View source for Rungholt

{{short description|Historical settlement in Schleswig}}
{{Location map|Germany Schleswig-Holstein
| caption                    = Location of Rungholt in present Schleswig-Holstein
| coordinates                = {{coord|54|28|N|8|43|E|display=title, inline}}
}}

[[File:UdlandeRungholt.png|thumb|North Frisian coastline before 1362]]
[[File:StrandAfter1362.png|thumb|The island of [[Strand (island)|Strand]] after the [[Saint Marcellus' flood|Grote Mandrenke]] (Danish: ''Den Store Manddrukning'') with German and Danish place names]]
[[File:Strand i Valdemarernes Tid.png|thumb|Rungholt and Strand in the Middle Ages, on a map from 1850]]
'''Rungholt''' was a low-lying settlement in [[North Frisia]], in what was then the [[Denmark|Danish]] [[Duchy of Schleswig]]. The area today lies in Germany. Rungholt was flooded, with massive erosion, when a [[Storm tides of the North Sea|storm tide]] (known as ''[[Grote Mandrenke]]'' or ''Den Store Manddrukning'') hit the coast on 15 or 16 January 1362.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Wilken |first1=Dennis |last2=Hadler |first2=Hanna |last3=Wunderlich |first3=Tina |last4=Majchczack |first4=Bente |last5=Schwardt |first5=Michaela |last6=Fediuk |first6=Annika |last7=Fischer |first7=Peter |last8=Willershäuser |first8=Timo |last9=Klooß |first9=Stefanie |last10=Vött |first10=Andreas |last11=Rabbel |first11=Wolfgang |date=2022-04-04 |editor-last=De Smedt |editor-first=Philippe |title=Lost in the North Sea—Geophysical and geoarchaeological prospection of the Rungholt medieval dyke system (North Frisia, Germany) |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=17 |issue=4 |article-number=e0265463 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0265463 |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=8979465 |pmid=35377888 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2022PLoSO..1765463W }}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Wilken |first1=Dennis |last2=Hadler |first2=Hanna |last3=Majchczack |first3=Bente Sven |last4=Blankenfeldt |first4=Ruth |last5=Auge |first5=Oliver |last6=Bäumler |first6=Sarah |last7=Bienen-Scholt |first7=Dirk |last8=Ickerodt |first8=Ulf |last9=Klooß |first9=Stefanie |last10=Reiß |first10=Antonia |last11=Willershäuser |first11=Timo |last12=Rabbel |first12=Wolfgang |last13=Vött |first13=Andreas |date=2024-07-06 |title=The discovery of the church of Rungholt, a landmark for the drowned medieval landscapes of the Wadden Sea World Heritage |journal=Scientific Reports |language=en |volume=14 |issue=1 |page=15576 |doi=10.1038/s41598-024-66245-0 |issn=2045-2322 |pmc=11227575 |pmid=38971936 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2024NatSR..1415576W }}</ref>

==Location==
Rungholt was situated on the island of [[Strand (island)|Strand]], which was largely destroyed by the [[Burchardi Flood]] of 1634; remaining fragments include the [[Nordstrand, Germany|Nordstrand]] peninsula and the islets of Hallig [[Südfall]], [[Pellworm]] and [[Nordstrandischmoor]], while the rest now forms tidal flats in the surrounding [[Wadden Sea]].

In 1921, ruins believed to represent Rungholt were discovered around Hallig Südfall: wells, trenches and part of a tidal lock.<ref name="NDR">{{cite web|url=http://www.ndr.de/kultur/geschichte/chronologie/Rungholt-Atlantis-der-Nordsee,rungholt101.html|title=Rungholt – "Atlantis der Nordsee" (German)|publisher=Norddeutscher Rundfunk| date= 13 July 2012 |first=Levke|last=Heed|access-date=15 June 2016}}</ref><ref name="Focus">{{cite web|url=http://www.focus.de/wissen/mensch/archaeologie/tid-26901/versunkene-staedte-2-rungholt-das-deutsche-atlantis_aid_798853.html|title=Rungholt – das deutsche Atlantis (German)|publisher=Focus Online| date= 15 August 2012 |first=Christina|last=Steinlein|access-date=15 June 2016}}</ref><ref name="HN">{{cite web|url=http://www.shz.de/lokales/husumer-nachrichten/rungholt-auf-den-spuren-einer-versunkenen-welt-id7438356.html|title=Rungholt – auf den Spuren einer versunkenen Welt |language=de |trans-title=Rungholt: In the footsteps of a sunken world|work=[[Husumer Nachrichten]] |via=[[Schleswig-Holsteinischer Zeitungsverlag|sh:z]]| date= 22 August 2014 |access-date=15 June 2016}}</ref> In June 2023, the [[German Research Foundation]] announced that researchers had confirmed this identification, and had already mapped 10 square kilometers of the area including key features such as a church.<ref name=":2">{{cite web |url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/rungholt-church-discovery-1.6870278 |title=Scientists map medieval town that's been buried beneath the sea for 661 years |date=8 June 2023 |work=CBC Radio |access-date=11 June 2023 |quote=Researchers find what they believe is the central church of Rungholt, the 'Atlantis of the North Sea'}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Vermisst seit 1362|language=de|trans-title=Missing since 1362|publisher=[[Kiel University]]|date=23 May 2023|website=uni-kiel.de|url=https://www.uni-kiel.de/de/detailansicht/news/135-rungholt|access-date=4 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204123516/https://www.uni-kiel.de/de/detailansicht/news/135-rungholt|archive-date=4 December 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Lost since 1362: Researchers discover the church of a sunken medieval trading place|language=en|publisher=[[University of Mainz]]|date=24 May 2023|website=uni-mainz.de|url=https://press.uni-mainz.de/lost-since-1362-researchers-discover-the-church-of-a-sunken-medieval-trading-place/|access-date=4 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204123607/https://press.uni-mainz.de/lost-since-1362-researchers-discover-the-church-of-a-sunken-medieval-trading-place/|archive-date=4 December 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Vermisst seit 1362|language=de|trans-title=Missing since 1362|publisher=Archäologisches Landesamt Schleswig-Holstein|date=23 May 2023|website=schleswig-holstein.de|url=https://www.schleswig-holstein.de/DE/landesregierung/ministerien-behoerden/ALSH/Projekte/wattenmeerforschung/artikel/2023_kirche_rungholt/kirche_von_rungholt.html|access-date=4 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204123807/https://www.schleswig-holstein.de/DE/landesregierung/ministerien-behoerden/ALSH/Projekte/wattenmeerforschung/artikel/2023_kirche_rungholt/kirche_von_rungholt.html|archive-date=4 December 2023}}</ref> Detailed archeological investigations of the remains of buildings, dykes and a harbour have been published.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

