Inter-Scandinavian relations in the late Middle Ages were strongly influenced by geopolitical conditions as they had been already in the latter part of the high Middle Ages. Scandinavian union history starts in the year 1319 when a Swedish-Norwegian personal union was established as an unplanned consequence of the three year-old Magnus Eriksson's accession to the thrones of Norway and Sweden. During the period 1355-75, Swedish political scene was dominated by continued strife and unrest which threatened the kingdom with partition. The election of Olaf in the 1370s may be said to have put Denmark under the rule of the Norwegian royal house and thus to have heralded the later Nordic union. The removal of King Erik, the installation of Duke Christopher as king of Denmark in 1440, and the succession conflict also influenced the inter-Scandinavian relations. With the events of 1522-23, the late medieval epoch of a union between all three Nordic kingdoms finally ended.

The Romanesque style dominates in Scandinavian art between circa 1100-50 and circa 1225-75, followed by the early and high Gothic, and finally from around 1375 by the late Gothic. The first signs of the Gothic style appear already in the late twelfth century, though it always takes some time before a new taste is commonly accepted. A survey of Romanesque painting and architecture in Scandinavia should begin with the medieval Danish kingdom, though there are also many and interesting monuments from the Romanesque era in the two other Nordic kingdoms. In Sweden, examples of Romanesque stone sculpture are mostly found in Götaland, especially in Västergötland, and on Gotland. By tradition the art of metal-forging was of great importance in Scandinavia. Although the medieval application of this art does not equal the artistry of the Germanic Iron Age it is worthy of notice, at least in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.