Urbanization in Viking Age and Medieval Denmark: From Landing Place to Town 9789048538706 [PDF]

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Urbanization in Viking Age and Medieval Denmark

The Early Medieval North Atlantic This series provides a publishing platform for research on the history, cultures, and societies that laced the North Sea from the Migration Period at the twilight of the Roman Empire to the eleventh century. The point of departure for this series is the commitment to regarding the North Atlantic as a centre, rather than a periphery, thus connecting the histories of peoples and communities traditionally treated in isolation: Anglo-Saxons, Scandinavians / Vikings, Celtic communities, Baltic communities, the Franks, etc. From this perspective new insights can be made into processes of transformation, economic and cultural exchange, the formation of identities, etc. It also allows for the inclusion of more distant cultures – such as Greenland, North America, and Russia – which are of increasing interest to scholars in this research context. Series Editors Marjolein Stern, Gent University Charlene Eska, Virginia Tech Julianna Grigg, Monash University

Urbanization in Viking Age and Medieval Denmark From Landing Place to Town

Maria R.D. Corsi

Amsterdam University Press

Cover illustration: Medieval walled town. Fresco from c. 1500 in Nibe church, diocese of Aalborg. Photo by Kirsten Trampedach. By kind permission of Nationalmuseet, Denmark. Cover design: Coördesign, Leiden Lay-out: Crius Group, Hulshout isbn 978 94 6298 720 3 e-isbn 978 90 48538706 doi 10.5117/9789462987203 nur 684 © M.R.D. Corsi / Amsterdam University Press B.V., Amsterdam 2020 All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the written permission of both the copyright owner and the author of the book.



Table of Contents

Abbreviations Acknowledgments Introduction

7 9 11

1. Productive Sites and Landing Places

25

2. The Emporia Network

51

3. New Forms of Urbanization (c. 950-c.1050)

93

4. Urbanization c. 1050-1200

135

5. Urbanization to 1350

177

6. Conclusion

223

Bibliography Index

231 257

List of Tables Table 1 Danish Mints, ranked by output Table 2 Svein Estridsen and his family Table 3 Coins types minted in Denmark c. 995-1241 Table 4 Urban taxes levied on Zealand, Lolland, and Falster, ranked by size, c. 1241 Table 5 Chronology of occupations in medieval Denmark from written sources, c. 1000-1350

122 147 153 186 202

List of Maps Map 1 Denmark with towns founded before 1350 22 Map 2 Magnate and productive sites mentioned in the text 26 Map 3 Denmark with landing places 38 Map 4 North European emporia 53 Map 5 Distribution of Sceattas 77 Map 6 Denmark with Trelleborg fortresses and fortified sites 95 Map 7 Denmark with mint sites and towns founded before 1050 100

Map 8 Map 9 Map 10 Map 11

Denmark with towns founded before 1200 Denmark with bishoprics following Svein Estridsen’s diocesan reform Denmark with towns founded 1200-1350 Denmark with location of mendicant foundations to the mid-14th century

List of Figures Figure 1 Ribe Series X Sceat of Woden-Monster Type, c. 710-720 Figure 2 Hedeby Cross-Coin Type, c. 975/80-c. 985/90 Figure 3 Roskilde Cathedral Chapter’s oldest seal Figure 4 Lund Cathedral in 2017

141 157 179 218 78 117 159 161

Abbreviations AAGA DD DGK DGL KVJ

Saxo Tschan

VSD

Aarsberetninger fra det Kongelige Geheimarchiv, Indeholdende Bidrag til Dansk Historie af Utrykte Kilder. Vol 5. Edited by C.F. Wegener. Copenhagen, 1852-83. Diplomatarium Danicum. Ser. 1-3. Copenhagen, 1938-. Danmarks Gamle Købstadslovgivning. 5 vols. Edited by Erik Kroman. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde og Bagger, 1951-1961. Danmarks Gilder og Lavsskraaer fra Middelalderen. 2 vols. Edited by C. Nyrop. 1899-1900. Reprint, Lyngby: Dansk Historisk Håndbogsforlag, 1977. Kong Valdemars Jordebog. Vol. 1, Text. Edited by Svend Aakjær. Copenhagen: Samfund til Udgivelse af Gammel Nordisk Litteratur, 1943. Reprint, Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag, 1980. Saxo Grammaticus. Gesta Danorum. 2 vols. Edited by Karsten Friis-Jensen and Peter Zeeberg. Copenhagen: Gads Forlag, 2005. Adam of Bremen. History of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen. Translated with an introduction and notes by Francis J. Tschan and with a new introduction and selected bibliography by Timothy Reuter. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002. Vitae Sanctorum Danorum. Edited by M. Cl. Gertz. Copenhagen: Selskabet for Udgivelse af Kilder til Dansk Historie, 1908.

Acknowledgments Writing a book is never the work of a single person, and this one would not have been possible without the encouragement and support of friends and colleagues. My thanks to Erin Thomas Dailey, Vicki Blud, Chantal Nicolaes, and the rest of the editorial team at Amsterdam University Press for guiding this work through the publishing process. I am grateful to the colleagues, past and present, with whom I have discussed many of the ideas and arguments presented in this work, including Holle Canatella, Courtney DeMayo, Luke Horby, Mike Phifer, and Ben Pugno. Their critiques and suggestions are much appreciated. I am especially indebted to Sally Vaughn, Michael Gelting, and Amy O’Neal, who read the manuscript chapters in proof and offered helpful insights and comments which greatly improved this work. Their friendship and support through the years of research and writing have been invaluable. Any errors are my own. I would also like to note the support of all those at the Hilton College, including Dean Dennis Reynolds, Joel Jaffe, and most especially Mark Young, for allowing me the time with which to complete this project. Finally, I would like to acknowledge with gratitude the love and encouragement of my family – my parents, sister, and most particularly my husband, Aaron – who kept me going and without whom this book would not have been possible.

Introduction The aim of this book is to use both written sources and archaeological findings to examine the history of urbanization in Denmark from approximately 500 to 1350 AD, a time in which political, religious, and economic processes reshaped the landscape dramatically. From 1050 to 1536, more than one hundred new towns were founded in Denmark, the majority of which before 1350. This book will explore how the political, religious, and economic changes of the Viking and Middle Ages created conditions in which towns could experience unprecedented growth. Towns would come to form the political, religious, and economic centres of the kingdom, and an investigation into the foundation and growth of towns in the Viking Age through the High Middle Ages forms the bulk of this work. Because towns took over functions that had been performed by certain specialized sites prior to this period, they will be the starting point for understanding why and how urbanization took place. The interplay of political, religious, and economic factors throughout the Middle Ages created a synergy directly responsible for the proliferation of towns in the High Middle Ages.

Definitions The question of when urbanization began and towns first appeared hinges on how we define ‘town’. This is more fraught than it might first seem, and any definition must be flexible enough to account for change over time regarding what types of settlements can be considered urban. As Susan Reynolds has pointed out in her 1977 study of English medieval towns, a definition is different from a description and so does not need to include all the characteristics of all towns. Accordingly, she defines a town as, a permanent human settlement with two chief and essential attributes. The f irst is that a signif icant portion (but not necessarily a majority) of its population lives off trade, industry, administration, and other non-agricultural occupations […] The second essential attribute is that it forms a social unit more or less distinct from the surrounding countryside.1

1

Reynolds, ix.

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Reynolds also notes that this separateness of urban society will manifest itself in different political, administrative, and legal ways, and that the forms and degrees will vary.2 This definition is general enough that it can include different urban forms, such as the North Sea emporia, which will be discussed in Chapter 2. While the emporia differed from later medieval towns in some significant ways, using a term such as proto-urban seems insufficient to me, since these settlements reveal evidence of both planning and centralized rule. The definition is also specific enough that non-agrarian sites such as seasonal markets will be excluded, as a settlement must be permanent in order to be considered a town.

Previous Scholarship3 There is a long history of scholarship devoted to the study of Danish medieval towns and how they came to be. This scholarship can be divided into two main traditions, that focused on the history of individual towns and that concerned with an overview of urban history. The works on individual towns will be addressed first. In 1869, J.F. Kinch published the f irst part of his history on Ribe, Ribe Bys Historie og Beskrivelse, which covers the medieval period up to the Reformation. This work is based on a thorough review of the original source material, but it is also presented in a dense and annalistic style. Many newer and more synthesized works have followed, particularly beginning in the late 1970s. In 1982, the history of medieval Odense was published in Odense Bys Historie, under the collective authorship of Henrik Thrane, Tore Nyberg, Finn Grandt-Nielsen, and Mikael Venge. The history of other individual medieval towns, including Aalborg, Aarhus, Viborg, Roskilde, and Ribe, would follow. 4 These works provide a thorough and multidisciplinary examination of each town’s individual history. 2 Ibid., x. 3 The historiography in this section is partly based on that presented by Kristensen and Poulsen in Danmarks Byer i Middelalderen, which has an excellent and comprehensive overview of the scholarship. Kristensen and Poulsen, 28-31. 4 See Erik Johansen, Bodil Møller Knudsen, and Jan Kock. Aalborgs Historie 1. Fra Aalborgs fødsel til Grevens Fejde 1534 (1992); Ib Gejl, ed. Århus – Byens Historie 1 (1996); Frank A. Birkebæk, Ernst Verwohlt, and Mette Høj, eds. Roskilde Bys Historie –tiden indtil 1536 (1992); Mette Iversen, Hans Krongaard Kristensen, Jesper Hjermind, Ole Fenger, Per Ingesman, Bjørn Poulsen, Paul G. Ørberg, and Marianne Bro-Jørgensen. Viborgs historie, 1. Oldtid – 1726 (1998); Søren Bitsch Christensen, ed. Ribe Bys Historie 1, 710-1520 (2010).

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A separate collection of town histories grew out of a research project undertaken in 1976 by Det Humanistiske Forskningsråd (The Research Council for the Humanities) called Projekt Middealderbyen (The Medieval Town Project). Professor Olaf Olsen was in charge of the leadership council, and the goal was to develop best practices for Danish archaeology to use the limited resources which would be available for future archaeological investigations in the towns.5 The project was decided for ten selected towns: Aalborg; Horsens; Køge; Odense; Næstved; Ribe; Roskilde; Svendborg; Viborg; and Aarhus. The method developed by the project included the collection of older maps, written sources, archaeological finds and reports, and geological drill samples that could inform about the original terrain and topography. The different source materials were analysed and interpreted with a view to identifying areas of future archaeological research about the age and topographical development of the towns. Initially, the idea was to publish the results in a combined atlas, but over the course of the project, it became clear that the material was well-suited for separate monographs on the individual towns.6 The project remains incomplete, and the monographs for Roskilde and Horsens have yet to be published. While the project is limited in scope, it has been a valuable addition to the scholarship on medieval urbanization. Each monograph provides a thorough, detailed and hitherto unprecedented investigation and interpretation of the different source materials. A separate tradition of historical writing on Danish urban history is concerned with medieval urban history more generally. The first scholar to present a comprehensive history of medieval Danish towns was Hugo Matthiessen, who wrote Torv og Hærstræde: Studier i Danmarks Byer (Market Square and Army Road: Studies in Danish Towns) in 1922, followed by Middelalderlige Byer. Beliggenhed og Baggrund (Medieval Towns: Location and Background) in 1927. Matthiessen saw the town as a living organism that underwent changes and shifts in internal conditions. He does not consider the towns individually, but rather as part of groups that are connected via lines of traffic and communication. As these lines shifted, the towns germinated, flowered, or declined in conjunction with larger movements and forces.7 These traffic lines form the basis of his interpretation, and, in conjunction with the geography, he viewed their importance in connection with communication and exchange. 5 Nielsen, Middelalderbyen Ribe, 5. 6 Madsen, ‘Byarkæologi’, 23-24. 7 Matthiessen, Middelalderlige byer, 16.

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In direct opposition to Matthiessen’s ideas is the work of the Swedish medieval archaeologist, Anders Andrén, who published Den urbana scenen: Städer och samhälle i det medeltida Danmark (The Urban Scene: Towns and Society in Medieval Denmark) in 1985. While Matthiessen was interested in continuity in urban history, Andrén was focused on discontinuity. For Andrén, the towns were part of feudal society in Denmark, and state formation was intimately connected with urban development. The formation of the Danish state was not linear, but rather characterized by discontinuity, which was also reflected in the towns. The towns thus had different characteristics in different periods corresponding to the different manifestations of central power. Consequently, Andrén sees early towns more as administrative centres with a break visible at c. 1200, after which point towns are better characterized as mercantile. Ebbe Nyborg has questioned the traditional view of Danish towns as organic, mercantile formations as espoused by Matthiesen, as well as newer theories in the Swedish archaeological tradition that see early towns primarily as royal or religious administrative centres that experienced a break in continuity. According to Nyborg, the history of the Church in medieval Danish towns provides no evidence for discontinuity or transition from a more administrative to a more mercantile phase in high medieval urbanization. He also stresses that while the Church played a key role in medieval towns, they were complex and dynamic places, and that mono-causal explanations do not reflect that fact.8 In his 2010 publication, Gensidig afhængighed: En arv fra fortiden. Danmarks middelalderbyer – et vidnesbyrd om spredningen af vestlig civilisation (Mutual Dependence: An Inheritance from the Past. Denmark’s Medieval Towns – A Testimony about the Spread of Western Civilization),9 Jørgen Elsøe Jensen argues that towns developed in the High Middle Ages because of the adoption of the heavy plough. He sees this as the necessary first step in eliminating subsistence agriculture and allowing for a society in which people would be mutually dependent upon each other. Crucially, the plough, which Jensen argues spread to Transalpine Europe between 1000 and 1200, not only increased the available food supply, but it also necessitated large amounts of iron. Middlemen were needed to transport the iron between producers and consumers, which in Denmark led to coastal settlements along transport routes and eventually to a market economy and towns. Jensen’s argument is reminiscent of Matthiesen’s, with his focus on lines 8 Nyborg, ‘Kirke og sogn’. 9 Jensen, Gensidig afhængihed.

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of communication and transport and view of towns as organic, bottom-up developments. It suffers from technological determinism, however, and does not consider the complexity of medieval society. Moreover, recent research indicates that the plough was in fact introduced into Denmark several centuries earlier than Jensen supposes, perhaps as early as the third century AD,10 which undermines his argument. More recent is Danmarks Byer i Middelalderen (Denmark’s Towns in the Middle Ages) by Hans Krongaard Kristensen and Bjørn Poulsen, published in 2016. This work is a comprehensive overview of Danish urban history in the period 700-1536 AD, and it is the first Danish publication bringing together archaeological and written source material to examine the complexity of medieval towns and their development. The interdisciplinary approach owes much to that developed by Projekt Middeladerbyen, begun in the 1970s. Kristensen and Poulsen see the history of urbanization in medieval Denmark as multi-faceted and dynamic, and they are concerned with multiple aspects, including the physical, social, and cultural development of the towns. Rather than considering this process as one of either continuity or discontinuity, they argue that there are both elements at play. This book builds on earlier research and is the first comprehensive and interdisciplinary overview of urbanization in medieval Denmark that is presented in English. It sees the growth of towns as being driven by both top-down and bottom-up forces with no single determinant. Rather, the work falls within the tradition that sees complexity in urbanization and seeks a multi-causal explanation. The arguments presented in the following are based on a variety of different types of sources, including historical, archaeological, and numismatic.

Written Sources Medieval Denmark has unfortunately left comparatively little in the way of native written evidence. Before the eleventh century, written sources consist exclusively of inscriptions on rune stones and on some coins. The earliest known charter from Denmark dates to 1085, and records a religious grant made by the Danish king, Cnut IV. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, many different types of texts were produced, including saints’ lives, histories, annals, liturgical books, collections of ecclesiastical and secular laws, charters, and property surveys. The lack of written material, 10 Larsen, ‘Muldfjældsplovens tidlige historie’.

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particularly for the Early Middle Ages, can partly be explained by a later adoption of Latin literacy than was the case for other areas of Europe. Many records and manuscripts from the Middle Ages, however, were also destroyed over the centuries as the result of military campaigns and fires. Consequently, historians of medieval Denmark must make do with the moderate number of extant native sources. Rune stones are among the only truly native written sources for the early period under study in this work. Runes are the symbols that make up the Scandinavian alphabet, the fuþark, so named for the first six letters of the alphabet. Rune stones are usually commemorative, and their inscriptions are, for the most part, brief and sometimes difficult to decipher. About 180 rune stones have been discovered in Denmark. In many cases, they were raised by family members commemorating the death of an individual. Sometimes, people had them carved to commemorate a building project, like a bridge, or to record a land transfer through sale or inheritance. Regardless of their original purpose, they give a glimpse into the society in which they were raised. The twelfth century witnessed the first chronicles written in Denmark. The oldest such work is the Roskilde Chronicle, an anonymous history written in two parts. The first part, which makes up the bulk of the chronicle, dates to 1137/38, while the shorter continuation of the chronicle was written sometime in the early 1200s.11 The Danish chronicler Sven Aggesen was writing in the late twelfth century, and he is the author of three types of composition that were commonly used to glorify twelfth-century monarchies: a law treatise; a political history in outline; and a royal pedigree. None of his works were openly dedicated to any patron, and Eric Christiansen, in his introduction to a translation of Sven’s works, notes that it is unlikely that he was a propagandist, despite a discernible political tendency in his writing. Thus, his own views on the matters on which he was writing emerge in the work,12 and this bias must be kept in mind when evaluating the historical validity of his statements. The most famous of the medieval Danish chroniclers was Saxo Grammaticus, a contemporary of Sven Aggesen. He completed his seminal history of the Danes, Gesta Danorum, at the turn of the thirteenth century. This sixteen-volume work traces the history of Denmark from its legendary beginnings until 1185, when Duke Bugislav of Pomerania swore fealty to King Cnut VI. The earliest portions of his history are mythical, and for the period from 1076 to 1134, he largely paraphrased and rewrote using still 11 Gelting, introduction to Roskilde Krøniken. 12 Christiansen, introduction to The Works of Sven Aggesen, 3-4.

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extant sources, such as the Roskilde Chronicle mentioned above, as well as hagiographical literature.13 His sources for the Danish civil war period from 1134 to 1157 are less clear, although he certainly relied at least partly on oral sources, such as the recollections of eyewitnesses like his patron, Archbishop Absalon of Lund (d. 1201). For the later period, from 1158 onwards, Saxo was working in an annalistic mode of writing, with a precise and detailed chronology, which seems to suggest that he had access to a steady supply of documentary sources. It is likely that he relied heavily on the archives of the archiepiscopal see of Lund, to which he was attached, but he also probably used royal archives.14 Saxo was clearly biased in favour of his patron, Archbishop Absalon, and he displays a decided anti-German sentiment throughout the work, which must be taken into account. Nevertheless, his work should be considered fairly reliable for events of the later period. The vitae (lives) of Danish saints, which while they are relatively few in number compared to the rest of Europe, are another important written source that not only indicates the adoption of Latin literacy in Denmark, but can also provide details on social and economic conditions in Denmark. Nine such vitae are contained in Vitae Sanctorum Danorum, while a tenth, the vita of Bishop Gunner of Viborg (d. 1251), has been published separately. King Valdemar’s Cadastre is an inventory of all the crown land compiled over several decades. This registry records not only the location and size of the king’s holdings, but also his annual income from these lands. The primary section is dated 1231, while other lists were added later, into the 1250s. The towns belonging to the crown demesne appear in several of the lists, and the tax revenue and customs duties from these towns are also noted. For written sources contemporary to the Early Middle Ages, historians must rely almost exclusively on foreign accounts. Frankish accounts of their interactions with their Danish neighbours beginning in the eighth century detail mainly political or military confrontations and are generally biased, as are the accounts written by the victims of Viking attacks. Nevertheless, these foreign chronicles and annals do provide information on Danish military endeavours as well as the actions of Danish political leaders. Other sources follow the endeavours of missionaries attempting to convert the heathens of Scandinavia. Written by Latin clerics, these accounts are highly biased against any non-Christians. Examples include the Vita Anskari, written by Rimbert, Anskar’s successor as archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen in c. 875, and the Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum, written by Adam 13 See Weibull, Saxo. 14 Gelting, ‘Saxo Grammaticus’, 329-331.

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of Bremen in c. 1075. Adam was one of the few early chroniclers to have actually travelled to Scandinavia, and in his work, he details his visit to the court of the Danish king, Svein Estridsen (r. 1047-1076). Although he clearly expresses his biases and prejudices against the Danes, he does provide a fairly comprehensive description of the Danish kingdom. Foreign texts such as the ones described above remain important sources of information on Denmark throughout the Middle Ages. Chronicles and annals written in other parts of Europe, particularly in Germany and England, provide evidence of diplomatic and economic contacts, and they help to supplement the comparatively scant Danish sources. Papal letters also provide many important details, not just on the religious situation, but also on social and political aspects of medieval Denmark. Many of the written documents concerning judicial matters in medieval Denmark have been collected in the Diplomatarium Danicum. These documents include foreign ones, such as excerpts from chronicles and papal letters. Other items included in the collection are native ones, such as charters, letters relating to church matters, and testaments. The entire collection spans the years from 789 to 1412.

Law Codes The earliest written law codes in Denmark date to the first half of the thirteenth century. There are four main law codes: Skånske Lov (Scanian Law); Jyske Lov (Jutlandic Law); Valdemars Sjællandske Lov (Valdemar’s Zealand Law); and Eriks Sjællandske Lov (Erik’s Zealand Law). In addition, there is a Latin version of Skånske Lov, called Anders Sunesens parafrase (Anders Sunesen’s paraphrase),15 which, rather than being a strict translation of the law, is actually an annotated summary that may be based upon an older edition of the extant law code.16 It is likely that the laws do contain some native rules and procedures, but the knowledge of canon, Roman, and other foreign laws is certain to have influenced their development. The essential portions of the medieval laws were new laws, and their compilations should be seen in the context of general European legal development.17 It is also important to keep in mind that while some laws are an actual reflection of society, some are more a reflection of what the lawgiver wanted society to be. 15 Anders Sunesen was the archbishop of Lund from 1201 to 1222. 16 Gelting, ‘Skånske Lov’, 72. 17 Sawyer and Sawyer, 18-20.

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In addition to the provincial law codes, the thirteenth century also saw the codification of the first town laws. In all, there are 38 urban law codes from medieval Denmark still extant, nine from the thirteenth century, eight from the fourteenth, eighteen from the fifteenth, and three from the period 1500-1522. These numbers do not, however, reflect the number of towns for which medieval laws are extant, as several towns received more than one law code over the centuries. The number of towns with extant law codes is 28.18 The earliest known town laws are from Schleswig, and they date to the early thirteenth century, although some individual parts clearly predate codification. Numerous other towns followed suit, with Ribe receiving its own laws in 1269, Flensburg in 1284, Aabenraa in 1292, Roskilde in 1268, and Copenhagen in 1254 and 1294. Other towns were then granted the rights to use the same laws that applied in these towns. Thus, the laws for Schleswig were also in use in Viborg, Aarhus, Horsens, and Æbeltoft. Likewise, Køge and Slangerup received the same laws as in Roskilde in 1288 and 1301/1302, respectively. By the fourteenth century, however, the law codes were not necessarily borrowed uncritically, in that provisions could be added on that were tailored to the individual towns. When Æbeltoft received a copy of Horsen’s laws in 1317, for example, they received an additional right to regular market days.19 Many of the early law codes from the towns, such as that of Viborg, do not survive. The earliest extant version of Viborg’s laws dates to 1440, while that of Aarhus dates to 1441, Odense to 1477, Lund to 1361, and Malmø to 1353.20 As with the provincial laws, it is important to consider to what extent they represent an ideal vs. the reality.

Archaeology Archaeological excavations have yielded a wealth of new discoveries in recent decades in Iron Age and medieval Denmark. The material remains of culture are an important source of information, particularly when written sources are scarce. Native written sources are almost totally non-existent for Iron Age Denmark, with archaeological remains providing the bulk of information for this period. Therefore, a discussion of the archaeological 18 The 28 towns are: Borre; Flensburg; Haderslev; Halmstad; Helsingør; Hjørring; Holbæk; Horsens; Kolding; Copenhagen; Landskrona; Lund; Malmö; Maribo; Nyborg; Odense; Ribe; Ronneby; Roskilde; Skagen; Schleswig; Stubbekøbbing; Tønder; Varde; Viborg; Aabenraa; Aalborg; and Aarhus. Jacobsen, ‘Dansk Købstadslovgivning’, 395 & 395, n. 4. 19 Jacobsen, ‘Dansk Købstadslovgivning’, 402-403. 20 Ibid., 433-439.

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findings forms the basis for early chapters of this work. Most towns of medieval origin have been treated to some level of excavation, and many rural settlements have been examined as well. Some villages, such as Vorbasse in Jutland, have been excavated completely, and investigations of burial sites offers clues about daily life otherwise absent from written material. Urban archaeology as a field has grown considerably in recent decades, and excavations of individual towns can help to illuminate what life was like for their inhabitants, keeping in mind that only a small section of any given town has been excavated so far. Marine archaeology has also provided important new insights into ship technology, trade, and harbours. Archaeobotanical studies have contributed greatly to the understanding of vegetation and diet, which would otherwise be unknown. The use of archaeological material poses its own problems, such as the fact that the meaning of objects is not always clear from the archaeological record. Consequently, archaeologists all too frequently ascribe a religious purpose to any material that is not otherwise immediately explicable, which can lead to erroneous conclusions.

Numismatic Evidence Coins and coin hoards are also important sources of information for Viking and medieval Denmark. When found in an archaeological context, they can help to date the other material under investigation. Moreover, coins can shed light on economic and cultural contacts, as well as domestic economic developments. Investigations into the production of coins also yields information on political developments and the effectiveness of government, since the minting of coins presupposes a central authority able to determine coin composition and mint outputs. The lack of native written sources thus poses methodological problems for historians of medieval Denmark. As is the case for most parts of Europe, the extant sources mainly deal with small sectors of society, such as the aristocracy or the higher clergy. Moreover, most of them were written by ecclesiastics, so their biases towards religious and political matters must be considered. Also, because the Church dominated education, secular histories were written by men who, although not necessarily clerics, had been trained in the clerical tradition. Foreign accounts were written by men for whom Denmark was an ‘other’, which also has to be taken into account. In addition, political conditions between the Danish kingdom and that of the foreign commentator could have coloured his interpretation of the events

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and circumstances in Denmark. The lack of written material thus poses a problem for gaining a full understanding of Danish history. The evidence for Denmark, however, can be compared to the much more fully documented history of the Continent and England, so that the findings for other parts of Europe can help in forming more comprehensive conclusions for the Danish material. Also, an interdisciplinary approach can prove fruitful considering the scanty written record.

The Scope of this Work This book traces the history of urbanization from the specialized settlements of the Iron Age to the towns of the High Middle Ages. As such, it covers a period of roughly 900 years, from the fifth through the mid-fourteenth centuries. In Scandinavian scholarship, the conventional periodization for this time frame differs from that of the rest of Europe. Thus, the Iron Age covers a period of 800 years and is divided between the Roman Iron Age (c. 1-400 AD) and the Germanic Iron Age (c. 400-800 AD). The Viking Age (c. 750-1050), bridges the period between the Iron Age and the Middle Ages, which is itself divided into three parts: the Early Middle Ages (c. 1050-1200); the High Middle Ages (c. 1200-1350); and the Late Middle Ages (1350-1536). This study is concerned with developments from the Germanic Iron Age through the High Middle Ages. This time frame has been chosen since, in order to see how the urbanization process began, it is important to understand what pre-urban society was like. The book ends with the High Middle Ages, as that is the major period of growth and when most towns were founded. It is also the time in which towns became legal entities with certain jurisdictional rights, as expressed in town law codes. It ends before the advent Black Death, which would lead to a considerable slowdown of urban expansion in the following centuries. The geographical region covered corresponds with the kingdom of medieval Denmark, which includes present day Denmark, as well as parts of Schleswig-Holstein that are in the northern part of present-day Germany and the provinces of Halland, Blekinge, and Scania that now comprise parts of southern Sweden. Chapter 1 begins with a discussion of the specialized settlements from Iron and Viking Age Denmark and examines their role in society. These so-called productive sites are distinguished between those connected with the local elite and coastal sites. These sites also can vary from large aristocratic or magnate complexes to smaller, more ordinary settlements with elements of craft activities. Other sites show evidence of specialized

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Map 1. Denmark with towns founded before 1350.

craft production, such as textiles. Coastal sites or landing places, as the name implies, are smaller sites located along the coasts whose main function was ship preparation, but also show signs of craft activities and trade. None of these settlement types can be considered urban, although towns would later assume some of their functions. Chapter 2 considers the emporia that were part of a northern European wide trend that began in the seventh century. These settlements, while not identical in form and function to later medieval towns, do have urban characteristics. They were located at a protected estuarine site close to a coastline in the territorial frontier of a kingdom. Serving as nodal points between various areas of northern Europe, they connected the different regions through trade and other forms of contact. This chapter explores the role of emporia to urbanization, and asks what part political, religious, and economic developments played in this process. Chapter 3 examines urban developments in the last century of the Viking Age, from c. 950-1050. This was the period in which a recognizable Danish kingdom came to be, and the chapter considers how the consolidation of political power factored into the urbanization process. Political power was also in many ways intertwined with religion and the economy, and the ways in which all three factors, political, religious, and economic, worked together and independently to promote urban growth are explored. Moreover, both agricultural changes and changes in shipbuilding technology were really

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beginning to take hold in this century, acting as both cause and effect of a society in flux. These social transformations would likewise have implications for urbanization. Chapter 4 follows the urbanization process through the early medieval period, c. 1050-1200. It explores how the trends that were visible in the preceding century continued to influence the growth of towns. Politically, the Danish kings suffered shifting fortunes, with a decades long civil war fought over questions of power and succession. Nonetheless, the monarchy would still have an important role in promoting urban expansion, as well as influencing religious and economic developments. The chapter also examines how a shifting worldview and understanding of labour, which was felt across Europe, affected those living and working in the towns. It considers the consequences of the agricultural revolution to the economy overall and urban areas specifically, as well as how ideas about organization and regulation would influence towns and their inhabitants. Chapter 5 follows the threads laid out in the previous chapters through the High Middle Ages, c. 1200-1350. It explores the consequences of changing conceptions of power and authority within the towns, as well as continued royal concerns regarding the regulation of trade. In addition, this was a particularly dynamic period with regards to trade and exchange, which saw an expansion in both the volume and types of goods traded. These economic developments would have a profound effect on the foundation of new towns and the growth of existing ones, as well as influencing topographical changes. Also, with more trade came a need for greater organization and more regulations, which would have implications for daily life in the towns. Finally, the chapter explores the ways in which the Church shaped the high medieval town, and how urban churches helped to connect towns with wider European developments in diverse areas such as architecture and education. This book thus seeks to understand how and why Denmark became urbanized in the Middle Ages. There was no one single cause, but rather a confluence of factors, political, religious, and economic. Because towns did not spring in the Middle Ages fully formed from barren earth, questions regarding how the social and economic developments of the preceding centuries set the pre-conditions for urbanization will be the starting point for this study. These questions are the subject of the next chapter.

1.

Productive Sites and Landing Places

Prior to the foundation of towns, various sites in Denmark from the Germanic Iron Age (400-800) into the Viking Age (c. 750-c. 1050), served as markets and locations for trade and craft production. While they had some of the same functions as the later medieval towns, they cannot be characterized as such, as this chapter will show. Nevertheless, a brief discussion will be useful, as later economic developments have their roots in these settlement types. They can roughly be distinguished between the specialized sites connected with the local elite, and which have variously been referred to as central places, magnate farms, and metal rich sites, on the one hand, and the coastal sites, variously referred to as landing places, beaching places, transhipment places, trading sites, and gateway communities, on the other. The Viking Age in Denmark was a period of significant social, political, economic, and religious change. It is worthwhile briefly reviewing some of these changes as they all played a role, either directly or indirectly, in the urbanization of Denmark. Society was divided into three main groups, the aristocracy, the free, and the unfree slaves.1 At the top of the hierarchy was the warrior aristocracy, which based its power on landed possessions, descent, and charisma. Common men had legal rights, but in order to claim them they had to use their social connections, either horizontal, such as kinship, or vertical, such as with lord or military commander. For those at the top of the hierarchy, such social connections were equally important. They needed the support of their followers in disputes and wars, as well as alliances with other members of the aristocracy in the wider political field. These horizontal and vertical connections were secured through friendship, loyalty, and gift-giving.2 Society was overwhelmingly rural, with most everyone living on a farm, many of them as either servants or slaves.3 In terms of settlement structure, the Viking Age in Denmark was characterized by development towards larger farms located within regulated, wellplanned villages. An example can be found in the village of Vorbasse, which archaeologists have been able to follow from its initial settlement in the first century BC through to the eleventh century AD. Here, the farmhouses 1 Roesdahl and Sørensen, 126; It should be noted that in the later law codes from the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries, there is only a distinction between the free and the unfree. There are slight hints to the existence of an aristocracy with special privileges, but they do not really exist as a separate legal group. Tamm and Vogt, 18. 2 Skre, ‘Centrality and places’, 226. 3 Roesdahl and Sørensen, 127.

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Urbanization in Viking Age and Medieval Denmark

Map 2. Magnate and productive sites mentioned in the text.

were grouped within regularly shaped crofts, which were demarcated by ditches or wooden enclosures. During the Viking Age the crofts increased considerably in size. In the first half of the eighth century, the largest of the farms in the village was 5500 square metres. 4 The crofts grew in size so that the smaller farms had an average plot acreage of c. 3600 square metres, while the larger farms reached between 10,000 and 15,000 square metres. By the end of the Viking Age, c. 1050, these crofts had become even larger, reaching the same proportions as those in the later medieval villages. By the Middle Ages, c. 1100, the plot acreage of the villages lay between 9000 and 25,000 square metres, and the very largest could reach an acreage of up to 40,000 square metres.5 These large farms belonged to magnate complexes, such as that at Tissø on Zealand (Map 2). The village structure of Viking Age Denmark was very similar to that found in other parts of Europe at the time. For example, in the eighth and ninth centuries, the village of Vorbasse consisted of seven farms and resembled the rural settlements in the northern parts of the Carolingian empire, such as Kootwijk just north of the Rhine.6 In the Frankish and German areas, the very regularly formed Waldhufendörfer, Angerdörfer, 4 Jensen, Danmarks Oldtid 4, 158-159. 5 Fallgren, 70-71. 6 Näsman, ‘Exchange and Politics’, 61.

Produc tive Sites and Landing Pl aces

27

and Strassendörfer were the result of the standardized measurements of peasant holdings, and these settlements strongly influenced the villages of southern Jutland.7 Also, there are no indications of common fields or enclosures in these regularly formed villages. Rather, the individual farms seem to have had individual infields with separate, enclosed long-strips. This structure was the same as is seen in the regular Frankish, German, and Anglo-Norman villages before a common fallow system and subdivided fields were instituted in the medieval period.8 The size of the farms was clearly a feature related to social power, as is evident from the great variations in size of the individual farms. Magnate residences from the Iron Age and the Viking Age show that the elite controlled large landed estates, in which the magnate farm was surrounded by dependent farms. There were differences in type and degree of dependency, which may have varied from serfdom and slavery to honourable relations between free men. A common feature, however, seems to have been the right of the landlord to a portion of the crop from the dependent farms.9 While Viking agriculture was geared towards the production of a surplus, it was focused on animals, primarily cattle, rather than grain. Pollen analysis as well as archaeological evidence has shown that only a small percentage of the landscape was under cultivation in this period. These areas, the fenced infields described above, were concentrated around the nucleated villages and surrounded by spacious outfields used for grazing. The infields were heavily fertilized, partly by manure from the animals that were led back here after daily grazing in the outfield.10 The rural settlements of Denmark were separated by quite large tracts of uncultivated land. It is possible that this was common land or even unclaimed, and as such it held particular potential for the expansion of magnates. This situation was in contrast to the fields of the village inland, where the rights of the individual families was rigidly defined. Because agriculture was both animal based and geared to a surplus, outland use was a crucial way to increase animal stocks, which was both an essential resource, as well as a symbol of prestige.11 Viking magnates seized common or unclaimed outland, using it for animal grazing, rather than setting up new farms. It seems that animal husbandry was still the more profitable 7 8 9 10 11

Fallgren, 71-72. Ibid., 72-73. Skre, ‘Centrality, Landholding, and Trade’, 202. Fabech and Ringtved, 168-172. Sindbæk, ‘Social Power’, 106.

28 

Urbanization in Viking Age and Medieval Denmark

option, as long as the rural economy was contingent upon a surplus of land rather than a surplus of people.12 The actual political situation in Denmark for much of this period is somewhat murky, however. Names of individual kings show up in the historical record, but how much territory, if any, they actually controlled is unclear. By the early ninth century, struggles between warring families over supremacy in their territories seem to have been common. For example, Godfred, who may have been more than only a regional king,13 had sons who fought descendants of an earlier King Harald for supremacy in Denmark.14 As Rimbert reports in the Vita Anskari, “a king, named Harald, who ruled over some of the Danes, was assailed by hatred and malignity, and was driven from his kingdom by the other kings of the same province.”15 This Harald was Harald Klak, a son of the earlier Harald mentioned above. He fought with King Godfred’s sons, one of whom was Horik, for the right to rule at least part of Denmark. Godfred’s sons eventually drove Harald Klak from Denmark.16 In his account of events for the early ninth century, Rimbert names multiple kings for the same province, which would seem to belie unified control over Denmark. It is, however, also entirely possible that the political situation in this period was not a static one, and that certain kings might have been able to gain more of a following and exert control over a larger territory than others. In other words, consolidation of royal power did not necessarily have to occur in a linear fashion, so that Godfred could have had a larger ‘kingdom’ than either of his sons did. Nonetheless, it does seem evident that there was a move towards magnates, whether they can be called kings or not, attaining more political, social, and economic power for themselves. Certainly, this was true by the late tenth century, if we can believe Harald Bluetooth’s claim on his great rune stone at Jelling that he “won for himself all of Denmark.”17 Archaeologically, the solidification of magnate power can be seen in the proliferation of what can be termed productive sites. Known throughout the North Sea region of northern Europe, these are places that have yielded 12 Ibid., ‘Social Power’, 116. 13 For a discussion of the extent of Godfred’s power, see Jones, 102. 14 Jones, 105. 15 “Herioldus quidam rex, qui partem tenebat Danorum, ab aliis ipsius provintiae regibus odio et inimicitia conventus, regno suo expulsus sit.” Rimbert, 26; Robinson, Anskar, 38. 16 Harald ruled as a co-king with Horik for a while, but he was driven out for good in 827. In 826, Louis the Pious had given him control of a large part of Frisia to protect the coast from Danish attacks. Harald lived out the rest of his life here while Horik maintained his Viking kingdom until he died in battle in 853 or 854. Jones, 105-106. 17 “es sēR vann Danmǫrk alla”; ‘Jelling-sten 2 (DK nr.: SJy 11)’, Danske Runeindskrifter, accessed 14 January, 2019, http://runer.ku.dk/VisGenstand.aspx?Titel=Jelling-sten_2.

Produc tive Sites and Landing Pl aces

29

large quantities of coin and metalwork finds during excavations or when metal-detected. They are also typically located along major lines of transport and communication.18 In Denmark, the so-called productive sites, of which more than forty have been discovered so far, can be subdivided into five groups, of which aristocratic or magnate sites is one. A second group would be the more ordinary settlements that have a basic agrarian economy but with a clear element of craft activities. These are smaller than the aristocratic sites and have less evidence for extensive resource consumption. A third group is the specialized production sites. Textile production seems to have been a particular focus of these sites. Fourth, there are the landing places, which are small sites with evidence of trading and craft activities. Lastly, there are the emporia/early towns, which developed in the eighth century,19 and which will be discussed in detail in Chapter 2. With the exception of the emporia, none of these settlement types can be characterized as urban, although some of their functions, including trade and craft production, would be important elements in the later towns. As a starting point, a brief overview of these settlement types will thus be useful.

Magnate Farms It was common for magnate farms or estate centres to also be engaged in the specialized production of commodities and finished goods. As such, they functioned as important sites of craft production and exchange, and they point to widespread patterns of local and regional trade and exchange.20 These specialized sites have variously been referred to as productive sites, central places, magnate farms, and metal rich sites, and they are known archaeologically by substantial quantities of metal finds, including coins, copper-alloy objects, and other non-ferrous metal items. They were also located near major land or water routes, and their location combined with the find assemblages indicates that these productive sites were involved in commerce of some sort, such as local markets or fairs.21 These large elite sites in Denmark can be divided into two groups, first- and second-generation sites. The first-generation sites include Gudme, Sorte Muld, and Uppåkra, and they are characterized by having a number of craftsmen’s farms or 18 19 20 21

Ulmschneider and Pestell, 2. Jørgensen, ‘Manor and market’, 175-176. Ulmschneider and Pestell, 8-9. Crabtree, 95.

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Urbanization in Viking Age and Medieval Denmark

dwellings surrounding an elite residence.22 Second-generation sites are the elite residences founded in the sixth to the seventh centuries. They include Lejre, Tissø, and Toftegård on Zealand. They differ structurally and organizationally from the first-generation sites, with the permanent craftsmen farms being superseded by seasonal marketplaces.23 Gudme was the location of an immensely wealthy site that had uninterrupted settlement from the third to eleventh century AD. It covered an area of at least two square miles, and it has yielded the largest amount of treasure so far uncovered in all of Late Iron Age Scandinavia. Fifteen hoards have been found, demonstrating the exceptional wealth that flowed through Gudme. Most of these hoards contained scrap metal that served as raw material for craftsmen. The settlement experienced a period of intense economic activity in the fifth and sixth centuries, with wealth derived from control over trade and craft production at its associated landing place, Lundeborg.24 In terms of settlement structure, the complex at Gudme was much larger than other contemporary settlements in Iron Age Denmark. At its height, there were around 50 farms at any one time at Gudme. Other contemporary large villages usually only had between ten and twelve farms at any one time.25 A residence much larger than the others in the settlement area has also been uncovered, indicating that Gudme was the seat of a particularly rich magnate from at least the fourth century when this particular farm was built. The farm consisted of two buildings, a main hall measuring 47 by 10 metres and a smaller side building measuring 25 by 11 metres. The main hall thus had an area of almost 500 square metres, and it is the largest known such structure from this period in Denmark. The average longhouse from this time had an area of between 150 and 250 square metres, which makes the Gudme hall three to four times larger than the average. The find material from the main hall is impressive in its richness: a small gold hoard; remains of imported Roman silver, bronze, and glass vessels; 115 denarii; figures of silver; pieces of silver neck rings with gold foil; and south-east European gold jewellery. There are no finds related to craft production as have been found at the other farms from the Gudme settlement. The find distribution thus indicates that Gudme was divided into a craft area and an elite area, with the large hall serving as the local magnate’s residence.26 22 23 24 25 26

Jørgensen, ‘Pre-Christian cult’, 332. Ibid., 337. Hamerow, 157. Jørgensen, ‘Stormandssæder og skattefund’, 89. Ibid., 91.

