Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- PART I THE GEOGRAPHY AND PREHISTORY OF SCANDINAVIA
- PART II FROM VIKINGS TO KINGS
- PART III MATERIAL GROWTH (to c. 1350)
- PART IV THE HIGH MEDIEVAL KINGDOMS
- PART V HIGH AND LATE MEDIEVAL CULTURE
- PART VI LATE MEDIEVAL SOCIETY (c. 1350–1520)
- 18 Population and settlement
- 19 The condition of the rural population
- 20 The towns
- 21 The nobility of the late Middle Ages
- 22 Church and clergy
- PART VII SCANDINAVIAN UNIONS (1319–1520)
- Conclusion
- Select bibliography: primary sources, general surveys and secondary works arranged by part
- Index
- Plate Section"
- References
20 - The towns
from PART VI - LATE MEDIEVAL SOCIETY (c. 1350–1520)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- PART I THE GEOGRAPHY AND PREHISTORY OF SCANDINAVIA
- PART II FROM VIKINGS TO KINGS
- PART III MATERIAL GROWTH (to c. 1350)
- PART IV THE HIGH MEDIEVAL KINGDOMS
- PART V HIGH AND LATE MEDIEVAL CULTURE
- PART VI LATE MEDIEVAL SOCIETY (c. 1350–1520)
- 18 Population and settlement
- 19 The condition of the rural population
- 20 The towns
- 21 The nobility of the late Middle Ages
- 22 Church and clergy
- PART VII SCANDINAVIAN UNIONS (1319–1520)
- Conclusion
- Select bibliography: primary sources, general surveys and secondary works arranged by part
- Index
- Plate Section"
- References
Summary
In the mid-fourteenth century, when the Black Death reached Scandinavia, there were about a hundred towns in the region. They varied greatly in size and importance, and were unevenly distributed. Denmark was the most densely urbanised with some sixty towns scattered all over the realm; almost all of them were (or had once been) accessible by sea. Norway only had about a dozen towns, all but one (Hamar) situated on the coast. In Sweden, including the Finnish part of the kingdom, there were almost thirty towns, most of them – and the most vigorous – along the Baltic coast and in the Lake Mälaren region. There were no towns in Iceland and the northern parts of Norway and Sweden. The only possible exception was the important trading place of Vågan in the Lofoten Islands whose urban status is a matter of debate (see Chapter 11).
In the early fourteenth century there was, therefore, a relatively dense pattern of towns in the southern part of Scandinavia, which were concentrated in the coastal areas and linked by the traditional sailing-routes. This pattern was to determine the urban system of Scandinavia for the rest of the Middle Ages (and long afterwards). The few new towns established between 1350 and 1520 were complementary and generally unimportant.
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- The Cambridge History of Scandinavia , pp. 611 - 634Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003
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