The bishop's mummified body had been buried in Lund Cathedral for over 300 years, when the coffin was opened for examination in 2014.
When the researchers on an X-ray discovered the object in the wrapped linen cloth, they first thought it was an animal, perhaps a rat.
Then they realized it was a human fetus.
Compared DNA
Now the DNA from the bishop and the fetus has been compared.
Relationships have also been investigated and a number of possible relationships between the bishop and the fetus have been ruled out.
But a kinship remains.
- It is possible that the premature baby boy was Peder Pedersen Winstrup's son, and the bishop his grandfather, says Maja Krzewinska, Center for Paleogenetics at Stockholm University, in a press release.
Peder Winstrup was bishop of Lund 1638-1679.
Photo: SVT