Produc tive Sites and Landing Pl aces

31

A large number of the surrounding farms in the craft area have evidence of metalsmithing, including goldsmith and silversmith work as well as bronze casting. While the elite portion of the site seems to have declined in status at the end of the sixth century, the trade and craft activities continued into the eleventh century.27 Moreover, the name of the site, Gudme, which means ‘home of the gods’, indicates that it also served as a religious or cult site. The settlement is surrounded by three hills with sacral place names including Offerbjerget (Sacrificial Hill), Helligdomsbjerget (Sacred Hill), and Gudernes bjerg (Hill of the Gods). To the east and south-east of the two halls is a low-lying area that seems to have functioned as a place for ritual offerings, with a large number of gold and silver objects as well as jewellery concentrated in the culture layers.28 Sorte Muld on the island of Bornholm is the site of an impressive settlement covering an area of more than one square kilometre. In the sixth century, the settlement clearly had a leading position on the island. Based on the many finds of gold objects, including bracteates and coins, as well as dress brooches, it was a centre of wealth. The more than 2500 gold-foil figures also point to its function as a cult site. These are concentrated in a potentially enclosed area near the highest point of the site and seem to be related to a possible building in the enclosed area. In the same area, several spears and lances from the first to the sixth century have been found, which could be evidence of ritual weapons deposits. It could also be an indication of the political importance of the settlement.29 Moreover, contacts with continental Europe are evident in the many finds of Frankish glass shards. Various forms of metalwork were also carried out here from the fifth century on.30 Sorte Muld’s continued importance as a centre of power for the local magnate would seem to be corroborated in the historical record. The account of the merchant Wulfstan’s Baltic voyage in the late ninth century English translation of Orosius mentions that the people of Bornholm had their own king.31 A geomagnetic survey of Sorte Muld has revealed several conspicuous geomagnetic abnormalities, which could indicate larger, undiscovered buildings in the area. As with Gudme, the evidence from Sorte Muld indicates that there was an elite residence with related cultic activity at the site.32 27 Jørgensen, ‘Pre-Christian cult’, 332. 28 Ibid., 332-34. 29 Ibid., 336-337. 30 Jensen, Danmarks Oldtid 4, 198. 31 Bately, ‘Wulfstan’s Voyage’, 15. 32 Jørgensen, ‘Pre-Christian cult’, 337.

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Urbanization in Viking Age and Medieval Denmark

Uppåkra in Scania also shows signs of having a special status from the early Roman Iron Age. Uppåkra covered an area of one hundred acres and is the largest Iron Age settlement known from southern Scandinavia. The site is an incredibly rich one in terms of artefact finds. Fragments of more than 100 oval brooches, more than 40 trefoil brooches, and 43 equal armed brooches were uncovered in excavations carried out from 2001 to 2004. Also, about 40 round, cast, and gilded bronze brooches and pendants have been found there. Evidence of long-distance trade contacts include foreign coins, mainly Arabic, but also some German and English ones. In addition, archaeologists have found ornaments and mountings of European, predominantly Carolingian, origin, enamelled mountings from the British Isles, probably Ireland, and an oriental mounting, possibly from the Khazar region by the Black Sea. Unfortunately, the preservation situation of the site is such that traces of construction are almost completely missing, which makes it difficult to determine the character of the settlement. Because of its inland location, more than four miles from the coast, it was hardly a site geared towards shipping trade. It does show similarities to other important centres, such as Gudme, especially as regards the find material and vast size of the site.33 Similarly, a central feature of the site is a magnate’s residence surrounded by a large group of farm units. A cult house was located at the highest point in the area, and it was surrounded by several sacrificial areas and at least one large contemporary building. Several gold objects, more than 100 gold foil figures, and shards of drinking glasses have been found in the building, as well as a gold foil decorated silver cup and a glass bowl. To the north and south of the building, concentrations of weapons, particularly spears and lances, dating from the third to the ninth century have been found. It is possible that these could indicate continuous weapons sacrifices, similar to what has been found at Sorte Muld.34 Uppåkra was still a site connected to the highest echelons of society when it enters the historical record in 1085. In that year, the settlement appeared as part of a royal land grant by King Cnut IV the Holy (r. 1080-1086) to the cathedral in Lund.35 Another such centre was at Lejre, on Zealand, which is archaeologically dated to the period from the late seventh to the late tenth centuries.36 The late twelfth century Danish chronicler Saxo Grammaticus mentions it in the early part of his history of Denmark as a royal residence in Denmark’s 33 Hårdh, ‘Viking Age Uppåkra and Lund’, 145-48. 34 Jørgensen, ‘Pre-Christian cult’, 335-36. 35 DD I: 2, 21. 36 Christensen, Lejre Bag Myten, 87.

Produc tive Sites and Landing Pl aces

33

mythic past.37 In 1016, the German chronicler Thietmar of Merseburg referred to it as the “capital of the kingdom,”38 indicating that it was recognized as an important centre, even outside of Denmark. A large hall was built at Lejre in the seventh century, which was replaced in the eighth. The eighth century hall, which was 48.5 metres long and 11.5 metres wide, was rebuilt on the same spot twice over the next three hundred years.39 It was centrally located within a fenced-in croft of unknown size, and it was surrounded by at least six smaller buildings that were functional at the same time as the main building. East of the residence archaeologists uncovered a craft area that showed signs of metalworking, bronze smelting, textile manufacture, and comb making. 40 Parallel to the northern fence were two longhouses, which were used as stables and/or storage. Other buildings on the site could have been used as housing for the farm’s workforce. The layout of the manor is similar to that of other magnate sites directly involved with agricultural production. 41 The importance of craft production to the site can also be seen in the grave goods found there. Excavations undertaken from 1986-1996 uncovered 55 graves at Lejre, while another seven graves were found during 2009 excavations. Of these, bronze items were present in sixteen of them. Bronze buckles were uncovered in two male burials and in one of indeterminate sex. Another male had been buried with a bronze ring pin, a hammer head, tongs, and a file. Since people were buried with goods important to them in life, the grave goods in this burial indicate that it belonged to a craftsman who worked with these tools. Four female burials contained bronze jewellery, such as brooches and arm rings, and seven burials of indeterminate sex also contained these types of jewellery. Another female burial contained a ring of either copper or bronze. Aside from items of bronze, glass beads were found in four burials, two of them female and two indeterminate. An amber bead was present in one of the indeterminate graves.42 This jewellery is of the type made by craftsmen at Lejre and was possibly produced there. The entire Lejre complex is much larger than the average Viking Age village, 43 indicating that it was the residence of an important magnate. That Lejre was an elite site is also evident from luxury artefacts found there, 37 Saxo, 2, 7, 1. 38 “caput istius regni”, Thietmar of Merseburg, 23. 39 Jørgensen, ‘Stormandssæder og skattefund’, 95. 40 Jørgensen, Danmarks Oldtid 4, 31. 41 Jørgensen, ‘Stormandssæder og skattefund’, 95. 42 Andersen, ‘Lejre’, 13-19, 41, 46-47, 55-60; Christensen, Lejre Bag Myten, 151-153. 43 Christensen, ‘Før Roskilde’, 36.

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Urbanization in Viking Age and Medieval Denmark

including gilded jewellery, shards of drinking glasses imported from the Rhine region, weapon pieces, coins, and silver pieces.44 West of the complex a treasure hoard was uncovered in the mid-nineteenth century, which included four silver bowls, a bead necklace, a silver bar, and a weight. 45 A male grave excavated within the hall area in 2009 included grave goods that signified elite status, such as an iron knife with a handle decorated with silver thread and a piece of gold thread, likely from gold embroidered cloth. 46 Lejre continued to be mentioned as an important centre into the Middle Ages, showing the continuity of the aristocracy here across time and space. Several other elite sites show the same type of continuity into the Middle Ages as Gudme and Lejre. For example, a magnate complex including two manors and cult site dating from the sixth to the eleventh centuries has been excavated at Lake Tissø on the island of Zealand. The name of the lake, Tissø, is derived from the Viking war god Tyr and literally means Tyr’s lake, indicating that cultic activity was intimately connected with the site from the beginning. Archaeologists have uncovered two manors and parts of a market and craft areas. The earliest manor dates to the sixth and seventh centuries and is three to four times the size of a typical Danish farm from the period. A number of finds, including a pair of gold pendants inlaid with garnets in cloisonné of Frankish origin, points to international connections from the earliest use of the site. After a fire destroyed the whole first manor complex, it was rebuilt some 600 metres to the south. The second manor can be followed through four phases, dating from circa 700 to circa 1035. The first three phases (c. 700-c. 950) follow a general pattern as to layout, with a main hall and a separate fenced area enclosing a single building. The hall has been interpreted as a prestigious main building where receptions and feasts took place, while the separate area and small building likely functioned as a cult building, of the type often mentioned in the Old Norse sagas. 47 Much of the find material from the manor includes elite objects of foreign provenance, although craft production was also taking place at the site. Items of aristocratic status include weaponry imported from the Frankish regions, such as arrowheads, hilts, pommels and other sword fittings, bridles, and spurs, as well as Carolingian and Arabic coins ranging from the eighth to the tenth century. Also found in the main hall were shards of Frankish 44 Jørgensen, ‘Stormandssæder og skattefund’, 95; Christensen, ‘Før Roskilde’, 36. 45 Jørgensen, Danmarks Oldtid 4, 31. 46 Christensen, Lejre Bag Myten, 154. 47 Jørgensen, ‘Manor, Cult and Market’, 77-79.

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and Carolingian drinking glasses. 48 The large number of foreign objects would indicate that exchange was taking place, 49 although it is not clear exactly how much of that exchange was trade-related and how much can be attributed to gift-giving. The excavators also found signs of a seasonal market area with evidence for bronze casting, smelting, bead making, and weaving.50 Just as with Gudme and Lejre, there is clear evidence of continuity at Tissø as an elite residence from the Iron Age through to the Middle Ages. Toftegård is likewise located on the island of Zealand, and it dates from the beginning of the seventh to the tenth centuries. The settlement area covers 225,000 square metres, and some 50 buildings have been uncovered. The central magnate’s residence covered circa 10,000 square metres, with five large hall buildings found in this area.51 These halls show similarities to the smaller halls found at Lejre.52 The find material from Toftegård indicates the high status of the site, with some 3000 objects, many of them of gilded silver and bronze, documented so far. The material includes coins, weights, silver and bronze bars, moulds, riding equipment, imported jewellery, and Carolingian and Anglo-Saxon mountings and glass. Gold-foil figures have also been found, including six in a posthole in the hall dating from the eighth to the ninth century. As with the earlier sites, these figures point to the ritual functions of the settlement.53 Two to three contemporary farms with small farmhouses, outhouses, and pit houses have been found outside the hall area. Unlike at Tissø and Lejre, craft activities, including bronze casting and forging, were practiced in the hall area, rather than in the ordinary farm complex.54

Ordinary Settlements with Craft Activities Of the more ordinary settlements with a basic agrarian economy and elements of craft activities, two clear examples are Stentinget in northern Jutland and Boeslunde on Zealand. Stentinget was an inland settlement located c. 20 kilometres from both the Limfjord and the eastern coast of Jutland. The site included both long houses and pit houses, with several of the latter showing 48 Jørgensen, ‘Manor and market’, 188-89. 49 Kristensen and Poulsen, 37. 50 Jørgensen, ‘Stormand og Gode’, 134. 51 Jørgensen, ‘Pre-Christian cult’, 345. 52 Christensen, Lejre Bag Myten, 139. 53 Jørgensen, ‘Pre-Christian cult’, 345. 54 Jørgensen, ‘Manor and Market’, 181.

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Urbanization in Viking Age and Medieval Denmark

evidence of metalsmithing. The find material also shows that craftsmen were producing high quality jewellery, with bird brooches and beak brooches especially prevalent from the seventh through the eighth centuries, and the finds indicate that the settlement was continuously occupied up until around the year 1100. Aside from a craft production site, the settlement also functioned as a trade site, despite its location away from the major waterways. Boeslunde on Zealand likewise shows evidence for craft production, particularly in metalwork. Beginning in the fifth and sixth centuries, craftsmen were producing jewellery of precious metal, with an increasing production in the eighth century. Evidence of trade in the form of weights and hack silver has been found dating to the ninth and tenth centuries. Longhouses have also been found just east of the craft and trade area, dating from the eighth to the tenth centuries. The exact nature of these settlements remains somewhat unclear,55 but they cannot be characterized as urban. Rather, they show that Denmark in the Iron Age and Viking Age was not a completely self-sufficient society, and there was still a need for exchange to get certain crafted items.

Specialized Production Sites Specialized production sites are a relatively new category of settlement and have only been recognized by archaeologists within the last couple of decades. They are not residential settlements as such, but rather are sites associated with extensive craft production. Two such sites in Denmark are Bejsebakken in northern Jutland and Næs on Zealand. Bejsebakken, located to the southwest of Aalborg on an outcrop, dates from the fifth to the late seventh centuries. Within the settlement area, 422 pit houses56 have been recorded, of which about 400 have been investigated. Artefacts connected with textile production, including loom weights, spindle whorls, sewing needles, spindle hooks, and fragments of wool combs have been found in almost a quarter of the pit houses. Oval pits located at a basal level in several of the pit houses are thought to also be associated with weaving. Other types of crafts carried out at the site include jewellery production and metalwork.57 A large proportion of the pit houses at Bejsebakken have been dated to the middle and end of the seventh century, indicating that within 55 Jensen, Danmarks Oldtid 4, 181-82. 56 The pit houses or huts were small structures, either circular or square, and were half-buried, giving them their name. 57 Christiansen and Sarauw, 129-131.

Produc tive Sites and Landing Pl aces

37

a 50 to 100 year period many of the pit houses were in use at the same time. Textile production was the predominant industry in the settlement. There were a few longhouses contemporary with the pit houses, and this could have been where leadership or control over production and other aspects of trade and craftwork was located.58 A similar specialized production site is one excavated at Næs on Zealand, dating from the late seventh to early ninth centuries. Here, archaeologists have uncovered a longhouse, 79 pit huts, and 58 wells. Excavators discovered flax in one of the wells which seems to have been used to separate the fibres from the stem of that plant. This process, known as retting, requires the water to be changed frequently, and a 150-metre-long channel had been dug for this purpose.59 In addition, numerous spindle whorls were found at the site, as well as seeds from plants often used in the dyeing of cloth. Based on these finds, the site was probably used as a textile working site, maybe even the home of a textile manufacturer. Smaller traces of other crafts were also found at Næs, including comb making and metalworking.60 Textile production was a central part of daily life in Viking Age Denmark, which seems to have been a period of textile revolution. Aside from the clothing used in daily life, textiles were also an essential component of seafaring in the use of sailcloth and ocean-going outerwear, such as shaggy pile cloaks, that are known from sites across the Viking world.61 The Vikings are perhaps best known for their maritime expeditions, and their exploitation of sea-routes was central to the Viking Age economy. It was the adoption of sails that allowed for the Viking expansion. Sailing ships were a rather late development in Scandinavia, although they had been in use in most other parts of Europe since the Roman Empire. Sometime in the late eighth century, Scandinavians made the conscious decision to adopt the sail and adapt it to Nordic ship types, opening up new opportunities for travel and trade.62

Landing Places The many specialized landing places that have been found along the coasts of Denmark were especially important to the maritime aspect 58 59 60 61 62

Christiansen and Sarauw, 134. Hansen and Høier, 70. Hansen, ‘Næs’, 128-129. Cartwright, 160. Sindbæk, ‘Urbanism and exchange’, 557-558.

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Urbanization in Viking Age and Medieval Denmark

Map 3. Denmark with landing places. Sites mentioned in the text are labelled.

of Viking society. They almost all show evidence for ship building and repair, as well as being sites for craft production and exchange. As such, they also fall under the category of productive sites. They have also been interpreted as the hubs for sea transport during the Late Germanic Iron Age and Viking Age.63 The most common building type at the landing places is a pit hut, although some longhouses have also been discovered. These types of buildings are associated with craft production, and it is apparent that they were used as workshops at these coastal sites. They are not a unique settlement type to Denmark, and there is archaeological evidence of landing places and coastal and beach trading sites along the coasts of the North Sea and the English Channel dating from the seventh to the late ninth centuries.64 These types of sites are continuously being discovered across Denmark, usually with the help of metal detectors65 (Map 3). A number of such sites that are constituted for the sixth through the twelfth centuries have yielded stray finds from the third and fourth centuries, indicating some sort of activity in these earlier centuries. Lundeborg on the east coast of Funen, however, remains the only such known locality 63 Ulriksen, ‘Find-rich settlements’, 206. 64 Loveluck and Tys, 151-152. 65 Kristensen and Poulsen, 39.

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39

that existed from before the mid sixth century.66 The site at Lundeborg stretches approximately 900 metres along the coast, with no trace of permanent settlement structures. Rather, the evidence suggests that craftsmen and traders carried out their activities over short periods, either in the spring or early summer. Lundeborg was situated to maximize access to sea routes and was clearly linked with the elite residence at Gudme, located a few kilometres further inland. The Gudme elites likely established and controlled the landing place at the coast, trading and redistributing the Roman luxury items that were brought there. The types of Roman imports found at Lundeborg include glass beads, glass vessels, and terra sigillata. That these are elite items is evident from their presence in the wealthier graves in the surrounding region.67 Aside from long-distance traders, craftsmen were also active at the site, providing a large array of locally produced items. Carpenters are represented at the site by finds of axes, plane blades, and turning tools; blacksmiths are represented by scrap metal, half-finished items, and a pair of pliers. Bronze-, silver-, and goldsmiths were also active, as is evident from precious metalworking tools such as awls, punches, small chisels, and tiny hammerheads. These smiths also left behind fragments of crucibles and moulds, bars of silver and bronze, pieces of molten bronze, bits of silver and gold, as well as bronze sheets. The presence of comb makers is attested by bone and antler, and there were also craftsmen working with amber. In conjunction with the craft activities, archaeologists have also uncovered small weights, silver denarii, and gold pieces, indicating that individual trade transactions were taking place in addition to the elite controlled Roman commodity trade. When the quantity of imported objects decreased markedly in the late fourth century, almost disappearing entirely in the fifth, the craftsmen continued to come every year, at least until the end of the seventh century. Their continued presence indicates that the craft activity was a separate feature from the luxury trade. Shipbuilding and repair work were also being carried out there, as is clear from the presence of carpentry tools as well as approximately 8000 iron rivets, the majority from ships, along with their corresponding plates.68 Another large settlement of this type is Sebbersund, located on the Limfjord in northern Jutland. It was established sometime after the midseventh century, and continued in use until around 1100, when silting closed 66 Ulriksen, Anløbspladser, 183. 67 Thomsen, ‘Lundeborg’, 23-25. 68 Thomsen, ‘Lundeborg’, 24-28.

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off the waterway connecting the Limfjord to the North Sea at Thyborøn to the west. The settlement covered an area of around five hectares, and some 150 pit houses were in use at the settlement’s height during the Viking Age. Sebbersund was well located to be a junction for both land and sea traffic, and it likely functioned as a local trading place from the seventh through the tenth centuries, gaining importance as a trading centre in the first decades of the eleventh century until its abandonment around 1100. It also clearly had a craft area, with these activities concentrated to the north of the site.69 Craftsmen included metalsmiths, such as iron workers processing iron imported from Norway, as well as jewellers working with gold and silver. Dress ornaments, made of bronze or silver, were produced here, and they included examples with pagan animal motifs as well as Christian symbols. Some of the items were likely imports from Scotland or England, but debris from craft production, such as the many bits of slag, crucibles and other casting tools, and melted drops of gold and silver, show that local craftsmen were also active. Trade activities are indicated with the presence of balance scales and weights of bronze, lead, and iron. More unusually for this type of site, there are also traces of a wooden church built around the year 1000. In connection with the church, a small fenced off churchyard was in use for about a century, and the remains of more than 1000 burials have been found.70 Despite this, there is so far no evidence that Sebbersund ever developed into a truly urban settlement. Moreover, in the Limfjord area in general, there have been found a number of sites along the coast from this same period that functioned as a combination of agrarian settlement and landing place.71 Numerous small sites of a similar character to both Lundeborg and Sebbersund have been found along the coasts and waterways of Denmark, many of which were occupied seasonally during the spring and summer months. They served as natural harbours for seafaring,72 and they share some general characteristics in terms of function. The readying of ships seems to have been the main purpose of these sites, but craftsmen also gathered there to produce goods such as amber, glass beads, and bronze jewellery. The large numbers of people who came to the landing places, year after year, would naturally attract craftsmen; thus, the sites could also function as a type of marketplace. The goods they produced were for the most part destined for 69 Ulriksen, Anløbspladser, 156. 70 Jensen, Danmarks Oldtid 4, 444. 71 Kristensen and Poulsen, 38. 72 Ulriksen, Anløbspladser, 10.

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the rural villages of the hinterland, but also, at least in some cases, for the local magnate and his family. Almost all the known landing places show evidence for ship building and repair. For example, iron workers, who produced the fasteners used by shipbuilders, were present at a majority of the sites.73 The find material also frequently includes iron rivets and roves, such as those found at Sønderø on Zealand,74 Ystad-Tankbåten,75 and Löddeköppinge I76 in Scania. Several pit huts at Selsø-Vestby on Zealand had rivets and rivet heads, while excavations at Stubberup revealed slag and fragments of casting forms.77 Weaving was also undertaken at the landing places, mostly for making sails. Loom weights were found in pit huts at Selsø-Vestby and Sønderø, and spindle whorls were found at both of these locations as well as at Gershøj and Jyllinge. Needles made of bone, bronze, and iron also appear, usually in conjunction with the other textile related items.78 The many pit huts that were dedicated to weaving also indicates the presence of women at these landing places. In Viking society, weaving cloth was a part of the domestic sphere relegated to women,79 and one of their primary functions at the landing places was to weave sails for the ships. Written sources would seem to confirm this. For example, a praise poem by the Icelandic skald Ottar the Black includes this stanza: You scored with planed rudder The splash-high waves; the sail Spun by women played on The launch-reindeer’s mast top.80

Weaving would continue as professional women’s work into the Middle Ages.81 73 Ibid., 182. 74 Ibid., 99. 75 Ibid., 178. 76 Ibid., 152. 77 Ibid., 164. 78 Ibid., 118. 79 Jochens, 139. 80 “Skoruð skofnu styri; skaut, sylghaar bylgjur; lek við hun a hreini; hlunns, þats drosir spunnu”; Ottar Svarti, 272; Jesch, 152. 81 Weaving continued as women’s work until the upright loom was replaced with the more complicated horizontal loom in western Europe beginning in the Middle Ages. Following this technological shift professional weaving was undertaken by men in urbanized settings. Jochens, 140.

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A secondary function of the landing sites was craft production. Typical types of goods produced at these sites included glass beads, amber, combs, and various items of bronze. Evidence for glass bead production includes the beads themselves, as well as glass shards and bits of glass, some of which show traces of the tongs used to pull the glass into threads.82 Pieces of worked amber and waste from amber polishing have also been found at several such sites.83 Another common craft was comb making, either from bone or antler.84 For example, finished combs, both intact and in fragments, were found at Selsø-Vestby in the form of eight almost intact, three-layered combs made of bone and antler along with fragments, including teeth.85 Bronze making was perhaps the most prevalent of the crafts practiced at the landing places. For example, bronze casting is evident in the form of bronze bars, mortises, fragments of moulds, and crucibles at Lynæs and Sønderø. At Selsø-Vestby, melted bronze clumps and bronze slag have been found, while the find material at Löddeköppinge I in Scania included bronze keys. Bronze workers were also present at Vedbæk Stationsvej, as is evident from the presence of a bronze bar that had been cut at both ends and had a rectangular cut in it. It was also found together with bronze dust. Craftsmen often used bronze to make jewellery and dress ornaments, such as a bronze brooch found at Vester Egesborg. There were also numerous pieces of bronze jewellery at Stubberup, in the form of brooches and pendants.86

The Viking Age The proliferation of the specialized landing places corresponds with the advent of the Viking Age, and these sites were presumably the starting point for the Viking expeditions. The violent nature of at least some of those expeditions is well known,87 and only a brief summary of the Viking incursions in Europe is presented here. The traditional start of the Viking Age is 793 AD, when the monastery of Lindisfarne off the coast of Northumbria in 82 Ulriksen, Anløbspladser, 69. 83 Ibid., 149-155. 84 Ibid., 172. 85 Ibid., 67. 86 Ibid., 118, 152, 156, 164, 169, and 174. 87 See for example Gwyn Jones, A History of the Vikings (1984); Else Roesdahl, The Vikings (1998); Gareth Williams, Peter Pentz, and Matthias Wemhoff, eds., Viking (2013); Anders Winroth, The Age of the Vikings (2014).

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England was attacked. In 799, the monastery of St. Philibert’s on Noirmoutier off the coast of Gaul was plundered, and in 810, a Viking fleet attacked Frisia. Aside from England and Gaul, Viking raiders also reached Ireland, Scotland, Spain, and Italy. Scandinavians also colonized Iceland, the Faroes, Greenland, and some even reached North America. In the East, Scandinavian warriors and traders settled along the Baltic Coast, went inland to Russia, and had dealings, some peaceful and some not, with Byzantium and the Islamic Caliphate. It is mainly on the basis of the accounts of the victims of their attacks that their fearsome and violent reputation is based. A number of explanations have been posited in an attempt to understand the seemingly sudden violent onslaught of Viking marauders from Scandinavia in the late eighth century. Writing in the early eleventh century, the Norman chronicler Dudo of Saint Quentin claimed that overpopulation in Scandinavia led the Vikings to seek new lands elsewhere: Now these people burn with too much wanton lasciviousness, and with singular depravity debauch and mate with as many women as they please; and so, by mingling together in illicit couplings they generate innumerable children. When these have grown up, they clamour fiercely against their fathers and their grandfathers, or more frequently against each other, for shares of property; and, as they are over-many, and the land they inhabit is not large enough for them to live in, there is a very old custom by which a multitude of youths is selected by lot and expelled into the realms of other nations, to win kingdoms for themselves by fighting, where they can live in uninterrupted peace.88

As Else Roesdahl points out, however, Dudo’s explanation is doubtful, since many of the Scandinavian sources, including skaldic poems and rune stones, say that honour and material gain were the main driving forces.89 Peter Sawyer notes that increased population pressure may have been partly true for western Norway, since there were no real reserves of land that could be exploited. For the rest of Scandinavia, however, there is not any 88 “Hae namque gentes, petulanti nimium luxu exardescentes, feminasque quamplurimas singulari turpitudine stuprantes commiscendo, illinc soboles innumeras obscena illiciti connubii commixtione patrando generant. Hi, postquam adoleverint, rerum pro possessionibus contra patres avosque, aut saepius inter se ferociter objurgati, cum fuerint exuberantes, atque terram quam incolunt habitare non sufficientes, collecta sorte multitudine pubescentium, veterrimo ritu, in externa regna extruduntur nationum, ut aquirant sibi praeliando regna, quibus vivere possint pace perpetua.” Dudo of Saint-Quentin, 129; Christiansen, History of the Normans, 15. 89 Roesdahl, The Vikings, 188.

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indication of population pressure leading up to or during the Viking Age.90 Indeed, one of the main purposes of the Vikings was to obtain treasure in the form of gold, silver, gems, precious objects or coins. They acquired this treasure either directly as plunder or tribute, or indirectly through the ransom of high-ranking captives or the sale of slaves.91 European sources contemporary to the attacks also support the claim that easy loot was the initial impetus. For example, c. 797 AD Alcuin, the abbot of St. Martin of Tours, wrote to the people of Kent about a great danger threatening England and its people, with heathens plundering along the coasts.92 Elsewhere, in 819 the Carolingian emperor Louis the Pious, in a charter to the monks at Noirmoutier, mentions the attacks of barbarians who “frequently ravage that monastery.”93 Initially, the Viking excursions were small scale raids, probably undertaken by local groups under local leaders. Raiding on a small scale continued throughout the period, but by the ninth century, there was an increase in the scale of Viking forces, with fleets mentioned in English, Irish, and Frankish sources numbering in hundreds of ships. These fleets were led by kings or earls, but the titles probably reflect status and lineage. They do not necessarily indicate that these leaders ruled major territories in Scandinavia, although they do indicate that the leaders of Viking raids by this period came from the upper echelons of Scandinavian society. Lesser chieftains no doubt also continued to play a part.94 In the Frankish kingdoms, the Vikings inflicted major defeat as well as extorted large amounts of silver in exchange for peace. In England, three of the four great Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were conquered in the ninth century. In the second wave of attacks beginning in the tenth century, the English paid huge sums of money for short-lived peace, and eventually the entire kingdom was brought under Danish rule, which was firmly established in 1016 and lasted until 1042.95 Viking warfare was, in many ways, similar to that of the other peoples of Europe. Even Charlemagne’s campaigns were carried out using fast, punitive raids of destruction against neighbouring kingdoms. The Carolingians took 90 Sawyer, ‘The Viking Expansion’, 106. Birgit Sawyer has argued that there might have been a shift in inheritance practices that favoured some form of unigeniture, which would have resulted in a surplus of landless young aristocrats. Sawyer, The Viking-Age Rune Stones. 91 Sawyer, ‘The Viking Expansion’, 106. 92 “populus paganus solet vastare pyratico latrocinio litora nostra,” DD I: 1, 12. 93 “qui frequenter ipsum monasterium depopulantur,” DD I: 1, 20. 94 Williams, ‘Raiding’, 194-195. 95 Ibid., ‘Raiding’, 195.

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plunder, such as slaves, from the Saxons and the Bretons, and treasure, such as the great hoards of the rulers in Frisia, Lombardy, and the Avars.96 Where possible, the Carolingians sought the total conquest of their neighbours, but took tribute when they established long-term dominance that fell short of full conquest. The continued use of raids to plunder portable wealth was typical of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in England and it survived long afterwards in medieval Europe. Also, the taking of tribute, such as the payments made by both the English and the Franks to the Vikings, was typical of the relationship between greater and lesser kings in Britain and between the subordinate tribes and the Carolingians in Francia. The only real difference for the Vikings is that their expeditions were not led by national leaders but instead often by private warlords. In the eleventh century, with the campaigns of leaders such as Svein Forkbeard and Cnut the Great of Denmark, and Harald Hardrada and Magnus Barelegs of Norway, even that distinction becomes questionable.97 The strategic use of ships in warfare did, however, set the Vikings apart from other groups in this period. Neither seaborne raiding nor armed migration by sea was new. In the centuries leading up to the Viking Age, Franks, Anglo-Saxons, and Danes all engaged in coastal raiding and piracy, so the raids of the Viking Age were no novelty in and of themselves. For example, the Frankish chronicler Gregory of Tours mentioned a great raid on Gaul in 515 AD by the Danish king, Chochilaicus, where the Danes laid waste to the land and took both booty and captives. The Franks, however, killed Chochilaicus before he could escape and recovered what had been stolen.98 Changes in ship technology, however, were designed so that the Vikings could use their ships more effectively in warfare than their predecessors. Three factors made Viking ships particularly valuable: they allowed for both speed and mobility, were designed for use both at sea and in shallower waters, and could accommodate troops, their loot, and supplies.99 In all of these ways, their ships were a decisive factor in Viking success in the attacks on their unsuspecting targets. The archaeological record indicates that from the tenth century on there was increased specialization in ship types. Older ship types mainly were preserved from funerary use, such as the great ship burials at Oseberg and Gokstad in Norway and Ladby on Funen in Denmark. More ships begin to 96 97 98 99

Reuter, ‘Plunder and Tribute’, 77. Williams, ‘Raiding’, 196. Gregory of Tours, 99-100. Williams, ‘Warfare’, 92.

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turn up from the Late Viking Age, which is indicative of the increased need for transport in society. Ships from the Late Viking Age can be separated into two categories, warships and cargo ships. One example of a warship is a longship found in the harbour of Hedeby, an important trading emporium located in southern Jutland. Known as Hedeby 1, it is dendrochronologically dated to c. 985 AD, and it was used as a fire ship in an attack on Hedeby in the early eleventh century. This ship was 30.9 metres long and had 60 oars. It was also very narrow, measuring only 2.6 metres in beam, and it had a height of 1.5 metres amidships. Its dimensions have led archaeologists to speculate that it was intended for use in the western Baltic and only in coastal waters. It was constructed using wood from the western Baltic region, perhaps even from the area surrounding Hedeby itself. An example of a seagoing longship is Skuldelev 2, which was found in Roskilde Fjord off the coast of Zealand. This ship also had about 60 oars and has been reconstructed to a minimum length of 29.2 metres. It was wider and taller than Hedeby 1, with a beam of 3.8 metres and a height of 1.8 metres, making it suitable for sea travel. This ship was built in Dublin in 1042, and it likely came to Denmark in the late 1060s or early 1070s.100 These longships are probably typical of the ones that made the Viking such effective military campaigners across Europe. In contrast to the warships, specialized cargo ships could be sailed by a small crew and had a large loading capacity per crewmember. They also were more dependent on the recently adopted sail for propulsion. While they could have a few oars to be used in manoeuvring, oars were typically not used for travelling longer distances. An example of a cargo ship is Skuldelev 1, a Norwegian built sea-going cargo ship from c. 1030 found in the Roskilde Fjord. It was 16.3 metres long with a cargo capacity of 24 tons, and it likely had a crew size of between five and seven. Hedeby 3, from c. 1025, is even larger and had a cargo capacity of 60 tons. It is very likely that specialized cargo ships developed earlier than is reflected in the archaeological record. The only ship finds from before the late tenth century are grave ships, and cargo ships were not used as such. Specialized cargo ships are probably at least as old as the settlement of Iceland in the late ninth century, since these types of vessels, with the capacity to transport people, horses and cattle, as well as tools and supplies, would have been necessary to establish extensive settlements.101 The specialization in ship types is also reflective of the types of goods that were being shipped. Also, that there was a connection between the 100 Bill, ‘Viking ships’, 174-75. 101 Ibid., 176-77.

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increased number of specialized landing places and imports of consumer goods seems evident. Bulk commodities such as soapstone and basalt begin to appear at Danish settlement sites in the Viking Age. It should also be noted that foreign artefacts do not appear in greater numbers at the landing places than they do elsewhere, but this can likely be explained by the fact that there was no conspicuous consumption of imports where the ships landed. Rather, the landing places functioned as transit sites, and wastage and loss would have been limited.102 In this way, they should not be seen as separate from the agrarian society of the period, but rather as integrated with it. The types of items found at the landing places, such as ceramics, jewellery, and other craftwork, are in large part very similar to those found in the inland villages.103 The landing places cannot be characterized as urban, and much like the other productive sites, they are an expression of the different way society was organized compared to the Middle Ages. While some of the same types of activities that were carried out at the specialized landing places were also taking place in the later towns, the overall function of the towns in society was different from that of the landing places. Nevertheless, the landing places ceased to function as Denmark became more urbanized, with the towns replacing these smaller, coastal settlements as sites of craft production and exchange. As will be discussed in the following chapters, some towns, such as Aalborg, were developed on the site of an earlier seasonal settlement, while in other instances, a landing place was abandoned as trade and craft activity was funnelled towards a nearby town, as seemingly was the case with Haderslev.

Conclusion Before towns, certain sites in Denmark served as locations for craft production and local markets in the Late Iron Age and Viking Age. This was a period of great social and economic change, and many of the developments of this period would set the stage for later urbanization. Magnates consolidated both political and economic power, which is indicated by the trend towards larger farms and magnate complexes. Agriculture was also heavily animal based, with only a small portion under plough and large tracts of uncultivated land between settlements. Agricultural practices 102 Ulriksen, ‘Find-rich settlements’, 207. 103 Ulriksen, Anløbspladser, 226.

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along with cultivation methods would undergo a major shift in the following centuries, and the effects of this change on urbanization will be explored in the following chapters. The solidification of elite power is visible in the proliferation of so-called productive sites across Denmark. These sites are characterized by the large quantities of coin and metalwork finds during excavations or when metaldetected, and they are typically located along major lines of transport and communication. One group of productive sites includes the large magnate farms and estate centres. These estates were engaged in the specialized production of crafts and finished goods, and also served as local markets. As such, they were an important part of local and regional trade networks. The continued role of elites, along with that of an increasingly centralized royal authority, in trade and exchange will be an ongoing theme in the following chapters. An important question is to what extent elite and royal power influenced urbanization and town development in the centuries that followed. Craft production, similar to that at the magnate farms, was carried out at smaller sites, including Boeslunde on Zealand and Stentinget in northern Jutland. Other sites were geared to a more specialized production, particularly in textiles, such as Bejsebakken and Næs. Although they can be considered as centres of local industry, neither of these settlements can be classified as urban, since they lacked large permanent populations and there is no indication of market activity. Nevertheless, the types of production carried out at these specialized productive sites would later become important urban occupations. A fourth type of productive site includes the many specialized landing places that have been found along the coasts of Denmark. These settlements were especially important to the maritime aspect of Viking society, in addition to being sites for craft production and exchange. They almost all show evidence for ship building and repair, and they were important hubs for sea transport during this period. The landing places also functioned as seasonal markets and transhipment sites, with craftsmen gathering here to produce items such as amber, glass beads, and bronze jewellery. These goods were for the most part destined for the agrarian villages of the hinterland. Bulk consumer goods, such as basalt and soapstone, also made their way to rural settlements via these sites. The landing places, however, ceased to exist by the beginning of the twelfth century, as their functions were to a large extent taken over by medieval towns. The productive sites and specialized landing places discussed above were in some ways precursors to the towns of the Middle Ages, although

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they should not be seen as being urban or proto-urban settlements. They served as markets and locations for trade and craft production, but they also functioned in a different social context than did the towns of the later period. The process by which this shift occurred will be the subject of the rest of the book. The beginning of this process can be seen with the advent of another category of productive sites, the emporia. These were the first truly urban settlements in Denmark and are examined in the following chapter.

2. The Emporia Network While the productive sites and specialized landing places were sites of trade and craft production, they cannot be characterized as urban per se. The first truly urban settlements in Denmark were founded beginning in the early eighth century and coincide with the formation of the North Sea emporia trade network. In the latter part of the seventh century, a number of settlements primarily geared towards trade and exchange developed in the English Channel area and along the southern and western shores of the North Sea. These sites, or emporia, were nodes in long-distance trading networks, located at junctions most convenient to an international function.1 While not identical, the various emporia shared several common characteristics. All were located at a protected estuarine site close to a coastline, which was the territorial frontier of a kingdom. The emporia functioned as nodal points for contact and trade between the various regions in northern Europe, which were different not only geographically, but also had different forms of government and religion.2 The emporia consisted of permanent settlements that were modestly sized but swelled seasonally into large markets. The types of goods traded at the emporia fell into two categories or levels: prestige and utilitarian. Prestige goods included things such as coins used as bullion, precious metals, decorated metalwork, arms, basins and cauldrons, textiles, ceramic tableware, glass vessels, windowpanes, beads, precious stones, hunting dogs, hides, spices, wine, dyes, honey, and slaves. The more utilitarian goods were lava quernstones, honestones, soapstone vessels, linen smoothers, foodstuffs, salt, metal and bone tools, and pottery.3 Archaeologically, emporia differed from local markets because of finds including utilitarian objects, such as pottery, brought by foreigners for their personal use, as well as evidence of craft production that used imported raw materials, such as bead making or bronze casting. 4 There was little if any of these types of crafts being carried out at the minor sites, but they do show evidence of craft production, such as ironworking and comb making, which used local raw materials. In addition, the number of balances, weights, coins, and hack-silver found at emporia sites is much greater than at the 1 Hodges, Dark Age Economics: The Origins, 50. 2 Feveile, ‘Ribe opstår’, 26. 3 Hodges, Dark Age Economics: The Origins, 105; Verhulst, ‘Roman Cities’, 111. 4 Sindbæk, ‘Trade and Exchange’, 303.

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smaller landing places discussed in the previous chapter. Trade at the landing places was likely mostly carried out by barter, rather than using silver as a currency.5 Additionally, the emporia served as gateways for long-distance luxury products desired by a king and his court, local aristocrats, and wealthy episcopal churches and abbeys. They also facilitated local and regional trade, with everyday items manufactured in the emporia themselves and destined for local communities rather than the international market.6 The North Sea emporia were thus a new type of urban settlement in Europe. Known largely from archaeological rather than written sources, they were unconnected with the older towns of the Roman Empire, which had greatly contracted by the eighth century.7 They also differ from the later medieval towns in that they lacked charters and legal autonomy, did not serve as judicial centres, and many lacked complex religious organizations. Nevertheless, they qualify as urban since they were permanent settlements with non-agricultural occupations, markets, and populations of several hundred people or more. 8 There are several reasons for the growth in urban culture in this period. First, there was the discernible albeit uneven consolidation of royal power on the Continent and England. Second, this period saw the establishment of secular and monastic ecclesiastical centres across the same areas. Finally, there was also a general uptick in trade in Europe.9 Moreover, because the emporia were gathering and distribution centres for maritime trade, the preconditions that made their development possible were not necessarily found in the countryside surrounding them, but rather in long sea voyages. Ships needed secure harbours and access to markets with enough goods to f ill cargo holds. Merchants also needed a place where it was possible to acquire provisions, carry out repairs, and stay for several months if necessary, in addition to a market for their goods.10 These sites are usually identified in contemporary sources as portus, emporia, or, more frequently, vici, from the Latin vicus. It is also from this term that we get the Old Germanic wik, which is found in all the place names ending in -wich, -wic, and -wig.11 The earliest emporia appeared in the seventh century as permanent ports that were expanded substantially 5 Sindbæk, Ruter og Rutinisering, 96-97. 6 Verhulst, ‘Roman Cities’, 111. 7 Hodges, Dark Age Economics: A New Audit, 91. 8 Crabtree, 133. 9 Clarke and Ambrosiani, 11. 10 Sindbæk, ‘Urbanism and exchange’, 556-557. 11 Lebecq, 171.

THE EMPORIA NET WORK

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Map 4. North European emporia.

in the eighth century. Quentovic on the River Canche, Dorestad at the bifurcation of the Rhine and Lek Rivers, and London on the River Thames are all examples of the early development pattern of emporia during the seventh century. In the first decades of the eighth century, however, the new emporia were being deliberately founded on top of existing harbours or even on previously empty land. The Scandinavian sites, including Ribe, Hedeby, and Birka, all fall into this latter group. In addition, Hamwic, in Wessex, was a planned site around 700, as was Ipswich in East Anglia and York (Eoforwic) in Northumbria 12 (Map 4). It is also worth noting that while the emporia themselves had no direct precedents in the Roman period, they belonged to a larger trading network that also involved several towns along the Rhine that did have Roman roots, including Cologne, Mainz, Worms, and Strasbourg.13 This was an entirely new trading network however, based not in the Mediterranean, but the North Sea. The most important emporium on the continent and the hub of this network was Dorestad, along the banks of the Rhine River. Dorestad was under Frankish control, and it lay at the boundary between the Christian Franks and the Frisians. The Frisians lived in the coastal regions north of the Rhine and along the Wadden Sea as far north as southern Denmark. It was the Frisians who pioneered merchant sailing in the North Sea region in 12 Wickham, 682. 13 Callmer, ‘Urbanization in Northern and Eastern Europe’, 238.

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the Early Middle Ages,14 and they played a crucial role in the supra-regional trade of this period.15 Older scholarship has stressed the role of emporia in long-distance trade, primarily of luxury or prestige items, and contends that these settlements were deliberately founded by kings, local aristocrats, or other ruling authorities to control access to prestige goods. Such a view was put forward by Richard Hodges in his pioneering book, Dark Age Economics: The Origins of Towns and Trade A.D. 600-1000. Likewise, Adriaan Verhulst has argued that the emporia mainly served as gateways for long-distance luxury products desired by a king and his court, local aristocrats, and wealthy episcopal churches and abbeys.16 This interpretation is based on a perception of cultures of the North Sea region, the Anglo-Saxon, Frisian, Frankish, and Scandinavian, as being still heavily Germanic in nature. The general understanding of Germanic societies, i.e. those that flourished outside of the bounds of the Roman Empire, is that they were warrior societies, with an ideology based on warfare. The warrior aristocracy was a land-controlling class made up of members who entered into personal relationships and alliances with one another. Loyalty and gift-giving were the crucial underpinnings of this society.17 In order to both win influence and maintain it, a leader not only had to possess wealth, but also had to circulate it. Chiefs gained the loyalty of military followers by generously sharing their wealth, and it was necessary for a chief’s continued success that he go on sharing it. If he failed to do so, his followers could abandon him in favour of a warrior who promised better fortune.18 The best gifts would be those that were rarest and conveyed the elite status of the owner. These practices and traditions did not die out as the Germanic kingdoms took shape, and certain aristocratic families would have needed this trade as they consolidated power over larger areas. If a king or other local authority could control access to the types of items that were coveted by his followers, then he could be in control of redistributing them, helping to cement his power. Founding an emporium would allow him to establish that exclusive access, cementing his control over redistribution networks. More recently, however, scholars have begun to question whether this narrative is entirely plausible. Some, such as Johan Callmer, see the political 14 15 16 17 18

Sindbæk, ‘Urbanism and exchange’, 557. Zimmermann and Jöns, 244. Verhulst, ‘Roman Cities’, 111. Hedeager, ‘Kingdoms’, 280. Todd, 31-32.

