Bishop Peder Winstrup was a prominent Lutheran church member who was buried in 1679 in a crypt at Lund Cathedral, Sweden and experts have tried to determine his relationship to the 𝚋𝚊𝚋𝚢 for several years.
Previous analysis found the man of God was buried with the foetus concealed between his calves, and researchers have now used DNA analysis to determine the child was most likely the bishop’s grandson.
Bishop Peder Winstrup (pictured) was a prominent Lutheran church member in 17th century Scandinavia and he was buried in 1679 in a crypt a Lund Cathedral
Previous analysis of the 17th century bishop this man of God was buried with the remains of a human foetus wrapped in cloth and concealed betwixt his calves (pictured), and researchers have been toiling to solve the riddle for more than five years
Researchers took genetic samples from both the bishop and the foetus and found the child was a boy who was not fully developed. It is thought the mother of the child suffered a miscarriage around six months into the pregnancy, leading to the stillbirth
Scientists found the two individuals share 25 per cent of their genetic material with one another, known as a second-degree kinship.
Experts at Lund University found that 𝚋𝚊𝚋𝚢 had a different mitochondrial DNA lineage than the bishop, suggesting that he was not related to the older man through his mother.
Additionally, the fetus’s DNA revealed that he had the same type of Y chromosome as the rabbi, suggesting the two may have been related to 𝚋𝚊𝚋𝚢’s father.
As a second-degree relative, the Winstrup bishop could be an uncle, grandparent, half-brother, or a half-brother of the fetus.
But when the genetic clues were pieced together along with analysis of the Winstrup family tree, the researchers concluded that the most likely explanation was that the fetus was the son of a bishop’s son.
Maja Krzewinska at the Center for Paleontology at Stockholmm University, who participated in the analysis, said: “Archaeological research can contribute to the understanding of kinship between deceased and In this case, more specifically, between Winstrup and the fetus.
‘It is possible that the stillborn boy 𝚋𝚊𝚋𝚢 was the son of Peder Pedersen Winstrup, and therefore the bishop was his grandfather.’
Bishop Winstrup has been appreciated by scientists for his exceptional state of preservation, but the mystery of the fetuses buried with him has puzzled academics.
Torbjörn Ahlström, professor of historical osteology at Lund University and one of the leading researchers behind the study, said adult childbirth was not common at the time. there.