Template:Wp-Ronneby-History

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The city's oldest surviving city privileges are from 1387. The first recorded spelling of the name (around the year 1300) is Rotnæby, "the village upon the roaring (river)", so named because of the rapids on the spot. In the Middle Ages, Ronneby was an important trading and shipping town.

In 1564, Ronneby was the location of a bloody battle during the Northern Seven Years' War between the Swedish and the Danish armies during which the Swedes under King Erik XIV besieged the city, killed many inhabitants (Ronneby Bloodbath) and burnt it to the ground. Erik later reported that "The Water was red from blood of the Danes." The number of victims was heavily exaggerated, for different propagandistic reasons, by both sides.

Following the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658, whereby Blekinge and other southern provinces became Swedish, a navy base was built in Karlskrona – east of Ronneby – which accordingly was granted city rights, while revoking the city rights of Ronneby.

But Ronneby did attract some industries in the 18th century. Besides the industry, it also hosted the Ronneby spa, with water believed to have healing qualities. The park around the spa can still be visited. The first source of chalybeate (ferruginous) water was found in May 1705. But the high period of the spa was in the 19th century.

After a fire in 1864, Ronneby was rebuilt according to a check pattern, which is still the model of today. Ronneby finally regained its city title in 1882. From 1971 it is the seat of the larger Ronneby Municipality.

In the 1970s, the local diving club discovered a shipwreck off the coast of Ronneby that was eventually identified by archaeologists as Gribshunden, a 15th-century Danish warship. The shipwreck is significant as one of the best-preserved wreckages from the early modern period.^[1]