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elites as merely passive profiteers rather than the initiators and active operators of the emporia. In Callmer’s view, it was the traders and organizers of shipping who were the active agents, as they were the ones in the best position to fully appreciate the complex network within which the emporia operated. They still needed to maintain close contacts with elites, however, in order to get foodstuffs and other necessary local products.19 Michael McCormick likewise has cast doubts on what he terms the “‘reges ex machina’ explanation,”20 which he argues is based on an assumption that ascribes more power to early medieval rulers than they probably were able to wield. Rather, the effort to control emporia came after they had become commercial centres, with royal toll collectors reacting to an existing phenomenon. Rulers did, however, have an important role in fostering the demand for goods that traders could supply, and landed elites would have had the motives in a gift-giving society to redistribute the luxury goods that they had bought.21 Søren M. Sindbæk has also noted that the pattern of production in the emporia, with highly skilled craftspeople concentrated in these compressed waterfront settlements, seems inefficient if a ruler wanted to monopolize specialized production and distribution. If a monopoly truly was the motive, it would make more sense for a ruler to sustain these craftspeople on their estates, similar to what has been found at Carolingian monasteries or the elite site at Tissø on Zealand. At the emporia, with their waterfronts and harbours, travellers could come and go with ease, making it that much more difficult to exert control over distribution of luxury products.22 The latest scholarship increasingly emphasizes the importance of the royal ability to collect tolls, particularly on the more utilitarian bulk goods, as the reason for royal involvement in the emporia. In Francia, the Carolingian kings were interested in the collection of tolls in silver coinage, as opposed to imposing their control over imports of specific exotic luxury items. For example, Carolingian royal officials known as procurator or prefectus emporii administered this toll collection at Dorestad and Quentovic.23 Moreover, the sources do not indicate any great concern with controlling access to the imports provided the tolls were paid. Toll collections are also indicated at Medemblik, Domburg, Rouen, and likely Antwerp, although taxation does not seem to have been as strict as at Dorestad and Quentovic.24 For 19 20 21 22 23 24

Callmer, ‘Urbanization in Northern and Eastern Europe’, 240-41. McCormick, ‘Where do trading towns come from?’, 47. Ibid., 44-45. Sindbæk, ‘Crafting Networks’, 128. Loveluck and Tys, 130. Ibid., 146.

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Denmark, the sources do not explicitly mention toll collectors, although some sort of taxation at the Danish emporia can be inferred. For example, the Royal Frankish Annals mentions that in the early ninth century, the emporium of Reric had been important to the Danish kingdom because of the taxes it generated. When the merchants of Reric were forcibly relocated to Hedeby in 808,25 presumably those taxes would have continued to be collected. According to the Vita Anskarii, a royal official, or comes, by the name of Hovi, who was a kinsman of the Danish King Horic, ruled Hedeby in the 860s.26 As overlord of the town, Hovi would have been in position to collect such taxes, even if it is not explicitly stated in the vita. Taxes and tolls would have been an important source of revenue, and the ability to grant freedom from taxes would have been a source of power for local leaders.27 The frequent warfare of this period was expensive to maintain, and any additional revenue that a ruler could access would have aided in the frequent power struggles. Regardless of whether a given emporium was founded on the initiative of the traders themselves, the king, or other local magnate – or, more likely, some combination thereof – it was to the benefit of everyone involved for the local political power to take an interest. Only a ruler could offer the protection that was a prerequisite for profitable trade and exchange to be carried out. Royal protection was extended to the merchants in at least some, if not the majority, of the emporia. One example comes from an agreement between the Danes and the Saxons from 873. The Annals of Fulda record that: The envoys of Sigifrid, the King of the Danes, also came there [the villa of Burstadt near Worms], seeking to make peace over the border disputes between themselves and the Saxons and so that merchants of each kingdom might come and go in peace to the other, bringing merchandise to buy and sell; the King [Louis the German] promised that for his part these terms would be kept.28

While no emporia are named as such in the treaty, the Saxon merchants were more than likely travelling to Hedeby, located on the east coast of 25 Annales Regni Francorum, 126. 26 Rimbert, 31. 27 Crabtree, 99. 28 “Venerunt quoque illuc Sigifridi Danorum regis legati pacis faciendae gratia in terminis inter illos et Saxones positis et ut negotiatores utriusque regni invicem transeuntes et mercimonia deferentes emerent et venderent pacif ice; quae omnia rex ex sua parte rata fore promisit.” Annales Fuldenses, 78; Reuter, Annals of Fulda, 70.

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southern Jutland at the Schlei Fjord. The treaty highlights the importance of peace and security to commerce. Merchants who were entering a region in which they were strangers did not have the same protection from violence or dishonesty as those who were part of the social network of that region. Because friendship, kinship, or other forms of alliances were central to protection under the law, strangers would be operating outside this protection. Those who came to an area to trade needed a guarantee both of physical security and that their goods would be protected against robbery and attack. An emporium thus functioned as a safe zone, where a ruler backed with a sufficient armed force could ensure peace.29 In the above example, both the Saxon and Danish leaders wanted to ensure peaceful relations so as to attract merchants. Both sides were promising royal protection for foreign merchants and their goods, as well as ending border violence that might make travel dangerous. Such a guarantee was of utmost importance to the merchants, and it presupposes strong royal, or some other form of public, power in the areas with flourishing emporia. Trade and exchange were the lifeblood of the emporia, as they had little to no other functions in the areas in which they were located. Maritime trade in particular was of vital importance to their prosperity, and the emporia developed as gathering and distribution centres for trade on the North Sea. Consequently, they were all located near a coast. Moreover, they were not located in the midpoints of a district or kingdom, but rather served as links in a network. Because they were nodal points in a network, they often lay at quite far distances from each other. The foreign merchants and traders who visited their ports were focused on inter-regional, rather than intra-regional trade.30 This international trade encompassed both luxury as well as more utilitarian commodities, many of which are readily apparent in the archaeological material. Others, however, are less visible, although no less important. Indeed, the perhaps two most important trade commodities, salt and slaves, hardly show up in the archaeological material at all. Nevertheless, the network was highly dependent upon both, so it is worthwhile briefly examining them and how they flowed through North Sea trade routes. Salt, which provides sodium and other essential minerals to the human diet in addition to its use as a food preservative, was a highly sought-after commodity. Large-scale salt production is known to have taken place both along the coasts as well as inland near saline springs. In both instances, the 29 Skre, ‘Towns and Markets’, 451. 30 Sindbæk, ‘Urbanism and Exchange’, 556-557.

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salt was extracted by means of evaporation, either by using sea water to form coastal salt pans or by heating saline spring water in metal containers over an open fire.31 Salt production was widespread along coastal regions, but major salt producing centres also existed. For example, Nauheim in Hessen, Germany, was a large-scale inland producer from c. 650-900, as was the coastal region stretching from the Charente to the Loire estuaries on the Bay of Biscay.32 Jean-Luc Sarrazin has argued that the ultimate destination for the salt produced in the Loire estuaries was the North Sea trade network.33 Zeeland, in the Scheldt estuary, seems to have had industrial exploitation as early as the eighth century. Here, the different abbeys, such as Lorsch, extracted salt through peat cooking. Salt production remained one of the major industries for Zeeland throughout the Middle Ages.34 It would have been brought to the emporia from these production sites and entered the international market, and later sources show that it remained an important commodity. For example, the thirteenth century Danish town law of Schleswig has a provision concerning the tolls to be paid on Frisian salt.35 It is also possible that salt entered the trade network via raiding, as has recently been proposed for the salt produced on the island of Noirmoutier. Northmen repeatedly raided and attacked this otherwise poor and remote coastal area in the ninth century, and the sea salt harvested there would have been a valuable draw.36 Another major component of the emporia network was the slave trade, with slaves being perhaps the most important trade commodity at the emporia. The slave trade rarely shows up in the archaeological record, but occasional finds such as iron leg shackles and collars attest to its presence. Most of these items have been uncovered in emporia thought to be associated with the slave trade, including Dublin, Birka, and Hedeby.37 Scattered historical sources also make reference to it, with the Vikings as major players in this trade. In fact, the raids of the Vikings may have had the capture of slaves as the primary goal.38 Certainly, many of the accounts of Viking attacks make mention of the captives taken by raiders or in warfare. In 793, for example, Alcuin tells how when Vikings attacked the monastery of Lindisfarne in 31 Vellev, ‘Salt’, 232; Karg, ‘Food’, 188. 32 Vellev, ‘Salt’, 232; Loveluck, 54. 33 Sarrazin, 116. 34 Verhulst, The Carolingian Economy, 80. 35 DGK I: 9. 36 Lewis, 104. 37 Raffield, 7. 38 Roesdahl, The Vikings, 53.

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Northumberland, they also captured youths whom they carried off.39 The Annals of Fulda say that in 880, Vikings led off a great number of Frankish captives following a battle in Saxony. 40 The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that in 1047 Viking raiders took captives in Sandwich and Essex, whom they then sold in Flanders before returning home. 41 These slaves were traded throughout Europe as well as with points further east. The Vita Anskarii mentions captives living in and being for sale in two Scandinavian emporia, Hedeby and Birka. 42 Female captives transported for sale are referred to in the Muslim traveller Ahmad ibn Fadlān’s account of Viking traders along the Volga River in Russia in the tenth century. 43 Slaves are also recorded as being sold in Viking Dublin around the year 1000. 44 According to Adam of Bremen, slaves were still being captured and sold by Vikings in the late eleventh century: These pirates, called Vikings by the people of Zealand, by our people, Ascomanni, pay tribute to the Danish king for leave to plunder the barbarians who live about this sea in great numbers. Hence it also happens that the license granted them with respect to enemies is frequently misused against their own people. So true is this that they have no faith in one another, and as soon as one of them catches another, he mercilessly sells him into slavery either to one of his fellows or to a barbarian. 45

While some captives ended up either ransomed back to their families or by the Church, others were brought back to Scandinavia to be enslaved there.46 Many, if not most, however, entered the slave-trading network focused in the emporia. Both written and archaeological evidence attest to slaves being sold at emporia, as they had the advantage of providing access to distant markets. It is unlikely, however, that most merchants would have been solely 39 DD I: 1, 3. 40 “exceptis innumerabilibus, quos in captivitatem duxerunt”; Annales Fuldenses, 94; Reuter, Annals of Fulda, 88. 41 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, E, 166-167. 42 Rimbert, 32 & 36; Robinson, Anskar, 49 & 56. 43 Ibn Fadlān, 18-19. 44 Hudson, 88. 45 “Ipsi vero pyratae, quos illi Wichingos appellant, nostri Ascomannos, regi Danico tributum solvunt, ut liceat eis predam exercere a barbaris, qui circa hoc mare plurimi abundant. Unde etiam contingit, ut licentia quam in hostes acceperunt, sepe abutantur in suos; adeo fide nulla utrique ad invicem sunt, et sine misericordia quisque alterum, mox ut ceperit, in ius famulicii vel socio vendit vel barbaro.” Adam of Bremen, 4, 6; Tschan, 190. 46 Brink, ‘Slavery’, 54.

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invested in slave trading. Rather, captives likely formed part of a larger cargo, as was the case with the Rus merchants encountered by ibn Fadlān, who were also trading in furs and other goods. 47 In addition to Scandinavians, Frisian merchants were also involved in the sale of captives, transporting them from the North Sea markets south onto the Continent, 48 while tenth century merchants from Venice and southern Italian port towns met with northern traders in the town of Pavia. Here, they traded luxuries and precious items such as spices, silk, and gold from the Byzantine and Islamic lands for a variety of northern commodities including slaves. 49 Indeed, the Islamic world probably provided the largest market for Viking captives, and the large quantities of Islamic dirhams that made their way into northern Europe in the tenth century have been used to underscore this likelihood. In this way, the slave trade helped to fuel much of the economic growth of Europe in the Early Middle Ages.50 In addition to silver, other commodities could also be used to pay for captives. For example, salt might have been exchanged for slaves in ninth and tenth century Moravia,51 while Rus merchants possibly sought Byzantine silk, which was highly prized in Scandinavia, in exchange for captives.52 Slaves would thus have been an extremely valuable part of the trade flowing through the emporia network, with the slave trade a major source of wealth for northern Europe and providing a key underpinning for the entire trade network. The two commodities described above, salt and slaves, highlight the international component of trade in the emporia. In addition to being nodes in this international network, the emporia also functioned as hubs in a secondary trade network, linking them with smaller, more peripheral sites, which had few, if any, connections between them.53 These lesser sites, which include Sebbersund in northern Jutland and Löddeköppinge in Scania discussed in the previous chapter, were important for local trade and communicated with the emporia, but not the long-distance traffic between them. The intra-regional trade conducted between the emporia and the secondary sites would have been in the hands of native traders, relying on a network of personal and mostly local ties. In this way, the emporia functioned as buffers between different traffics, both local and 47 48 49 50 51 52 53

Ibn Fadlān, 88; Raffield, 14-15. Callmer, ‘Scandinavia and the Continent’, 441. Loveluck, 315. Jankowiak, 15. Fontaine, 476. Raffield, 11. Sindbæk, ‘The Small World’, 68.

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long-distance.54 It is, however, their role as nodes in a larger exchange network that helps differentiate the emporia from the smaller, more localized sites, qualifying their urban status. Based on these criteria, the emporia in Denmark are Ribe, Hedeby, Aarhus, Kaupang (in modern Norway), and Åhus (in Scania).55 Each will be discussed in detail below.

Ribe The earliest emporium founded in Denmark was Ribe, situated on the banks of the river Ribe Å in southwestern Jutland, which has been dendrochronologically dated to sometime between 704 and 710 AD.56 The earliest cultural layers derived from marketplace activity, the exact layout of which is still unclear. After only a few years, the marketplace was organized in a row of plots six to eight metres wide and up to 20 to 30 metres long. The plots were located at right angles to the river,57 with around 40 to 50 plots in all, separated by shallow, narrow ditches.58 It has long been assumed that Ribe was occupied only seasonally until sometime in the 790s, based on what seems to be the earliest appearance of houses durable enough for permanent occupation.59 These houses were post built, with the largest measuring between five to seven metres wide and up to 25 to 30 metres long. Sunken pit houses were situated in conjunction with the post-built houses, and they averaged in size around three by four metres. These were the workshops used by craftsmen, mostly for weaving, but other crafts were also practiced in the settlement. In fact, Ribe has yielded an enormous amount of archaeological material, with tens of thousands of objects excavated so far. The archaeology documents a variety of craft production, including bead making, bronze casting, amber polishing, comb making, shoemaking, and pottery production. Long-distance trade is also evident from the presence of imported Frankish ceramics and glass, volcanic basalt, Scandinavian soapstone, slate whetstones, whalebones, and glass beads from the Middle East.60 In addition, cattle were an important trade commodity. The eighth 54 Sindbæk, ‘Networks and nodal points’, 127; Sindbæk, ‘Local and Long-Distance Exchange’, 154. 55 Sindbæk, ‘Networks and nodal points’, 121; Sindbæk, ‘Trade and Exchange’, 303. 56 Feveile, ‘Ribe Opstår’, 29; Bencard, ‘Introduction’, 12. 57 Feveile, ‘Ribe Opstår’, 33. 58 Feveile, ‘Ribe’, 126-27. 59 Croix, 497. 60 Feveile, ‘Ribe’, 126-27.

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century layers have yielded 3120 fragments of bones from oxen as well as a thick layer of manure, indicating that large stocks of cattle were present in the emporium. The majority of fragments were from cows, and the absence of males could be because they were traded while the females were kept for their milk. Drift with bullocks is known for the Middle Ages, but there is no reason to suppose that it was not occurring much earlier as well.61 This interpretation fits well with the model of the Viking economy discussed in the previous chapter, whereby agriculture was geared to producing a surplus, with a focus on animals. Surplus cattle from the surrounding area would be brought to Ribe, ensuring access to a wide market of potential buyers. In addition to traders, royal or elite interest in Ribe is also clear from early on. As already noted, in the early eighth century, the marketplace was organized into plots with demarcation ditches, which presupposes some sort of overarching authority over the settlement. Then, at the beginning of the ninth century, a ditch approximately two metres wide and one metre deep was dug around the settlement. The ditch formed a border between the developed area on the inside and the undeveloped area and graveyard on the outside, demarcating an area of approximately twelve hectares. The ditch is so shallow that it could not have been used as a fortification. Rather, it was symbolic in nature and marked the town limits. In the second half of the ninth or beginning of the tenth century at the latest, the shallow ditch was replaced by a six- to seven-metre-wide and one-metre-deep moat, which had traces of a bank on the inside.62 The initial ditch and later moat indicates the presence of a local authority in charge of the settlement, with the demarcated area as a safe zone for trade and exchange. Excavations in the area southwest of Ribe have uncovered evidence for a centre of power that could be the local starting point for the emporium. Numerous metal finds dating from the Late Roman Iron Age and the Germanic Iron Age indicate that the area was a wealthy one, with artefacts such as Carolingian coin brooches belonging to an aristocratic milieu. It is likely that local control of Ribe emanated from here, after it was jointly established with Frisian contacts. Ribe itself was not the local seat of power, but rather a controlled site where exchange took place and where access to both the sea and the hinterland could be regulated.63 The marketplace at Ribe is entirely unique in eighth century Scandinavia, and it is clearly connected with the other emporia in the southern North Sea region. Because of these 61 Hatting, 46 & 56. 62 Feveile, ‘Ribe’, 129. 63 Feveile, ‘At the geestland’, 86-88.

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contacts, it is possible that the original initiative to establish a marketplace in the north came from the Frisian area. As explained above, the Frisians already had a well-organized system of trading places, and Frisian merchants might have approached the local magnate about establishing a port of trade in his area.64 In the absence of any hard evidence, this scenario remains speculative, although a joint project between merchants and the local ruler in the region is entirely plausible. Potentially, the establishment of Ribe should be seen in conjunction with the earliest known missionary activity in Denmark by Saint Willibrord,65 whose vita was written by Alcuin in c. 796. Willibrord was sent in the late 690s to missionize among the Frisians by Pepin of Herstal, Mayor of the Palace and de facto ruler of Francia.66 When his initial attempt at converting the Frisians failed, Willibrord turned northward to spread his mission to the Danes: At that time, so we are told, the Danish ruler was Ongendus, a man more savage than any wild beast and harder than stone, who nevertheless, through divine intervention, received the herald of truth with every mark of honour. But when the latter found that the people were steeped in evil practices, abandoned to idolatry and indifferent to any hope of a better life, he chose thirty boys from among them and hastily returned with them to the chosen people of the Franks.67

While no exact location is given for where in Denmark Willibrord met with Ongendus, proximity to Frisia as well as later close contacts suggests that he disembarked somewhere along the southwest coast of Jutland. On his return trip, Alcuin tells us that Willibrord stopped at the island of Heligoland, located to the southwest of Jutland in the North Sea, and which is described as being on the boundary between the Frisians and the Danes. He is hardly likely to have travelled much further into Danish territory than necessary 64 Feveile, ‘Ribe opstår’, 27-28. 65 Michael H. Gelting, email communication. 66 His mission occured after he was made archbishop of the Frisians by pope Sergius I in 695. He also was given land by Pepin for a cathedral just outside Utrecht, and in 698 he founded the monastery of Echternach, which became a major centre of missionary activity. Noble and Head, introduction to The Life of Saint Willibrord by Alcuin, 190-191. 67 “Ibi tamen, ut fertur, regnabat Ongendus, homo omni fera crudelior et omni lapide durior, qui tamen, iubente Deo, veritatis praeconem honorifice tractabat. Qui dum obduratam moribus et idolatriae deditam et nullam melioris vitae spem habentem offendit, acceptis tunc triginta eiusdem patriae pueris, ad electos a Deo populos regni Francorum revertere festinavit.” Alcuin, Vita Willibrordi, 123-24; Talbot, 198-199.

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on an initial trip. For this reason, Ongendus should probably be seen as the ruler of at least the southern part of Jutland, with the wealthy area to the southwest of Ribe a likely power centre. That the Danish chieftain welcomed Willibrord with honour suggests that he was open to maintaining friendly contacts with his southern neighbours, as was the fact that, according to the vita, he allowed Willibrord to take thirty boys with him back to Francia.68 Based on the events of the vita, the missionary trip to Denmark took place sometime after the late 690s but before the death of Pepin in 714, who appears again later in the vita upon Willlibrord’s return to the Franks.69 Archaeologically, the first signs of activity in Ribe date to somewhere between 704 and 710, which fits the time frame of Willibrord’s mission. Moreover, it is likely that Willibrord was travelling on merchant ships, and his mission could have been made in conjunction with a foray by Frisian traders to set up a trading place in Ongendus’s territory and his permission sought to do so. Considering the fearsome reputation this Danish ruler had, it is unlikely that a marketplace could have been set up without his say so. Alternatively, Ribe could have been recently established prior to Willibrord’s trip, in which case it is probable that he disembarked here on his way to meet with Ongendus. Either way, the events of the vita suggest a scenario in which Ongendus, who ruled an area in southwestern Jutland, was interested in establishing friendly contacts with outside regions, and was therefore open to allowing foreign traders to establish a marketplace a Ribe.

Hedeby Hedeby, which would become one of the most important emporia in the North, is first mentioned in an account in the Royal Frankish Annals in 808 in conjunction with a Danish king, Godfred. According to the Annals, in 808, “Godfred, however, before his return, destroyed an emporium located on the coast, in Danish called Reric, which was of great advantage to his kingdom because of the taxes it paid. Transferring the merchants from Reric he set sail and came with his whole army to a harbour, which is called Sliesthorp [Hedeby].”70 As is clear from this passage, Godfred moved the merchant 68 Alcuin, Vita Willibrordi, 124; Talbot, 199. 69 Alcuin, Vita Willibrordi, 126; Talbot, 200. 70 “Godofridus vero, priusquam reverteretur, distructo emporio, quod in oceani litore constitutum lingua Danorum Reric dicebatur et magnam regno illius commoditatem vectigalium

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community to an existent settlement, and in fact archaeological evidence indicates that the earliest activities in the settlement area date back to the first quarter of the eighth century.71 Hedeby, located on the eastern side of the Jutland peninsula, was the most southerly emporium in Denmark, and it was well situated to become an important node in international trade. Not only was it near the Danish border with the Frisians, Saxons, and Slavs, but it also lay at the intersections of two of the main European trade routes. One led east-west across the base of the Jutland peninsula and was connected via the Schlei Fjord to the Eider River and the North Sea. The other route, later known as the Army Road or Ox Road, ran north – south up the Jutland peninsula itself.72 In the course of the ninth century, Hedeby superseded Ribe as the leading Danish trading center.73 It also took the place of Dorestad, which had been the hub of the emporia network until the ninth century when it had declined, at least partially because of the struggle between Viking and Carolingian ambitions.74 Hedeby has been the subject of several major archaeological excavations, and a rise in the water level by approximately 120 centimetres between the Viking Age and today has created excellent conditions for the preservation of wood and other organic materials. Excavations carried out in the central settlement area, in the harbour, and in the cemeteries have provided a wealth of information on this site, more so than any other emporium from this time period.75 Archaeologists have been able to reconstruct the layout of Hedeby. It was built around a stream that ran from west to east through the centre of the site, and the stream was channelled shortly after the settlement’s foundation in 808. The streets were paved with wood, and they ran either parallel with the stream or at nearly right angles to it. Small fenced plots, each with a comparatively small, rectangular house typical of southern Scandinavia, were laid out along the streets.76 Several jetties, serving as both piers for trading vessels and market places, were situated along the more persolutione praestabat, translatisque inde negotiatoribus, soluta classe ad portum, qui Sliesthorp dicitur, cum universo exercitu venit.” Annales Regni Francorum, 126. In the sources Hedeby is variously called Sliesthorp, Sliaswich, Slesvic, æt Hæthum, and Haitha by. Roesdahl, The Vikings, 120. 71 Müller-Wille, 163. 72 Jones, 98-99; Roesdahl, The Vikings, 120. 73 von Carnap-Bornheim and Hilberg, 211. 74 Sindbæk, ‘Trade and Exchange’, 303. 75 Roesdahl, The Vikings, 120. 76 Roesdahl, The Vikings, 122.

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than 400-metre-long riverbank.77 The emporium was likely modelled after the Frisian trading centre of Dorestad. It has been estimated that Hedeby had a permanent population of around 1000, but that number would have been quite a bit higher during the trading season. The types of items traded in Hedeby are typical for the emporia. From the Frankish realms came cloth, glassware, ceramic, quernstones, raw materials for making jewellery, salt, and wine. Jewellery from the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms as well as cloth and spices from the East were also traded there. From Sweden came iron ore, and from Norway whetstones, honestones, walrus ivory, and furs. Hedeby also resembled emporia in other parts of Europe in that it eventually had both a mint and a church.78 Foreign traders also set up outposts there, as Adam of Bremen mentions the presence of a colony of Saxons in Hedeby in the mid-tenth century.79 Moreover, Hedeby had connections outside of Europe, and was visited by the Arab diplomat Ibrahim ibn Ya’qub al-Tartushi in the mid-tenth century, who recorded his less than favorable impressions of the people there.80 Craft production was also an important part of Hedeby’s economy. Analysis of textile production in the settlement indicates that the tools associated with making cloth, including spindle whorls, spindle rods, loom weights, and bone needles, were standardized products. Furthermore, the distribution of the different groups of tools also shows that there was considerable production of different qualities of textiles, ranging from fine worsted material for more exclusive cloth to coarse fabrics used to make sailcloth or outer garments.81 As with the landing places discussed in the previous chapter, the production of cloth points to the presence of women as producers. The fact that such a great variety of cloth was being produced and presumably traded, also opens up the possibility that women were acting as cloth merchants as well weavers. The possibility of women traders in the Viking Age has been proposed by Anne Stalsberg, who has analysed the presence of weighing equipment found in women’s graves from modern day Russia. This weighing equipment consists of small balance scales and weights, which are generally assumed to be directly connected with trade. Female graves accounted for between one fifth and one third of those with weighing equipment, leading Stalsberg to conclude that women were active 77 Steuer, ‘Urban Settlement’, 140. 78 Jensen, Danmarks Oldtid 4, 429-433. 79 Adam of Bremen, 2, 3. The Saxon colony was wiped out by the Danish king, Harald Bluetooth, during his struggle with the German emperor, Otto I. 80 Lunde and Stone, 163. 81 Andersson, Excavations in the Black Earth, 130-131.

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in trade and that the graves were those of tradeswomen.82 Female graves with balance weights are also known from burials in Norway as well as the emporium of Birka in Sweden.83 Moreover, because weaving and cloth making were women’s work, they would be the ones with the professional skills and know-how to distinguish types of cloth and judge its quality. It would thus make sense that they would be the ones engaged in buying and selling it as well as producing it.84 Other types of crafts that were produced in Hedeby are typical of the emporia. More than 340,000 pieces related to comb making have been uncovered, indicating the large scale of comb production, as well as evidence for leather working. Metalsmiths were also active, and remains of iron working and goldsmithing, including finds of mercury from fire-gilding, are also present at the site.85 It is not known what the legal status of the goldsmiths was, but it is probable that they themselves would not have been able to acquire the expensive material used in their jewellery production.86 Rather, they would have relied on an elite patron or overlord who had access to such a rare and valuable commodity. In Hedeby’s hinterland were a number of small settlements and seasonal landing places along the Schlei Fjord that used foreign goods, similar to the ones imported into Hedeby. At Kosel, to the east of Hedeby, archaeologists have found whetstones made of Muskovite quartz-slate as well as pieces of soapstone vessels from Norway.87 Füsing, which has been interpreted as the seat of a regional aristocrat, is located a few kilometres from Hedeby on the northern shore of the Schlei Fjord. Like Kosel, it has yielded finds of foreign provenance, such as a number of eighth and ninth century equal armed brooches from Frisia. A small group of finds also indicate connection to members of the local elite, with items of Continental origin found at the site. These include an eighth century gilt mount with glass inlay and elaborate ornamentation as well as a gold arm ring, a large animal head shaped hasp, and a fragment of a gilt mount from a harness bow. In addition to the foreign artefacts, Füsing also shows evidence of extensive craft activity, including metalsmithing and textile production. Artisans at the site also produced highly prestigious jewellery from non-ferrous metals. The site seems to have been divided into two zones, one dominated by pit houses 82 83 84 85 86 87

Stalsberg, 76-79. Jondell, 34; Dommasnes, 74; Arbman, 490-529. Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson, personal communication. Steuer, ‘Urban Settlement’, 140-41. Kristensen and Poulsen, 47. Dobat, ‘The fifth day’, 133-34.

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and dedicated to craft production and the other a residential area.88 Füsing shares characteristics with different types of productive sites and with similarities to both landing places and aristocratic estates. It was a focal point for craft production and the exchange and distribution of commodities, linking it organizationally to local elites. Based on these characteristics, it has been postulated that Füsing was the seat of a regional aristocrat and could even have been the site of the royal manor associated with Hedeby.89 Godfred’s destruction of Reric and resettlement of its merchants to Hedeby has often been used to underscore the interest of royal authority in promoting and controlling trade. It should be noted, however, that the account of Godfred’s actions in Reric not only indicates his interest in trade, but also shows that the trade networks he wanted to control had been in place before he rerouted them to Hedeby. Reric has been identified with the modern-day site of Groß Strömkendorf in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern along the Baltic coast. The site of Groß Strömkendorf dates to the early Slavonic period, from the eighth to the early ninth century, and there is evidence of contact with Francia, the Saxony – Frisia region, and Scandinavia. The burials at the site showed different cultural practices, which indicates that people from the regions mentioned above were present. Also, the site shows evidence of a vast array of imported goods. From Francia and Saxony/Frisia came pottery, quernstones, glass funnel beakers, metal dress fittings, and weapons. From Scandinavia traders brought whetstones and metal dress fittings. Moreover, the buildings showed similarities to house types in similar settlements in Lower Saxony, Hedeby, and southern Sweden, which indicates the presence of people from these various regions of northern Europe. Also, evidence of manufacturing at the site is on a massive scale, including comb making, glass working in the production of beads, amber working, textile manufacture, and iron and bronze working, which fits well with the types of crafts practiced at other emporia sites.90 The archaeological evidence shows clear connections with Francia, Saxony, Frisia, and Scandinavia in a trade network dating from the first third of the eighth century. This particular network was rerouted into Danish territory by Godfred in 808 in an attempt to gain control over an already existent trade. Continued interest in controlling and protecting Hedeby’s trade can be seen in the expansion of the Danevirke, a defensive system of earthworks across the 88 Dobat, ‘Füsing’, 55-57. 89 Dobat, ‘Füsing’, 61. 90 Tummuscheit, 209-217.

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Isthmus of Schleswig in southern Jutland, to include a semicircular wall surrounding the settlement at Hedeby in the mid-tenth century.91 As noted above, protection was one of the most important things that a king could offer to foreign merchants travelling in his realm. This function would quite logically be expanded to include protection of a trading centre in general, something that the semicircular wall around Hedeby, with its ditch and palisades, clearly offered. Gates allowed a central authority control over who entered and exited the settlement, as well as the potential for collecting tolls. Control over trade provided rulers with an important source of income, one that continued to be cultivated into the Middle Ages. As already noted, the protection of foreign merchants and the emporia was a crucial responsibility of the local leader, if he wanted to maintain its prosperity. Hedeby’s diverse and expanded trade was very lucrative for a ruler in the collection of tolls or taxes. Hedeby disappeared in the mid-eleventh century, when it was replaced by the medieval town of Schleswig, located nearby but in the westerly end of the Schlei Fjord. Recent excavations have shown that Hedeby continued to flourish until the mid-eleventh century, remaining an important center of long-distance trade. It was not a lack of trade that doomed the emporium. Rather, it was the shifting needs of the monarchy and Church, as well as new demands by an increasingly professionalized long-distance merchant class, that are the likely factors behind the royal decision to dislocate the old emporium and transfer its harbour, and tolls and levies, to the growing town of Schleswig.92

Aarhus Aarhus, in eastern Jutland, is the third oldest urban settlement in Denmark. Originally called Aros, meaning ‘the settlement by the river mouth’, it is located on the northern bank of the river Aarhus Å. Unlike other early Scandinavian towns, Aarhus is unique in its settlement history because it has had the exact same location since its foundation some 1200 years ago.93 The oldest trace of the settlement that has been found archaeologically is part of a ditch dating to around 800. The twenty-metre-long ditch is approximately two metres wide and between 50 and 60 centimetres deep, located along the 91 Dobat, ‘Danevirke Revisited’, 41-42. 92 Hilberg, ‘Hedeby’s Demise’, 74-75. 93 Skov, ‘Det ældste Århus’, 215.

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north side of the river and possibly serving as a boundary94 similar to the demarcation ditch surrounding earliest Ribe. No other structures have so far been found from this early period, although a few artefacts, including a piece of a horse-shaped brooch, has been C-14 dated to the 770s.95 Possibly at this point Aarhus was not permanently settled, but rather a seasonal marketplace with temporary structures. The oldest buildings at the site consist of two pit houses constructed sometime in the second half of the ninth century, one of which was a workshop for textile production. At the end of the ninth century, the pit houses were torn down, filled in, and replaced by two rectangular wooden houses. These houses were repaired several times, and the interior room divisions altered. In addition, f inds, including a piece of glass for bead production and ceramic from the Slavic area, indicate contacts with the Baltic region. To the northeast of these houses, remains of another house, including post holes, floors, hearth, and ovens, were dated to sometime before c. 900. While it is unclear whether the pit houses were year-round dwellings, the houses likely were and could point to the beginning of a permanent settlement.96 Traces of various craft production from the first century of the settlement that have been uncovered include comb making, glass bead production, and textile production. Carpenters and metalsmiths were also active in this period.97 The question of who founded Aarhus is a matter of speculation, although it is quite possible that it was at the initiative of royal or other regional power. Its location on the coast of eastern Jutland at the mouth of a fjord in Aarhus Bay and with a natural harbour made it an ideal location for trade to the north, west, and southeast. Moreover, it was founded at a time when royal interest in both Ribe and Hedeby to the south was becoming marked, and it is conceivable that the king (or a king who had power in this part of Denmark) wanted an emporium in his own region.98 It is also worth noting that a ruler took military interest in the area from at least 726, when the Kanhave Canal was built. Five hundred metres long and eleven metres wide, it bifurcates the island of Samsø located to the southeast of Aarhus. It is believed to have been built so that war ships could quickly travel from one side of the island to the other and thus be able to protect 94 95 96 97 98

Jantzen, 30. Skov, ‘Aros’, 16. Jantzen, 30-31. Skov, ‘Det ældste Århus’, 220. Jantzen, 32.

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both Aarhus Bay and the southern Kattegat with the same fleet. It is such a monumental construction project that a royal authority must have been behind it. Moreover, a number of locations in the hinterland of Aarhus include snekke as part of the place name. In the Viking Age, snekke meant a warship or levy ship, and many of the snekke-places were locations where ships could be built and made ready for war. Near Viby, four kilometres inland along Aarhus Å, excavations at Snekkeeng have revealed it to have been a ship building and repair site. It has been dendrochronologically shown to have been in use c. 797-1265/6. Viby was also the site of a royal estate in the Early Middle Ages.99 Taken altogether, this evidence indicates that royal interest in Aarhus is likely to have been a deciding factor in its settlement from the very beginning. Royal involvement in Aarhus is certainly evident in the f irst half of the tenth century, when the settlement was fortified with a rampart and shallow moat. The rampart was two to three metres tall and ten metres wide, while the 1.3-metre-deep and 2.8-metre-wide moat surrounded the rampart where it did not already face either the river or the bay. The front of the rampart consisted of a wooden palisade, while a 4.3-metre-wide road ran along the backside of the ramparts.100 Around 970, the fortifications of the emporium were further strengthened. The ramparts were built up to six metres high and up to eighteen metres wide in some places. A broad water-filled moat was dug north and west of the settlement, and towards the west a 60- to 70-metre-wide swathe of land was dug up to form a swamp. Towards the north, the moat was up to 30 metres wide and at least 3.6 metres deep. To the south, the river served as the moat and the bay lay directly to the east. Aarhus was now entirely surrounded by water. This re-fortification project has been dendrochronologically dated to c. 970 based on wood found in the fill of the rampart, and it is very likely that the Danish king, Harald Bluetooth (r. c. 958-987), was behind the construction.101 It coincides with several other major construction projects attributed to him, including the bridge at Ravning Enge in eastern Jutland (979/80), the circular fortresses of Trelleborg (980/81), Fyrkat (979/81 or 974/75), Aggersborg (c. 970-980), and Nonnebakken (after 967), and the strengthening and altering of the Danevirke ramparts at the southern border of Denmark (965/68).102 99 Skov, ‘Det ældste Århus’, 223. 100 Ibid., 221. 101 Ibid. 102 Pedersen, ‘Monumental Expression’, 71-73.

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Kaupang Kaupang, at the mouth of the Oslo fjord in Viken in modern day Norway, is located in a protected bay by the main sailing route along the coast. This area, Viken, was ruled by the Danish king for most of the Viking Age. Known as Skiringssalr in this period, Kaupang is mentioned in Ohthere’s account of his voyages that was recorded at the court of the English king, Alfred the Great, c. 890.103 Ohthere refers to Kaupang as a port,104 one of the terms commonly used for an emporium in contemporary written sources. It was founded no later than 803 AD, and the structure of the settlement and the main stages of its development are fairly clear, based on a number of excavations dating back to the mid-nineteenth century. Some sort of overarching authority, possibly the Danish king, seems to have been in place almost from the beginning, as the area was divided into plots from the start. No remains of buildings have been found in six initial plots that have been excavated, but they all show evidence of craft activity, including blacksmithing and glass-bead production. Within a decade of the initial plot division, buildings were erected on five of the plots, and additional crafts, including amber working and textile production, were also taking place. From the late ninth until the mid-tenth century, finds are limited to artefacts, although these indicated that trade and craft production continued until the mid-tenth century.105 The artefacts from Kaupang show that the emporium was a node in long-distance trade from almost the very beginning. In the first half of the ninth century, the artefacts show that Frisian merchants frequented the settlement. The Frisians brought such items as glass vessels, glass beads, amber, raw glass, copper alloy, pottery, and metalwork. Some of these were intended for trade, while others were personal possessions for use during their stay. The foreign imports, however, do not seem to have been brought in any great numbers into the hinterland, so it is possible that the majority were consumed in Kaupang itself or by agents in the trade network. The artisanal products created with raw materials brought from overseas, however, such as Scandinavian-type ornaments made with glass, brass, and amber, do have a wide distribution in the hinterland, indicating that the consumers of these types of products were drawn from the general rural population. Items that were created from raw materials originating in western Scandinavia, 103 Bately, ‘Ohthere and Wulfstan’, 27. 104 Bately, ‘Text and translation’, 47. 105 Skre, ‘Kaupang – Skíringssalr’’, 114.

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including whetstones, iron items, quernstones, antler combs, soapstone vessels, and other everyday utensils, were also made with an eye towards the general populace in the hinterland. These types of items are also found everywhere in the western Scandinavian archaeological record, showing the wide demand among the population.106 At its height, the area of Kaupang covered an area of approximately 5.4 hectares, and the permanent population may have been somewhere between 400 and 1000 people. The settlement was divided into two zones. There was a primary area divided into between 90 and 100 plots, covering an area of around two hectares. A second zone yielding finds related to craft production and a trade zone surrounded the first area. There are no traces of permanent structures in the second zone, making it likely that it was used by itinerant craftsmen and traders who set up tents or sheds during seasonal markets. No evidence of fortifications has been found either on land or in the harbour area of Kaupang, but defensive works were not generally a feature of Scandinavian emporia in the ninth century. Kaupang was abandoned sometime in the mid-tenth century, which was around the time when other emporia were being fortified.107

Åhus The archaeological settlement complex of Åhus, on the lower Helge River of northeastern Scania, is comprised of two sites that were initially thought to be chronologically separate. The first of the two sites, Åhus I, situated on the southern riverbank, was a seasonal craft and trade site dating to c. 750-850 AD, covering an area of approximately two hectares. The find material is similar to that of the contemporary productive sites and landing places known from other coastal sites in Denmark. The second site, Åhus II, was located a few hundred metres downstream on the northern bank of the river and covered a much larger area, approximately twelve hectares.108 New excavations indicate that the site was active for longer than originally believed, from the early eighth to the early tenth centuries,109 in which case there was some overlap between the Åhus I and Åhus II. The emporium at Åhus II consisted of 149 pit houses and post-built houses. These 106 Skre, ‘Viking-Age economic transformations’, 16-19. 107 Skre, ‘Kaupang – Skíringssalr’, 118. 108 Callmer, ‘North-European trading centres’, 126-127. 109 Helgesson, 24.

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included ordinary longhouses as well as smaller buildings of five by ten metres that lacked inner roof bearing posts. The settlement was divided into regular plots, and the population has been estimated at between 500 to 1000 people.110 The types of crafts practiced in the settlement are typical of other emporia, such as textile production, including the spinning of high-quality yarn, glass bead production, amber working, comb making, silver and bronze casting, and ironsmith work. It is likely that at least some of the craftsmen were itinerant, some with a home base at Åhus II who left for part of the year and some whom came as guests from other craft/trade sites. In such cases, individuals could have acted as both artisan and trader.111 The settlement was also a node in the international trade network of the North Sea region, and was on par with other Danish emporia such as Ribe and Hedeby.112 Imported items that have been found at the site consist of glass beads, glass shards, and items related to trade, including silver coins, hack-silver, and weights.113 The emporium was abandoned before the foundation of the medieval town of Åhus, with seemingly no overlap between the two. In this way, it differs markedly from the settlements at Ribe and Aarhus.114

Mints and Coin Use The use of coins is a development in Denmark that is both tied to urbanization and trade as well as indicating increased royal power. It is at the emporia that we begin to see evidence for the use of coinage in trade transactions. With the uptick in commerce in this period, it became profitable for rulers to mint their own coinage. Not only was currency an instrument of princely taxation, it also served as an affirmation of political prestige.115 Silver became the dominant money metal-medium in Europe at the end of the seventh century and reached Scandinavia in the eighth century.116 It is probably not a coincidence that this increase in the use of silver as money coincides with the development of the North Sea emporia. 110 Callmer, ‘North-European trading centres’, 128-133. 111 Ibid., 133-147. 112 Sindbæk, ‘The Small World’, 68. 113 Ulricksen, Anløbspladser, 179. 114 Kristensen and Poulsen, 49. 115 Duby, The Early Growth, 129. 116 Skre, ‘Commodity Money’, 81.

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Prior to this period, while coinage was not unknown in Denmark, it did not feature as a regular aspect of local trade.117 Commodities were likely the normal medium of exchange and would remain so throughout the Viking Age. Particularly in rural areas, exchange with the primary motive of acquiring necessities and products for everyday use was essential for the day to day working of a mainly agrarian economy. Gift-giving was important for forging and maintaining political alliances and a group of followers. It was not, however, as important to the regular trade in necessities, utensils, and modest luxuries in more local and regional networks. In these cases, commodity money would have been the likely means of exchange. A commodity money system is one in which some goods have functions normally ascribed to money, such as serving as a unit of account or medium of payment. In early medieval Scandinavia, this meant that the value of regularly exchanged goods would be expressed in fairly stable exchange rates with other goods, such as cows and butter.118 Nevertheless, judging by the hoard material, metals such as silver and gold were considered highly valuable in the Viking Age. Over the course of the Viking Age, there was a transition from silver objects to coins in the hoards. This was a gradual shift, with jewellery, rings, and hack-silver prevalent in the ninth and first half of the tenth century, but by the eleventh century coins had become predominant.119 Moreover, there was an increase in precious metal in Scandinavia that coincided with the establishment of the emporia and the associated shift in patterns of long-distance trade.120 Coins could be used in two different ways in this period. In a weight economy, payments could be made in a precious metal of any kind, shape, or form, including coins, ingots, and jewellery, and it would be valued according to weight. For most of the Viking Age in most of northern Europe, silver was valued according to weight. In a managed economy, coins were counted out at a fixed value per coin, guaranteed by the issuer and generally accepted by the public.121 In terms of coinage, Islamic dirhams were dominant from c. 800 until the last quarter of the tenth century, after which they disappeared and were replaced with predominantly German and Anglo-Saxon pennies.122 While Denmark did not yet have a money economy, the emporia provided a context in which the use of silver and coinage as money became preferable. In 117 Corsi, ‘Elite Networks’, 101. 118 Skre, ‘Commodity Money’, 68-70. 119 Gullbekk, 162. 120 Sindbæk, ‘Silver Economies’, 52. 121 Moesgaard, King Harold’s Cross Coinage, 32. 122 Gullbekk, 162.