==History==

Documents about Rungholt 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]].<ref name="NDR"/><ref name="Focus"/>

The great storm known as the ''[[Grote Mandrenke]]'' (''Store Manddrukning''), sometimes also named after the saint [[Pope Marcellus I|Marcellus]], occurred on 15 or 16 January 1362.<ref name="NDR"/> Estimates put the number of deaths at around 25,000.<ref name="The Guardia, Weatherwatch">{{cite web|author=Stephen Moss |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2011/jan/20/weatherwatch-grote-mandrenke |title=Weatherwatch: The Grote Mandrenke|publisher=Guardian |date=2011-01-20 |access-date=2020-01-16}}</ref> Possibly 30 settlements were destroyed, and the coastline shifted east, leaving formerly inhabited land in the tidal Wadden Sea.<ref name="Focus"/><ref name="HN"/>

The vulnerability of the settlement to the storm tide has been attributed to agricultural development: <blockquote>"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."<ref name=":2" /></blockquote>

==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.<ref name="NDR"/>

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.").<ref>{{Cite wikisource|wslanguage=de|title=Trutz, Blanke Hans|type=poem|year=1883|last1=von Liliencron|first1=Detlev|authorlink=Detlev von Liliencron|location=Leipzig|language=de|publisher=Wilhelm Friedrich|series=Adjutantenritte und andere Gedichte|oclc=837192716}}</ref>

[[The Sinbadventurers]] (German: Die Hamburger Sindbadauken) is an opera for children composed by {{ill|Benjamin Gordon (conductor)|de|Benjamin Gordon (Dirigent)|lt=Benjamin Gordon}} with a libretto by Francis Hüsers.<ref name=premiere>{{cite web|access-date=2023-09-11|language=de|title=Uraufführung ''Die Hamburger Sindbadauken''|date=5 December 2014 |url=https://issuu.com/staatsoper_hamburg/docs/oper_journal_3-14-15_b9c9088ff9088c}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> 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 Rungholt. In the Interlude before the final act, the main character, Lotte, tries desperately to warn the citizens of Rungholt of their impending destruction by reciting verses from Liliencron's ballad. 

German singer [[Achim Reichel]] put [[Detlev von Liliencron|Liliencron's]] poem to music on his 1977 album ''{{ill|Regenballade|de}}''.{{cn|date=January 2021}}

German band [[Santiano (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.{{cn|date=January 2021}}

[[Theodor Storm]] mentions Rungholt in his [[novella]] ''Eine Halligfahrt''.<ref name="NDR"/>

[[Christian Kracht]] mentions Rungholt in his [[novella]] ''Faserland''.<ref name="NDR"/>

The Danish writer Dorothea Petersen  mentions Rungholt in her historical novel ''Havets rytter''.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://mellemgaard.dk/product/havets-rytter-1055/| title = Forlaget Mellemgaard: ''Havets rytter''}}</ref>

[[Ursula Hegi]] mentions Rungholt in her 2020 [[novel]] ''The Patron Saint of Pregnant Girls''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Patron Saint of Pregnant Girls |url=https://us.macmillan.com/thepatronsaintofpregnantgirls/ursulahegi/9781250156822 |access-date=August 18, 2020 |website=US Macmillan}}</ref>

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.<ref name="NDR"/>

<gallery class="center">
File:Funde Rungholt.JPG|Finds from the Wadden Sea, possibly from Rungholt
File:201607nissenhaus 11.jpg|Pieces of wood found in the tidal flats, possibly from Rungholt, at display in the NordseeMuseum Husum
</gallery>

==See also==
{{Wikisourcelang|de|Trutz, Blanke Hans}}
*[[Lost city]]
*[[Dunwich]]
*[[Ravenser Odd]]
*[[Saeftinghe]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons-inline}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Underwater ruins]]
[[Category:History of Schleswig-Holstein]]
[[Category:Former populated places in Denmark]]
[[Category:Former populated places in Germany]]
[[Category:1362 disestablishments]]
[[Category:Populated places disestablished in the 14th century]]