they called it “little Venice” or “mini Venice” or some such in the Spanish…. Venezuela!

[@nozrep]

that is cool I have never even heard of this part of history and that is why I love history! Bulwark? An place it was?! then becoming an English word? I’d have never guessed! Well… haha I did guess it was like, a German word turned into an English word. But it wasn’t that either! haha anyways that is some super interesting history right there.

[@whiskeywookie2758]

Would love to hear your take on the Celtic crannochs

[@kettleions]

Ta! Cheers 👋

[@serbobertross5948]

Neat

[@newandoldtech5634]

Now we can guess who built Veinice. And started the commerce and banking system in Italy.

[@asahallberg-vonde1287]

The Goths

[@newandoldtech5634]

A video about Tingstäde is a full episode in itself. Seems to have been a large fortress on Gotland, and was destroyed by fire. Built around 1100 is a guess.

[@harryh4rp4n31]

Was going to mention that, Pretty cool location in a swamp/lake on the biggest island in Sweden!

[@aaronpeterdodds-chater4795]

Do one on the wends brother,I'm interested as are many others,please

[@elbateador]

Dude, that's where Flapjack and Captain Nnukles live...

[@mnp3713]

funny thing in Denmark we still use the word Bolværk for the structure under a pier

[@Le_Blnk____]

We need survival game around from this

[@markomarkovich1603]

I think fire would have proven a great weakness for this impressive structure

[@markomarkovich1603]

I wrote it during the first half of the video,sad it probably got on fire

[@TankswillRule]

Woah Esgaroth was real.

[@YesNo-ev3ot]

Just wondering why you would build whole towns floating out of wood for protection when a fire ship or fire in general

[@maynardfrench5418]

Thank you, I had no idea. When you say "floating", were they actually floating like a raft or houseboat or were they built on piles?

[@user-sm4mi8ug9q]

Maybe it depends from place to place?

[@jeremiahr7585]

Please do a video on crannogs

[@pawekobylinski4634]

In Poznań Poland you can visit a museum where you can see the reminiscents of structures built with this technique.

[@ak5659]

I'll have to remember that the next time I go visit my cousins in Poznań.

[@szymonbaranowski8184]

and make polish less polish

[@pawekobylinski4634]

@@szymonbaranowski8184 It's typical slavic technique of building fortifications. Kind of chest build with two oak logs layed on another two oak logs filled with Erth and stones. Poznań had walls 10m high.

[@vickilindberg6336]

Yes, pirates with cavalry? Please!

[@mellon4251]

The magical ward at 4:58 has even survived into the 20th century 😅

[@TheZebinator]

Haha I can take a guess as to who owns that particular house!

[@user-sm4mi8ug9q]

Looks like someone accidentally used a ward of evil lol

[@E.G.-ee7nt]

It is an extremely ancient European symbol. The oldest one in the archaeological record is from Mezine in modern-day Ukraine. It was carved into mammoth tusk and has been carbon dated to 10,000 BC. It is likely a solar symbol; sun worship was very common amongst ancient Europeans as the sun is the source of all life. Without it nothing would grow, there would be no life, and the earth would be a barren, icy wasteland. In the twentieth century, too, it was a symbol of light, not darkness--a shield against communism and subversive forces which threatened Europeans and their culture, and the symbol of a second European Renaissance.