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urban centres dependent in large part on long-distance trade, silver currency would have been a preferable means of payment for several reasons. First, the foreign merchants who frequented the Danish emporia would have favoured receiving silver as payment, as silver was the accepted currency in most of the other ports that they frequented. Second, compared to those living in rural areas, urban inhabitants would have been highly dependent on purchasing food from outside the settlement. In order to buy food, they would have to sell the crafts or other goods that they produced, which would have entailed a large number of transactions, certainly more than would have occurred in the rural area. Such a high number of transactions would be made infinitely simpler using a medium of payment that everyone was willing to accept. Moreover, the number of potential trading partners would be much higher in urban settlements, which would also tend towards the use of a widely accepted means of exchange over more localized practices. Lastly, the trade occurring in urban areas was embedded in loose social networks so that trading partners would not necessarily ever meet again, particularly if they were not permanent residents of the emporium. Once again, exchange taking place in this context would have favoured a widely accepted medium of payment.123 For all these reasons, it would be much more efficient to have a means of exchange that was widely accepted across the emporia network. In Denmark, it is thus not surprising to find that the earliest form of locally minted coinage known so far is from Ribe and dates to the eighth century. The small silver coins from this period, sceattas, have been found at sites throughout Europe, with a concentration around the North Sea zone (Map 5). To date, more than 300 sceattas have been found in Denmark, with the largest amount found in southwestern Jutland. Ribe has by far the largest concentration of finds, with 216 from the settlement itself or the surrounding area. The Föhr hoard from the west coast of Jutland yielded 87 coins. From the rest of Denmark there is only a handful of scattered finds consisting of between one and three coins, all of which come from sites of special status, including Tissø, Gudme, Åhus, Hedeby, and Schuby. The vast majority of the sceattas from Ribe are of the Wodan/Monster type (Figure 1), which represents 85 per cent of the finds. Unfortunately, the preservation of the coins is in general very poor, with a large amount of corrosion evident. A well-preserved sceat normally weighs around one gram, but in Ribe most of the sceattas are so corroded that they are less than half a gram.124 123 Skre, ‘Commodity Money’, 81-82. 124 Feveile, ‘Series X’, 58-59.

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Map 5. Distribution of Sceattas (8th century).

Despite the poor preservation of the sceattas themselves, because the archaeological site at Ribe is incredibly well-stratified, the time related distribution of the sceattas is easily visible. The find pattern shows that there was a widespread use of sceattas in the marketplace, likely in connection with trade throughout the eighth and into the beginning of the ninth century. In the earliest phase, 705-725, the sceattas were made up of several different types, primarily Continental Runic, Porcupine, and Wodan/Monster. Beginning around 725, the number of different types in use decreased, so that only Wodan/Monster sceattas were in use and dropped in the marketplace. The Wodan/Monster type continued in use to the same extent for the rest of the eighth century

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Figure 1. Ribe Series X Sceat of Woden-Monster Type, c. 710-720. Photo: Classical Numismatic Group, Inc., Wikimedia Commons.

and into the beginning of the ninth. From c. 820, the sceattas were replaced by pennies that were clearly inspired by the Wodan/Monster sceattas, with a face on the obverse and an animal, usually a deer, on the reverse of the new coin type.125 So far, ten pennies from the ninth century and possibly one from the tenth have been found, all in a similar state of preservation to the sceattas. Nevertheless, continuity between the two types is evident, partially because of the similarity in design. In addition, at Sct. Nicolajgade 14, the youngest stratigraphic phase, dating to 820-850, yielded one Wodan/Monster sceat and one penny. Chronologically the two types overlapped.126 The beginning of regular minting of coins in the Danish region is still somewhat unclear. Despite a lack of die finds for Ribe, however, it does seem likely that minting of Wodan/Monster sceattas was being carried out here from at least the mid-eighth century, although they were clearly based on Frisian models.127 Considering the close ties between Ribe and Frisia, and the presence of Frisians in the emporium from its foundation, this is not surprising. Ribe, following a Continental model, thus had a managed currency in the eighth and ninth centuries. In Hedeby, the minting of bracteates began at around the time of the settlement of the emporium in the first decade of the ninth century, also based on Frisian and Carolingian models. It seems plausible that minting was initiated by the Danish king, Godfred, as part of his effort to encourage trade. He likely realized that minting coins would not only benefit the traders, but also enrich himself.128 125 Ibid., 61. 126 Feveile, ‘Mønterne’, 284. 127 Feveile, ‘Series X’, 64-66. 128 Bendixen, 77.

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Not only would it facilitate his ability to collect tolls, but he could also charge exchange fees. Later, at the end of the ninth century, a new type of Carolus-Dorestad imitation began to be struck in Hedeby.129 These coins were part of a managed economy, similar to the situation in eighth and ninth century Ribe, that developed in Hedeby and lasted for most of the tenth century. To a large extent, only this local coinage was in circulation in Hedeby.130 Here too, the king could simultaneously encourage trade and fill the royal coffers by charging exchange fees. In this way, fiscal policy was being developed that would continue into the Middle Ages to help pay for the needs of an increasingly bureaucratic government system.

Christianity in the Emporia The emporia network was crucial to the transmission and adoption of Christianity as it spread northwards. The Christian religion was very much an urban one in the Early Middle Ages, as church administration was based in the urban bishoprics. It is not surprising then, that when missionaries went northwards, they headed primarily for the emporia. As mentioned above, one of the earliest known missionaries to Denmark was Willibrord, who had a failed mission to Denmark sometime after the late 690s, likely in the area of Ribe. A rather more successful attempt at missionizing was made in the mid-ninth century, by the Frankish missionary and later Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen, Ansgar. Known as the ‘Apostle of the North’, his vita was written by his successor as archbishop, Rimbert, c. 875. According to the vita, Ansgar’s first attempt at missionizing to the Danes lasted only a little over two years, 826-829,131 when the political situation made it necessary for him to abandon it. Indeed, Denmark at this time seems to have been experiencing a great deal of political unrest, with multiple claimants to the throne vying for power. Some of these men were exiled, such as the former king, Harald Klak, who was expelled by the sons of Godfred in 813. Harald went to the court of Louis the Pious, where he sought military assistance in 814. He was not given a benefice but instead was sent to Saxony to await aid. Consequently, Louis ordered an invasion of Denmark by the Obrodites 129 Malmer, ‘South Scandinavian Coinage’, 22. 130 Moesgaard, King Harold’s Cross Coinage, 55-59. 131 Robinson, introduction to Anskar, 11. Although Niels Lund points out that Rimbert’s time frame for the first mission is almost certainly misleading, as Ansgar’s ability to missionize in Denmark was restricted to the period between Harald Klak’s arrival at the Danish border in 826 and his exile sometime in 827. Lund, ‘Mission’, 25.

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and Saxons in 815, but the campaign met with little success. Harald Klak remained in Saxony until 819, when Louis, again with Obroditic forces, attacked Denmark. This time the invasion was successful, and Harald Klak was accepted as a co-ruler by two of Godfred’s sons, while another two fled the kingdom.132 The peace was to be short-lived, however. Harald Klak returned to Louis the Pious’s court in 823 to ask for his aid against Godfred’s sons again, as they were threatening him with expulsion from the kingdom. The two sons were also in negotiations of their own with Louis, and it is under these circumstances that Harald Klak travelled to Mainz to be baptized along with his wife, son, and a large following of Danes.133 Rimbert explains, [Harald] came to his serene majesty the Emperor Ludovic and asked that he might be thought to be worthy to receive his help so that he might be able to regain his kingdom. While the Emperor kept him at court he urged him, by personal persuasion and through the instrumentality of others, to accept the Christian faith, because there would then be a more intimate friendship between them, and a Christian people would more readily come to his aid and the aid of his friends if both peoples were worshippers of the same God. At length, by the assistance of divine grace, he brought about his conversion.134

Harald Klak’s conversion certainly appears to have been more about political expediency than a true sign of Christian piety and devotion. The emperor became Harald’s godfather, while the empress Judith sponsored Harald’s wife, and Lothar, the emperor’s eldest son and heir, was godfather to Harald’s son, Godfrid. Harald returned to his kingdom, but his son and nephew remained in the Carolingian realm, serving in the imperial palace.135 According to the Royal Frankish Annals, after Harald and his companions were baptized, “the emperor presented him with many gifts before he returned 132 Coupland, 89. 133 Lund, ‘Mission’, 24. 134 “Post haec vero contigit, ut Herioldus quidam rex, qui partem tenebat Danorum, ab aliis ipsius provintiae regibus odio et inimicitia conventus, regno suo expulsus sit. Qui serenissimum adiit imperatorem Hludowicum, postulans, ut eius auxilio uti mereretur, quo regnum suum denuo evindicare valeret. Qui eum secum detentum tam per se quam per alios ad suscipiendam christianitatem cohortatus, quod scilicet inter eos ita maior familiaritas esse posset, populusque christianus ipsi ac suis promptiori voluntate in adiutorium sic veniret, si uterque unum coleret. Deum, tandem gratia divina tribuente ad fidem convertit, et sacro baptismate perfusum ipse de sacro fonte suscepit sibique in filium adoptavit.” Rimbert, 26; Robinson, Anskar, 38. 135 Ermold the Black, 75-76.

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home through Frisia, the route by which he had come. In this province one county was given to him, the county of Rüstringen, so that he would be able to find refuge there with his possessions if he were ever in danger.”136 Harald also consented to bring missionaries back with him to Denmark. The emperor commanded that Ansgar accompany them in an attempt to keep Harald true to his conversion and by his preaching to convert others to the Christian faith.137 Harald and his companions travelled to the southern border of Denmark, although Harald “could not for the time being obtain peaceful possession of his kingdom.”138 It is not clear if or when Harald was able to return to his kingdom, although Rimbert does tell us that Ansgar and his helpers “were stationed at one time amongst Christians and at other times amongst pagans,”139 indicating that they spent at least some time in Denmark. Although it is unlikely that his missionizing met with great success,140 Ansgar was able to establish a school for boys, including members of Harald’s household, to educate them in the Christian faith. Rimbert does not indicate where the school was established, but it is possible that it was in Hedeby.141 This endeavour was short-lived, however, as the Royal Frankish Annals relate that in 827, “the kings of the Danes, that is, the sons of [Godfred] deprived [Harald] of his share in the kingship and forced him to leave Nordmannia.”142 Ansgar did not return to Denmark until more than twenty years later, with his second mission lasting from 848-852.143 By this time, Ansgar had become bishop of Hamburg-Bremen and served as an ambassador to the Danes on behalf of Louis the German. He made several trips to the court of the Danish king, Horik the Elder, one of Godfred’s sons who had exiled 136 “multisque muneribus ab imperatore donatus per Frisiam, qua venerat via, reversus est. In qua provincia unus comitatus, qui Hriustri vocatur, eidem datus est, ut in eum se cum rebus suis, si necessitas exigeret, recipere potuisset”; Annales regni Francorum, 170; Scholz, 119. 137 Rimbert, 29; Robinson, 42-43. 138 “interdum pacifice in regno suo Herioldus rex consistere not poterat,” Rimbert, 29; Robinson, Anskar, 43. 139 “aliquando inter christianos, aliquando inter paganos constituti,” Rimbert, 30; Robinson, Anskar, 44. 140 Lund, ‘Mission’, 25. 141 Robinson, Anskar, 83 n. Saxo Grammaticus also places Harald in Hedeby following his baptism, and even states that he built a church there. Saxo, 9.4.37. 142 “reges Danorum, filii videlicet Godofridi, Herioldum de consortio regni eicientes Nordmannorum finibus excedere conpulerunt,” Annales regni Francorum, 173; Scholz, 122. There is no evidence that Harald ever returned to Denmark, although it is likely that he is identical with the Harald that the Annals of Fulda mentions as having died in 852 after having lived among the Franks for many years. Lund, ‘Mission i Danmark’, 26. 143 Robinson, introduction to Anskar, 11.

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Harald Klak in 827. While his attempts to convert Horik were unsuccessful, he was allowed to build a church. According to Rimbert, The King [Horik the Elder] most kindly granted this permission and allowed him to build a church in a part belonging to his kingdom, called Sliaswic [Hedeby], which was specially suitable for this purpose and was near to the district where merchants from all parts congregated; he gave also a place in which a priest might live, and likewise granted permission to anyone in his kingdom who desired to become a Christian.144

Denmark would not become a Christian kingdom until Harald Bluetooth converted in 963.145 Nonetheless, the process of Christianization began earlier, with Christians present in the kingdom, whether they were foreign merchants or Danes newly converted in the emporium. The Arab diplomat Ibrahim ibn Ya’qub al-Tartushi, who visited Hedeby in the mid-tenth century, mentions that while most of the inhabitants were pagan, there was “a small number of Christians.”146 It is also noteworthy that Hedeby was considered especially suitable for a church, precisely because it was a population centre in addition to one in which merchants from all over congregated. The priest assigned to the church would have had a ready audience in the Christian merchants coming to the emporium as well as a large number of potential converts. Moreover, the episode highlights important points about royal power in Denmark at this time. The king was a religious leader who could make decisions about which religions his people were allowed to follow, and thus he could grant permission to Ansgar to build a church and for his Danish subjects to convert to Christianity. It also indicates that the king was the authority in control of Hedeby and in a position to make decisions regarding property there. There is no evidence that Horik himself ever became a Christian, but he certainly was not hostile to it. In allowing churches to be built in population centres and Mass to be celebrated, he would have brought about greater visibility of and familiarity with this new religion, even if few Danes actually converted. Having a church in the emporium would also have attracted merchants who might otherwise have been hesitant to come, thus increasing the 144 “Quod ille benignissimo concessit affectu et in portu quodam regni sui ad hoc aptissimo et huic regioni proximo Sliaswich vocato, ubi ex omni parte conventus fiebat negotiatorum, ecclesiam, illi fabricare permisit, tribuens locum in quo presbiter maneret; data pariter licentia, ut quicumque vellet in regno suo fieret christianus.” Rimbert, 52; Robinson, Anskar, 83-84. 145 Gelting, ‘Poppo’s Ordeal’, 101-133. 146 Lunde and Stone, 163.

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prosperity of the settlement. Rimbert makes note of this when he states that in Hedeby, “[t]here was, moreover, great joy in that place, as the men of this place could now do what was before forbidden, and traders both from here [Hamburg] and from Dorestadt freely sought to visit this place.”147 Allowing the open practice of Christianity was another way for the Danish king to prove that the emporium was welcoming to foreign merchants. An increase in the number of merchants visiting the emporium would have increased its prosperity, making it even more attractive for visitors, both foreigners and Danes. Later, Horik the Younger gave permission for a church bell in Hedeby, which had hitherto been forbidden.148 That the same openness to allow Christian worship was true for Ribe is evident, as Rimbert states that, “[I]n another village called Ripa [Ribe], situated within his kingdom, he [Horik the Younger] likewise gave a site for the erection of a church and granted permission for a priest to be there.”149 Recent excavations in Ribe have uncovered a Christian burial ground near Ribe Cathedral, which is believed to have been connected with Ansgar’s church. Archaeologists identified 83 graves from the earliest phase of the site, c. 850-1050, in what is currently Denmark’s earliest known Christian cemetery. C-14 dating of the remains from six of the individuals buried here showed that two were from the ninth century.150 Very likely, these two burials were of individuals connected with Ansgar’s church in Ribe from the latter half of the 850s.151 These early churches in Denmark, however, probably catered more towards Christian merchants and slaves than the Danes themselves,152 particularly at this early date. Nevertheless, the churches do indicate that Danes would have had at least some familiarity with the Christian religion. They also would have made Ribe a more attractive place for foreign merchants to visit or possibly settle. Moreover, as has been noted for Western Europe in general, churches were instrumental in the revival or emergence of a town. In Britain, for example, several smaller towns were based on a church which had a pre-urban rural 147 “Factumque est gaudium magnum in ipso loco, ita ut etiam gentis huius homines absque ullo pavore, quod antea non licebat, et negotiatores tam hinc quam ex Dorstado locum ipsum libere expeterent”; Rimbert, 53; Robinson, 84. 148 Rimbert, 64; Robinson, Anskar, 103. 149 “In alio quoque vico regni sui Ripa vocato similiter locum, ubi ecclesia fabricaretur, tribuit et, ut ibi sacerdos praesens adesset suae potestatis licentiam dedit.” Rimbert, 64; Robinson, Anskar, 103. 150 Three were from the first half of the 11th century and one from the 10th. 151 Søvsø, De kristne vikinger, 11. 152 Gelting, ‘The Kingdom of Denmark’, 78.

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existence, before it became the nucleus of urban settlement. In areas that had been under Roman rule, the towns where the Church remained a presence would usually continue on, whereas the towns where no bishop took over were more likely to die.153 While Denmark did not become a Christian kingdom until a century later, the presence of a church would have helped ensure permanency of the settlement site at Ribe. Without a church or a priest, Christian merchants could not fully partake in society, as they would have had to return to Christendom for key moments in their lives, including for marriage, baptism, and last rites. In addition, at least a small population of permanent residents would be needed to fulfil the administrative needs of the Church. As will be evident for later centuries, the Church would also be a key underpinning of urbanization and the development of medieval towns in Denmark. While we do not have any written sources from the earliest history of Aarhus, the presence of Christians prior to Harald Bluetooth’s conversion in 963 has been speculated based on the location of the later St. Nicholas Cathedral outside of the town fortifications. The fact that it was built outside the town limits is probably a reflection of the fact that Denmark was not yet Christian. What Christians there were, were also likely largely to have been foreigners, and so there was a wish to keep them somewhat separate.154 Aarhus is mentioned as having a bishop, Reginbrand, who was probably consecrated at a church synod in 948 in Ingelheim.155 Whether the Bishop ever actually visited his bishopric is unknown, but at the least there was likely a priest and a small church in the town, in order to be declared a bishopric.156 Where this early church was located is unclear, but as mentioned, the first cathedral, St. Nicholas, was located outside the fortified settlement area. When Denmark became Christian in the mid-tenth century, it became the norm to build churches and cathedrals on earlier religious and cult sites. It is thus very likely that the cathedral was built on the same spot as the earliest church. That there was a Christian church would have been a boon for merchants and travellers from the south. As with Ribe and Hedeby, it would have made these foreign merchants more inclined to stop in Aarhus, thus increasing its prosperity and ensuring its longevity once Denmark itself became a Christian kingdom. 153 Schofield, ‘Urban Settlement’, 117-118. 154 Jantzen, 35. 155 DD I: 1, 319; Also consecrated at the synod were bishops Liufdag of Ribe and Hared of Schleswig. Fuhrmann, 163-164. 156 Kristensen and Poulsen, 48.

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The End of the Emporia The emporia network that was the basis for long-distance exchange in the North Sea region underwent a substantial contraction in the second half of the ninth century. Many of the sites that had been nodes in this network either were substantially reduced or disappeared altogether. Each emporium had its own particular history, however, given its regional economic foundations and related political economy. The Carolingian civil war and Viking raids of the volatile ninth century have been blamed for their demise, although this is likely too simplistic a view given their individual circumstances.157 Dorestad, for example, was less the victim of violence than trade and environmental factors. The mid-ninth century saw a flood of silver from the Arab world into the Baltic, with trade shifting eastwards and Dorestad losing its northern markets. Silting also made harbour maintenance increasingly difficult. As a result, the emporium was in decline after 840 and already dead by the time Vikings attacked it in 863.158 Those sites that continued to thrive in this period were those taking part in this eastern oriented trade, which culminated in the mid-tenth century, between 930 and 970,159 and which was highly dependent on the transport and sale of captives. This eastern orientation meant that Hedeby became the leading emporium, not only superseding Ribe in Denmark, but also taking the place of Dorestad as the most important hub on the Continent. Many of the settlements that suffered destructive attacks by the Vikings were quickly repaired or relocated to a new settlement in the area.160 For example, the port of Quentovic was relocated during the course of the tenth century towards Montreuil, so that even if the original site was abandoned, there was direct continuity of a port with the associated mercantile population in its vicinity. Quentovic-Montreuil would later be eclipsed by Bruges and Rouen by the early eleventh century.161 Another factor in the abandonment or decline of some sites could be related to a shift in trade routes from coastal hugging to blue-water sailing, which is first evident for this period. This was a critically different maritime culture, and one that was also re-introduced into the Mediterranean is this same time period. Such a shift in sailing routes would have rendered useless many of the smaller landing places.162 157 Hall, 121. 158 Hodges, Dark Age Economics: A New Audit, 113-114. 159 Sindbæk, ‘Trade and Exchange’, 304. 160 Verhulst, The Rise of Cities, 66. 161 Loveluck, 305. 162 McCormick, Origins, 494; Sindbæk, ‘Trade and Exchange’, 304.

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The complexity of this issue is also evident for England. Like Dorestad, Hamwic was experiencing drastic urban decline prior to the first Viking raids in 842. Security, however, could still have been a factor in Hamwic’s decline, since the settlement site is low-lying and indefensible. It was largely abandoned sometime between 850 and 900, and it is possible that Winchester, located sixteen kilometres to the north, took over as a centre for trade and craft production. In contrast, Ipswich, which was under Danish control from about 880 to 920, was fortified with a town wall for the first time during this period. It later transitioned into a medieval market town.163 In London, trade and craft activity diminished in the later ninth and early tenth centuries, but it acquired administrative and governmental functions when the population moved the short distance from the waterfront site of Lundenwic to within the old walled Roman town of Londinium. These government functions ensured the continuation of a mixed population of traders and administrators, as well as continued patronage, which led to a renewed growth in the second half of the tenth century.164 In Denmark, a similar pattern of stagnation is evident in some of the emporia. Kaupang and Åhus were both abandoned in the tenth century. At some point, the settlement in Ribe shifted from the north side of the river Ribe Å, where the earliest market activities were situated, to the south side, where the ninth century church and burial ground were located. With the exception of the Christian burial ground, the archaeological evidence for Ribe becomes practically non-existent from the mid ninth to the mid eleventh centuries. Only one artefact is known from the tenth century, a coin found at the top of a fill layer of an older pit house. This impression of a serious stagnation in tenth century Ribe is based on a number of archaeological excavations, carried out from the 1970s to the present. Claus Feveile and Morten Søvsø have pointed to developments outside the town as the reason for its decline in this period. Accordingly, they suggest that the combination of Viking attacks in the North Sea region along with political instability at home and abroad affected the security of trade. The resulting downturn in North Sea trade is mirrored in the seeming lack of trade activities in Ribe in this same period.165 No doubt this instability is part of the explanation, but it is also possible that other factors were at work. As mentioned, Dorestad, which had been the leading emporium, experienced a total collapse in the mid-ninth century. Because of Ribe’s 163 Crabtree, 134. 164 Loveluck, 305. 165 Feveile and Søvsø, 38-39.

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close trade relations with Frisia, any decline in the Frisian trade would negatively impact Ribe as well. Moreover, as trade shifted eastwards into the Baltic and the North Sea network contracted, Ribe likewise could have lost out due to its location on west coast of Denmark. In contrast, Hedeby was better situated to take advantage of the eastward shift in trade. Interestingly, it is in the period when the archaeological evidence is absent that Ribe first appears in the historical records. Rimbert tells us that Ansgar carried out his missionary work here in the mid-ninth century and was granted permission to build a church. It is likely in connection with this church that the recently uncovered early Christian burial ground near Ribe Cathedral should be seen. A bishop of Ribe, Liufdag, is named as having been present at a church synod in Ingelheim in 948,166 although whether he ever visited his see is debatable. Nevertheless, for Ribe to be named a bishopric, there was probably at the least both a church and a priest there, even if Liufdag himself never took up residence. While trade activities seemingly suffered a serious decline in these decades, the church remained and would have kept some level of settlement going. Certainly, Christians continued to be drawn to the town as the burials make clear, and continued interest by the Christian Church is evident by the establishment of the bishopric. The continued presence of the church likely is what ensured Ribe’s survival as a settlement, much as had been the case for the Roman cities on the Continent in the Early Middle Ages.167 Certainly the church would have been an ongoing stimulus to economic activity, and it would have ensured that there would have continued to be a stationary population of consumers. In this way, Christianization and the Christian religion were crucial factors in the process of urbanization. In contrast to Ribe, Hedeby experienced ongoing growth in the ninth and tenth centuries. As mentioned, it replaced Dorestad as the most important emporium on the continent. Archaeological excavations in the harbour area of Hedeby show that it underwent several expansions, including one in the time period before c. 990-1010. The depth of the water in the harbour basin had been gradually decreasing due to disposal of settlement waste, making it difficult for the larger cargo ships to moor there. As discussed briefly in the previous chapter, cargo ships in this period were increasing in size, with bigger draughts, which also necessitated deeper water for mooring. The construction in the harbour at Hedeby allowed for its use by high-sea cargo carriers, such as Hedeby 3, with its cargo capacity of 60 tons. Sometime 166 DD 1:1, 319. 167 Ward-Perkins, 14.

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between 990 and 1010, the longship Hedeby 1 was used as a fire ship to attack the settlement, sinking in front of the northernmost harbour facility. In order that the area could continue in use, an extension of the jetty was built out over the wreck, thus proving that the harbour was in continuous use into the eleventh century. The harbour facilities in this period covered an area of more than 1475 square metres.168 As mentioned above, Hedeby was also integrated into the defensive system of the Danevirke, with the construction of the semicircular wall surrounding the settlement in the mid-tenth century. Moreover, the cross coins of Harald Bluetooth, which will be addressed in more detail in the following chapter, were minted here from c. 975/80 to c. 985/90.169 The large-scale construction works and the coinage both show the continuous presence of a royal authority in southern Jutland, which would also have helped ensure the ongoing settlement at Hedeby. Aarhus likewise maintained a limited range of long-distance connections throughout the tenth century. As with Hedeby, the settlement was fortified in this period, and it showed continued growth in the tenth century with new houses built both to the north and west of the rampart.170 To the west, the church of St. Nicholas was the nucleus of a suburb, while pit houses were found in the Studsgade area to the north.171 As with Ribe, the existence of the church would have spurred not only economic, but also administrative activities in the settlement. Royal authority also had a presence in the town, as the fortifications indicate. The town also had a royal mint in the eleventh century, with the name of the town, Aros, inscribed on the coins.172 In the mid-eleventh century, it was an important enough target that the Norwegian king, Harald Hardrada, attacked it and burned the church.173 Rather than a single narrative of decline, the history of the emporia network of the Early Middle Ages in the ninth century is rather more complex. Some settlements were abandoned, including Dorestad on the Continent, and Kaupang and Åhus in Danish territories. Ribe likewise experienced a prolonged period of stagnation, although it is likely that the presence of the bishopric and associated church ensured some continuity of settlement there. A similar situation can be seen with London, where the administrative functions was key to its survival into the mid-tenth century. Others experienced continued growth, such as Hedeby and Aarhus, proving that not all trading 168 Kalmring, ‘The Harbour of Hedeby’, 250-251; Kalmring, Der Hafen von Haithabu, 329-330. 169 Moesgaard, King Harold’s Cross Coinage, 13-14. 170 Jantzen, 145. 171 Skov, ‘Det ældste Århus’, 222. 172 Jantzen, 145. 173 Adam of Bremen, 3: 13; Tschan, 124; Sawyer, Da Danmark blev Danmark, 287.

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networks declined. Rather, some of these networks were reconfigured, with trade shifting eastwards to include the Arab world. There were thus different regional circumstances across the network, which helps to explain the different trajectories of the emporia in the ninth and tenth centuries.174

Conclusion Beginning in the early eighth century, the first urban settlements in Denmark were founded as part of the North Sea emporia trade network. This category of settlements developed beginning in the seventh century in the English Channel area and along the coasts of the North Sea as nodes in long-distance trading networks. As such, they were located in spaces that were most convenient for international connections, and they were points of contact and trade between different regions in northern Europe. They were a new type of urban settlement, unconnected with earlier Roman towns, and they were founded to further develop the growing trade of the period. The emporia differed from local markets and landing places in both the scale and scope of activities. Foreigners frequented them for longer periods, as is evidenced by their bringing utilitarian objects, such as pottery, for their personal use. Also, in contrast to the minor sites, artisans at the emporia produced goods using imported raw materials, while the craftsmen at the landing places were using mainly local raw materials in their work. Moreover, the emporia show evidence for much greater use of balances, weights, coins, and hack-silver, and they served as gateways for long-distance luxury products. They were also an important source of tolls and taxes for kings and local magnates, and it is clear that these rulers took an interest. In order to further facilitate trade and protect merchants, Danish rulers pursued trade alliances with their counterparts on the Continent, such as when the Danish king, Sigifrid, entered into an agreement with the Carolingian king, Louis the German, concerning trade between their respective territories in 873. A number of emporia are known to have existed in Denmark, based on their status as nodes in long-distance exchange. In considering the history of the Danish emporia, several themes stand out that will continue to be traced through the urbanization process in the following chapters. The first is the role of trade in the genesis and development of these settlements. For Ribe, founded in the first decade of the eighth century, the opportunity for 174 Loveluck, 305-306.

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trade was likely of prime importance in its initial foundation, with Frisian merchants looking for a more northerly market to expand their trading opportunities. Nonetheless, they could not have acted without the permission of the local ruler, probably the Danish king, Ongendus, mentioned in the vita of St. Willibrord. Artefacts relating to craft production and trade show the international orientation of the site, with artisans working with imported material such as glass and non-ferrous metal. Hedeby likewise was founded with a view to trade, albeit on the initiative of the king. Located at the base of the Jutland peninsula, it was founded in 808 when the Danish king, Godfred, forcibly relocated the merchant population of Reric to a site within his own territory. Likely modelled on the Frisian emporium of Dorestad, the archaeological evidence at Hedeby shows clear connections with Francia, Saxony, Frisia, and Scandinavia. Around the same time as Hedeby was founded, Aarhus was settled on the east coast of the Jutland peninsula. Ideally located for trade to the north, west, and southeast, the find material shows early contacts with the Baltic region. Likewise, Kaupang on the Oslo Fjord and Åhus in Scania have evidence indicating the international nature of the settlements, including extensive craft production using imported raw materials. Moreover, Kaupang was mentioned as an important port by the Norwegian trader Ohthere in his account to the Anglo-Saxon king, Alfred the Great. The settlements would clearly not have existed if it was not for their role in local and international trade networks. Trade would certainly continue to be one of the main functions of later urban centres, and, as will be explored in the following chapters, the economic expansion of the Middle Ages would play a major role in urban development going forward. This trade was further facilitated by the use and minting of coins. In general, the use of coins in trade transactions was not a regular feature of exchange in Denmark with the exception of the emporia. Traders in these settlements favoured using money, predominantly silver coins, as a medium of exchange for a number of reasons. Foreign merchants would have preferred it, since silver was the accepted currency across the North Sea trade zone. Coins would make it much simpler to carry out the large number of transactions occurring in urban settlements, and the high number of potential trading partners, many who might never meet again, would also favour the use of a widely accepted means of exchange. It is not surprising that the earliest domestic minting of coins in Denmark begins in the emporia, first in Ribe and then in Hedeby. Coin use would have greatly aided the trade and exchange that were crucial to the existence of the emporia network. The expanded use of coins in trade and the increasing velocity of money would be an ongoing factor in urbanization.

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A second theme that winds its way through this history is related to political developments, namely the role of the king, or other local authority figure, in urban development. At Ribe, the involvement of a central authority is clear from the early demarcation of the settlement and its division into plots. The later fortifications of the settlement were also built on the initiative of a political authority. Hedeby likewise was fortified in the mid-tenth century with the expansion of the Danevirke to include a semicircular wall surrounding the settlement. In addition, a possible location for the royal manor from which Hedeby was controlled has been found at the associated site of Füsing, a few kilometres from the emporium itself. Royal interest is also likely for the earliest period of Aarhus. Place names from the surrounding area indicate that Aarhus was in a militarily important region, as does the major building project at Kanhave Canal. Like Ribe and Hedeby, the settlement was fortified, first in the early tenth century and then again in the second half of the tenth. Kaupang on the Oslo Fjord and Åhus in Scania show similar evidence of royal or magnate interest in their early history, as both sites were divided into plots, with separate residential and craft areas. Unlike Ribe, Hedeby, and Aarhus, however, neither Kaupang, nor Åhus was fortified, and neither site continued as a settlement into the Middle Ages. This circumstance could provide evidence that political will was necessary for the health of an urban community. Without a central authority to help organize and stabilize commerce, in addition to providing protection, urban locales would not be able to survive, let alone thrive. They would not be attractive places to conduct trade on any large scale. It would also be in the interest of the local leadership to provide secure and well-organized urban trading settlements, as the taxes and tolls that could be realized was necessary for their political well-being as well. This was a period of increasing political centralization, and the frequent wars for control and expansion of territories were expensive. Consequently, kings and other leaders would have needed all the money they could get. In this way, while the history of the emporia and other urban sites were in part shaped by political forces, rulers were just as dependent on the wealth generated by the emporia network for their own political fates. The role of royal power in urban development would become increasingly important in the following centuries. This will be particularly evident as government in Denmark became more centralized and organized, and the role of towns as administrative centres became an important part of their identity. A last theme that should be considered is the role of Christianity to the urbanization process. While Denmark was not Christian until 963,

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the Christian religion had already made some inroads into the Danish lands. Urban centres and Christianity were entwined in two ways. First, the emporia were the earliest sites of Christian missionary activity in Denmark. As population centres, particularly ones with a mixed population of Danes and foreigners, many of whom were Christian merchants, they were a natural point of entry for missionaries from the Continent wanting to spread the new religion. While this early missionary activity had mixed success in terms of conversion, the missionaries did succeed in establishing churches in the emporia. For example, in the ninth century, Ansgar gained permission to build churches and install priests in both Hedeby and Ribe, and archaeological excavations confirm the presence of Christian burials here. There is also likely to have been an early church in Aarhus in the first half of the tenth century, located outside the fortifications. Second, even though this early missionizing did not succeed in making Denmark a Christian kingdom, nevertheless the building of Christian churches in the emporia did help make them more prosperous by attracting foreign Christian merchants. Also, the presence of churches helped to ensure the permanency of a settlement, and it is likely no coincidence that Ribe, Hedeby, and Aarhus, which had churches, continued to thrive, while Kaupang and Åhus, with no evidence of such structures, did not. The role of the Church in urban growth will also be a fruitful line of inquiry into continued urban development in Denmark. There was thus not a single factor that can be said to have shaped the growth and expansion of the emporia. Rather, it was a confluence of different forces, economic, political, and religious, that determined their rise and eventual decline and/or transformation. These three forces would continue to shape urban development in Denmark. The next chapter will follow this thread through the end of the Viking Age, and it covers the new types of urban settlements founded in the decades around the year 1000.

3.

New Forms of Urbanization (c. 950-c.1050)

The mid-tenth century saw the beginning of new developments in urbanization in northern Europe. These developments were a reflection of a tendency towards a more organized society, both politically and economically. Tenthcentury Denmark experienced a new level of political organization, which became especially pronounced during the reigns of Harald Bluetooth (r. c. 958-987) and his successors. This political organization manifested itself in a number of ways, including monumental building projects, urban fortification, as well as the minting of domestic coins. New specialized bulk cargo ships that developed in this period point to an increased security on the seas as well as indicating a higher volume of exchange. In conjunction with this, there was also a move towards more organized trade and exchange, which is also reflected in the specialized cargo ships as well as increasing regulation of coinage. The new towns that developed in the period show a different organization than the emporia, in that they combined regional administrative centres with trade in a single site. In this way, they provided for the new needs of a more organized society, in a way that the emporia could not. The administrative aspect of the new towns is reflected in royal involvement in not only their development, but also in some cases their initial foundation. Moreover, the conversion to Christianity meant that the Church gained a firmer position in Danish society. The earliest settlement of several of the new towns in this period coincides with the building of a church, and the first Danish bishoprics were created in the tenth century. The administrative needs of the Church would have been a further spur to urbanization and would have ensured a population of consumers in the towns. Likewise, royal administrators would have been a continued presence in the towns. The towns would also have served as a place of exchange for the surrounding rural areas, providing many of the same types of trade goods that the emporia had done, while also serving as dependable markets for rural produce. In Scandinavia, the consolidation of royal power manifested itself in the creation of larger and more integrated states.1 In Denmark, an important 1 The question of state formation and exactly when Denmark transitioned from a chiefdom into a medieval kingdom has engendered much debate in the historiography. An overview of the various arguments and schools of thought can be found in Hybel, The Nature of Kingship,

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period in this process coincides with the reign of Harald Bluetooth, who succeeded his father, Gorm, in 958/9 and was one of the f irst kings in a new dynasty, the Jelling dynasty. Jutland constituted the original base for his royal line, and Harald raised a number of large and innovative buildings and memorials, the most spectacular of which are located at Jelling. 2 Among these is a great rune stone, on which it says, “King Harald commanded this monument to be made in memory of Gorm, his father, and in memory of Thorvi [Thyre], his mother – that Harald who won the whole of Denmark for himself, and Norway and made the Danes Christian.”3 The inscription thus indicates that he took power in all of Denmark, which suggests that ‘Denmark’ was already a recognized political entity in the mid-tenth century. Exactly when this happened is unknown, but from this period ‘Denmark’ clearly signif ied a unif ied realm under a single monarch. 4 The rune stone, along with a number of large-scale building works, show Harald to have been an ambitious ruler. The most significant of the construction projects that have been attributed to him include the bridge at Ravning Enge, ten kilometres south of Jelling, the fortresses of Trelleborg type, and the Danevirke ramparts along the southern border of the kingdom. These sites have all been dated to the second half of the tenth century, with their construction most likely all taking place during his reign.5 Remains of a large wooden bridge have been discovered at Ravning Enge in eastern Jutland. The site forms part of a river valley system approximately ten kilometres south of Jelling. Timbers for the bridge have been dendrochronologically dated to 979 or 980, placing its construction to within Harald’s reign. The completed structure measured approximately 760 metres long and five metres wide, and it had an estimated carrying capacity of five tons. It was built at the widest part of the river valley, which could have been intended to minimize the risk of ice and flood damage. The massive size of the bridge, however, shows 7-32, while Hybel himself argues that the development of a national medieval kingdom was an ongoing process that intensified during the thirteenth century without being fully attained. It is a question that is beyond the scope of the present study, although this process, which saw the consolidation of power in the Crown, was an important element in urbanization, as will be explored in the following. 2 Roesdahl, ‘The Emergence of Denmark’, 656-57. 3 “Haraldr kunungR bað gørva kumbl þǿsi æft Gōrm, faður sinn, ok æft Þōrvī, mōður sīna, sā Haraldr es sēR vann Danmǫrk alla ok Norveg ok dani gærði krīstna.” ‘Jelling-sten 2 (DK nr.: SJy 11)’, Danske Runeindskrifter, accessed 14 January, 2019, http://runer.ku.dk/VisGenstand. aspx?Titel=Jelling-sten_2; Roesdahl, ‘The Emergence of Denmark’, 657-58. 4 Roesdahl, ‘The Emergence of Denmark’, 652. 5 Pedersen, ‘Monumental Expression’, 68.

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Map 6. Denmark with Trelleborg fortresses and fortified sites.

not only the skill of the royal craftsmen, but also the immense resources at the king’s command.6 Built around the same time as the Ravning Enge bridge, the Trelleborg fortresses consist of at least four but possibly as many as six fortresses that all follow the same basic geometric pattern. They were circular and divided into quadrants and all seemingly in use for only a few decades in the late tenth century. All of the fortresses were located near important overland routes and near the coast, and include Trelleborg on Zealand, Aggersborg in northern Jutland, Fyrkat in north-eastern Jutland, and Nonnebakken on Funen. A newly discovered site in eastern Zealand, Borrering/Borgring, also seems to belong to this group, and C-14 dating indicates a date in the late tenth century. Two fortress sites have also been suggested for Scania, Borgeby north-west of Lund and Trelleborg at the southern coast, although the latter lacks the characteristic internal layout of the other fortresses.7 The fortresses are comprised of timber-framed earth and turf ramparts between 140 and 250 metres in diameter, along with traces of large buildings and other timber constructions. Laid out in a strikingly similar geometric pattern, with the earthworks, buildings, and other features arranged with meticulous accuracy, they were all built in a short period around 975-980 AD. 6 Ibid., 71-73. 7 Ibid., 68-71.

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They are all precisely circular, with four gateways located at right angles in the ramparts and oriented at the principal points of the compass. Connecting the gateways within each fortress are timber-paved streets crossing at right angles in the centre. Another street runs along the inner side of the rampart. The streets thus form quadrants, and, with the exception of Aggersborg, within each quadrant was a courtyard of four large wooden buildings. Aggersborg was a much larger structure, and it had three courtyards in each quadrant. These fortresses represent a huge concentration of labour and organization, and their distribution across Denmark indicates that there was a central organizing power in the kingdom.8 The fortresses can be considered, together with the towns of Hedeby, Ribe, and Aarhus and along with the fortified royal site at Jelling, as having formed a defensive network across Denmark (Map 6). Moreover, this network of sites would have likely formed an effective system of regional defence, similar to the near contemporaneous burghal system in England and the Burgenordung in Ottonian Germany.9 By the mid-tenth century, Hedeby was a densely populated trading settlement that functioned as a nodal point in a network of long-distance exchange as well as being a site of specialized craft production. For much of its early history, the emporium was unprotected by any defensive works, as it lay to the southeast of the Main Wall of the Danevirke. A semicircular rampart, however, was built sometime in the mid-tenth century. The rampart consisted of a 1.3-kilometre-long palisade and a ditch and had two gate openings in the northern and southern part of the wall. It was presumably already built when the Connecting Wall integrating it into the Danevirke system was constructed in the 960s. To the south of the Connecting Wall, outside of the semicircular ramparts, a second rampart and evidence of two moats have been found. One of the moats cut into a burial containing a coin minted after 950, so the moat was dug sometime after that date.10 A separate fortification, the Kovirke, was built to the south of Hedeby and the Main Wall of the Danevirke. The Kovirke consists of a 6.5-kilometre-long moat and rampart, and it was likely intended to provide an alternative defensive position along the shortest possible distance. The ramparts were seven metres wide and an estimated two metres high, while the V-shaped moat was four metres wide and three metres deep. The construction has been C-14 dated to the late tenth century, likely around 980 AD. The design 8 Goodchild, Holm, and Sindbæk, ‘Borgring’, 1027-1028. 9 Ibid., 1039-1040. 10 Pedersen, ‘Monumental Expression’, 74.

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and construction of Kovirke is similar to that of the Trelleborg fortresses. Moreover, there has only been one identified construction phase and no signs of repair, indicating that, like the fortresses and the Ravning Enge Bridge, it was only in use for a short period.11 Nevertheless, it would have provided additional security for the settlement from the south during its period of operation. Security from attacks from the south was a necessity because Harald Bluetooth was engaged in a protracted struggle with the Germans under the emperors Otto I and Otto II, who considered Denmark to be part of their empire.12 The early emporia sites were not fortified, while the early medieval towns were. The construction of fortifications, particularly those around the early towns, would have reduced the costs and risks of conducting trade. It seems very likely that the town fortifications were built with defence in mind, and not as a way for kings to control access to prestige goods, as has been argued previously.13 The defensive purposes of the fortified towns is particularly evident if they are seen in conjunction with the contemporaneous construction of the Trelleborg fortresses, so that these sites formed a defensive network across the kingdom. While the Trelleborg fortresses were seemingly only in use for a short period of time in the late tenth century, the fortifications built around the early towns were longer lasting. Another consequence of this system of defence would have been to reduce transaction costs, which are the costs associated with making an exchange and participating in the market. Fortified centres would thus have been more attractive for traders, particularly following the political turmoil on the Continent as a result of Carolingian civil wars and Viking attacks. They likely also had an important role in the continuation of these urban settlements. It is certainly noteworthy that two trading settlements that were never fortified, Kaupang and Åhus, were also abandoned during this period. In addition to the major building works and fortifications, it was also during the reign of Harald Bluetooth that Denmark became Christian, at least nominally, with the conversion of the king in 963.14 An account of the conversion was recorded by Widukind of Corvey, who completed his chronicle c. 968. Considering that he wrote almost contemporaneously with the event, it is likely that he was well informed about it.15 According to 11 Ibid., 73. 12 Hybel, The Nature of Kingship, 123. 13 For discussion, see Chapter 2. 14 Gelting, ‘Poppo’s Ordeal’, 101-133. 15 Gelting, ‘The Kingdom of Denmark’, 80.

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Widukind, a priest, Poppo, passed an ordeal by iron, convincing Harald of the superiority of Christ. Harald then ordered that his people should henceforth follow Christianity and abandon their pagan deities.16 Christianity seems to have been mainly relegated to the elite sphere, at least in the one hundred or so years after Christianization.17 Thus, the formal decree by Harald did not mean that there was a quick transition in the fundamental beliefs and religious practices of the people, which was a much longer process. Nonetheless, the conversion of the king did factor in centralizing political power in the monarchy, as well as allowing for the establishment of an ecclesiastical organization in the kingdom.18 Christian churches were a feature of the new towns, as will be detailed below. Moreover, certain of the towns, Ribe, Aarhus, and Schleswig-Hedeby, had previously been named as bishoprics in 948, although it is not known if the three bishops with the German names, Liafdag, Hored, and Reginbrand, were able to visit their dioceses before Harald’s conversion. A fourth bishopric, Odense, was added sometime before 988.19 Even if the bishops were not resident, the presence of a church in each town is still likely. Svein Forkbeard (r. 986-1014) came to the throne following a rebellion against Harald, who died in exile c. 987.20 The four bishops who had been in Denmark while Harald was in power were under the archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen. Following Harald’s deposition, they were forced to flee into exile. In their place, Svein brought in Anglo-Saxon missionary bishops without fixed dioceses.21 It was under Svein that large Viking armies repeatedly attacked and raided England, extracting tribute and protection money. These attacks culminated in his invasion and conquest of England in 1013, where he died unexpectedly just a few months later, early in 1014.22 16 Widukind of Corvey, 140-141. 17 Gelting, ‘The Kingdom of Denmark’, 86. Although it seems as if not all members of the aristocracy were as quick to convert to the new religion, especially in northeastern Jutland, where pagan horse burials continued to be practiced into the late tenth and early eleventh centuries. Bolton, The Empire of Cnut the Great, 198. 18 The medieval conception of Christian kingship included the idea that just as one God ruled the world, there must only be one king in a country. This belief would have had a centralizing effect. Moreover, the physical act of conversion, including the destruction of pagan cult sites, would have given the king an opportunity to install his own adherents in place of the old chieftains who had also been cult leaders, strengthening the position of the king. Bagge, 64-70. 19 Gelting, ‘The Kingdom of Denmark’, 81-82. 20 Sawyer, Da Danmark blev Danmark, 244. 21 Gelting, ‘The Kingdom of Denmark’, 83. 22 Bolton, The Empire of Cnut the Great, 9-10.

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One son, Harald II (r. 1014-1018), ascended to the throne in Denmark, while another son, Cnut, re-invaded England and took control of that kingdom in 1016. Following Harald’s death in 1018, Cnut was elected king in Denmark (r. 1018-1035), although he spent the majority of his reign in England.23 Cnut probably established a new diocesan structure for Denmark early in his reign, with the creation of four bishoprics, one for each of the main provinces: Jutland, Funen, Zealand, and Scania. Initially under the authority of Canterbury, Cnut may have recognized the primacy of Hamburg-Bremen for a short period around 1030 as part of negotiations with the German king, Conrad II. Notably, it was from then on, that Denmark had a stable institutional framework for supporting the Church.24 The new level of political centralization in Denmark in this period was an important factor in urban growth. Not only were existing urban settlements fortified during the reign of Harald Bluetooth, but a number of new towns were founded under his successors. These new towns, which were founded around the year 1000, show clear indications of heavy royal involvement from their earliest settlement. Svein Forkbeard pursued a policy of town foundation during his reign, likely as hubs to help in his administration of the kingdom. The royal court was an itinerant one and having multiple administrative bases would have been crucial to a functional government. Svein’s son, Cnut, continued this policy of urban administrative development, possibly modelled on his English kingdom.25 The location of the new towns of this period also give some evidence of their administrative function, as they were all located slightly inland. Some, such as Roskilde and Aalborg, were accessible by waterways and lay at the bottom of a f jord. Such a location had certain advantages. For one, it would enlarge the area around the town available as its hinterland. 23 Sawyer, Da Danmark blev Danmark, 266-267. 24 Gelting, ‘The Kingdom of Denmark’, 83. After Cnut’s death in 1035, his three sons took power. Harthacnut (r. 1035-1042), who had reigned as his co-king in Denmark, ascended to the Danish throne, while Harald Harefoot became king of England, and Svein took over in Norway. With the deaths of his two half-brothers, Harthacnut gained the throne of England, while the Norwegian Magnus the Good was elected king there. Harthacnut and Magnus entered into an agreement whereby he who lived the longest would inherit the other’s realm. Harthacnut died shortly thereafter in 1042, and Magnus (r. 1042-1047) headed to Denmark with an army to press his claim by force. He was met with resistance from Svein Estridsen, a son of Cnut’s sister. The first encounter between Magnus and Svein resulted in Svein’s defeat and flight from the kingdom. When Magnus died in 1047, Svein Estridsen (r. 1047-1074) was elected king. Hybel, The Nature of Kingship, 87. 25 Bolton, The Empire of Cnut the Great, 175.

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Map 7. Denmark with mint sites and towns founded before 1050.

For another, there would also be better opportunities for the town to take advantage of an overall road system, with the possibility of multiple roads meeting in the town. In this way, the town could benef it from traff ic along the roads having to pass through town on longer journeys. Several towns, however, were located even further inland, without access to any waterways. Examples of such a placement include Lund in Scania, Slagelse and Ringsted on Zealand, Odense on Funen, and Viborg in Jutland. In these instances, an inland location was considered of more importance than having access to ships.26 As will be explored further below, it is clear for several of these towns that the road system was in place before the town was founded, and so likely at least partially informed its location. They would thus be accessible to travel by road. The fact that accessibility to maritime traff ic was not a consideration, however, indicates that trade was not the prime motivator for their being. Ships were still the easiest and most eff icient way to transport commodities, particularly internationally. Because of their lack of easy access to waterways, these new towns differed markedly in their purpose and function from the emporia discussed in the previous chapter, which had international trade as their almost sole raison d’être. Now, other considerations took precedence in certain instances. 26 Kristensen and Poulsen, 71-72.

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Viborg The earliest settlement at Viborg dates to slightly before the year 1000, although its role as a thing site likely goes back much further.27 The thing, or provincial parliament of Jutland, continued to meet in Viborg throughout the Middle Ages. Viborg’s location was well-suited to be a meeting place, as it was situated at the junction of a number of important roads. The north-south Army Road linked it to Schleswig in the south and from there to the rest of Europe, while other roads led from the North Sea in the west to the Skagerrak in the east.28 A large farm with a number of buildings and associated plough marks dating to the ninth and tenth centuries has been found at Store Sct. Peder Stræde in the centre of the present town.29 The earliest urban settlement traces, however, are later and have been found by the lakeside that is located to the southwest of the present town. Excavations at this site, Viborg Søndersø, were carried out in 1981, 1984-1985, and 2001, and they show evidence of activities taking place over a large area around the year 1000, with the earliest layers dating back to the late tenth century.30 The tenth-century settlement seems to have been densely built, with rectangular houses of wood and wattle walls. Because this was a marshy area, before the houses could be built, foundations of wattle-matting or thin logs and clay were laid under the floors.31 The earliest dendrochronological date of 1015 is from a piece of wood found in the floor layer of one of the houses. This house still had remains of the wattle wall, which had been built over a wooden sill. From a second house of similar construction it was possible to date the sill dendrochronologically to 1018+/-1.32 Craft production that was practiced in Viborg includes leatherworking, with over 2000 pieces of leather dating to the tenth and eleventh centuries. The leather has been found in conjunction with shoemaking, although it does not seem that professional shoemakers were present in the town in the earliest phase. The waste material from leatherwork, however, does indicate that there was a professional craftsman producing finished leather.33 Craftsmen working with bone and antler were also active from Viborg’s earliest history, producing 27 Kristensen, ‘Faser i Viborgs topografiske udvikling’, 82. 28 Linaa, 71. 29 Noe, ‘Pre-Medieval Plough Marks’, 17-18. 30 Kristensen, ‘Udravningerne’, 55. 31 Iversen, et al., Viborgs historie, 27. 32 Kristensen, ‘Bebyggelsen’, 67. 33 Koch, ‘Læder’, 181.

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items such as combs, skates, and knife handles.34 Traces of metalwork are scattered across the site, with evidence of bronze-casting, in the form of crucibles and tuyeres,35 dominating the finds.36 Other crafts carried out at the site include woodworking and carpentry, with wood shavings and turning cores for making turned wooden bowls, as well as fragments of the bowls themselves, evidence of specialized production.37 Spindle whorls and remains of wool combs indicate that textile work was being done, although there is no indication that it was professional work in Viborg; rather, individual households were producing for private use. No loom weights, which would indicate weaving, have been found, but it is possible weaving was done in specialized weaving huts located outside the excavated area.38 The 2001 excavations at Viborg Søndersø uncovered a workshop along with a fence and latrine, which have all been dendrochronologically dated to within the same period. The workshop was constructed in 1018, while the fence was built in 1018-1019 and the latrine in 1019-1020. The fence divided the workshop from the latrine, and both the workshop and latrine were in use from 1020 to 1025, when the workshop was demolished. Based on analyses of insect and other invertebrate remains, it is evident that the entire site was occupied seasonally, in the winter and early spring. The workshop was used in metalworking, as is indicated by finds of part of the foundation for the forge, a deep circular pit containing the stock of an anvil, and a support post for the bellows. In addition, fragments of iron and silver were also found, and there was no indication of domestic activities, such as food preparation or consumption, in the building. In winter and early spring of 1021-1022, the building switched to a comb maker’s workshop, and the deposits in the floor contained many fragments of antler. The combs were similar in type and decoration to those known from other urban sites in eleventh century Denmark, including Aarhus and Lund. The waste material and specialized production of the combs could indicate that production was undertaken to order, rather than for a market. In 1023 the workshop was abandoned, and although it remained in good repair, it was demolished in 1025, and a new building erected.39 The urban settlement at Viborg benefitted from royal involvement early on. The site where the town developed had historical central place functions 34 35 36 37 38 39

Christensen, ‘Genstande og affald’, 152-154. A tuyere is a tube, nozzle, or pipe through which air is blown into a furnace or hearth. Kristensen, ‘The Sønderø quarter’, 362. Ibid.; Hjermind and Jantzen, 229-230. Kristensen, ‘The Søndersø quarter’, 363. Linaa, 74-81.

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with past importance as a pagan cult site and status as a thing site, which benef itted the settlement and partly explains its continued growth. 40 Viborg’s development into an urban settlement can be traced back to the decades around the year 1000, during the reigns of Svein Forkbeard and his sons, Harald and Cnut. At that time, it is likely that there was royal authority or influence over the urban development of the site. The excavations at Viborg Søndersø indicate that this site was a craft production and industrial area with evidence of large-scale planning. That the site was carefully planned is evident from the clay and wattle-matting foundation that had been laid on the marshy lakeside prior to construction of the first buildings. Moreover, the area also seems to have been deliberately chosen in order to take advantage of its central location where several important roads crossed. Otherwise, it would make more sense to build on solid ground further up in the hills than along a marshy lakefront. As mentioned above, these roads ran north-south along the Jutland peninsula and east-west to the North Sea and the Skagerrak. Also, an approximately 100-metre-wide spit of land connected Viborg to the nearby settlement of Asmild on the opposite side of the lakes, with a road and likely also a bridge allowing passage between the two. 41 The road system within the town itself also seems to have been further developed in the early eleventh century. Excavators uncovered what is likely a section of plank-paved road that ran north-south over the marshy terrain. Two wooden poles that likely formed part of the underlaying foundation for the road have been dendrochronologically dated to 1018, while wooden timbers from the road date to 1020 and 1028. 42 Most of the initial construction of Viborg is dated to within the reign of Cnut, and there seems to have been a construction boom in this period. The early houses, wooden plank road, and smith building all seem to have been built within a few years of each other, and the period of use of the smith building and the latrine located behind it date to the winter of 1019-1020. Timothy Bolton has noted that this time frame corresponds with a stay in Denmark by Cnut. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Cnut travelled to Denmark in 1019, and stayed the winter.43 The purpose of his trip was likely to accept the sole kingship following the death, or possibly the deposition, of his brother, Harald. Cnut likely returned to England in March or early April of 1020. While not much is known about the rituals of inauguration 40 Hybel and Poulsen, 230. 41 Iversen, et al., Viborgs historie, 27-28. 42 Kristensen, ‘Bebyggelsen’, 78-79. 43 Swanton, 154-155.

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in early eleventh century Denmark, it seems clear that there was some sort of progression to election sites spread across the kingdom where the king would be acclaimed. Viborg is known to have been one of these sites and would in fact become the main royal election site in the later Middle Ages. The construction phase might have been the result of the new king and his many followers staying in the town and its vicinity. 44 Recently uncovered ceramics from the site of the smith building could also point to a connection with Cnut. Two sherds of domestically produced pottery are from vessels that were wheel thrown and identical in style to those produced in late Anglo-Saxon England. Because native pottery production and the use of a potter’s wheel were rare in Scandinavia before the twelfth century and thirteenth century, respectively, it is likely that the potters, not the pots, were brought to Denmark from England. These English potters produced domestic pottery in styles and using technology that was familiar to them but unavailable in Denmark. They could have been part of the extended families of English moneyers or other officials brought to the kingdom by Cnut. 45

Roskilde Roskilde was founded sometime around the year 1000, and it quickly came to play a central role in both the political and religious administration of medieval Denmark. According to Adam of Bremen, by the 1070s Roskilde was the largest city on the island of Zealand and “the seat of Danish royalty.”46 Adam also states that Harald Bluetooth built a church there dedicated to the Holy Trinity in which he was eventually buried. 47 This claim has been met with some scepticism by modern historians, however, who have noted that Adam could have had very partisan reasons for attributing the church to Harald Bluetooth. 48 Moreover, the archaeological evidence at this point 44 Bolton, The Empire of Cnut the Great, 167-68. 45 Ibid., 168-69. 46 “sedes regia Danorum,” Adam of Bremen, 4:5; Tschan, 190. 47 Adam of Bremen, 2: 28; Tschan, 73. 48 Niels Lund argues that this story was invented by Adam of Bremen to strengthen HamburgBremen’s claim to supremacy over Scandinavia. For more on this argument, see Lund, Harald Blåtands Død og Hans Begravelse i Roskilde? Frank A. Birkebæk introduces the possibility that Svein Forkbeard was the actual founder of the church, but that Adam purposefully credited Harald with the construction instead, potentially as part of an attempted canonization of Harald. Birkebæk, ‘Fra handelsplads til metropol 950-1080’, 64-65.

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does not support such an early foundation, but rather one closer to the year 1000. Aside from a few stray finds, the earliest artefacts date to the eleventh century. There are also no traces of buildings or other constructions dating to before this period. 49 There is no indication, then, that the town grew up around an earlier settlement, such as a large farm or a market/trade site. It seems clear instead that Roskilde was a royal foundation from the very beginning, probably during the reign of Svein Forkbeard. Svein is credited by Saxo with growing the town and increasing the number of its inhabitants.50 Unlike the earlier towns which developed from emporia, Roskilde’s purpose was thus less related to trade and more with an eye to administration. Roskilde was important to the early ecclesiastical administration of Denmark. Adam of Bremen mentions that Cnut the Great introduced bishops from England to Denmark, among whom was Gerbrand, who became bishop of Roskilde.51 Gerbrand appears as a witness in an English charter from 1022 where he’s listed as “Gerbrand of the see of Roskilde among the Danes.”52 Potentially in conjunction with the establishment of this see, a number of churches were built in the early eleventh century.53 One such church is that of St. Jørgensbjerg, which at that time was dedicated to St. Clement. The present church contains parts of an older one, which is the oldest archaeologically documented stone church in Denmark. The northern doorway of the church was taken from the original building and reused, and this doorway has been dated to c. 1035.54 A hoard of 108 coins found under the foundations of the church has been dated to after c. 1029 but before 1035. The earlier numismatic date would suggest that the original church was in fact built during the last years of the reign of Cnut the Great, who died in 1035.55 The original church was torn down and the present one built in its place sometime before 1100. The placement of the early church, and choice of location for the town in general, is quite possibly connected to an early cult or religious site. The magnate centre at Lejre had replaced this earlier site, but the memory of Roskilde as an ancient religious place was still present in the Viking Age. This remembrance could help explain why the king chose Roskilde specifically as 49 Ulriksen, Krause, and Jensen, 163-64. 50 “quam postmodum Sueno furcate barbe cognomento clarus ciuibus auxit, amplitudine propagauit.” Saxo 2, 5, 2. 51 Adam of Bremen, 2: 55; Tschan, 93. 52 “Gerbrandus Roscylde parochie Danorum gente,” DD I: 1, 411. 53 Bolton, The Empire of Cnut the Great, 170. 54 Andersen and Nielsen, 121. 55 Jensen, Tusindtallets Danske Mønter, 38.

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the royal seat when the early Christian kingship was being manifested onto the landscape. It was a way to strengthen the perception of the Christian king as having access to traditional understandings of power and prestige.56 It seems to have been quite common for the new religion to have been practiced in the same places as its pagan predecessor, typically in elite residences.57 There was thus precedence for the king to choose to reinvent a location with roots as a pagan cult site as a Christian capital for his kingdom.58 Because of the traditional role of the king or chieftain as cult leader among Germanic peoples, once Denmark became Christian it was a relatively simple transition for the king to take on his new role as God’s earthly administrator and protector of the church.59 The early religious nature of the place had been connected to the many natural springs that were found in the area, which in Nordic mythology have mystical powers.60 Water also plays an important role in Christian belief, with holy water used in the sacrament of baptism and for spiritual cleansing. In connection with this sacral nature of water, a nearly ten-metre-deep well has been found under the floor of Roskilde Cathedral. The well, which dates to the basilica from the 1080s, was located in the north-eastern corner of the choir. It likely had a ritual purpose, similar to wells located in the cathedrals in Viborg, Lund, and Odense.61 With regard to trade, the early development of Roskilde seemingly was more dependent on political rather than economic activities. For foreign merchants, access to the town necessitated sailing the somewhat difficult route through Roskilde Fjord, which would indicate that ease of access for ships was not the primary consideration when establishing the town.62 Moreover, excavations in 1996 and 1997 in Roskilde’s early harbour area, Vindeboder, indicate that activities did not begin in the area until sometime in the mid-eleventh century. The archaeological evidence does not show any 56 Ulriksen, ‘Roskilde i 11. og 12. Århundrede’, 171. 57 Gelting, ‘The Kingdom of Denmark’, 86. 58 Also, a strategy of religious syncretism in the conversion of pagans had been endorsed by Pope Gregory the Great in 601, when he instructed King Ethelbert of Kent to convert the pagan shrines in his kingdom into Christian churches. Gregory believed that the people of Kent would more readily accept Christianity if the shrines were not destroyed, and they would more readily congregate at places with which they were already familiar. Demacopoulos, 366-367. Bede quotes from this letter in his Ecclesiastical History from 731, so it is possible that Svein or his English bishops were familiar with this strategy and chose to employ it when establishing the Church more fully in Denmark. Bede, 1, 30. 59 Ulriksen, Krause, and Jensen, 169. 60 Ibid., 166. 61 Ibid., 152. 62 Ulriksen, ‘Vindeboder’, 181.

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permanent settlement in Vindeboder, and there were no traces of parcelled plots or demarcation of any kind of boundary uncovered during the excavations. Rather, the harbour shows certain similarities with the landing places and beach sites discussed in Chapter 1.63 Although no pit houses have been found, it is clear from the archaeological material that craft production did take place here in the eleventh century. Iron slag indicates that iron work was being carried out, and a piece of a crucible and fragments of moulds show the presence of a jewellery maker. Comb makers were also active, as is clear from the discarded fragments of antler and other unfinished comb material. Bone needles and spindle whorls point to the presence of weavers, while shoemakers left behind small amounts of skins and leather waste. Trade activities themselves have left little trace, with only a single weight and a single coin dating to the eleventh century having been found.64 Considering the challenging sea route to the town along with the lack of archaeological evidence prior to the mid-eleventh century, it seems likely that craftsmen and traders were attracted to the already established town, rather than being the reason for its initial development. It was a royal foundation, for royal prestige and administration and power.

Lund The earliest traces of activities in Lund date to c. 990, when a wooden church, Trinitatis, and associated Christian burial ground were in use.65 This church dates to the reign of Svein Forkbeard, and may well be the same church that the Roskilde chronicler references when he says that Svein “built a church in Scania.”66 A stone church, built sometime between 1020 and 1030, replaced the wooden one, and seems to have been inspired by Anglo-Saxon design. It had certain architectural and design similarities to ones in Anglo-Saxon England, such as the cathedral in North Elmham, Norfolk, and the church in Sompting, Sussex.67 Moreover, Saxo mentions that “the people of Lund constructed a shrine, and under bishop Gerbrand of Roskilde they held divine service in their own church.”68 As explained 63 Ibid., 184, 189. 64 Ibid., 175-176. 65 Arcini, 19; Hervén, 263. 66 “in Scania ecclesiam erexit,” Chronicon Roskildense, 19-20. 67 Cinthio, ‘Trinitatiskyrkan’, 161-164. 68 “Eo tempore Lundenses sacrarium moliti sub Gerbrando Roskildie presule rem diuinam domestici templi religione gesserunt,” Saxo, 10, 11, 6.

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above, Gerbrand was among the bishops that Cnut brought from England and installed in Denmark. The English influence suggests that Cnut had a hand in furthering the development of the town, by bringing followers and craftsmen over from England. In connection with the oldest church at Lund, archaeologists have also uncovered a Christian burial ground. Based on a number of archaeological excavations carried out in 1961, 1974-1975, and 1982-1983, the area of the churchyard has been estimated at approximately 7000 square metres, with more than half of the area having been excavated. In the excavated area, 1144 graves were interpreted based on their stratigraphy as belonging to the oldest churchyard, which was in use from c. 990 until the 1050s.69 With the entire churchyard likely containing more than 3400 graves, it has been calculated that it served a population of between 1500 and 2800 people. The town of Lund itself, however, has been estimated only to have had a population of between 400 and 600 people in this period. The churchyard would thus have served as a burial site for a much larger community, perhaps functioning as an early Christian necropolis for Scania.70 It would have been important for Christians in the region to be buried on holy ground. It is likely that the location of Lund was chosen because of the proximity to the elite site of Uppåkra, as Lund is only a few kilometres to the north of that earlier settlement. Uppåkra, which had continuous settlement from the early first century AD until around the year 1000, was the economic, political, and religious centre of power for a large part of Scania.71 It is not clear whether the king had influence in Uppåkra in the late tenth century or if it was under the control of a competing magnate. A century later, however, the Danish king was in possession of substantial estates in Uppåkra, as is clear from a donation charter from Cnut IV to the cathedral in Lund in 1085.72 The proximity of Uppåkra to Lund meant that infrastructure, roads, and a sizeable population were already present in the vicinity. A south-north road passed through the earlier settlement, before reaching a crossroads. This road system connected it with the southern and western coasts of Scania, along which several of the landing places discussed in Chapter 1, including Löddeköppinge and Ystad-Tankbåten, were located. The roads also linked it to the two fortresses, Borgeby and Trelleborg.73 As explained above, these 69 70 71 72 73

Carelli, ‘Lunds äldsta kyrkogård’, 253. Ibid., 254-255. Hervén, 261. DD I: 2, 21; Hårdh, ‘Viking Age Uppåkra and Lund’, 148. Hervén, 262; Hårdh, ‘Viking Age Uppåkra and Lund’, 148.

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should probably be seen in connection with the Trelleborg fortresses built across Denmark by Harald Bluetooth in the late tenth century. Uppåkra lost its prominence as a political centre following the establishment of Lund, which took its place. This shift seems to have been part of a deliberate policy on the part of the Danish kings, and Adam of Bremen mentions that Cnut “directed [Lund] to be the rival of British London.”74 The earliest houses uncovered in Lund date to around 1000 AD, and the earliest settlement consisted of large farmsteads with farmhouses. So far, the location of a royal estate is unclear, and no traces of a mint have been uncovered, although Svein Forkbeard is believed to have minted coins here during his reign (986-1014).75 Lund experienced a boom in development during the reign of Cnut, and evidence of craftsmanship and workshops date to the 1020s and 1030s.76 Moreover, the area west of the present main street, Stora Södergatan, was divided into regular plots c. 1020, based on the dendrochronological dating of the wooden fencing used to separate them. The division of an urban site into separate plots required large-scale planning and the authority to carry it out, which suggests that Cnut had a major role in the development of the town.77 Cnut’s involvement in Lund’s early history is also evident from the English presence in the town. The earliest stone church, with Anglo-Saxon design features, was likely built during his reign, and the English bishop Gerbrand was said to have held early church services there. Also, Cnut had coins minted in Lund from early on in his reign, with many of the moneyers bearing Anglo-Saxon names. Many of these moneyers are also known from the English issued coins of Cnut or his predecessor in England, Aethelred II, and include names such as Alfward, Alfwine, Godwine, Liofwerd, and Leofwine.78 Lund was the most prolif ic mint during Cnut’s reign, with production far exceeding that of his father in earlier decades (see discussion below). Moreover, it is likely that Cnut brought skilled moneyers from England as part of a policy to organize coin production in Denmark. In addition, some 130 sherds of imitation Stamford ware, of the same type as has been found in Viborg, have also been uncovered in Lund. These sherds appear consistently in the archaeological layers of the town, but they are confined exclusively to the stratigraphic layers dated to the late tenth and 74 “Cuius metropolis civitas Lundona, quam victor Angliae Chnud Britannicae Lundonae aemulam esse prece[pit].” Adam of Bremen, Schol. 111(111); Tschan, 191. 75 Hervén, 263-265; Jensen, Tusindtallets Danske Mønter, 22. 76 Hervén, 266. 77 Bolton, The Empire of Cnut the Great, 221. 78 Jensen, Tusindtallets Danske Mønter, 30.

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early eleventh century. In addition, the sherds all come from domestic vessels, which were produced using clay local to Scandinavia. They thus indicate that there was a large English population in early Lund who were brought by Cnut, likely as part of the retinue of the royal moneyers, the bishops, or some other group of urban officials.79 Thus Lund, too, and especially, was a royal foundation, enhancing the Crown’s administrative goals towards efficient centralization--perhaps modelled on England.

Odense Odense is located in the northern part of the island of Funen, in the valley through which the river Odense Å flows on its way to Odense Fjord. The name Odense, from the Norse god, Odin, and ‘vi’ or ‘holy place’, indicates that the area was one of religious importance, where people gathered at least periodically during the Viking Age. Although the archaeological evidence is fragmentary, it seems clear that there was some sort of settlement activity in the vicinity of the later town dating back to the eighth century. This activity is divided by the river Odense Å, with the medieval town located to the north of the river and the ring fort, Nonnebakken, located to the south. A number of pit houses and dwelling houses dating from the period 700 to 1000 have been found north of the river, which also was a craft area. It is possible that trade was carried out here as well.80 The economic activity that occurred here does not seem to be at the same level as the contemporaneous emporia, however, and there is no evidence of long-distance connections at Odense in this early period. Rather, Odense was a hub in more local and regional networks, and its links to the hinterland were key in its earliest function. The settlement is also located where the main historical roads of the region meet.81 A number of specialized sites with evidence of craft production have been found in a ten kilometre area around Odense, and these have been interpreted as competing sites with more or less identical functions in this region of Funen.82 In the mid-tenth century Harald Bluetooth built the Trelleborg fortress at Nonnebakken, south of the river, thus cementing a royal presence at the settlement. The presence of the fortress would also have encouraged growth 79 Bolton, The Empire of Cnut the Great, 221-222. 80 Runge and Henriksen, 4-15. 81 Ibid., 18-19. 82 Henriksen, 81.

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of the settlement, as its construction would have attracted both craftsmen and traders to provide necessities and labour services. Moreover, it would have provided a degree of security to the region which would have facilitated trade. A continued royal presence after the fortress at Nonnebakken ceased to function is evidenced by the fact that the town was designated a mint in the 1040s, during the reign of Magnus the Good (r. 1042-1047).83 A royal manor located north of the river is known from the late eleventh century.84 Odense enters the historical record in 988, when the German emperor, Otto III, exempted the property belonging to the church in Odense, along with those of Schleswig, Ribe, and Aarhus, from taxes and decreed that these properties should be under the authority of the bishops of those churches.85 The presence of the fortress at Nonnebakken would have been an added incentive to locate a bishopric here, although a tenth century church has not yet been attested archaeologically.86 The establishment of the bishopric would seem to indicate the presence of a population large enough to sustain it, as bishoprics were an urban phenomenon. It should also be noted that the early Danish churches that were established in the first century or so following the conversion of the kingdom were very often located at sites that had previous cultic activity, which, considering the place name, is very likely for Odense. Whether or not a bishop actually resided in Odense at this point is uncertain, however, although it is probable that there was a church in the town.87 The administrative functions of both the Crown and the Church would thus have spurred on the growth of Odense, even if the settlement itself was not a new foundation. Rather, royal interest focused on one of several competing specialized craft and trade sites. Possibly Odense was better positioned in terms of communication routes and roadways than other productive sites in the vicinity. It is also possible that control over a cult centre associated with the Norse god Odin was a factor.88 Pre-Christian cultic activity certainly seems to have been an important aspect in the location of Roskilde, so it would be feasible that the same considerations were important here as well. Moreover, the designation of Odense as one of the original bishoprics in Denmark strengthens this argument, as the place would already have had a historic religious significance that could 83 Becker, 48-49. 84 Christensen, Middelalderbyen Odense, 33. 85 DD I: 1, 343. 86 Runge and Henriksen, 14. 87 Kristensen and Poulsen, 52. 88 Henriksen, 81.

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be taken over by the Christian church. The royal involvement in Odense likely came after it had already begun its urban development with respect to specialized occupations, craft production, and exchange of goods. The presence of the king and church would have further stimulated this development and should be seen as one of several factors in the urbanization of Odense.89

Aalborg Aalborg is located on the south side of the Limfjord, on a low-lying bank where it was possible to cross the fjord between the regions of Himmerland to the south and Vendsyssel to the north. The river Østerå, which runs through the town, served as a natural harbour for the settlement.90 Aalborg has been the subject of numerous archaeological investigations, and excavations from 2007 at Algade 9 have provided important insights into the earliest history of the settlement. The origins of Aalborg seem to lie in a seasonal trading place established sometime in the eighth century. The oldest settlement traces, which include a number of pit houses, have been C-14 dated to between 675 and 875 AD. In addition to the pit houses, archaeologists also uncovered a nearly four-metre-wide ditch in the area of the oldest pit houses. The ditch dates to c. 875 AD,91 and likely represented a jurisdictional boundary for the settlement. This type of boundary is similar to what has been found in other early urban settlements, such as Ribe, as described in the previous chapter. Moreover, a boundary ditch also suggests that there was some sort of overarching authority in place to organize construction and determine boundaries, as well as guarantee peace within the boundary.92 Aalborg continued as a trading place into the tenth century, and a number of archaeological finds indicate the types of activities carried on at the settlement. Bronze smelting is evident from finds of a crucible and bronze residue. Iron bars and slag show the presence of iron smiths, while a pair of blue glass beads and glass slag might be from the work of a glass bead maker. Fragments of single combs have also been uncovered, and remains of antlers likewise indicate comb makers were active here. Weaving and spinning was also carried out, as is shown by the finds of loom weights 89 90 91 92

Runge and Henriksen, 19. Møller, ‘Aalborgs ældste tid’, 195-196. Jensen and Klinge, 196-197. Kristensen and Poulsen, 57.

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and spindle whorls. Moreover, slate whetstones and shards of soapstone vessels are evidence of trade contacts with Norway and possibly western Sweden.93 This find material is very similar to other contemporary seasonal landing places discussed in Chapter 1, and it is possible that Aalborg could be characterized as such in its earliest history. By the end of the tenth century at the latest, however, Aalborg had developed into a permanent settlement. At Algade 9, the earliest evidence for permanent houses was uncovered in the 2007 excavations. Remains of nineteen buildings were investigated, with the four oldest houses dating to the late tenth through the mid-eleventh centuries. They were wooden curved-wall longhouses, and all were seemingly sizeable dwellings. The oldest house had a length of more than fifteen metres while the next oldest was more than ten metres in length. A third house had a width of four metres at the gable. Three of these houses were situated such that the northern gable faced the street, Algade, while the fourth house was oriented east-west. It is possible that the way in which the houses were oriented is evidence of a densely built settlement area.94 In addition, the excavations show that this area was divided into regular plots, and fragments of a wooden plank road dating to the first half of the eleventh century have also been uncovered. The first half of the eleventh century thus saw the layout of the town with respect to individual plots and roads determined, presumably, by a local authority. Also, around the year 1000, a Christian burial ground was established, likely in connection with a wooden church. The church itself has not been found archaeologically, but it was probably the St. Clement church mentioned in later written sources.95 Aside from the one at Sebbersund, seasonal landing places did not typically have associated churches, so the building of a church, in conjunction with the permanent dwelling houses from this same period, could indicate a transition from seasonal trading site to town at this time.96 Aalborg’s transition from trading place to town around the year 1000 also coincides with a royal interest in establishing and maintaining control of northern Denmark. The two royal fortresses of Fyrkat and Aggersborg were constructed in this region between 975 and 980, shortly before the first permanent houses are known to have been built in Aalborg. It is possible that Harald Bluetooth had an organizational role in Aalborg as well, although 93 94 95 96

Møller, ‘Aalborgs ældste tid’, 200-202. Jensen and Klinge, 195-200. Møller, ‘Aalborgs ældste tid’, 202-203. Kristensen and Poulsen, 57.

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a local magnate could also have been the one to develop the town.97 The chronology of Aalborg’s organization with regards to division into plots, construction of wooden planked roads, and building of a wooden church with associated churchyard around the year 1000, does coincide with similar developments in other Danish towns, including Viborg, Roskilde, and Lund, which have been more firmly connected with royal involvement, specifically that of Svein Forkbeard and Cnut the Great. As discussed above, the earliest church and associated Christian burial ground in Lund date to the 990s, while Roskilde is believed to have been a deliberate royal foundation around the year 1000. Likewise, the earliest settlement at Viborg dates to just before the turn of the first millennium, with subsequent expansion under Cnut. All three towns were also the sites of early coin production. In Aalborg, Cnut’s successor, Harthacnut, established the f irst known mint which produced a considerable amount of coinage during his reign.98 Based on the available evidence, it is thus very likely that it was Svein Forkbeard who initiated the development of Aalborg from a seasonal site to a permanent town, with policies furthering its growth as an urban centre continuing under his successors.

Ringsted and Slagelse Not much is known of the early urban history of either Ringsted or Slagelse. Ringsted, located in the centre of the island of Zealand, was the site where the thing, or provincial parliament, for Zealand met, so, like Viborg, it had important political functions stretching back through the Viking Age. Ringsted is also known to have been the site of a mint during the reign of Cnut the Great, with imitations of his English coinage produced here. This production did not continue under his immediate successors, however, and coins were not minted here again until the reign of Cnut IV the Holy (r. 1080-1086).99 According to the Roskilde Chronicle, Svein Nordmand, bishop of Roskilde (1073-1087) founded a monastery in Ringsted while he was in office.100 This monastery could in fact predate Ringsted’s status as a town and thus have been an important factor in its development.101 The monastery’s 97 Møller, ‘Aalborgs ældste tid’, 203. 98 Jensen, Tusindtallets Danske Mønter, 52. For discussion of this mint and its output, see section on Coins and Coin Usage below. 99 Jensen, Tusindtallets Danske Mønter, 42. 100 Chronicon Roskildense, 23. 101 Kristensen and Poulsen, 68.

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foundation happened around the same time that Cnut the Holy’s coins were struck, so on this basis, perhaps Ringsted can be considered to have attained town status by the mid-1080s at the latest. The earliest settlement at Slagelse is likewise unclear. Like Ringsted, Cnut the Great had coins minted here during his reign,102 although coins continued to be struck in Slagelse under Cnut’s successors. The Roskilde Chronicle also records that the Roskilde bishop, Svein Nordmand, founded a monastery here,103 and remains of an eleventh-century stone church have been uncovered during an excavation in the modern Saint Michael’s Church. No traces were found of an older wooden church that could date to the time of Cnut, however, although a number of holes made by wooden sticks, whose purpose is unclear, were uncovered. Possibly these holes are related to some cultic activities. In the centre of town remains of building activity dating to the eleventh century have been found archaeologically, but it is not clear what the town’s extent or layout was.104 Nevertheless, that Slagelse continued as a mint place from the time of Cnut to the end of the eleventh century presupposes that there was some sort of administrative structure in place, including buildings connected to the king where the moneyers could work. The presence of the monastery, which later became a parish church,105 would also have had an associated settled population who would have been consumers. Both king and church would thus have provided an impetus for an urban settlement to develop here.

Coinage and Coin Use The new level of political organization taking hold in Denmark in the tenth century affected urbanization in another way, namely in the expanded minting of domestic coins. Coins facilitated trade and exchange, particularly in market transactions. Market exchange was an important element of urban life, and increased trade would have drawn people to the new towns. Moreover, the coins themselves are evidence for the growth of towns, since the mints were located in urban settlements, many of them only a generation old.106 The minting of coins also indicates the presence of 102 Jensen, Tusindtallets Danske Mønter, 40. 103 Chronicon Roskildense, 23. 104 Kristensen and Poulsen, 69. 105 Ibid. 106 Metcalf, ‘Viking-Age Numismatics 5’, 423.

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a political authority in the towns, usually the king or his representative, who controlled production. As mentioned in the previous chapter, Ribe and Hedeby had mints already in the eighth and ninth centuries, although Denmark as a whole was not yet monetized. Silver continued to be the metal of choice for domestic coin production. Denmark did not have any native silver deposits, so the silver used in domestic coins came from foreign sources. Metallurgical analyses of coins minted during the reign of Harald Bluetooth have shown that Danish coins were made from a mixture of silver of different origins. Whatever silver was available, including silver objects, hack-silver, dirhams or other coins, would be melted down and new coins issued using the old metal.107 Following the decline of Islamic dirhams in the latter half of the tenth century, an influx of silver coins from the west, particularly Germany and England, supplied the Danish mints.108 Both German and Anglo-Saxon coins came to Denmark as a result of trade. The English, however, were additionally forced to pay tribute, or Danegeld,109 to stave off Viking attacks, and these payments also supplied a source of silver to the Danes in the tenth century. Danish coinage consisted of a silver penny, or denarius. From very early on the penny was part of a monetary system whereby ten penninge equalled one ørtug, three ørtug equalled one øre, and eight øre equalled one mark. This system remained in place until c. 1330.110 For a brief period in the late tenth century, a new coin type was minted in Hedeby and circulated throughout the Danish region. The coinage was produced for approximately ten to fifteen years only, from c. 975/80 to c. 985/90.111 These were the cross coins (Figure 2), so-called because they had a noticeable Christian iconography of cross motifs. They coincide with the conversion of Denmark to Christianity in 963, during the reign of Harald Bluetooth. The cross coins made up a substantial portion of the currency in Denmark, although they never completely replaced foreign coinage.112 The introduction of these coins seems to indicate a new monetary policy on the part of Harald Bluetooth that was intended 107 Guerra, 122; Moesgaard, King Harold’s Cross Coinage, 51. 108 Moesgaard, King Harald’s Cross Coinage, 40. 109 Danegeld was the tribute that Viking invaders extorted from the English in exchange for peace. The first recorded payment of a Danegeld by the English was in 865. Between 991 and 1014, the Vikings exacted more than 150,000 pounds of silver, which was the equivalent of at least 36 million contemporary coins. Roesdahl, The Vikings, 110 & 234. 110 Kristensen and Poulsen, 97. 111 Moesgaard, King Harold’s Cross Coinage, 13-14. 112 Ibid., 43.

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Figure 2. Hedeby Cross-Coin Type, c. 975/80 – c. 985/90. Photo: Nationalmuseet, Denmark.

to highlight royal control as well as propagate Christian iconography.113 Considering this was the same king who had raised a rune stone in Jelling proclaiming that he had “won for himself all of Denmark and Norway, and made the Danes Christian”,114 such a policy would be another way for him to publicize his achievements. These coins circulated rapidly and widely throughout the realm.115 Moreover, the extant coins show very little evidence of being tested or fragmented, with next to no pecking and notching to test their value. This is in marked contrast to the way foreign coins were treated, and it is quite likely that it was a deliberate choice not to test the cross coins. It is this absence of testing and fragmenting of the coins that provides the strongest evidence for a managed currency in this period. If coins were accepted as having a fixed face value, then testing would not be necessary, and fragmentation would destroy the face value.116 The circulation period of the coins was relatively short, however, likely due to political and monetary factors. Harald lost power in a struggle with Svein Forkbeard and was forced into exile. There was also the massive influx of German and English coins beginning in the 990s.117 Under Svein Forkbeard, a new type of coin was struck in Denmark c. 995, to the international standard of a denar or penny. The obverse inscription reads “ZVEN REX AD DENER”, Svein king of the Danes or Svein king of 113 Ibid., 72. 114 “es sēR vann Danmǫrk alla ok Norveg ok dani gærði krīstna”; ‘Jelling-sten 2 (DK nr.: SJy 11)’, Danske Runeindskrifter, accessed 14 January 2019, http://runer.ku.dk/VisGenstand. aspx?Titel=Jelling-sten_2 115 Moesgaard, King Harold’s Cross Coinage, 89-90. 116 Ibid., 78-80. 117 Ibid., 101.

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Denmark. The reverse inscription reads “C-R-V-X,” ‘cross’ in Latin, set in the arms of a cross, and has the name of the moneyer, “GODWINE M-AN DNER”, Godwine, moneyer of the Danes or in Denmark. Unlike the coins minted under Harald Bluetooth, Svein’s coinage was modelled on English coins, and it was a close imitation of a type struck by Aethelred II between 991 and 997. This particular Aethelred coin was the first English type to circulate in large quantities in Denmark. Moreover, this was also the period of large Danegelds being demanded by the Danes, with the Danegeld of 994 likely being paid in this particular coinage. Additionally, the moneyer who struck the coins was English. Taken together, it is hardly surprising that Svein’s coins would be modelled on this English type. The language used was Latin, and aside from the great runestone at Jelling, this is the only other tenth-century Danish source to mention the name of the Danes or Denmark. The Christian iconography on the coins would also serve to broadcast that Svein was king of a Christian kingdom that was part of Europe, much as Harald Bluetooth’s cross coinage of a couple decades earlier had done. The production of Svein’s coinage was limited in size, and it was likely minted in Lund.118 The coin that bore the name of the new king, Svein, was not the only Danish coinage to be minted in this period, however. In fact, the largest part of the Danish production consisted of straight imitations of the English models, with the same inscription, albeit in obfuscated form. This coinage constituted a much larger production than the Svein cross coins. The coins minted under Svein at Lund also represent the beginning of Danish medieval mints, although Danish coins remained in the minority in terms of overall money supply for the next half century. English and German coins remained dominant, but they would slowly lose out as the Crown expanded production.119 Minting increased dramatically under Cnut the Great and he produced coins in several Danish towns. In Scania at the city of Lund the earliest Cnut coins date to no later than 1016/17, but more likely 1014/15.120 The obverse 118 Jensen, Tusindtallets Danske Mønter, 22. 119 Moesgaard, ‘Udbredelsen’, 145-146. 120 The date of this coin type is prior to 1019/20, when Cnut is traditionally supposed to have become king of Denmark. According to the Encomium Emmae Reginae, Svein Forkbeard left Denmark in 1013 for his conquest of England, bringing one son, Cnut, with him, and leaving another one, Harald, in charge in Denmark. Upon Svein’s death on 3 February 1014, Cnut returned to Denmark. He subsequently asked Harald to divide the Danish kingdom between them, but Harald refused. Campbell, Encomium Emmae Reginae, 1: 3 – 2:2. Timothy Bolton has pointed out that the numismatic evidence suggests that the encomiast is in error here, and that in 1014 Cnut and Harald contested for power or possibly entered into a joint kingship of the type that had been known for Denmark in the ninth century. Cnut would thus have held some sort of

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inscription reads “CNVD REX IN DANORM,” Cnut king in Denmark or Cnut king in the Danes’ [land]. These are imitations of English coins of Aethelred II. It is also noteworthy that the king’s name was written in Danish, rather than English, as was the case for his coins minted in England.121 Twenty-three different coin types have been identified from Lund during Cnut’s reign. Such a high number of different types would seemingly indicate that Cnut was minting coins regularly, certainly more often than just once a year.122 Cnut founded three mints on the island of Zealand, at Roskilde, Slagelse, and Ringsted. The earliest coins from the mint at Roskilde date to sometime during Cnut’s reign, although it is not exactly clear when they were first struck. The coins from this mint dating from the later part of Cnut’s reign through that of Magnus the Good bear distinctly Scandinavian motifs which are unique in having survived so long in Roskilde.123 Twelve different coin types are known from Roskilde, including several of the pointed helmet types and ones bearing Scandinavian motifs. Seven coin types belong to the mint at Slagelse,124 including the first coin in Europe to bear a long quotation from the Bible. It carries the Latin text to the first words in the gospel of John, “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God,” starting on the obverse and ending on the reverse.125 The third mint Cnut established on Zealand was at Ringsted. Two coin types are known from this mint,126 one of which carries the obverse inscription “CNUT REX AGN,” or Cnut king of England. Despite Cnut’s designation as king of England, the reverse “VLF ON RICZTO” (Ulf in Ringsted), clearly shows that the coin was minted in Denmark.127 Cnut established three new mints on the Jutland peninsula as well. The first, at Viborg, produced a known eight different coin types during his reign. A second mint at Ribe produced two different coin types,128 although three types might properly be attributed to this mint. Coins bearing the governing power in Denmark following the death of his father. Cnut reinvaded England in 1015, and did not return until the winter of 1019, presumably to receive the kingship following his brother’s death. Bolton, The Empire of Cnut the Great, 155-156. 121 Jensen translates this inscription as “Cnut king of Denmark”, Jensen, Tusindtallets Danske Mønter, 28. 122 Hauberg, Myntforhold og Udmyntninger, 45. 123 Jensen, Tusindtallets Danske Mønter, 34. 124 Hauberg, Myntforhold og Udmyntninger, 45. 125 “In principio erath fabvmi eth farbum erath apath m”; Jensen, Tusindtallets Danske Mønter, 40. 126 Hauberg, Myntforhold og Udmyntninger, 45. 127 Jensen, Tusindtallets Danske Mønter, 42. 128 Hauberg, Myntforhold og Udmyntninger, 45.

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inscriptions of “RIHBIIR,” “RIEBIIR,” and “RICYEBII” have traditionally been ascribed to Ribe because the mint inscription resembles the name, although the designation is not entirely certain.129 From Ørbæk only one coin type is known, although the inscription of this particular coin makes it hard to definitively identify the mint. This designation has generally been accepted, however, following the discovery and excavation of the royal fortress at Aggersborg, on the opposite bank of the fjord from the presumed settlement. Ørbæk would have thus been centrally located in northern Jutland and would have been near a seat of royal power.130 During Cnut’s reign, the individual mints struck coins without any kind of national coordination so that each mint had their own designs, and often with no real regularity of design. The system was similar to how coinage was struck in Germany, rather than that of England, although the design motifs of the coins were for the most part English. Under Cnut, there were two weight standards, c. 1.0 g in Zealand and c. 0.75 g in Jutland.131 As mentioned above, a distinct monetary system was created in Denmark at this time that was in use until about 1330, whereby ten penninge = one ørtug, three ørtug = one øre, and eight øre = one mark.132 Cnut’s successor, Harthacnut, continued production at the same mints as his father with the exception of Ringsted, and he founded two new mints. One of these new mints was at Aalborg, with one identified coin type.133 The coin has the name of the town, “ALABV” on the reverse, and the king’s name, “HARDECNUT,” on the obverse. Interestingly, a variant of this particular coin type has the reverse inscription “LEFVINE ON LINC” (Lefwine at Lincoln). Nevertheless, the coins were actually minted at Aalborg. In addition, other variants of this type have been found with blundered inscriptions, indicating that the coinage was of considerable size.134 Harthacnut designated a second mint at Aarhus, and four different coin types are known to have been minted here during his reign.135 Following the death of Harthacnut in 1042, the male of line of the Danish royal family became extinct. The Norwegian king, Magnus the Good, claimed the throne and was elected king of Denmark. During his reign, Odense became the site of a mint, as well as the unidentified location of 129 Jensen, Tusindtallets Danske Mønter, 48. 130 Ibid., 50. 131 Metcalf, ‘Viking-Age Numismatics 5’, 396. 132 Hybel, The Nature of Kingship, 230. 133 Hauberg, Myntforhold og Udmyntninger, 47. 134 Jensen, Tusindtallets Danske Mønter, 52. 135 Hauberg, Myntforhold og Udmyntninger, 47.

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Toftum. Only one coin type is known from Odense, and it had originally been identified as belonging to Cnut.136 C.J. Becker, however, on the basis of die studies, has argued that this particular coin type properly belongs to the reign of Magnus. The obverse die used in the Cnut coin, bearing the inscription “CNVTN REC,” was actually a posthumous die used in Lund that had been moved and then reused in Odense.137 It was transferred to Odense along with another obverse in the name of Magnus by two moneyers from Lund, Alfnoth and Outhinkarl. Magnus had been driven from Lund and fled to Odense sometime around the year 1044, during his struggle with Svein Estridsen over the throne. Coin production was clearly important enough to royal authority by this time that Magnus quickly re-established minting in his name when he reached Odense. At this point, there was still no controlled national currency, however, and foreign coins, predominantly English and German ones, continued to predominate. Initially, the Danish coinage only constituted between 2 and 3 per cent of the currency. It gradually rose, however, making up at most 10 per cent in the 1030s, between 15 and 20 per cent in the 1040s, and as much as 35 per cent in the 1050s. The money supply was still heavily dependent on continuing inflows of coins from England and Germany.138 From the hoard evidence, it seems clear that the Danish coins, along with the English and German imports, were rapidly diffused in circulation, and that the type of coin mattered less than that it was made of good silver. In fact, pecking and bending to test the quality of the coins was still common in the early eleventh century. Moreover, the continuous influx of foreign coins indicates that Denmark had a balance of payments surplus through the first half of the eleventh century. This can be partly explained by the continued payment of English danegelds, but the inflow of German coins in particular is more likely to be the result of trade.139 The Danish coins also highlight the growth of towns and the expansion of their administrative functions. As more towns were founded, the minting of domestic coins increased. The output of each mint varied, so that some mints had a continuous production throughout the reigns of the different kings, while others only had seemingly small and sporadic outputs.140 D.M. Metcalf has estimated the ranking of Danish mints by output on the basis of coins 136 Ibid., 45. 137 Becker, 48-49. 138 Metcalf, ‘Viking-Age Numismatics 5’, 397. 139 Ibid., 399-401. 140 Kristensen and Poulsen, 99.

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from hoards dating to the reigns of Cnut, Harthacnut, and Magnus the Good (1018-1047) (Table 1). Lund was by far the most productive mint, accounting for between 50 and 60 per cent of the total output for the kingdom. Next was Roskilde at 12 per cent, followed by Viborg at 9 per cent, both of which feature clusters of hoards within their environs. Moreover, both towns were bishoprics, and both were connected to royal power: Viborg as a thing site and Roskilde as a royal seat. Ørbæk, near the royal fortress of Aggersborg, accounted for 5 per cent. Hedeby and Ribe, which likely retained some importance connected to their histories as early emporia, contributed 6 per cent and 3 per cent respectively. Slagelse, on Zealand, was at 4 per cent, while Aalborg and Aarhus both accounted for 2 per cent of the total. Of the remaining three mints, each was below 1 per cent, and so can be considered small scale in terms of production. Odense accounted for only 0.4 per cent of the total, while Ringsted was at 0.2 per cent and Toftum at 0.1 per cent.141 Table 1. Danish Mints Ranked by Output (percentages, estimates based on the Danish hoards)142 1. Lund 2. Roskilde 3. Viborg 4. Hedeby 5. Ørbæk 6. Slagelse

55 12 9 6 5 4

7. Ribe 8. Aalborg 9. Aarhus 10. Odense 11. Ringsted 12. Toftum

3 2 2 0.4 0.2 0.1

As the Crown in the tenth and eleventh centuries consolidated more power, it was able to exert more control over the economy. The increase in domestic coinage is one such example, and locating the mints in towns would allow for a more efficient monopoly of coin production. Indeed, the towns in which the mints were located were connected with the king, but given the limited scope of production, it has been argued that the early minting of coins was less about facilitating commerce and taxation and more about payment for the king’s retainers or political propaganda.143 Nonetheless, the Danish coin production of the late tenth and early eleventh century does indicate that there was a tendency towards a more organized exchange. Even if the Danish coins only constituted a small percentage of the total number 141 Metcalf, ‘Viking-Age Numismatics 5’, 408-410. 142 From Metcalf, ‘Denmark in the time of Cnut and Harthacnut’, 409. 143 Hybel and Poulsen, 101; Hybel, The Nature of Kingship, 230-31.

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of coins in circulation, cash money was still being used to facilitate trade and exchange overall, particularly in the towns. Moreover, the location of the mints is also an indication of an increased trade in Denmark as well as being a sign of where that trade was taking place. Trade and exchange were increasingly being funnelled to the towns rather than taking place at coastal landing places or productive sites.

Local and Long-Distance Trade The types of goods that were for sale in the early towns were similar to those that had been available in the emporia. Urban craftsmen were producing items such as combs made of antler and bone, leather shoes, woven cloth, as well as various metal objects, as is evident from the material found in excavations at the urban sites described above. At this point, it is unclear if the majority of this production can be characterized as mainly aimed at domestic consumption or for wider sale, and if the craftsmen themselves worked as full-time or part-time professionals. The craftsman’s workshop from the excavation at Viborg Søndersø could indicate that there might not be a neat classification for the work. In this case, the building, which was in use from 1018-1024, shows evidence of both comb making and metalworking, which took place seasonally in the winter and early spring. Although it is not certain, the evidence also suggests that production was carried out by one person adept at both crafts. In addition, the tools, skills, and knowledge needed for the work, as well as the standardization of the finished products, indicate a skilled professional. Together, the evidence suggests that the craftsman was a skilled producer, working seasonally, but in a permanent workshop. The inefficient use of some of the raw material, as is evident from the waste as well as the limited range of products, signals production to order. Moreover, the workshop was located next to the latrine, hardly a desirable location and which could point to a lack of resources, power, or personal choice. The evidence does not allow a clear-cut picture of the status of the individual. It could be that the person was an itinerant and free artisan, travelling from market to market in an annual cycle,144 although Steven P. Ashby has pointed out that access to raw materials might have proved difficult unless there was some kind of structured network in place to supply it.145 If the craftsman was producing to order, that could potentially indicate 144 Linaa, 84-86. 145 Ashby, 22.

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that he was not in charge of his raw materials, or that he was not producing for sale in a marketplace. This can be contrasted with the production in the twelfth century, when the range of products increased and the exploitation of the raw material improved markedly, suggesting that the artisans were free agents with control of production intended for the market.146 In the tenth and eleventh centuries, it appears more likely that craftwork in the towns was carried out on an itinerant or part-time basis, although there could be multiple ways of organizing the production. Long-distance trade also continued to be carried out in this period, with a tendency towards an increased organization. Scattered historical sources give a glimpse into where Danish traders were active in this period. In the vita of St. Oswald, the Northumbrian monk Byrthferth describes the English city of York in 980 as “filled and enriched by the treasures of merchants, who come there from everywhere, and most of all from the people of Denmark.”147 The late tenth century was a period of increased Viking raids and sustained attacks, but as was made clear in the previous chapter, a great deal of trade was carried out as well. Another Englishman, the chronicler John of Worcester, mentions Danish merchants travelling to Rome in the early eleventh century during the reign of Cnut the Great. He tells us that Cnut came to an agreement with the pope, the German emperor, and other German princes in order that English and Danish “merchants and the others who travel to make their devotions, might go to Rome and return without being afflicted by barriers and toll-collectors, in firm peace and secure in a just law.”148 This agreement suggests that Danes were regularly travelling through the Continent and to Rome for reasons of trade as well as for religious purposes. It also highlights the role that rulers had in securing trade routes and favorable trade conditions for their subjects, and that they were concerned with doing so. It also shows that tolls on trade remained a source of income, with toll-collectors acting in an official capacity on behalf of the ruler. Danish merchants and seafarers in this period could have been acting in service to a local magnate rather than on their own initiative. Such a scenario is indicated by the inscriptions from several rune stones dating 146 Linaa, 86. 147 “est repleta et mercatorum gazis locupletata, qui undique adveniunt, maxime ex Danorum gente”; Byrhtferth, Vita S. Oswaldi, v, 3. 148 “mercatores quam alii orandi causa uiatores absque omni angaria clausurarum et theloneariorum, firma pace et iusta lege securi, Romam eant et redeant”; John of Worcester, 514-515. John of Worcester has the date as 1031, but in actuality Cnut was in Rome in 1027 to attend the coronation of Emperor Conrad II. Bolton, The Empire of Cnut the Great, 103.

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to the period 970-1020. For example, the Solberga-stone, from Scania, reads “Bróðir raised this stone in memory of Ásbjǫrn, his brother; he was Auð […]’s skipper.”149 Another stone from Jutland from this same period states, “[… ]raised […] in memory of his skippers Þírir[?] and Tófi.”150 The stones mention men bearing the title of skipper, which denotes someone who was a seafarer in service to a lord, serving as a member of the crew aboard a ship. That service might have included long-distance trade. Over time, it is likely that skippers gained more importance as trade and exchange developed and became more organized, in which case it was crucial to have a good and reliable crew to man one‘s ship.151 Peter Carelli has argued that Danish merchants at this time would mostly have functioned as agents or middlemen for kings, monasteries, or aristocratic families. Because Denmark did not yet have a market economy, the idea of trade for profit was largely immaterial in this period. It was the political and social meaning ascribed to trade goods that was important. The control of trade would thus have granted political power, since trade was a crucial component of a redistributive economy.152 This argument is very much in line with what historians and archaeologists in the older scholarship have argued for trade in the emporia network, as discussed in Chapter 2. It seems likely, however, that in some cases at least, kings and other magnates were more interested in the tolls and taxes that trade in the emporia could bring, rather than controlling the trade itself for redistributive purposes. Nonetheless, magnates would still have functioned as consumers of imported goods, and so would have been important members of the trade network. Doubtless there would have been servants or retainers who functioned as agents of the powerful in this system, although there likely also would have been a segment of free traders, either part-time or professional. Runestones from this same period, 970-1020, provide indirect evidence that traders also acted on their own initiative as free men. Often, these men would act in partnership with each other. This might take the form of joint ownership of a ship, which a number of rune stones suggest. For example, a stone from Aarhus was raised in commemoration of a man 149 “BrōðiR rēsþi stēn þennsi æftiR Ǣsbiorn, brōður sinn. SāR vaR skipari Ǿð-[…]”; ‘Solbergasten (DK nr.: Sk 91)’, Danske Runeindskrifter, accessed 9 September, 2018, http://runer.ku.dk/ VisGenstand.aspx?Titel=Solberga-sten; Kristensen and Poulsen, 93. 150 “[…] [r]æisþi […] [þann]si[?] æft skipara sīna Þīri[?] ok Tōfa”; ‘Sønder Vinge-sten 1 (DK nr.: MJy 23)’, Danske Runeindskrifter, accessed 9 September, 2018, http://runer.ku.dk/VisGenstand. aspx?Titel=S%c3%b8nder_Vinge-sten_1; Kristensen and Poulsen, 93. 151 Imer, 240-242. 152 Carelli, En kapitalistisk anda, 182.

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by the name of Asser Sakse, who owned a ship together with Arne. The inscription also praises Asser Sakse as a great warrior.153 A stone raised in Scania in the same period reads, “Faðir had this stone cut in memory of Bjǫrn, who owned a ship with him.”154 It is not clear what profession Faðir and Bjǫrn had. Nevertheless, although they are not direct evidence of joint ownership of ships among merchants, the inscriptions do illustrate that joint ownership occurred and was thought worthy of commemoration. Moreover, joint ownership would have been just as useful to merchants as it was to warriors, both of whom undertook dangerous voyages. The new, larger cargo ships would have plausibly been funded by multiple owners, who spread out the risk of their voyages.155 Indeed, archaeology has demonstrated that in the tenth century and around the turn of the millennium a differentiation of ship types was taking place in the Nordic shipbuilding tradition. In addition to the combined rowing and sailing warships, pure sailing vessels with spacious cargo holds were being developed. These cargo vessels were built using stronger and heavier timbers, and fully decked working platforms were built adjacent to the hold fore and aft. The shape of the hull was also changed since there was no need for a wide frame spacing to provide an optimal distance between oarsmen. Instead, the hull was made stronger, and propulsion was almost entirely dependent on the sail. In contrast, the further development of warships seemingly was focused more on rowing capability and boat speed. The finds from Denmark for the tenth and eleventh century show warships to have very narrow hulls that better facilitated rowing.156 Finds of specialized cargo ships longer than fourteen metres dating to the first half of the tenth century include Skuldelev 1 and Hedeby 3. Skuldelev 1 was built in Norway c. 1030 and found in the Roskilde Fjord, and it had an estimated cargo capacity of 24 metric tons. Hedeby 3 was built locally and is one of the largest known Nordic cargo ships with an estimated cargo capacity of 60 metric tons.157 Such finds indicate that ships specifically geared towards the transport of goods were necessary for Scandinavian seafarers to exploit the trade opportunities of the period. Moreover, the cargo ships are also a 153 ‘Århus-sten 5 (DK nr.: MJy 79)’, Danske Runeindskrifter, accessed 9 September, 2018, http:// runer.ku.dk/VisGenstand.aspx?Titel=%c3%85rhus-sten_5; Kristensen and Poulsen, 93. 154 “FaðiR lēt hǫggva stēn þannsi øftiR Biorn, es skip ātti með [h]anum”; ‘Västra Strö-sten 2 (DK nr.: SK 66)’, Danske Runeindskrifter, accessed 9 September, 2018, http://runer.ku.dk/VisGenstand. aspx?Titel=V%c3%a4stra_Str%c3%b6-sten_2; Kristensen and Poulsen, 93. 155 Englert, Large Cargo Ships, 42-43. 156 Englert, Large Cargo Ships, 58-59. 157 Bill, ‘Viking ships’, 176-177; Englert, Large Cargo Ships, 59-60.

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sign of a more structured exchange, with increased specialization and more organized protection for merchants. The deeper draughts of the ship also required proper landing facilities, again pointing to a more organized and structured system, with authorities in place to arrange for the construction or expansion of such facilities.158 An example can be seen in the eleventh century expansion of the harbour facility at Hedeby, which allowed the settlement to survive a little while longer.

The Urban Food Supply As urbanization progressed in Denmark, there was a growing need for agricultural producers to supply the townspeople with food products. The diet in the Viking Age towns in Denmark was largely based on local production with the rural hinterland providing many of the dietary needs for the urban settlements. As population in the towns grew, inhabitants increasingly pursued more specialized occupations. This resulted in a community of people who were not self-sufficient food producers. In order to meet the growing food needs for the urban centres, a surplus production for the market was needed in the rural hinterland.159 Excavations in the early Danish towns have shed some light on this process. By and large, the archaeobotanical investigations show that plant resources were cultivated and collected locally.160 For example, at Ribe a wealth of plant material has been uncovered from the eighth and ninth centuries. A workshop and associated refuse layers yielded remains of rye, barley, oats, and millet, with rye being the most common. An abundant and diverse collection of arable weeds were also evident, with weed species typical of both winter and spring sown grain crops present.161 Plants collected from the local environs included bog myrtle, henbane, hazelnut, apple, oak, elder, and rowan. Of the non-local plants, marjoram and relatively large amounts of hops were present. Marjoram, which is not known to have grown in southern and 158 Sindbæk, ‘Trade and Exchange’, 305. 159 Alsleben, 66. 160 Robinson, ‘Plants and Vikings’, 549. 161 Different types of weed species thrive in different conditions, such as the time of year the fields are ploughed, either in the fall or spring, or both. Certain types of crop will also favour certain weeds over others. Moreover, environmental factors, such as the type of soil, whether there is mostly sun or shade, and the nutrient level in the topsoil, all determine which weeds will grow in an area. The remains of weeds can thus help determine both agricultural conditions and which types of crops were sown in the area. Mikkelsen, ‘Jernalderens afgrøder’, 163.

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western Jutland, likely came from eastern Denmark, where it was common. It is not clear from where the hops originated.162 In the earliest settlement layers of Ribe, archaeologists also observed traces of plough marks in the natural surface of the earth,163 indicating that the inhabitants were engaged in agriculture from the very beginning of the settlement. Hedeby shows many of the same dietary features. The deposits at Hedeby, which date from between 8ll and 1066 AD, include a fairly similar range of plants present throughout. Just as at Ribe, grain was the dominant plant type, with barley representing 80 per cent of the recovered grain, rye, 15 per cent, and oats, 5 per cent. There were smaller amounts of bread wheat, broad beans, flax, and common millet also excavated. Collected wild fruits and nuts included brambles, raspberries, strawberries, cherries, apples, hazelnuts, bilberries, sloes, rowan, elder, and hawthorn. Two varieties of primitive plums were also evident, although they are likely to have been cultivated rather than collected. In addition, bog myrtle and hops, both used for beer brewing, were present at the site.164 Excavations at Viborg, in northern Jutland, provide further evidence for the urban diet being highly localized. The settlement layers, dated to c. 1000, show a diet that was dependent upon local plants. The daily diet was made up of rye and barley, supplemented with a small amount of oats and beans. There was no definitive trace of wheat, but small amounts of flax and poppy seeds were uncovered. Based on latrine evidence, the flax was eaten in bread or porridge, rather than pressed for oil. Archaeologists also found remains of apples, but it is unclear whether they represented a wild or cultivated variety. Other wild fruits found there included strawberry, hazelnut, sloe, blackberry, raspberry, and elderberry.165 Excavations at other towns also show a similar diet based on locally cultivated plant resources. For example, in Aalborg, archaeological excavations in 1994-1995 at Algade 19 included part of the tenth-century marketplace. Here, archaeologists uncovered a latrine dating to the time of the marketplace which included remains of a large amount of hulled barley, with no traces of other types of grain.166 Similarly, plant remains at Aarhus Søndervold consisted of waterlogged deposits of both rye and barley,167 while garden plants represented at the site include pea and common butterbur, an herb. 162 Robinson, Boldsen, and Harild, 119-120. 163 Bencard, ‘Introduction’, 12. 164 Greig, 197-198. 165 Robinson and Boldsen, 318. 166 Møller, Aalborg gråbrødrekloster, 16. 167 Robinson, ‘Plants and Vikings’, 543-544.

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At Lund, pea, apple, and damson have been found.168 The plant remains all show that foods came mostly from local production. Aside from plant resources, archaeological evidence also indicates that meat was an important part of the diet. Analysis of a latrine in Viborg in use from the period 1020 to sometime after 1025 but before 1035, showed that it contained 2920 bone fragments from fish, mammals, and a single frog.169 Animal bones were also collected throughout the excavation area, with at least 34 different species of fish, amphibians, birds, and mammals represented in the material. Most of the bone fragments seem to represent the remains of meals. For example, the entire skeletons of pig, cattle, and sheep/goat are represented with many of the bones fractured in a way that indicates marrow extraction and butchering. Other animals that were eaten included birds such as chickens, geese, ducks, and black grouse, as well as smaller mammals such as hares. Fish were also an important component of the diet, and fish bones were present over the entire settlement area with the exception of inside the workshop building. Many of the fish were caught locally in the Viborg lakes, and include species such as salmon, bream, pike, eel, cyprinids, perch, whitefish, and smelt. Marine fish were also eaten, including herring, cod, flounder, garfish, and plaice.170 While some inhabitants doubtless engaged in some form of cultivation, as can be seen at Ribe, the rural hinterland would have provided agricultural products in exchange for trade goods. This provision of rural products to the towns may well be seen in conjunction with the economic centralization evident with the contemporaneous development of the large magnate farms discussed in Chapter 1. The surplus production in the agricultural economy of the Viking Age was largely focused on animals, with only a small percentage of the landscape under cultivation. Nevertheless, as is clear from the evidence above, cereal grains were also grown. Rye, which is commonly found in the urban deposits, is known to have been cultivated as a winter crop in Denmark as early as the third century AD. Rye is extremely hardy, and it is more able than other grains to withstand cold winters, humidity, and drought. In addition, it can be cultivated in poor and sandy soils,171 which seem to have been preferred by Viking farmers since they were easily ploughed and well drained.172 In fact, pollen diagrams show 168 Sloth, Hansen, and Karg, 29. 169 Fruergaard and Moltsen, 118. 170 Enghoff, 255-256 and table 1, p. 240. 171 Robinson, Mikkelsen, and Malmros, 134. 172 Sindbæk, ‘Social Power and Outland Use’, 117.

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that while rye was cultivated from ancient times, it was not until the Viking Age that it became really important.173 Moreover, because rye is a winter crop, its cultivation is an indication that a rotation system was in use, whereby the fields would be alternated between a spring crop, most commonly barley, and a winter crop, rye. The cultivation of a winter crop meant that once the harvest was complete sometime in August, the fields could already be ploughed and planted for the following year’s harvest. This provided more food security, since farmers were no longer dependent solely on crops planted in the spring. In addition, if the winter crop failed, then the spring planting could be expanded. In this way, rotation provided more protection against the vagaries of weather and a failing crop. The fundamentals were thus in place for the later three field rotation system, although this was not taken into use to the same extent everywhere in Denmark.174 In conjunction with the cultivation of rye, new technology, the mouldboard plough, was also introduced into Denmark, perhaps as early as the third century AD. The new plough was a great improvement over the ard, which had been in use for centuries. While the ard merely loosened the soil, the plough could effectively turn the soil. The plough would thus pull up any grass and weeds and also aerate the soil. By adding wheels to it, the ploughshare could be made larger and heavier. A heavy iron ploughshare made it much more effective against the compact grass roots that would be found in fields that had lain fallow.175 Its use was also particularly beneficial in heavy clay soils, which are predominant in the northwestern and eastern part of Jutland, as well as the islands to the east of the peninsula.176 The cultivation of particular crops would also have been more effective. Rye, for example, is not dependent upon a particular soil-type, but it does need for soil to have been loosened and well-drained. The plough was good at both loosening the soil and gathering it into ridged strips, facilitating drainage.177 Fertilization of the fields was also improved. Animal manure could now be ploughed into the soil, rather than just spread across the fields.178 This increased fertilization of the soil would in turn lead to a higher yield. Archaeological evidence indicates that the plough was adopted in Denmark some 700-800 years earlier than previously thought, in the Late Roman Iron Age (c. 200-400 AD). Wooden plough components, including 173 Hedeager and Kristiansen, 180. 174 Robinson, Mikkelsen, and Malmros, 134. 175 Porsmose, 284. 176 Andersen, Jensen, and Skovsgaard, 138. 177 Larsen, 183-185. 178 Hedeager and Kristiansen, 151.

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the beam, sheath, sole, mouldboard, coulter, draught chain, and shares are known from several archaeological sites, with finds dating from the Late Viking Age to the Late Middle Ages. Ploughing traces, however, have been found which are much older. These plough traces include ridge-and-furrow systems, turned furrows, and furrow strips potentially correlated with the plough. Modern experiments show that the ard was not capable of producing furrow strips like the ones found in the fossil record, nor was it able to turn the loosened soil. As a result, the two instruments leave different traces in the earth, which is readily distinguishable so long as enough of the furrow remains. Based on plough traces found in southern Jutland, it seems as if the plough was already used across larger parts of this region in the Late Roman Iron Age. Finds from western Jutland have been dated to between 500 and 800 AD, while traces dating to the Viking Age have been found in northern Jutland and Scania.179 The increased agricultural productivity that resulted from the new technology and cultivation methods would have been an important factor in supporting the growing number of urban inhabitants. From the scattered archaeological evidence, it is possible to piece together a picture of the early urban diet. Inhabitants were mostly dependent upon locally cultivated and foraged plant resources, supplemented by meat from domesticated animals as well as locally caught fish. Cereal grains, of which rye and barley were dominant,180 would have been supplied for the most part by the rural hinterland. To what extent grain would have been imported from elsewhere is an open question, although a granary at the tenth century royal fortress of Fyrkat was found to contain a large amount of imported rye.181 It is possible that some imported grain could have found its way to urban settlements as well, even if it has not shown up in the archaeological record to this point. Garden plants, such as vegetables and herbs, could have been grown by the residents themselves, either in small kitchen plots or in fields outside the town. Freshwater and marine fish could also have been procured by the townspeople. It thus appears that there was a mixed food supply, in that residents were partially dependent upon trade with the hinterland for some products, such as cereal crops and domestic animals. Other items, such as foraged fruits and nuts, garden plants, as well as fish and other wildlife, they could have supplied themselves. 179 Larsen, 174-183. 180 Most of the archaeobotanical data for this period comes from sites in central and northern Jutland, but southwest Jutland is represented by one site and northern Zealand by four. Robinson, Mikkelsen, and Malmros, Figure 75, p. 121, Table 8, p. 123, and Figure 78d, p. 130. 181 Robinson, ‘Plants and Vikings’, 545-546.

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Conclusion The last century of the Viking Age, c. 950-1050, witnessed the beginning of new trends in urbanization in Denmark. These trends were a reflection of the fact that Denmark was becoming a more organized society, politically, religiously, and economically. In some ways, these trends were a continuation of ones that were already visible with the emporia network, particularly as regards trade and exchange. Craft production continued to be centred in the urban settlements, with the same types of products made as in previous centuries. Coins and their minting were becoming a more regular feature of urban life, with several new towns designated as mints in the decades around the year 1000. Danish kings also continued to take an interest in promoting trade, as is evident from Cnut’s agreement regarding English and Danish merchants travelling on the continent. Cargo ships continued the trend towards larger holds and deeper draughts, becoming ever more differentiated from the warships of the same period. Local trade with rural areas also continued apace, with towns functioning as important markets for agricultural produce brought in from the hinterland. The political developments of the Late Viking Age were another important factor in urban development. Politically, Danish rulers were consolidating more political power to the monarchy, so that Harald Bluetooth could claim to have won all of Denmark for himself on his great runestone in Jelling. This same king was also behind a number of fortifications and building works across his realm, which would have provided security and protection for both town inhabitants and those travelling to and from the urban settlements. Kings can also be seen to be instrumental to urbanization in another way, in that they founded and developed new towns designed to meet the administrative needs of a more powerful royal government. These new towns, including Viborg, Roskilde, and Lund, were founded where there previously had not been any urban-like settlements. These seem to have been deliberate foundations located so as to maximize control in the main regions of Denmark. Trade seems to have been less of a consideration in the initial development, with merchants coming to the already established towns as a result of the presence of royal administrators. The inland location for several of the towns from this period also points to the importance of administrative functions as opposed to trade functions. The king and his government thus were a crucial stimulus to Denmark’s urbanization in the Late Viking Age. Christianity and the Christian Church also continued to provide an impetus for urbanization. Denmark became a Christian kingdom with

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Harald Bluetooth’s conversion in 963, opening the door to a more systematic religious organization in the kingdom. Indeed, for many of the towns founded around the year 1000, remains of a church are the earliest physical evidence of the settlement. As with the royal government, the Church and its hierarchy would also have had administrative needs that would have been centred in the towns. In this way the Church would have been an important stabilizing force for the settlement, with a steady population of consumers. With the monarchy and Church becoming more organized and structured, all the pieces that would make up the medieval civitas were coming together. The continuation of these trends through the end of the twelfth century will be explored in the following chapter.

4. Urbanization c. 1050-1200 The period between 1050 and 1200 saw a continuation of the trends from the previous century, but there were also new factors that influenced this next phase of urban development. The number of towns in Denmark nearly doubled in this century and half, and there are several underlying causes contributing to this further urbanization. Agriculture underwent important changes in this period, with an increased emphasis on arable farming and new lands brought under cultivation. These developments allowed for an increased food supply, which was necessary to sustain a growing urban population. Also, the Crown and the Church grew more powerful, advancing their interests in towns. For kings, this meant an increased emphasis on regulating trade and coinage for the purposes of taxation, as well as having a hand in the foundation of new towns. For the Church, a reorganization of the diocesan system meant new towns were brought into the administrative fold and new churches were built, thus strengthening the Church’s urban presence. Coinciding with the political and religious developments, there was also an economic upswing taking hold in this period. Trade became an increasingly important component of the economy, and new ideas were introduced that worked to incorporate merchants into the medieval worldview. More and more, merchants and artisans became a professional urban class, which had significant implications for this expansive urban growth.

Developments in Agriculture In the transition from Viking to medieval Denmark, there was a growing emphasis on arable farming as opposed to animal husbandry. The general trend shows a decrease in the number of animals kept. At the village of Vorbasse in western Jutland, for example, the eighth to tenth century settlement was composed of several smaller farms with byres that had room for about 22 animals. By the eleventh century, the main central farm was surrounded by five byres with space for 100 animals, while the surrounding smaller farms had space for altogether 50 animals.1 By the thirteenth century, a conservative estimate of the livestock found on an average farm would be two horses, two oxen, between two and four cows, and a few sheep.2 In 1 2

Hvass, 134-135. Hybel and Poulsen, 199.

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conjunction with the shift from animal husbandry to cereal production, there was also a change in village structure and layout. The large farms that characterized the Viking Age settlements known from Jutland gradually were broken up sometime in the eleventh century, followed by a village structure consisting of smaller farms. This shift in settlement structure is likely a reflection of the implementation of an open field system with collective use.3 An agricultural system with large cereal production can feed more people than a system based on animal husbandry, so that the expanding cereal production of the Middle Ages was able to support a larger population. 4 Indeed, the population of Denmark did increase in the years between the millenium and the Black Death, although not at an even rate. In the twelfth century, the growth rate was moderate, as famines swept northern Europe approximately every twenty years. The most densely populated areas were Scania, most of Zealand, Funen, and eastern Jutland, which was also the arable zone. The more sparsely populated areas were the moors of mid and western Jutland, the marshes of Schleswig, and the woodlands of northern Zealand. It was these more sparsely populated areas, in addition to the islands of Lolland and Falster, which experienced the most discernible population growth in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. This population growth can be detected in the number of churches built in the medieval countryside, although the churches can only hint at and not delineate either the rate of growth or the actual population figures. The number of churches more than doubled between 1100 and 1300, with on average one stone church built for every 22.5 square kilometres of countryside. These construction projects required manpower, and the churches could not have been built if not for a growing population.5 New land was also brought under cultivation in this period, with new villages established in Denmark. Most commonly, the new lands came from the clearing of natural woodlands.6 Saxo Grammaticus, for example, describes the road between Kalundborg and Sigersted on Zealand as being “in the old days overgrown with dense woodland, but now the area is for the most part brought under plough and only fringed with scattered 3 Søvsø, ‘High Medieval Magnate Farms in Jutland’, 135. 4 Nielsen and Dalgaard, 181. 5 Hybel and Poulsen, 115-118. The number of new churches also indicates the success of the conversion to Christianity. In this period, the new religion spread to the rest of the populace, as opposed to being mainly confined to the aristocratic sphere as had been the case for the first century after Harald Bluetooth’s conversion. 6 Hybel and Poulsen, 28.

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shrubbery.”7 Zealand and Southern Jutland in particular were subject to intensive clearings that opened up many new settlements.8 Another indication that new and more land was being put under cultivation was the change in the terms used in land measurement. The traditional measurement for land was a bol, which was the amount of land that could be cultivated with a good plough and its team. By the beginning of the thirteenth century, however, the traditional term was no longer a sufficient measurement for the amount of land under cultivation. This development can be seen in the list of holdings for the island of Falster in King Valdemar’s Cadastre. Of the 99 villages listed in both bol and with the number of fields, there is a total of 354 bol and 596 fields. For the most part, the villages of one bol had the largest differentiation when it came to the assessment of fields. This differentiation diminished the more bol a village had. For example, the one and two bol villages had on average three and two fields per bol. The larger villages, of eight to fourteen bol, on the other hand, had only one and one quarter field per bol. The majority of these villages are estimated with one, one and one-third, and two fields per bol. Based on these results, then, the new, smaller villages seem to have been better able to expand than the larger ones. They had more fields under plough per bol than did the older, larger ones. With these estimates in mind, Erland Porsmose has estimated that the area under cultivation of Falster had increased by more than 50 per cent between 1000 and 1200.9 Another crucial factor to remember, and one that bears no dependence on social and political events, is that the climate had changed. The medieval warm period, which lasted from c. 950-1250, was characterized by warm temperatures over a large part of the North Atlantic, Southern Greenland, the Eurasian Arctic, and parts of North America,10 with relatively stable mean temperatures.11 Not only had the climate become warmer, but also it was drier. Especially when summer and autumn were drier, the harvests of cereals overall would be better. Crops tended to be spoiled by too much rain, particularly if it came closer to the harvest.12 As cereal crops, such as rye, oats, spelt, and barley, were among those cultivated in Denmark, a more favourable climate to their cultivation could only help to increase the harvest and thereby make for a more reliable food supply. 7 “Que via crebris quondam occlusa nemoribus nunc partim aratris apta tenui fruticum raritate pretexitur.” Saxo, 7, 8, 2. 8 Hybel and Poulsen, 31. 9 Porsmose, 236. 10 Mann, et al., 1258. 11 Guiot and Corona, 8. 12 Duby, 10-11.

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The widespread cultivation of rye in Denmark dates to the tenth and eleventh centuries, and the increasing popularity of this grain would have greatly increased the available food supply. As discussed in the previous chapter, expanded rye production was probably associated with the adoption of the mouldboard plough. The ridge and furrow cultivation connected with the mouldboard plough helped drainage, which was beneficial to winter crops such as rye.13 Rye was particularly important because it allowed Danes to bake bread for the first time. Rye bread keeps for quite a while before spoiling, allowing people to store it into the winter, and, unlike the grain itself, bread is more easily transportable. In fact, the use of the oven closely corresponds to rye cultivation. For example, the f irst oven from the village of Borup dates to the end of the Viking Age, around the year 1000. Moreover, as rye became more popular, ovens became more common, proving how important rye was to the baking of bread.14 Baking would also become an important occupation in the medieval towns, and bakers would form their own guild to regulate the profession. Another piece of evidence for the increased food supply is the growth in the number of mills used for grinding grains. The mill is an innovation that, while not new, really gained ascendancy in the Middle Ages. Grants of land in Denmark increasingly mention mills when detailing the property to be transferred. For example, in 1135, a donation of land by the Bodilsen family for the creation of a Benedictine monastery mentions that a mill was included in the donation.15 In a royal charter from 1148, King Svein Grathe granted to the church in Ringsted half of that town’s fields, a meadow, and “a place for a mill, which lay below the western crofts,”16 presumably along the river there. Another land grant, this one from Duke Buris Henriksen in 1163 for the foundation of a Cistercian monastery in Tvis, granted properties at Tvis, Hjelm, Skjern, and Kvistrup along with their appurtenances, which all included mills.17 In 1175, King Valdemar I in a charter to the monastery of St. Cnut in Odense declared that “the town’s citizens should bring their grain nowhere other than to the monks’ mill.”18 A letter from Pope Alexander III dating from 1180 or 1181 also mentions a mill. In this letter, he took 13 Poulsen, ‘Agricultural Technology in Medieval Denmark’, 122. 14 Porsmose, 290. 15 DD I: 2, 64. 16 “locum aptum molendino, qui fundis occidentalibus subiacet,” DD I: 2, 101. 17 DD I: 2, 152. 18 “ut ciues Othonienses nullibi suum frumentum portent quam in monachorum molendinum, alio non,” DD I: 3, 49.

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the monastery of St. Thomas Paraclitus in Æbelholt into his protection, including a farm in Jyllinge with “meadows and fields and the mill, which is at Værebro.”19 Another papal grant of protection, this one dated to 1182, is from Pope Lucius III to the Benedictine monastery in Bosjø. In it, the pope refers to two mills, one in the village of Skarhult and one in the village of Osby.20 Both of these villages are in Scania. As the above evidence makes clear, mills were a common and important feature of both rural and urban settlements in Denmark in the twelfth century. The increase in population and the more effective agricultural production went hand in hand. It is not clear whether the increased production allowed for an increased food supply in a Malthusian scenario, or if people adopted the new agricultural methods because they needed to feed a growing population, following Boserupian theory. Whatever the case, the increased food supply provided by increased cultivation would have been an important factor in supporting a larger urban population. The rural hinterland, however, was not the sole source of food for townspeople, some of whom engaged in various types of agricultural labour on the associated town fields. These fields, which varied in size depending on the town, could be used by the citizens for cultivation of crops, grazing of cattle and sheep, and collecting fuel for fires. Typically, the older towns had larger associated fields than newer ones, although their extent was not f ixed throughout the medieval period.21 Written sources explicitly mention such fields. For example, in 1148 King Svein Grathe informed the inhabitants of the island of Zealand, that he had earlier granted to the monastery in Ringsted “half of the fields in the same town together with a meadow.”22 In 1164, Valdemar I granted to the monastery the remaining half of the town’s fields.23 In Copenhagen, archaeological excavations at Lille Kirkestræde showed that in 1220 the area had already been used for grazing animals for a long time. The remains of plants found were of the types that are connected with grazing animals. The marshy areas, especially those in the eastern part of the town, were seemingly used for this purpose.24 Nonetheless, the towns were not self-sufficient, and they had to rely on the increased output from rural areas to supplement their food supply. 19 20 21 22 23 24

”pratis et agris et molendino sito iuxta Væræbro,” DD I: 3, 95. DD I: 3, 101. Kristensen and Poulsen, 343. “dimidiam partem agrorum eiusdem villae, pratum etiam,” DD I: 2, 101. DD I: 2, 156. Dahlström, Poulsen, and Olsen, 108.

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New Towns Many new towns were founded in the period from the mid-eleventh to the end of the twelfth century. At the beginning of this period, Denmark had ten towns, and by 1200, this number had doubled to 20 (Map 8). The towns founded in this period were characterized by a relatively large number of churches, which is likely tied to private church building by elites.25 The number of churches can help elucidate the size and importance of the individual towns, and based on this criterion, they fall into four categories. Lund was the largest and most important, with 22 churches. It was followed by Viborg and Roskilde, which each had 12 to 14 churches. Next was Schleswig and Ribe with 7 to 8 churches each. The remaining 14 towns, which included Hjørring, Aalborg, Randers, Aarhus, Horsens, Flensburg, Odense, Slagelse, Ringsted, Næstved, Slangerup, Copenhagen, Helsingborg, and Tommarp, had between 2 and 4 churches.26 By 1200, there was thus 103 urban churches, which was about 4 per cent of the total number of churches in Denmark. If this number can be taken as representative for the population breakdown, then it was still only a small proportion of Danes who were urban dwellers.27 Rather than discuss each new town that was founded in this period, the towns of Schleswig and Copenhagen will serve as examples for the general trends of the period.

Schleswig In the second half of the eleventh century, the old emporium Hedeby was abandoned, and its functions were transferred to the medieval town of Schleswig. Schleswig is located two kilometres to the north of Hedeby, on a peninsula at the inner end of the Schlei f jord. The peninsula consisted of an area of between ten and 12.5 hectares, which was about half the area enclosed within Hedeby’s ramparts. Excavations north of the present Schlei shore at Plessenstraße 83/3, Hafenstraße 13, and Hafengang 11 have shed light on the early Schleswig waterfront. A building boom seems to have taken place beginning in 1087, when earthen dam-like structures were erected, extending into the shallow water of the f jord. In 1091, 25 Nyborg, ‘Kirke og Sogn’, 114 & 149. 26 Andrén, 52. 27 Ibid., 72.

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Map 8. Denmark with towns founded before 1200.

1094/95, and 1098, more dams were constructed, and the existing ones were extended further into the Schlei. The dams were likely built in an effort to increase the amount of available space in the town. The graves from the eleventh century cemetery suggest that there was increasing population in the 1080s, which would have put pressure on the town land. In addition, remains of buildings have been found on the dams in the eastern part of the Plessenstraße. Connected with these were the remains of f ireplaces, barrel wells, and possibly even enclosures for animals, indicating that the buildings were used as dwellings. The western part of the excavation area consisted of a wide plot and a corresponding dam that seems to have functioned as the marketplace, much as the jetties in Hedeby had done. In the far western part of the site at the front end of a dam was found three staggered support structures that might have been connected with a shipyard. 28 In addition, the dams likely served as harbour facilities and jetties, with ships able to be moored directly to the dams. Initially, the accessibility was limited to small and medium sized vessels of the Nordic and Slavic types, but following an expansion in the twelfth century, the largest Nordic cargo ships and cogs were also able to use the harbour.29 28 Rösch, The Schleswig Waterfront – A Place of major Significance’, 166-168. 29 Rösch, ‘The 11th Century Schleswig Waterfront’, 338.

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From the finds, it is clear that Schleswig had the same importance for international trade as Hedeby. Connections with the Slavonic areas of the Baltic are evident from finds of ceramics and axe-shaped amulets, and ceramics also indicate contacts with the Rhineland and Byzantium. From Norway grindstones, millstones, and soapstone vessels have been found, while cloth from Flanders and England is also represented. Other trade goods that did not leave any archaeological record but are known from historical sources include furs, honey, salt, grains, spices, wine, and slaves.30 Saxo Grammaticus said of the town that in the mid-twelfth century it had been frequented by many foreigners and described it as previously a “town splendid from the merchandise.”31 Schleswig was also important to royal administration, and it is clear that the king or his local representative was involved in the town’s development, much as was the case for earlier urban settlements. The construction of the dams would have needed to be under the direction of a central authority. Indeed, the law code for Schleswig stipulates, “if anyone should put his own edif ice in the water or over the water without the permission of the bailiff, he shall pay a fine of three marks and remove the edifice, because it is the king’s river.”32 Any construction needed royal authorization before it could be carried out.33 Moreover, the archaeological investigations of the old town indicate a full occupation of the peninsula before 1100, and numismatic evidence shows that coin f inds date to before 1070. Schleswig seems to have been systematically developed from the 1070s onwards, likely at the initiative of the Danish king, Svein Estridsen (r. 1047-1076).34 Subsequent construction of the dams was carried out beginning in 1087, during the reign of Olaf I Hunger (r. 1086-1095). According to Saxo, Cnut IV the Holy (r. 1080-1086) had been in Schleswig the year he died,35 so it is possible that he had also been involved. The sources do not tell us whether the king was the initiator of the project or simply gave his agreement. It seems more likely, however, that the burghers themselves would have been the ones to recognize the need for specialized harbour facilities, since they would have been

30 Rösch, The Schleswig Waterfront – A Place of major Significance’, 164. 31 “splendidam mercimoniis urbem;” Saxo, 14, 17, 1. 32 “Item si quis posuerit edificium suum in aquam uel super aquam sine licentia exactoris, emendet iii marcas et auferat edificium, quia flumen regis est.” DGK I: 14. 33 Rösch, ‘The 11th Century Schleswig Waterfront’, 338. 34 Ibid., 335. 35 Saxo, 11, 14, 5.

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more familiar with the day to day difficulties and obstacles faced by the inhabitants and visiting merchants.

Copenhagen The earliest known mention of Copenhagen comes from a charter from 1186, in which Pope Urban III confirmed a grant of properties from Archbishop Absalon to the church in Roskilde and that had earlier been received from the Danish king, Valdemar I (r. 1157-1182). Included in the grant were the castle of Hafn along with the town of the same name.36 The original grant to Absalon is typically placed in the mid-twelfth century, following Valdemar’s accession to the throne in 1157 and when Absalon became bishop of Roskilde in 1158. Saxo references Copenhagen as the “town, which is called Merchant’s harbour,” and he says that it was under the control of Absalon.37 It is interesting that the two terms Saxo uses to refer to Copenhagen, vicus and portus, were both used to identify the emporia in earlier written sources. Potentially this could be seen as Copenhagen being more geared towards trade than administration in its earliest history. In fact, recent archaeological investigations do indicate that Copenhagen emerged as a trading settlement sometime in the eleventh century, possibly as a landing place, located on the coast like those discussed in the first chapter. In 2011-2012, the Metro Cityring excavations were carried out at the site of the town hall in central Copenhagen. The excavations uncovered the remains of a settlement and workshop area dating from the late eleventh to the fourteenth centuries, as well as the outer parts of a cemetery. The settlement area indicated intense activity, and archaeologists found remains of buildings in the form of postholes, clay floors, hearths, beam slots, and demolished clay walls. In addition, storage and refuse pits, wells, roads made of pebbles, slag, animal bones, and a paved road were discovered. That craftsmen were active here is evident from the large amounts of iron-working residue, bones, combs and bone working residue, and tools. Tanning and textile working also took place, and construction debris in the form of nails and daub was also present at the site.38 The ironwork carried out at the site up until the mid-twelfth century was small-scale, with production geared 36 DD I: 3, 137. 37 “uicum, qui Mercatorum portus nominatur,” Saxo 14, 34, 6. 38 Dahlström, Poulsen, and Olsen, 90 & 105-106.

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towards everyday objects such as nails and fittings. This type of work has been characterized as secondary smithing, which is unspecialized. From around 1150, the scale of activity increased, and specialized and primary smithing became more common.39 In addition to the settlement and workshop area, an early cemetery was also uncovered at the site. A total of seventeen graves were excavated out of a much larger burial ground. The individuals buried here included men, women, and children, indicating a permanent settlement rather than one occupied only seasonally by traders or craftsmen. The cemetery dates from the early to mid-eleventh century, although from the evidence available so far it seems as if it was only in use for a short period. Likely it was connected with a wooden church, although no traces of such a structure have been found yet. These findings suggest that Copenhagen had two churches in the eleventh century. A second church is indicated by an earlier excavation in 2008 that was undertaken in the cemetery connected with St. Clement Church which lay further to the east. A total of 1048 graves were found, some with more than one individual. The oldest graves have a preliminary date of the mid-eleventh century, although it is clear from the younger graves that the cemetery was in use over a longer period. The church itself has not been uncovered, although parts of the stone foundation have been found on several occasions throughout the twentieth century. Based on the early date of the older graves, however, it is likely that a stone church replaced a wooden one sometime in the twelfth century. There are 21 known churches in Denmark dedicated to St. Clement from the reign of Cnut the Great, as well as 40 from southeastern England, predominantly in the Danelaw. These churches show a clear connection between Denmark and England in this period, and they are believed to have been built at the initiative of the king or members of his retinue. Consequently, an eleventh-century date for the early wooden church would make sense. Potentially, the church of St. Clement was a royal foundation and represented one of the first steps in urbanization in Copenhagen. 40 In this way, Copenhagen shows similarities to the early history of other Danish towns, including Lund and Aalborg, discussed in the previous chapter. In the eleventh century, Copenhagen had the attributes of a local trading centre, with craftwork carried out on a small scaler. Potentially the settlement served as a landing place and trading centre for local 39 Ibid., 107. 40 Ibid., 97-102.

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estate owners. The town is situated in a very fertile region of Zealand, characterized by densely populated rural settlements dating back to the Iron Age. The 1186 charter in which Absalon transferred lordship of Copenhagen to the church in Roskilde also included a number of villages and rural manors, all in the immediate surrounding area. The town is also connected to Baltic trade routes, as it is located on the eastern coast of Zealand opposite Scania. The location also has a deep natural harbour, sheltered by a few small islets. Consequently, it was a prime site for a landing place, and its early importance could be tied at least partly to its placement midway between Roskilde and Lund. 41 The archaeological evidence for the eleventh century indicates that trade was local rather than long-distance, however, with non-specialized craft production carried out similar to that of other landing places known in Denmark. Likely the settlement was geared towards supporting the local manors and villages as a harbour for such local trade. Its strategic location, however, likely caught royal interest by the eleventh century, after which it came under the control of the king.42 Considering that royal initiative in the eleventh century was instrumental in the foundation of a number of towns, among them Lund and Roskilde, it is certainly feasible that the Crown would also have a hand in the early urbanization of Copenhagen. Moreover, the early history of the town shows similar characteristics with others in Denmark, including an eleventh-century church and burial ground as early traces of settlement activity. In the twelfth century, royal control of the town manifested itself in large building projects, including the construction of the St. Clement stone church. In addition, an enclosure was built around a 2.5-hectare area between the twelfth century stone church and the present-day city hall, potentially demarcating a royal manor. This enclosure indicates a reorganization of the town, as it cut through earlier settlement activity to the east and west. 43 In the mid-twelfth century, Absalon built a castle on Strandholmen,44 on the site of the present day Christiansborg Palace. The presence of the church, royal manor, and later castle all would have contributed to the urban development of Copenhagen, and they would have ensured a population of ecclesiastical and royal administrators in the town who would have been regular consumers for the traders and craft workers there. 41 42 43 44

Ibid., 86-87. Ibid., 110. Ibid., 93 & 110-111. Saxo, 14, 35, 1.

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Political Developments The general trend in the eleventh and twelfth centuries was towards consolidation of power in a more centralized monarchy. This was not a linear process, however, and German political influence remained a factor with Danish kings as sometime vassals of the German emperor until the last decades of the twelfth century. 45 Another complicating factor was a civil war between rival claimants to the throne that raged in the first half of the twelfth century until 1157. Denmark at this time did not have a purely hereditary monarchy in the sense that a son would necessarily follow his father on the throne. While much of the rest of Europe was relying on primogeniture to determine the next king, Danish kings were elected with candidates being generally confined to the members of the royal family. Thus, there could be several contenders to the throne, including the sons, brothers, and nephews of the outgoing monarch. With no clear system for determining royal successors, the potential for assassination and infighting was rife, and a major civil war did eventually break out in the early twelfth century. 46 The seeds for war were actually sown in the late eleventh century, when Svein Estridsen (r. 1047-1076) died with no legitimate children. He had, however, fathered some nineteen illegitimate ones, fifteen of whom were sons. Five of these sons were kings in turn, but competing claims to the throne by their offspring, and the offspring of their siblings, would lead Denmark down the path to civil war (see Table 2). Harald III, Svein’s oldest son, succeeded him to the throne but died without heirs in 1080. His brother, Cnut IV the Holy, followed him but only reigned for six years. He, along with another brother, was murdered in 1086, possibly in connection with an aborted plan to invade England and retake the English throne, although the exact motives are murky. 47 Cnut IV the Holy’s brother and successor, Olaf I Hunger, reigned from 1086 to 1095, but died without issue. A fourth brother, Erik I Evergood, followed Olaf, and reigned from 1095 until 1103, when he died while on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Erik I had one legitimate child, Cnut Lavard, as well as several illegitimate ones, including Erik (later Erik II the Memorable, r. 1134-1137), Harald Kesja, and Ragnhild (mother to 45 Hybel, The Nature of Kingship, 354. 46 Corsi, ‘Elite Networks’, 165. 47 Ole Fenger, Kirker rejses alle vegne, 67-68. Svein Estridsen’s grandfather, uncle, and two cousins had ruled as kings of England until 1042, when the Anglo-Saxon dynasty reclaimed the throne under Edward the Confessor.

Svein, d. 1097

Cnut IV the Holy, r. 1080-1086

Magnus

Valdemar I the Great, r. 11571182

Cnut Lavard, d. 1131 Erik III Lamb, r. 1137-1146 Svein III Grathe, r. 1147-1157

Magnus the Strong, d. 1134

Henry Skadelaar

Henry

Oluf II, r. 1143

Cnut Magnussen, r. 1147-1157

Niels, r. 1104-1134

Svein, d. 1104

Sigrid ~ Gottschalk

Harald Kesja, d. 1135

Benedict, d. 1086

Erik II the Memorable, r. 1134-1137

Erik I the Evergood, r. 10951103

Ragnhild

Oluf I Hunger, r. 1086-1095

Svein Estridsen, r. 1047-1076

Svein Estidsen and his family (Kings and their reigns are in bold)

Harald III Hen, r. 1076-1080

Table 2. 

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Erik III Lamb, r. 1137-1146). The last of Svein Estridsen’s sons to succeed to the throne was Niels, who reigned from 1104 to 1134. Civil war erupted during the reign of Niels, when his son, Magnus the Strong, murdered his cousin and potential rival for the throne, Cnut Lavard, in 1131. As already mentioned, there was no clear line of inheritance to the throne, so Cnut Lavard, son of the previous king, Erik Evergood, had just as much of a claim to the throne as his cousin Magnus, son of the current king. After Cnut’s murder, his two half-brothers, Erik (later Erik II the Memorable, r. 1134-1137) and Harald Kesja, rebelled against Niels and Magnus, and sought to overthrow them. 48 During the course of the war, Magnus was killed at the Battle of Fotevik in 1134, fighting against his cousin, Erik II.49 Fotevik marked a decisive defeat for Niels and his supporters, and he fled to the town of Schleswig in southern Jutland, where he was murdered by the burghers a few weeks later.50 Erik II emerged as the victor of this round of fighting, but his success was short-lived. He was assassinated by Plov, in 1137.51 He was followed on the throne by his nephew, Erik III, who had only reigned for two years when his cousin, Oluf Haraldsen, a son of Erik III’s maternal uncle, Harald Kesja, sought the throne for himself. Oluf Haraldsen successfully declared himself king in Scania in 1143, from which he led attacks on Zealand. That same year, in a counterattack, Erik III and his forces defeated and killed Oluf in a battle near Helsingborg.52 Erik reigned peacefully until his death in 1146. Despite the brief peace of Erik III’s reign, the civil war continued when two competing cousins claimed his throne in 1146. The Jutes elected Cnut Magnussen, son of Magnus the Strong. For their part, the Scanians preferred Svein III Grathe, son of Erik II. Denmark thus had two kings reigning over different parts of the country, and the kingdom was once again plunged into a civil war lasting for another twelve years.53 Zealand remained a bone of contention between both sides, and Cnut’s frequent attacks on the island led Valdemar, son of Cnut Lavard, who had been murdered by Cnut Magnussen’s father, to join with Svein Grathe. Frederick Barbarossa brokered a peace deal between the combatants in Merseburg in 1152, where Svein received the kingdom as a fief from the emperor. Cnut renounced the title of king and his claims to the throne in exchange for lordship over Zealand. 48 Chronicon Roskildense, 27. 49 Ibid., 29. 50 Saxo, 13, 11, 14. 51 Fenger, Kirker rejses alle vegne, 132. The identity of Plov is obscure. 52 Ibid., 134. 53 Chronicon Roskildense, 32.

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Valdemar received the duchy of Jutland,54 which his father Cnut Lavard had also held as a vassal of the Danish king. Thus, Svein Grathe held the title of king, and Cnut and Valdemar were his vassals. Peace, once again, was short-lived, as both Cnut and Valdemar did not consider Svein to have upheld his end of the bargain. Valdemar abandoned Svein Grathe, switching sides to join with Cnut, and both men were declared king in Viborg in 1154. Svein sought aid in Saxony, and he received the necessary military support to continue the battle. In light of this development, the Danish bishops and magnates sought to put an end to the fighting, and they decided that the kingdom should be divided into three parts, with each king ruling freely within his own region.55 Svein would receive Scania; Cnut, Zealand and Funen; and Valdemar, Jutland. As the Roskilde Chronicle notes, however, it was a “treacherous alliance and a false peace.”56 The three parties met in Roskilde in 1157 to discuss and verify their pact, with a feast to mark the success of their agreements. This feast, since known as the Bloodfeast of Roskilde, was marked by violence and bloodshed. Cnut was killed; Valdemar, although wounded, was able to escape with his life.57 Svein’s treachery sparked renewed hostility and warfare, which would finally come to an end at the Battle of Grathe Heath in 1157, with the final defeat of Svein. Svein fled the battle but was killed by peasants who discovered him after his horse became stuck in a bog.58 With Svein’s defeat and subsequent death, Valdemar emerged as the sole victor, who once again reunited Denmark under one king. Following this period of intense conflict and struggle among members of the royal family, royal succession remained relatively stable for the next several generations. Moreover, when Valdemar I gained the throne, he instituted the ritual of coronation of the king. His son Cnut (later Cnut VI, r. 1182-1202) was crowned as heir to the throne and co-king to his father. This ritual made the king holy; it was a ceremony that gave him priestly powers. With the canonization of Valdemar’s father, Cnut Lavard, in 1170, the royal line was further imbued with a holiness that allowed the kingship to become hereditary.59 Moreover, the Christian Church legitimized royal rule in general, as it declared that the king was God’s chosen representative on earth and the keeper of the law. 54 Otto of Freising, 118. 55 Chronicon Roskildense, 33. 56 “Et facta sunt fedus fictum et pax falsa,” Chronicon Roskildense, 33. 57 Fenger, Kirker rejses alle vegne, 138-39. 58 Ibid., 141. 59 Christensen, Kongemagt og Aristokrati, 40-41.

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Continuing the trends of the previous centuries, as power was consolidated in the monarchy, the Crown established a more regular and organized tax system. Rulers in Denmark had been collecting tolls and other taxes from trade for several centuries by this point. For example, the emporia were an important source of revenue based on the large amount of trade that was centred in them. The urban centres that were developing in the medieval period would likewise prove a lucrative source of income for the monarchy. It was much easier to control and organize tax collection from well-defined locations like the towns than it would be for large tracts of rural land with weak infrastructure. The towns were demarcated fiscally from the surrounding countryside, which enabled the collection of special taxes from the urban inhabitants and their industries.60 Because these urban taxes were an important source of revenue for the kings, they would have a vested interest in town development and increased trade. The fiscal obligation of the towns included both taxes and tolls. Townspeople had to pay an annual tax called the midsommergæld, or midsummer tax, named after the time of year when it was collected.61 Charters show that kings often granted part or all of this tax to bishops or monasteries in pious donations. In 1085, for example, Cnut IV granted to the church of St. Lawrence in Lund a number of properties as well as a portion of the annual royal revenues from the towns of Lomma, Helsingborg, and Lund. From Lomma the church was granted annually three marks; from Helsingborg three marks; and from Lund 21 marks.62 A charter from the reign of King Niels shows that he granted to the cathedral of St. Cnut 20 marks of the annual royal revenue from Odense.63 In 1135, Erik II Emune founded a monastery in Ringsted in memory of his brother Cnut Lavard, who was buried in the church in Ringsted. Erik granted “as a lasting gift to the brothers ten marks of the town tax, which is called midsommergæld to be paid every year at a suitable time for the brothers’ clothing.”64 Erik III Lamb granted four marks of the midsommergæld from Odense to the monks of St. Cnut in exchange for removing the church of St. Alban from under their jurisdiction. The king had previously given the four marks to St. Alban. Later, this king granted the monks an additional sixteen marks, provided they released all claims 60 Hybel, The Nature of Kingship, 228. 61 Liebgott, 195. 62 DD I: 2, 21. 63 DD I: 2, 35. 64 “In praesentiarum autem fratribus illis decem marcas ex eiusdem villae censu, qui dicitur mit sommers gield, singulis annis oportuno tempore persoluendas, ad vestituram fratrum stabili donatiuo concedimus.” DD I: 2, 65.

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to St. Alban.65 Erik III Lam also granted lands and royal privileges to Bishop Herman of Schleswig, including “of [his] midsommergæld in Lund ten marks annually.”66 In 1148, Svein Grathe informed the inhabitants of the island of Zealand, that he had granted “all of the midsommergæld of [Ringsted] for the clothing of the brothers who serve God there.”67 Kings also charged tolls and market fines to merchants. For example, in 1140 Erik III granted to the monks of St. Peter’s in Næstved “the market in the above named town and all market rights with all the right and custom of the Danes, also by name three and forty mark fines which pertain to the dignity of the king together with that due which in Danish is called midsommersgæld.”68 Collecting these types of taxes would have been an important concern for the ruler, who would have a vested interest in regulating trade in clearly defined and ordered market places in order to facilitate their collection. For the Crown to collect taxes from the towns, either to retain for royal use or to grant to the Church, the townspeople had to have coins. Coin production was not a new phenomenon in Denmark. The emporia of Ribe and Hedeby had had their own coinage in the ninth and tenth centuries, while Svein Forkbeard and Cnut the Great had established a number of new mints in urban centres in the eleventh century. Nonetheless, a noticeable shift in the production and use of coins in Denmark is evident from the late eleventh century, beginning in the reign of Svein Estridsen. Continuing the trend of earlier kings, Svein Estridsen founded two new mints at Borgeby and Thumatorp. Only one coin type is known from each of these mints, and they ceased to function after the reign of Cnut IV.69 Around 1065, Svein Estridsen also instituted a monopoly of Danish coins in the kingdom so that only Danish coins were legal tender. Following this decree, foreign coins started to disappear from circulation. In addition, the appearance of Danish coins became more uniform and fewer in type and could be distinguished from foreign ones in that they were smaller and thicker.70 A coin monopoly could be very prof itable 65 DD I: 2, 71. 66 “De mitsumergelt meo in Lunda marcas x singulis annis.” DD I: 2, 91. 67 “totumque censum mithsommers gield eiusdem wille ad vestituram fratrum ibidem,” DD I: 2, 101. 68 “forum uille prenominate ac omnia fori iura cum omni iusticia ac Danorum consuetudine concedo. Nominatim autem trium marcarum ac quadraginta forisfacturam quod ad regiam dignitatem pertinet cum debito quod Danico uocabulo dicitur mithsumeres chield.” DD I: 2, 78. 69 Hauberg, Myntforhold og Udmyntninger, 69. 70 Jensen, Tusindtallets Danske Mønter, 19

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for a ruler in a couple of different ways. For one, the royal mints could devalue the coinage, so that the face value was higher than that of the metal content. For another, by instituting the renovatio monetae system, regular compulsory recoinages would be mandated at a fixed exchange rate advantageous to the king.71 In this way, coin production could become a valuable addition to royal income. The hoard evidence shows that instituting the coin monopoly was a gradual process during Svein Estridsen’s reign. Moreover, there were some regional differences in how quickly the monopoly took hold. In Scania, foreign coins dominated in the hoards until 1040/1050, after which the hoards contained a mix of foreign and domestic coins. After Svein Estridsen’s reign, however, there was a marked shift towards a total dominance of Danish coins. On Zealand, Danish coins from very early on formed the major part of the circulating coinage, so that already from the beginning of his reign, Svein Estridsen’s coins dominated, and by the twelfth century, almost every coin was Danish. The evidence is sparser for Funen and southern Jutland, but the general move towards a Danish coin monopoly seems evident. The evidence from northern Jutland is more mixed, in that a hoard deposited around 1100 still included foreign coins. Despite the regional differences, it seems clear that from the second half of the eleventh century, Danish coins made up an increasing percentage of the money in circulation throughout the realm. The hoards also indicate that recoinage was a gradual process. Older Danish coins, those minted during the reigns of Cnut the Great, Harthacnut, and Magnus the Good, do not show up in hoards deposited after Svein Estidsen’s reign, with the exception of Bornholm, indicating that the older coins were turned in and replaced with the current king’s own coins. Regular and frequent recoinages, however, do not seem to have been the case. Rather, the circulating Danish coinage could have been renewed when older coins were turned in, melted down, and recirculated almost constantly through trade or tax payments. It could also have been the case that certain official transactions were required to be made using the official royal coinage, while older coins were still in use in market transactions. Regional differences, however, were also clearly the case when it came to recoinages, as is indicated in the above discussion of the hoard evidence.72 Table 3 shows where coins were minted in the period encompassing the reigns of Svein Forkbeard to Valdemar II. 71 Ingvardson, ‘Et sted midtimellem’, 143. 72 Ingvardson, ‘Et sted midtimellem’, 142-144.

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Valdemar I the Great (1157-1182)

Cnut VI (1182-1202)

4 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 -

4 3 1 2 1 1 1 - 1 1 2b 2c

2 6 2 3 1d

1 4 -

2 1 -

2 2 2 2 4 3 1

1 1 2 1

4 12 1 4 6 6

9 7 2 2 5 7

16 152 2 3 2 14 84 5 - 26 - 15 2 4 8 4 5 45 3 7 30 8 45

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

1 1 -

-

1 27

-

2

9

14

5

3

18

5

61 32 52 462

6

13 10

Totals

Cnut Magnussen (1147-1157)

Valdemar II the Victorious (1202-1241)

Svein Grathe (1146-1157)

60 50 45 78

Erik III Lamb (1137-1146)

-

Erik II the Memorable (1134-1137)

-

2 1 1 1 1 -

Oluf Hunger (1086-1095)

Svein Estridsen (1047-1076)

Magnus the Good (1042-1047)

Harthacnut (1035-1042) -

Niels (1104-1134)

1

-

Erik I Evergood (1095-1103)

-

23 28 20 32 - 1 - 1 - 1 1 12 4 6 10 2 7 5 3 8 1a - 7 3 - 2 - 1 - 4 2 8 2 1 12 1 2 2 2 - 2 4 1 3 9

Cnut IV the Holy (1080-1086)

1 -

Harald Hen (1076-1080)

Lund Borgeby Thumatorp Gori Roskilde Ringsted Slagelse Odense Tuftum Aalborg Aarhus Randers Viborg Ørbæk Ribe Hedeby/ Schleswig Hjørring Horsens Northern Jutland Totals

Cnut the Great (1018-1035)

Svein Forkbeard (986-1014)

Table 3.  Coins types minted in Denmark ca. 995-1241.73

1 2 29

a Might

have been minted under Magnus the Good. two types have been dated to the 1080s but have not been able to be attributed to a specific king, leaving the possibility that they might have been minted under Cnut IV. c Only one type has clearly been identified to Eric. Production of the other has been stratigraphically dated to 1098/1100 at the latest. d Originally identified as minted in Roskilde. b The

73 Chart adapted from data in Hauberg, Myntforhold og Udmyntninger; Hauberg, Danmarks Myntvæsen; Jensen et. al., Danmarks Middelalderlige Skattefund; Moesgaard, Hilberg, and Schimmer, ‘Mønter fra Slesvigs blomstringstid’.

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As the chart illustrates, minting dramatically increased during the reign of Cnut the Great through that of Svein Estridsen. Less coin types are known after the reign of Svein Estridsen but increase again with the ascension of Valdemar I to the throne of Denmark. The reign of Valdemar ushered in a period of stability after the civil war of the early twelfth century. It is also important to note that the chart reflects known coin types; there likely are a number of coin types that have yet to be uncovered. Moreover, once the monarchy instituted regular recoinages, old coins were continuously and systematically destroyed. At the same time, a money economy was growing, and people were less likely to hoard coins. Single finds of coins are a good indicator for where coins were circulating. A single find is a coin that was lost or buried alone and is typically interpreted as a random loss during everyday coin use. In this way, single finds represent the active circulation of coins.74 Recent excavations from the harbour area of Schleswig have uncovered 75 coins of which 53 were single finds. The coins were found in the fill layer of two wharf units dendrochronologically dated to 1098 and 1099 and in refuse on the bottom of the fjord. Of the single find coins, 51 date to the period 1074-1146. Coin finds are relatively rare for this period, and only ten single find coins are so far known from Roskilde while in Lund the number is approximately 30.75 Even with the addition of the new Schleswig material, the number of single coin finds is still small for Denmark as a whole until the mid-twelfth century, indicating that barter continued to play a significant role in trade and exchange. Of the single finds, most are found in either urban or religious contexts.76 This find pattern shows that, not surprisingly, towns were at the forefront of monetization, and thus urbanization went hand in hand with the development of a money economy. The town law of Schleswig reveals the close connection with the town mint, coin production, and the town’s citizens. This set of town laws is the oldest known for Denmark, and in its current form was recorded sometime in the first half of the thirteenth century. Certain of the laws, however, are clearly older, such as an agreement reached between the burghers and a king Svein,77 part of which concerns recoinage: 74 Moesgaard, King Harold’s Cross Coinage, 29. 75 Moesgaard, Hilberg, and Schimmer, 189. 76 Ingvardson, ‘Et sted midtimellem’, 145. 77 The last Svein to be king of Denmark was Svein III Grathe (r. 1146-1157), and he has historically been considered to be the originator of the law code. Michael H. Gelting has recently put forth the argument that the King Svein referred to in the law’s text is Svein Estridsen, potentially promulgated in conjunction with the move from Hedeby to Schleswig. Gelting, ‘Spor af Danmarks ældste købstadsprivilegier’, 195-216. While the section in Schleswig’s law code concerning the

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The town’s silver money shall be in the power and decision of the Schleswigers concerning what it ought to be, nevertheless on the agreement that there may not be more than one ørtug copper smelted in each mark. [In addition] when the king should command a new coinage to be struck, the citizens should only pay to the king as much as the master of the mint pays; afterwards they themselves should have coinage be struck according to the will of the king, and they should provide inspectors in order that there is no falsification of the coinage.78

This agreement suggests a well-organized coin production in Schleswig, with the king determining how often the coins would be minted and instituting certain quality controls. The archaeological evidence from Schleswig also supports the impression of a regulated production. The coins found in the excavations of the wharf area consist of seven different coin types, dating from the 1070s to the reign of Niels (r. 1104-1134). Of the 22 coins found in a hoard, all but one were of the same type, indicating that only one coin type was in use at a time. Such a scenario points to a well-functioning renovatio monetae system, whereby only the new coins were valid, with older coins exchanged for the new. Based on the number of coin types, it seems as if new coins were minted approximately every five years in Schleswig. Moreover, only two of the 75 total coins found were foreign, while the rest were Danish, six of which came from other mints in Jutland. The low number of foreign coins shows that they were being exchanged for local currency, as they were not valid tender. The written and archaeological evidence thus illustrates a well-organized and well-regulated managed money system. The king was in control of production, and he generated an income from the exchange of foreign coins, old coins, as well as coins from other regions in Denmark. Royal authority clearly had an administrative presence in the town in order to oversee the production and management of the money system, and in this way the Crown retained a certain level of control over how trade was carried out within the town.79 mint and the king’s rights regarding recoinage could be applicable to Svein Grathe, it would make sense that when Svein Estridsen instituted a Danish coin monopoly, the mint towns and the king would want to codify any agreements. 78 “secunda est, ut argentum ciuitatis in Sleswicensium sit potestate et arbitrio, quale debeat esse, hoc tamen pacto, ut plus solido cupri de una marca nequeat comburi. Tercia est, cum rex nouam monetam iusserit fieri, ciues tantum debent regi offerre, quantum confert monetarius; postea ipsi fieri faciant monetam secundum uelle regis, et sint prouidi inspectores, ne aliqua falsitas in nummis fiat”; DGK I: 9. 79 Moesgaard, Hilberg, and Schimmer, 189-194.

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The above evidence suggests the growing importance of cash money in the Danish economy. While the increased use of coinage was instrumental in the growth of trade, the establishment of mints also reflects on the growth of towns. Kings would choose to found mints in towns that were already established; hence the oldest towns were the first to have mints. These mints would in turn encourage more trade. There would be an increase in the velocity of money,80 and the economy would become more flexible.81 As trade in an individual town grew, more people, such as merchants and craftsmen, would be attracted to that town and the town itself would grow. In addition, moneyers were needed to mint coins. These moneyers would live in the towns where they worked and would foster demand for food and other goods necessary for daily living. Just like other administrative personnel, the moneyers themselves were instrumental in town development.

The Christian Church As the Christian Church gained a firmer hold in the kingdom, Denmark became a part of the larger religious culture of Europe. Bishoprics, just like the ones on the Continent, were established throughout the realm. Under Cnut the Great, a diocesan structure consisting of four bishoprics had been created. These bishoprics were located in each of the main provinces: Jutland, Funen, Zealand, and Scania.82 By the mid-eleventh century, Adam of Bremen mentions bishoprics at Schleswig, Ribe, Aarhus, Viborg, Wendila, Lund, and Dalby.83 Under Svein Estridsen, the Danish church was reorganized again. Svein reached an agreement with Archbishop Adalberg of Hamburg-Bremen, probably in 1059, in which the Danish church recognized Hamburg-Bremen’s primacy and the number of Danish dioceses was increased to nine. Accordingly, Jutland now had five dioceses: Schleswig, Ribe, Aarhus, Viborg, and Wendila for the islands north of the Limfjord. Unlike the other four, Wendila was named after a province instead of the site of a cathedral, and in this way, it went against the rule that a bishop should reside in a city. It likely indicates that there were not important urban centres in this part of the kingdom, and between 1086 and 1103, Wendila’s bishop received the royal manor of Børglum as his residence. In Scania, Lund continued as a bishopric, 80 81 82 83

The velocity of money is how quickly it changes hands. Duby, 128. Gelting, ‘The kingdom of Denmark’, 83. Adam of Bremen, 4: 1-4: 8.

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Map 9. Denmark with bishoprics following Svein Estridsen’s diocesan reform.

and for a short while there was also a bishop in Dalby, near to Lund. Once the incumbent bishop of Lund died, however, the bishop of Dalby took over in Lund, and Dalby lost its episcopal status.84 The diocese of Odense included the islands of Funen, Lolland, and Falster, while Roskilde remained the bishopric for Zealand. The Church designated bishoprics in places that were already centres of population. Establishing bishoprics in towns was common on the Continent and had been since the earliest Christian period.85 These bishoprics would in turn attract more people, either as administrators or as craftsmen and merchants to cater to the administrators. It is also worth remarking that the early urban settlements that were designated as such, Schleswig-Hedeby, Ribe and Aarhus, were also the ones to have survived and to have transformed into towns. As a consequence of this reorganization, new stone cathedrals were built in the towns designated as bishoprics. In Aarhus, the first cathedral was built outside the ramparts in the western part of the settlement, presumably in the same location as the town’s first church. Part of the church was discovered in the 1950s when the present Church of Our Lady underwent restoration. During the restoration, remains and traces of the oldest cathedral came to light, including the crypt that was preserved under the present church. The 84 Gelting, ‘The Kingdom of Denmark’, 94-95. 85 Pirenne, 63-64.

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original St. Nicholas cathedral was constructed of travertine and fieldstone, with a rectangular nave and tower to the west. The crypt, which was built of travertine, had remains of wall paintings that have been dated stylistically to the late eleventh century. The cathedral was built sometime in the first decades after 1060, potentially inspired by the church architecture of the Lower Rhine and Lower Saxony regions.86 In Roskilde, the Roskilde Chronicle relates that Estrid, mother to the king, Svein Estridsen, granted 50 manses to the church in Roskilde, which was confirmed by Bishop Wilhelm. Shortly thereafter, in 1073, Wilhelm died, and according to the chronicler, Svein Nordmand “built Roskilde church nearly from the foundation and decorated it with an exceptional crown and marble columns and all ornaments.”87 Saxo says that Svein Nordmand “continued the building of the stone church in Roskilde begun by Wilhelm.”88 Potentially, Estrid gave land to finance the construction of a church, which was begun by Wilhelm sometime after he became bishop in 1060, but he died before or shortly after construction commenced. Construction continued under Svein Nordmand, but he chose to construct a much more monumental church, a three aisled basilica. This decision should probably be tied to Svein Estridsen’s unsuccessful attempt to establish Roskilde as an archdiocese for Denmark.89 The new cathedral was built of local stone, travertine, and was influenced by German architectural styles. The marble for the columns would have been imported, either from southern Europe or a Roman ruin from somewhere in the former empire, potentially Germany. A sturdy foundation and traces of masonry show that two towers flanked the westwork of the church, while a projection between them can have supported a third, higher tower. The understory of this third tower likely contained a decorated aristocratic gallery, similar to ones that have been preserved in other churches on Zealand, including Fjenneslev and Tveje Merløse. The gallery at Roskilde was likely intended for use by the royal family.90 In conjunction with the new grand cathedral of stone, housing for the cathedral chapter was also constructed. The Roskilde Chronicle records: “It was he [Bishop Svein Nordmand] who built a stone cloister for the brothers, 86 Jantzen, 35-36. 87 “Ipse Roskildensem ecclesiam fere ueluti a fundamento fundauit, quam egregia corona et marmoreis columpnis omnibusque ornamentis decorauit.” Chronicon Roskildense, 23. 88 “Sueno Roskyldensis templi edificationem a Wilhelmo coeptam saxeo opere prosecutus.” Saxo 11, 12, 1. 89 Birkebæk, ‘Fra handelsplads til metropol’, 90. 90 Andersen, ‘Rigets hovedby’, 124-132.

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Figure 3. Roskilde Cathedral Chapter’s oldest seal depicting St. Lucius in front of the cathedral towers. The seal is made from walrus tusk and dates to the first half of the twelfth century. Photo: Lennart Larsen / Nationalmuseet, Denmark.

and in order that there might be fifteen prebendaries, he gave of his own table to the brothers and the church, which he consecrated to the Holy Trinity.”91 In building a cloister and endowing the cathedral chapter, the bishop was ensuring administrators for the cathedral as well as increasing the population of consumers in Roskilde, furthering urbanization in this part of the kingdom. In addition, the church and cloister of stone would add a degree of permanency to the buildings and ensure a steady stream of people would go there to take part in religious services. Construction on the cathedral in Odense was begun sometime in the late eleventh century. The cathedral was from early on connected with the sanctification of the murdered Danish king, Cnut IV the Holy. Cnut and his brother Benedikt had been killed in St. Albans Church in Odense in 1086. In 1095, Cnut’s remains were translated from his original grave in St. Albans to the crypt of the new stone cathedral, which according to his vita was still under construction.92 Cnut was canonized in 1101, and his remains 91 “Ipse claustrum lapideum fratribus construxit et, ut XV prebende essent, de mensa sua fratribus et ecclesie, quam in honore sancte Trinitatis consecrauit, addidit.” Chronicon Roskildense, 23. 92 VSD, 129.

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were translated once again, this time to a beautifully decorated reliquary and placed at the high altar.93 The construction of the cathedral itself was begun sometime between 1086 and 1095, and from the beginning could have been designed to support Cnut’s cult. The remains of the crypt from the original cathedral show that it was built of travertine, similar to that known from Aarhus St. Nicholas. Odense’s cathedral was a three-aisled basilica, and it had English architectural influences. This could be explained by the close connections between the English monastery of Evesham and that of St. Cnut, founded shortly before 1100.94 The cathedral in Odense was quite large in comparison to others from the same period, perhaps because of the importance of the martyr king to the royal line and as a result of the donations deriving from the rise of his cult.95 Construction of a cathedral in Viborg likely started sometime around 1060 with the diocesan reform of Svein Estridsen. Very few archaeological investigations have been undertaken in the current structure, so the appearance of the original cathedral is largely unknown. Excavations outside of the current cathedral show that the earlier one was constructed of travertine and red sandstone. An apse is also known to have formed the east end of the nave and was likely constructed of travertine.96 Other than these scant details, the history and appearance of this cathedral remain unknown. For Lund, the history of the earliest cathedral is also somewhat unclear. As discussed in the previous chapter, between 1020 and 1030 the original wooden church of the Holy Trinity was replaced with a stone church inspired by Anglo-Saxon architecture. Possibly this early stone church served as the first cathedral of Lund, as proposed by Maria Cinthio.97 The church of St. Lawrence, however, could also have been the first cathedral,98 although the stone church was not built until later in the eleventh century. Cnut IV’s charter of 1085 granting properties and moneys to St. Lawrence mentions that the church was not yet completed.99 Michael H. Gelting has argued that the church in Dalby served as the Lund diocese’s cathedral in the last decades of the eleventh century. This argument is based partially on the unusually large dimensions of the church in Dalby,100 where Egino served as bishop until the 93 VSD, 133; Christensen, Middelalderbyen Odense, 98. 94 Christensen, Middlealderbyen Odense, 98-100. 95 Kristensen and Poulsen, 81. 96 Kristensen, ‘Kirkens huse’, 85-87. 97 Cinthio, 171. 98 Hervén, 268. 99 DD I: 2, 21. 100 Gelting, ‘Lund, Dalby og Bornholm’, 105.

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Figure 4. Lund Cathedral in 2017. Photo: User:Colin / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0.

death of the incumbent Bishop Henry of Lund in 1071. When Egino succeeded as bishop in Lund, the episcopal status of Dalby was discontinued.101 The new bishop of Lund continued to reside at Dalby however, at least until the crypt of the new cathedral of Lund was completed in 1123.102 Lund was designated as the archbishopric for Scandinavia in 1103/1104.103 Whether construction of the current cathedral in Lund was based on the donation mentioned in Cnut IV’s charter of 1085 or if it followed the town’s designation as archbishopric is unclear. The current cathedral, dedicated to St. Lawrence, was completed by 1145. It is a three-aisled basilica with a transept, choir and apse, crypt under the east end, and two towers at the west end. Master craftsmen from all over Europe were brought to Denmark to construct the cathedral, including stonemasons from Lombardy as well as the cathedral towns of Speyer and Mainz. For example, a stonemason by the name of Regnerus and an architect by the name of Donatus appear in the cathedral’s necrologium. Based on their names, both men came to Lund from elsewhere in Europe.104 The construction of churches, such as the cathedrals discussed above, would in itself promote town growth. With the exception of Lund, the 101 Gelting, ‘The kingdom of Denmark’, 85. 102 DD I: 2, 46; Kristensen and Poulsen, 80. 103 DD I: 2, 28-30; Gelting, ‘The kingdom of Denmark’, 95. 104 Kristensen and Poulsen, 82.

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original stone cathedrals in Danish towns had a relatively short life. They were rebuilt over a longer period, beginning in the twelfth century. Schleswig, Ribe, and Viborg were under construction from c. the mid-twelfth through the first decades of the thirteenth century. The current cathedral in Roskilde was built beginning in the years before 1200, while the one in Aarhus was begun c. 1200 and Odense in the late thirteenth century.105 That these projects were expensive and labour intensive is clear from a number of papal requests concerning the construction of the new cathedral in Aarhus. Thus, in 1197 Pope Celestine III requested the help of all in Denmark to rebuild Aarhus cathedral since to build a stone church in Denmark, “cannot be done without great trouble and much expense.”106 Consequently, he asks that the people provide support for this project so that the church can be built better and more quickly. In return for this assistance, the pope offers to grant them forty days penance for their sins.107 Celestine’s successor, Innocent III, confirmed this request and “[l]ikewise granted forty days to the construction for a period of five years.”108 As the Christian religion gained adherents and a firmer foundation in Danish society, such a spiritual reward would have proved attractive. The construction of such a church would also take many years to complete, and craftsmen and skilled builders would have to be hired, swelling the town population and contributing to its economy.

Economic Factors in Town Development In addition to the role played by the monarchy and the Church, trade continued to be an important factor in urban development. Indeed, Europe in the Middle Ages underwent a general economic upswing large enough that it has been identified as a commercial revolution. While agriculture never lost its place as the occupation of the majority of Europe’s population, commerce became the most dynamic sector of the economy between the tenth and the fourteenth centuries.109 Much long-distance trade continued to follow older, well-established routes. There were, however, important changes that influenced the expansion of trade. One such development was in the Islamic 105 Kristensen and Poulsen, 81. 106 “fieri sine graui labore ac sumptu non potest”; DD I: 3, 220. 107 Ibid. 108 “Item indulgencia xl dierum ad fabricam per quinquennium.” DD I: 3, 251. 109 Lopez, 86.

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world, where shifts in the balance of power diverted the Indian and Southeast Asian spice trade from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea, making Egypt and the port of Alexandria a major hub in Mediterranean trade. Agricultural and industrial innovations in Muslim regions helped stimulate trade between the eastern and western Mediterranean in the eleventh century, eventually also spurring trade between southern and northern areas. Muslim Spain became particularly wealthy, and exported timber, fruits, oil, and raw silk. An increased demand in the West for northern furs stimulated the Baltic trade, with Kiev and Novgorod becoming major centres, while the Rhineland supplied linens as well as being a transhipment centre for silks and precious stones from Byzantium. Cheese and fish came from the Low Countries, while the towns of the Meuse Valley supplied brass and wine, with Cologne as the major distribution centre. England became a major supplier of wool, in particular to the growing Flemish textile industry. In Italy, several port cities became major players in Mediterranean trade, and they increasingly handled the transit trade in silks, spices, and industrial materials, such as alum and cotton, from the prosperous Byzantine and Muslim markets. In exchange, the Italians supplied these eastern markets with commodities such as timber, salt, iron, and slaves.110 This increased commercialization went hand in hand with the urbanization of medieval Europe. Signs of this economic upswing are also evident in Denmark, and a professional merchant class begins to appear in the sources. As discussed in the previous chapter, traders and merchants in the Viking Age would act in partnership together, often as joint owners of a ship, as a way to protect themselves and spread out risk. These partnerships would be enacted regardless of whether voyages were geared towards raiding or trading. In the twelfth century, evidence appears for a new type of merchant association in Denmark, the guild. Medieval guilds were associations of merchants or craftsmen who banded together to promote their own self-interests. Across medieval Europe guilds were formed in a variety of political, regional, and economic settings. They also had various legal standings and were made up of members who pursued a whole host of different occupations.111 Common to the guilds was an effort by artisans and merchants to gain both legitimacy and personal liberties that they considered necessary to the success of their labours. They thus sought safety in numbers to achieve their aims. Their ambitions should additionally be seen as part of a larger push for recognition in a society divided into 110 Keene, 62-64. 111 Epstein, Wage Labor and Guilds, 3.

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three orders with little room for those who did not fight, pray, or work the land.112 The formation of guilds is also tied to the rise of cities and their efforts to acquire a measure of self-government from local lords or kings. In some parts of Europe, the town councils were the ones to initiate the organization of trades, while in others the trades sought this right from the town.113 In Denmark, the town law codes date from the thirteenth century on and so will be considered in detail in the following chapter. The town law for Schleswig, however, contains certain provisions that belong to the eleventh and twelfth century, as discussed above. It is thus not surprising that the first Danish merchant guild, the Guild of St. Cnut, is also connected with this town.114 More than 30 guilds dedicated to St. Cnut are known from Denmark and Sweden, but it is unclear in some instances whether the patron saint of the guild was the king, Cnut IV the Holy, who was killed in 1086, or Cnut Lavard, duke of Southern Jutland, who was murdered in 1131.115 As mentioned above, Cnut Lavard was killed by his cousin, Magnus, son of the then king, Niels. Magnus considered Cnut Lavard a rival heir to the throne whom he wanted to eliminate. As duke of Southern Jutland, Cnut Lavard was also town lord of Schleswig. According to the Roskilde Chronicle, King Niels was murdered in 1134 by the burghers in Schleswig along with his retinue.116 Potentially Cnut Lavard had belonged to or been master of a guild in Schleswig whose members took revenge on Niels for Cnut’s murder.117 The earliest known mention of the guild dates to 1177, when Cnut Lavard’s son, King Valdemar I, declared his intention to join the Guild of St. Cnut: Valdemar, by the grace of God king of the Danes, to all who traverse Gotland, and who are under his royal majesty’s jurisdiction, grace and greetings. It is custom among all peoples, especially those who sail over the different regions of the world for the sake of profit, that they improve their status by means of laws and practices, because they, where foreign protection does not aid them, do not want to give up having a support and a defence in their own power. Therefore, we embrace the association of your fraternity and partnership with much favour and grace, which you in honour of the martyr St. Cnut have established, following a beneficial 112 113 114 115 116 117

Ibid., 62. Ibid., 51. Radtke, ‘Kommune og gilde’, 41-43. Hybel and Poulsen, 359-360. Chronicon Roskildense, 29 Anz, 187; Hybel and Poulsen, 360.

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decision and with a practical foresight, particularly when it most fruitfully will be advantageous for us and our descendants and for the royal honour.118

As Valdemar remarks in the document, the merchants were used to banding together for protection, which was particularly important when travelling to other lands where foreign protection was not reliable or available. That such a practice was referred to as customary indicates that such associations were common by the later twelfth century in Denmark. Considering their widespread existence across Europe in this same period, it is hardly surprising that Danish merchants would also find them useful. As the existence of the guilds show, merchants were still highly dependent upon peace and protection for the prosperity of their ventures. As was the case in previous centuries, this protection was generally understood to be the responsibility of the ruler. Under the influence of the Church, however, there was a shift in attitude towards the underlying justifications for this responsibility. This shift would come to affect how those who made their living through trade were viewed by society. Ultimately, it was through the use of the Peace of God and the Peace of the Prince that merchants came to be protected by the Church and by the lords. According to this ideology, God had appointed to kings the task of maintaining peace and justice. When kings were incapable of doing so, God took back this power of command and vested it in the bishops with the support of local princes. This ideology spread through the whole of Latin Christendom, including Scandinavia, and it laid down certain prohibitions concerning violence against groups in society considered vulnerable, including the clergy and the common people. Seizure of the property of these vulnerable groups was prohibited and became considered as a danger to the soul of the perpetrators. These ideas concerning peace also helped to crystallize the theory of the three orders, so that society was divided between those who fight, those who pray, and those who work.119 118 “Valdemarus, dei gratia rex Danorum, uniuersis in Gutlandiam transeuntibus, sub iurisdictione suae maiestatis constitutis, gratiam et salutem. Moris est uniuersae gentis, praecipue horum, qui diuersa mundi climata transnauigant causa aquisitionis statum suum legibus et caeremoniis confirmare in melius, quia ubi aliena non subueniunt praesidia, propriarum uirtutum suffragari non desistent munimina. Inde est quod uestrae fraternitatis ac societatis connexionem, quam in honore sancti Kanuti martyris salubri consilio atque utilissima prouidentia incoastis, magni fauoris gratia amplectimur, praesertim cum nobis praesentibus necnon et posteris nostris regioque honori fructuosissime consultum sit.” DD I: 3, 63. 119 Duby, 163-164.

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In conjunction with these ideas, a change in attitude had taken place in Christendom with regards to merchants and their pursuit of profit. Prior to this, the acquisition and use of money was viewed with some hostility by ecclesiastical authorities, but such attitudes underwent a transformation, accompanied by similar changes regarding how merchants fit into the social order. Partly this shift was a result of an increase in living standards and basic needs of the people, especially in the towns, that from the twelfth century gradually justified the labour of peasants based on its utility. This class provided Christians with the things they needed or wanted, from basic foodstuffs to luxury products such as spices, furs, and silks. Mercantile profit also became justified as a reward for labour, which from the twelfth century was increasingly seen as a positive in line with new ideas of the Creation as the first ‘work’ performed by God. This was a deviation from the attitudes of the Early Middle Ages that had seen labour as a punishment for the original sin.120 As a result, merchants came under the protection of the Church and the lords, who were entrusted with securing their peace. An example of this idea can be seen when Valdemar I asserted his intention to join the Guild of St. Cnut in 1177. Included in the document is this statement: “But just as God, the helmsman of all, has distinguished limbs of different functions under one head, he has in the same way, according to the variation of condition and time, designated the jobs of the people. Therefore, we shall in fatherly affection support equal justice for all, whether they labour in the trade of merchandise, or exert themselves in agriculture or gleam with a knight’s belt.”121 Not only does the document distinguish between those who work and those who fight, it also distinguishes between those who work in trade and those who work in the fields. In this way, merchants, who fall into the category of labourers, are nevertheless called out specifically as being a recipient of the king’s justice. Foreign merchants to Denmark also sought to be included under the king’s peace. Along with the mint rights discussed above that King Svein (likely Estridsen) granted to the burghers in Schleswig was a provision regarding the granting of the king’s peace to foreign merchants: “the citizens shall have the opportunity once [per year?] to take in or bring with them whichsoever merchants to Schleswig; afterwards however, having consulted with the lord 120 Le Goff, 71. 121 “Sed quia deus cunctorum gubernator sicut uni capiti diuersorum off iciorum distinxit membra, sic uarietate rerum ac temporum determinauit negotia gentium. Igitur, siue mercimoniarum negotiis laborantibus, siue agriculturis desudantibus uel militiae cingulo fulgentibus, aequa lance iuris omnibus paterno tenemur affectu.” DD I: 3, 63.

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king, if he is unwilling to grant them peace, they nevertheless shall depart under the same peace with which they came, and they may not come again without the permission and peace of the king.”122 Foreign merchants would quite logically seek to be under the king’s protection when in his realm, as that would reduce the risks associated with trading in a foreign land and enable them to seek justice for any wrongs committed against them. That the king granted this concession to the citizens of Schleswig indicates that it was the burghers themselves who sought these protections for foreign merchants. Such a guarantee would help attract these merchants to the town, increasing its prosperity. It would thus have been in the public interest to provide protection for travelling merchants. As it clear from the text of the law, however, this was not a blanket right to the king’s peace, and he still retained a great deal of discretion over when and to whom he would grant it. Royal protection and guarantees of peace could also take more concrete forms, including making the seas safe for travel. Among the risks faced by travellers in the seas around Denmark in the eleventh and twelfth centuries was piracy. According to Adam of Bremen, in the 1070s the sea around Zealand was “naturally tempestuous and full of two kinds of danger so that, even if you have a fair wind, you can hardly escape the hands of pirates.”123 These pirates, also called Vikings, paid “tribute to the Danish king for leave to plunder the barbarians who live about this sea in great numbers,” but that “the license granted to them with respect to enemies is frequently misused against their own people.”124 Clearly, such attacks would pose a threat to any merchants travelling to and from the southern Danish islands. Saxo also claims that piracy posed a threat in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Saxo relates that Svein Forkbeard had attempted to curb this piracy by destroying the eastern city of Wollin. Pirates based in Wollin had begun attacking the Danes, and Svein was eager to exact revenge. Unfortunately, the king was captured during this endeavour and failed in his attempt to punish the pirates.125 Later, Saxo explains that pirates attacked 122 “ut ciues potestatem semel recipiendi uel secum ducendi Sleswyk habeant quoslibet mercatores; postea uero, consulto domino rege, si nolit eis pacem concedere, redeant tamen in eadem pace, qua uenerunt, et denuo non ueniant absque licentia et pace regia”; DGK I: 9. 123 “Mare natura tempestuosum duplicique plenum periculo, ut, etiam si ventum habeas prosperum, vix effugias manus pyratarum.” Adam of Bremen, 4: 4; Tschan, 189. 124 “Ipsi vero pyratae, quos illi Wichingos appellant, nostri Ascomannos, regi Danico tributum solvunt, ut liceat eis predam execere a barbaris, qui circa hoc mare plurimi abundant. Unde etiam contingit, ut licentia quam in hostes acceperunt, sepe abutantur in suos”; Adam of Bremen, 4: 6; Tschan, 190. 125 Saxo 10, 9, 2-3.

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Aarhus the same year that Absalon became bishop of Roskilde (1158).126 Cnut Lavard’s vita, written sometime in the twelfth century, says that Wendish attacks in southern Jutland were so bad that Cnut needed a Frisian guard to protect him when he visited the duchy. The vita credits Cnut with their defeat, and that henceforth “everywhere along the coasts people could live freely.”127 The vita of St. Kjeld, a twelfth-century Danish clergyman who was teacher at the cathedral school and dean of the cathedral chapter in Viborg, tells how he was robbed and captured by Wends while travelling to Lund in the late 1140s. Fortunately, he was ransomed by a priest, and the king and archbishop replaced that which had been stolen.128 According to Saxo, in the latter half of the twelfth century, Wendish pirates continued to pose a threat to ships and those living along the coasts. He credits Valdemar I and Bishop Absalon with routing the pirates and says that they “ensured that the earth could be cultivated in peace and the seas sailed in security.”129 By the twelfth century, there was thus an increased emphasis on protection and security for merchants, both foreigners and Danes. The merchants themselves sought to arrange such protection for themselves by forming associations, such as the Guild of St. Cnut. They could thus ensure strength in numbers and speak with one voice when dealing with both foreign and local rulers. For example, in 1134 Emperor Lothar III had placed under his protection the Gotland merchants, which included Danes, who came to his kingdom.130 In Denmark, a strengthened monarchy would also help to ensure such protection. A strong king such as Valedmar I could help remove physical threats such as those posed by pirate attacks. He could also, based on royal privilege and the rule of law, grant merchants his peace and protection. In this way, the continuing consolidation of power by the monarchy was instrumental in increased trade and urban prosperity. That such protection was a reality can also be seen in the further development of cargo ships. As explained in the previous chapter, during the Viking Age, cargo ships were differentiated from warships in that they were pure sailing ships, constructed with a focus on size and cargo capacity rather than speed. They are thus evidence for increased security on the seas as well as increased professionalization of trade. In the second half of the twelfth 126 Ibid., 14, 22, 1. 127 “nam iuxta quodlibet litus quislibet libere habitare potuit,” VSD, 192. 128 VSD, 266. 129 “Quem incursationis morem nostris annis Waldemari regis maximique pontificis Absalonis propense pro ciuibus excubie domuerunt. Quorum strennuo interuentu tranquillus terris cultus geritur, tuta aquis nauigatio celebratur.” Saxo, 10, 9, 2. 130 Radtke, ‘Schleswig c. 1000-1250’, 101.

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century, there were further developments in ship design. A new ship type, the cog, was developed. The cog was a seagoing cargo vessel with a number of features that differentiated it from the Nordic shipbuilding tradition. Cogs were built with edge to edge planking along the bottom that became clinker planking towards the stem and stern, and the sides were completely clinker built. This ship type was likely Frisian in origin.131 Three examples are known from Denmark: one from Kollerup built c. 1150, one from Kolding built c. 1189, and one from Skagen, built in the 1190s. The Kollerup cog, excavated in northwest Jutland, is the oldest dated cog find in Europe, and it was likely shipwrecked during an attempt to sail around the north of Jutland either to or from the Baltic Sea.132 Lower and more slender than later examples, it had a cargo capacity of 35 tons.133 Cogs would become the standard ships for northern European bulk transport in the High Middle Ages. Structurally, they were not superior to the Nordic ships, but they do seem to have been cheaper to build. Scandinavian ships were built with split planks, while cogs were built from sawn oak planks. Less timber and less skilled labour were needed to produce sawn planks. Also, sawn planks could be cut wider than split ones, which meant fewer strakes would be needed and thus fewer seams, which could cut down on finishing time for carpenters and nail-makers.134 The move towards building cheaper cargo ships is an indicator for expanded trade, likely in the hands of professional merchants who were looking for more economical vessels. That merchants were able to focus on this aspect of ship construction, as opposed to being concerned with security features, also shows the increased safety of sea travel. This period also coincides with the rise of bulk commodity trade, which will be explored in the following chapter. The increased trade in the eleventh and twelfth centuries was to a large extent based in the towns, and it was an important factor in their growth. Adam of Bremen describes Ribe as “a city encompassed by another waterway that flows in from the ocean and over which one sails for Frisia, of a fact, for England or for our Saxony,”135 while from Schleswig “ships usually proceed to Slavia or to Sweden or to Samland, even to Greece.”136 As mentioned above, 131 Bill, ‘The Cargo Vessels’, 96. 132 Englert, Large Cargo Ships, 66. 133 Bill, ‘The Cargo Vessels’, 96. 134 Englert, Large Cargo Ships, 68-69; Ellmers, 39. 135 “quae civitas alio cingitur alveo, qui ab occeano influit et per quem vela torquentur in Fresiam aut certe in Angliam vel in nostram Saxoniam,” Adam of Bremen, 4, 1; Tschan, 187-188. 136 “Ex eo portu naves emitti solent in Sclavaniam vel in Suediam vel ad Semland usque in Greciam,” Adam of Bremen, 4, 1; Tschan, 187.

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Schleswig, which replaced Hedeby as the primary urban centre at the base of the Jutland peninsula, was equipped with a harbour with large quays for seaborne traffic in 1087. Merchants from Frisia, the Rhine region, Saxony, Westphalia, Norway, Sweden, Gotland, the Slavic areas, and Russia visited the town. Saxo mentions merchandise from Russia that was plundered from a fleet by Svein Grathe in 1156.137 The town laws for Schleswig include a provision that “guests from the duchy of Saxony, from Frisia, from Iceland, from Bornholm, and other places […] unless they buy their inheritance for the aforementioned price or debt, which is lavkøb, as long as they living are able to hold a weight, they have the king as heir.”138 This passage indicates just how dependent foreign merchants could be on the will of the king, and reflects a period in which foreigners were in principle outside the law. If a foreigner died while in Denmark, his property would go to the king, regardless of any heirs he might have in his homeland. He was also wholly dependent upon the king’s protection for justice.139 Merchants from these areas were frequenting Schleswig often enough that they were able to buy this concession from the king. In addition to historical sources, literary ones also provide evidence for trade between Denmark and Europe. For example, courtly poets mention economic ties between kingdoms, with the trading routes along which the courtly luxuries, which were associated with the idealized noble life as it was presented in the courtly literature, travelled. Writing in Germany, Heinrich von Veldeke, in Servatius, from the 1170s, described the location of Maastricht in relation to trade and exchange. Accordingly, Maastricht was located “on a main road from England to Hungary, between Cologne and Tongres, and similarly on the road from Saxony to Francia and for ships heading for Denmark and Norway. The routes all converge there.”140 That Denmark was included in this list indicates that it was an important trading destination and that Denmark was well integrated into the European trading network of the twelfth century.141 Danish merchants also were active in long-distance trade and visited foreign markets. For example, a trade privilege granted by the Emperor Henry V to the city of Utrecht in 1122 lists the tolls owed by various merchants, 137 Saxo, 14, 17, 1. 138 “omnes hospites de ducatu Saxonie, de Frysia, de Hyslandia, de Burgundeholm et aliunde. Huiusmodi hospites, nisi redemerint hereditatem suam predicto precio uel debito, quod est laghkøp, dum libram uiui tenere possunt, regem habebunt heredem”; DGK I: 8. 139 Gelting, ‘Spor af Danmarks ældste købstadsprivilegier’, 201. 140 Heinrich von Veldeke, 45; Bumke, 67. 141 Corsi, ‘Elite Networks’, 134.

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and those from Denmark, “who are called ships’ masters” were required to pay four pennies each for the right to trade there.142 The Danish merchants who travelled to Gotland in the Baltic have already been mentioned in connection with their guild. These merchants were also travelling to the Continent, including to Germany.143 In 1120, there is mention of a Schleswig merchant at the market of St. Gilles-du-Gard, west of Arles in Provence, selling furs from Russia.144 In addition to long-distance trade, the towns also continued to be sites of craft production. Increasingly, the production that had been carried out in the seasonal, coastal landing places was being funnelled to the towns. These landing places ceased to function over the course of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, coinciding with a more widespread urban growth in Denmark. Craftsmen in the landing places had produced items such as combs, glass beads, amber, iron goods, and jewellery for local consumption. Towns usurped this role and became new centres of production of the old types of goods as well as new ones. Archaeological evidence helps to illuminate the types of crafts that flourished in the towns. Metalwork remained an important occupation for craftworkers through the twelfth century. Excavations carried out in Viborg along Sct. Ibs Gade uncovered evidence of iron smithing at several locations. Iron slag, crucibles, and rusted pieces of iron were found at two houses, and on the west side of the street, a large number of ovens were discovered along with the remains of a forge. A copper smith and a bronze smelter both worked along Sct. Mogens Gade, and at another house on this same street excavators found a midden with pieces of crucibles and bronze droplets. Ceramic from the same midden dates the presence of the bronze smelter to sometime in the twelfth century.145 In Odense, excavations in 1985 at Magløse 7 revealed remains of an iron smithy from 1200. Several excavations have also shown evidence for bronze smelting, including waste from a bronze smelter at Overgade 1-3, and remains of a bronze smelting workshop along Vestergade 70-74 dated to the early eleventh century.146 Both historical and archaeological sources show that leatherworking took place in the towns. For example, Saxo mentions a German shoemaker in Roskilde in 1133 who had been caught up in the fighting between the 142 “qui magistri dicuntur nauium,” DD I: 2, 45. 143 Radtke, ‘Schleswig c. 1000-1250’, 101. 144 Hybel and Poulsen, 232. 145 Kristensen, Middelalderbyen Viborg, 98. 146 Christensen, Middelalderbyen Odense, 93.

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different factions in the civil war.147 The shoemaker had been trained in Germany, and the story suggests that there were German specialists in the leather trades who had settled in Danish towns by the early twelfth century.148 Craftsmen in Odense also worked with leather and other animal pelts. In 1971, excavations were undertaken at Overgade 1-3. Numerous skeletons of cats that showed signs of having been skinned were found, indicating that a furrier had operated here sometime in the late eleventh century. During a 1981 investigation of Overgade 1-3, artefacts relating to shoemaking, including pieces of leather, were found at a craft site dated to the late eleventh century.149 Quite likely the shoemaker and furrier were in operation at the same time. Combs also continued to be produced in the towns. In Lund, comb makers were active at several workshops, including at St. Martin 1, dated to c. 1050, and St. Botulf, dating to the late eleventh century.150 In Odense, excavations at Overgade 1-3 uncovered pieces of bone and broken bits of combs, with the workshop dated to the end of the eleventh century.151 A late eleventh century workshop was found at Stålstræde, and artefacts included several ready-made combs, including a long-toothed comb of a type that is known from both Lund and Schleswig.152 In the middle part of the twelfth century, certain changes in craftwork carried out in the urban centres seem to have taken place. Peter Carelli has shown how in Denmark there was a trend in commodity production at the end of the eleventh century towards production for the market. Consequently, artisans increased their output both quantitatively and qualitatively. In Lund, this seems to have been tied to a change in social status of the artisans coinciding with changes in the built environment of the town. Large town plots were subdivided into long, narrow parcels where the craftsmen could work on their own as urban tenants.153 In the mid-twelfth century, there was a further change in production, and commercial considerations seem to have become increasingly important to the types of goods produced. At this time, there was a qualitative change, characterized by an increase in the range of goods, with new forms and types available for the market. For example, shoemakers were producing a wider 147 Saxo, 13, 11, 2. 148 Hybel and Poulsen, 263. 149 Christensen, Middelalderbyen Odense, 93. 150 Carelli, En kapitalistisk anda, 145. 151 Christensen, Middelalderbyen Odense, 93. 152 Ibid., 73. 153 Carelli, En kapitalistisk anda, 109-115.

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selection of different types of shoes, while artisans working with bone and antler began offering items such as game pieces, skates, and buttons. The quality of the combs they produced also went up at the same time as more types of combs were on offer. The increase in both quality and quantity indicates that craftsmen were producing goods for the market, rather than to order as had been the case in previous centuries.154 These developments suggest that there was increased prosperity in the towns, with more people purchasing goods on the market rather than from professional artisans. Urban artisans would continue to expand their output in the following centuries, with production becoming more organized and regulated. They thus would continue to be important players in urban growth.

Conclusion The century and a half following the end of the Viking Age in Denmark in many ways saw a continuation of the trends towards urbanization of the previous century. New factors, however, arose that would play their own role in town development. Crucially, agriculture shifted away from an emphasis on animal production towards one focused on arable farming. Cereal production is more efficient than animal husbandry, in that it can support a larger population from the same land use. Concomitant with this shift, more land was also being cleared, enabling increased overall production. The spread of new cultivation methods and technologies, including the mouldboard plough, contributed to the ability of medieval farmers to meet the food needs of a growing population. While agricultural activities did continue to be carried out in the towns, the increased food production provided by the rural hinterland was an important prerequisite for continued urban growth. Politically, the Danish kings continued to consolidate their power, although the civil war of the first half of the twelfth century does indicate that this was not a linear process. Valdemar I emerged as the sole victor, and he was able to re-establish order and peace to the realm. As part of the movement towards a more centralized monarchy, the Crown continued to provide an important impetus for urbanization. Royal interest in increasing fiscal revenues meant that kings had a vested interest in controlling trade and exchange, which they could tax. Towns were an important part of this calculus, and new town taxes and tolls were developed as a result. Moreover, 154 Ibid., 141-171.

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the minting of coins remained a royal prerogative, and the eleventh- and twelfth-century kings continued to expand coin production. In addition, Svein Estridsen instituted a coin monopoly in the kingdom, whereby only Danish coins were legal tender. The resulting system of renovatio monetae would become a lucrative source of royal income, particularly as cash became a more important means of payment in Denmark. The Crown also continued to be the guarantor of the peace and provided protection to those travelling within the realm. Rulers such as Cnut Lavard and Valdemar I were instrumental in curbing the Wendish piracy that plagued Danish waters in the twelfth century. Pirate attacks would have had a detrimental effect to trade in Denmark and made it more hazardous for anyone wanting to live or trade along the coasts. Protection from physical attack was not the only way that kings provided peace and protection for their subjects, however. They could also do so by granting people access to the law. Such was the case in the early town codes for Schleswig, where the burghers were allowed to bring in foreign merchants who would be under the king’s peace, allowing them to seek his justice if need be. The Church also expanded its footprint in Denmark at this time. In the mid-eleventh century, Svein Estridsen instituted a diocesan reform that expanded the number of bishoprics in the kingdom to nine. With the exception of the northern most diocese, these were centred in towns, following the rule that bishops should reside in cities. The administrative needs of the Church thus expanded to new cathedral towns. In conjunction with the reorganization of the Church structure, new cathedrals were built in these towns. The new stone churches represented an immense investment in terms of both money and labour, and they would have made their mark on how these towns developed in addition to strengthening the Church’s urban presence. Trade and exchange also continued to be important factors in urbanization. The medieval economy was a dynamic one, with a general economic upswing taking hold. In Europe as a whole, the expansion of trade brought new wealth to an increasingly professional merchant class. In Denmark, this growing trade is evident in the continuing development of specialized cargo ships, especially the cog, as well as the numerous sources that mention Danish merchants and trade with Denmark. At the same time, medieval thinkers advanced new ideas to incorporate merchants into the medieval worldview, with labour and its fruits becoming viewed as a positive rather than a punishment for original sin. In this way, merchants were brought under the protection of the king and the Church, as can be seen in the earliest laws for Schleswig and Valdemar I’s charter to the Gotland merchants. In

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addition, medieval merchants seeking further means of protection formed associations for that purpose, the guilds. The oldest known merchant guild in Denmark is that dedicated to St. Cnut, which was in existence from at least the twelfth century. Guilds provided merchants and artisans safety in numbers when travelling and enabled them to speak with one voice when dealing with authorities. Increased professionalism is also seen with urban artisans. Craft production of the type that had been known from the seasonal landing places was funnelled to the towns, which was both a cause and effect of the eventual abandonment of the landing places. Urban industries would become more dynamic however, as artisans became independent producers supplying goods for a market. All of these developments, political, religious, and economic, would continue to be factors in town development. The pace of change would pick up speed in the following centuries, leading to a burst of urbanization, and one that will be explored in the following chapter.

5.

Urbanization to 1350

High Medieval Denmark saw a period of considerable urban growth, with the expansion of existing towns and the creation of new ones between 1200 and 1350. Many of the trends of the previous centuries continued, with new developments helping to accelerate this rapid urbanization. The monarchy continued to play a role, and the expansionist policies of the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries opened up new opportunities for Danish trade. The Crown maintained an interest in promoting urban development, particularly for the revenue that urban taxes and tolls could provide. While royal power weakened over the course of the thirteenth century, the Crown continued to be an active participant in town growth. One way was in the granting of town laws, which was done in cooperation between the town lord and the burghers. Kings also continued to mint coins, with Denmark becoming a monetized society. Trade flourished in these centuries, and the development of a commodity trade greatly increased prosperity across the kingdom. In addition, urban artisans became organized, forming their own guilds and associations similar to those developed by merchants in the twelfth century. Trade and exchange were increasingly regulated, and new laws concerning when and where trade could occur, as well as laws regarding consumer protection, were put in place. The Church also continued to expand its presence in the towns, with new cathedrals being built and new religious orders taking root. Moreover, education, which was under the purview of the Church, became an important element in cathedral towns, with cathedral schools serving as centres of learning. This brought new people and new ideas to the towns, which in turn helped to funnel knowledge to other parts of the kingdom. Between 1200 and 1350, Denmark experienced an urban boom, with 63 new towns founded in this period (Map 10).1 There was thus a close network of towns spread across the kingdom, so that almost all rural inhabitants had a town within a ten to fifteen-kilometre radius. Only the western part of Jutland had rural districts that were outside this network.2 In contrast to the inland towns of the previous centuries, many of the new towns were established along the coasts.3 Moreover, many of these new towns developed on crown lands, with the king as town lord. For example, Slangerup, 1 2 3

Andrén, 27. Hybel and Poulsen, 236. Andrén, 88.

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located in northern Zealand, was originally the site of a royal manor that developed into a town in the twelfth century. 4 Likewise Haderslev, in southern Jutland, seems to have been founded on royal land on the king’s initiative, likely as a competitor to the nearby landing place at Starup.5 The earliest activities in Haderslev date to the early twelfth century, and the two sites overlapped for a couple of centuries. It is clear, however, that in this period Starup was in decline while Haderslev was growing. Likely, the foundation of Haderslev should be seen as evidence of shifting power structures in the region, with the king exerting his authority by founding his own settlement in the area.6 The king was the lord in the majority, although not all, of the Danish towns. Others holding lordship over towns included the count of Holstein and the dukes of Southern Jutland and Halland within their territories. The archbishop of Lund was lord of the towns on Bornholm, while the bishop of Roskilde was town lord of Copenhagen.7 Another feature of urbanization in this period was the construction of new fortifications to protect the towns as well as to serve as a jurisdictional boundary. New fortifications were constructed around Ribe c. 1200. Archaeological excavations have uncovered an approximately 700-metre-long moat running north-south on the north side of the river. The moat was about ten metres wide and two metres deep. In conjunction with the moat was an earthen rampart, about seven-and-a-half metres wide, which was reinforced with piled turf. The southern part of the moat met the river, from which a second moat continued, enclosing the southern part of the town. This waterway, Stampemøllestrømmen, is still extant, and it is likely that there was also an associated earthen rampart similar to the northern section of moat. It is clear, however, that the northern moat and Stampemøllestrømmen were part of the same installation, and together they enclosed a settlement of more than 80 hectares. In the second half of the thirteenth century, three brick gates, Nørreport, Sønderport, and St. Mikkel’s Port, were added to the fortification system. They marked the jurisdictional entry into the town and served as tollgates, in addition to having a defensive function. Nørreport, which was in place until 1843, measured 6.2 by 6.8 metres, and an oak beam from the foundation dates its initial construction to 1278/79. 4 Græbe, 14. 5 It has been speculated that Starup, which dates to the early eleventh century, had been under the control of a local magnate. Englert, Hartvig, and Kristensen, 198. 6 Englert, Hartvig, and Kristensen, 191-197. 7 Jacobsen, ‘Dansk Købstadslovgivning’, 398.

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Map 10. Denmark with towns founded 1200-1350.

Excavations at the location of Sønderport show it to have been 8.4 metres in length with walls up to 2.4 metres thick. St. Mikkels Port has not been found archaeologically, but it is possible that the road to the town of Haderslev went through this gate.8 Copenhagen was fortified in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries with moats, gates, bridges, walls, ramparts, and revetments. The Metro Cityring excavations in 2010-2012 investigated parts of Kongens Nytorv and Rådhuspladsen, and they uncovered evidence of the high medieval fortifications. At Kongens Nytorv, remains of the rampart, bulwark, and moat were found that comprised the first phase of fortifications constructed in the early thirteenth century. The bulwark consisted of wooden stakes and planks, dendrochronologically dated to the late twelfth or early thirteenth centuries. The oldest rampart measured 7.6 metres wide, although the height is unknown. An eastern gate with a massive stone foundation and attached brickwork were also uncovered, along with a road with preserved wheel ruts running through the gate building. The excavations at Rådhuspladsen found remains of a western gate consisting of a gate building, moat, rampart, and three consecutive bridges. The medieval moat was 22 metres wide and six metres deep at the gate area. The timbers of the oldest bridge were dendrochronologically dated to 1361, 1370/71, 1371/72, and 1406, which 8

Søvsø, ‘Byens befæstning’, 79-81.

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shows that construction of the town fortifications was a long-term project. Moreover, it is likely that a wall did not encircle the town completely but was interspersed with sections of earthworks and planks.9 The construction of the fortifications around Copenhagen was not without conflict. The town laws from 1254 included a provision that property owners should “not impede that moats and roads have that progress, which is considered advantageous for the town, provided that suitable compensation has been received.”10 In 1289, a letter from the bishop granted the citizens the right to the full amount of the fines that were payable to the bishop, until the fortifications were complete.11 The archaeological excavations have shown that the town’s ramparts and moat did cut through a settlement area in the western part of the town in the fourteenth century. Possibly, it was the need to extend the fortifications into this populated part of the town that was the reason for the 1254 provision and the letter of 1289.12 The written sources also suggest that it was the bishop as town lord who was the driving force behind the fortifications. Horsens, in eastern Jutland, was refortified sometime in the first half of the thirteenth century. The town had had an earlier moat in use from 1020-1150, but it had been filled in during the twelfth century and no longer served any function. Rather, the town seems to have been fairly sprawling and with no clear boundary.13 Archaeological investigations have shown that new fortifications were constructed in the first half of the fourteenth century, likely sometime between 1320 and 1350. The fortifications consisted of a moat, between ten and twelve metres wide and three to five metres deep, as well as an earthen rampart on the inner side of the moat. These surrounded the settlement, and the foundations of two gates have been uncovered at Borgergade and Mælketorvet. It is unlikely that the fortifications had any military purpose. Rather, they formed the jurisdictional and fiscal boundary of the town and served to ensure that anyone entering Horsens had to pass through one of the gates where taxes and tolls would be collected.14 Around 1320, Aalborg was fortified with a moat, palisades, and city gates. To the west was a man-made canal that served as a moat and a tributary 9 Dahlström, Poulsen, and Olsen, 94-97. 10 “ne fossata uel uie procedant, prout utile uisum fuerit, dum modo competens recompensatio ei exibeatur”; DGK III: 7. 11 DD II: 3, 374. 12 Dahlström, Poulsen, and Olsen, 96-97. 13 Kristensen and Poulsen, 207. 14 Schiørring, ‘En middelalderby forandrer sig’, 133-134; Kristensen and Poulsen, 221.

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of the river, Østerå. On the eastern side of the canal, archaeologists have uncovered an approximately ten-metre-wide rampart in which was found several vertical posts supported by struts forming part of a palisade. Another moat, Lilleå, was dug on the eastern side of the town. The fortifications to the north of the town are not well known, although remains of ramparts and wooden posts have been found in a trial trench. One of the posts has been dendrochronologically dated to the winter of 1317/18.15 Towards the south was a moat and associated rampart. This moat was shallow, only 80 centimetres deep, but 21 metres wide. Three ditches, two to three metres wide, were located north of the moat, and these are likely to have functioned as the jurisdictional boundary of the town. The ditches were demolished sometime in the second half of the thirteenth or early fourteenth centuries. The king’s castle was located where the southern lines of fortification crossed the river Østerå, and the castle was fortified with a double line of moats and ramparts. The oldest dendrochronological date for the castle is 1335, but it is quite probable that it is older. Interestingly, parts of the town, including the parish church of St. Peter and the combination parish and abbey church of Our Lady were outside the fortifications. It is possible that the king, Erik VI, was behind the construction in response to an uprising in Jutland, similar to the construction of the fortifications around the town of Kolding in 1313. The impetus for the fortifications could also have come from the town itself, however.16 The towns continued to provide an important source of revenue for the king through various taxes and tolls levied on them. This revenue would have been particularly important to help fund the expansionist policies of the Danish kings in this period, as well as provide a base of support for the internal power struggles within the royal dynasty. When Valdemar I emerged as sole king in 1157 following several decades of civil war, he not only consolidated the power of the monarchy within Denmark, but also turned his attention southwards and eastwards in a bid to expand the Danish sphere of influence along the Baltic shores of northern Europe. His son and successor, Cnut VI (r. 1182-1202) followed suit, and by the end of the twelfth century, Denmark had conquered the island of Rügen and gained control of Pomerania. In 1201, the Danes conquered Nordalbingia. Cnut VI died childless in 1202, and his younger brother, Valdemar II the Victorious (r. 1202-1241), ascended to the throne. He followed in the expansionist footsteps of his father and brother, and in 1219, he brought Estonia, on the eastern shores of the Baltic, under Danish suzerainty. This victory extended Danish 15 Springborg, Møller, and Ørnbjerg, 18-46. 16 Kristensen and Poulsen, 221; Springborg, Møller, and Ørnbjerg, 46.

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imperium across the Baltic coast of northern Europe, but this Baltic empire would prove to be short-lived.17 Disaster struck in 1223, when King Valdemar II and his son, Valdemar the Young, were captured and imprisoned by the king’s vassal, Henry of Schwerin. The capture of the king and his heir also ushered in a period of economic crisis for the monarchy. The ransom paid for their release included 45,000 marks silver, all the gold from Queen Berengaria’s (d. 1231) wardrobe except her crown and from any religious donations she had made, clothing for one hundred knights, and one hundred horses. Moreover, the king gave up control of all Danish possessions along the southern Baltic shore, and any real hope of regaining them died with the disastrous defeat of the Danish forces at Bornhöved in 1227.18 After Denmark’s loss of military status in the Baltic region, Danish kings were often forced to seek military aid from aristocrats abroad. It became usual to pay for this aid by mortgaging royal lands to those foreign aristocrats. Consequently, as the thirteenth century progressed, the Danish kingdom became increasingly strapped for cash.19 These types of financial woes were common to other European rulers at the time,20 so the Danish kings’ financial difficulties were also part of a larger European phenomenon. The death of Valdemar II in 1241 ushered in another period of infighting between rival claimants to the throne. Valdemar was succeeded by his oldest living son, Erik IV (r. 1241-1250).21 He was murdered by two men sworn to his brother, Duke Abel, following a period of warfare between the two that had lasted for most of Erik’s reign. Abel followed his brother on the throne, but only reigned from 1250-1252, when he himself was killed in a campaign against the Frisians in southern Jutland. Despite the fact that Abel had an adult son, Valdemar, Abel’s younger brother, Christopher I (r. 1252-1259), followed him on the throne. Christopher’s reign was dominated by warfare with Abel’s followers, as well as strife with the Archbishop of Lund, Jakob Erlandsen. Christopher died in Ribe in 1259, following a sudden illness.22 Christopher was succeeded by his minor son, Erik V Klipping (r. 12591286), with the queen mother, Margaret Sambiria, serving as regent until 1266. Erik V continued the practice of mortgaging crown lands to German aristocrats in exchange for military aid. In 1282, he was forced by his nobles 17 Murray, 289-292. 18 Fenger, 312-322. 19 Hørby, 135. 20 Spufford, 289-318. 21 Valdermar II’s first-born son, Valdemar the Young, had been killed in a hunting accident in 1231. Fenger, 325. 22 Hørby, 99-101.

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to agree to a charter in which he promised that an annual parliament would be held during Lent. The charter represents a push to diminish royal power to the advantage of the nobility. Troubles with his nobles continued, however, and Erik V was murdered by a group of unknown assailants in 1286.23 He was succeeded by his minor son, Erik VI Menved (r. 1286-1319), with the queen mother, Agnes of Brandenburg, and her German relatives acting as regents. Unrest and wars following the murder of Erik V plagued the early years of his reign, and rebellions on Zealand and in Jutland, stemming from taxes that continued to be levied despite the famine of 1312, were put down with German mercenary forces. Following his death in 1319, Erik VI’s younger brother, Christopher II (r. 1320-1326 and 1329-1332) ascended to the throne. His reign also saw a great deal of unrest, and he pursued disastrous wars against northern German territories and cities. The wars led to further mortgages and taxes, which resulted in conflict with the Danish Church and magnates. In 1326, he was overthrown by an alliance between the Danish magnates and Counts Gerhard III and Johan I of Holstein. They replaced Christopher on the throne with the young Duke Valdemar of Southern Jutland, who reigned as Valdemar III (r. 1326-1330). His uncle, Count Gerhard III of Holstein, served as his regent. Valdemar III’s unpopularity eventually led to his abdication in favour of the return of Christopher II. By the time Christopher II died in 1332, the whole of Denmark was mortgaged to the counts of Holstein for a sum of 200,000 silver marks. For the next eight years Denmark was without a king. Following the assassination of Count Gerhard III in 1340, Valdemar IV (r. 1340-1375), youngest son of Christopher II, was able to the claim the throne and eventually reconstitute the kingdom.24 The income provided by royal towns would have been a crucial component of royal finances, especially in light of the expansionist policies of Valdemar II and, following his death, the warfare between rival factions of the ruling family. Evidence for the collection of urban taxes dates back to at least the ninth century, when the Danish king Godfred was said to have received taxes from the emporium of Reric, which he destroyed in 808, relocating all of the merchants to Hedeby. The towns of Lomma, Helsingborg, and Lund paid annual taxes from the town plots to Cnut IV in 1085,25 while the first mention of midsommergæld in the sources dates to 1135.26 Midsom23 24 25 26

Ibid., 132-146. Hørby, 185-221. DD I: 2, 21. DD I: 2, 65.

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mergæld, along with arnegæld, were presumably taxes based on urban real estate, similar to those collected from the Scanian towns during the reign of Cnut IV. Other taxes appear in charters beginning in the mid-twelfth century, including income from town markets (torvegæld), duties for safe conduct ( forban), military duties or leding (expeditio),27 transport (redskud and ægt), as well as labour service (dagsværk).28 Charters from the period provide numerous examples of these taxes and show that the king, as town lord, had discretion over who would receive the revenues from them. Thus, in 1140 King Erik III Lamb had granted to St. Peter’s monastery in Næstved: the market in the abovesaid town [Næstved] and all market rights with all the right and custom of the Danes, which are three- and forty-mark fines, which pertains to the king’s dignity, together with that due which in Danish is called midsommergæld. Instead of the leding which pertains to the men in the same town and the monks’ other villeins, I decide, that they shall serve one day per year by transporting me or my men over to Falster or Lolland or other nearby islands, if it will be necessary.29

In 1177, Valdemar I confirmed the grant to St. Peter’s monastery, except he waived the transport requirement in exchange for five bol of land on the nearby island of Møn and exempted taxes up to six marks.30 In 1209, Valdemar II confirmed these privileges yet again, including the grant of the midsommergæld.31 Two other undated royal charters further ordered that anyone who visited the market in Næstved was required to pay torvegæld to the monks.32 The king 27 Danish military organization was based on naval warfare, and all free men, with the exception of the very old or very young, were liable for service in the leding, which was essentially a naval levy. The backbone of the leding was the prosperous, free, and allodial peasants, who were organized into districts called skiben. The term skiben comes from the word for ship, skib, and the men of each skiben were responsible for buying or building and maintaining a warship which they would also man. They were required to meet up fully armed and at their own expense with a shield, helmet, sword, and spear. Kroman, Danmarks Gamle Love, Law of Jutland, book 3 § 1-5. 28 Hybel, The Nature of Kingship, 245. 29 “forum uille prenominate ac omnia fori iura cum omni iusticia ac Danorum consuetudine concedo. Nominatim autem trium marcarum ac quadraginta forisfacturam, quod ad regiam dignitatem pertinet, cum debito quod Danico uocabulo dicitur mithsumeres chield. Pro expeditione, que ad homines eiusdem uille et ceteros colonos monachorum pertinet, statuo, ut me uel meos ad Falstriam uel Lalandiam, uel ad alias insulas circumiacentes deducendo, semel in anno si necesse fuerit, per unum diem deseruiant”; DD I: 2, 78. 30 DD I: 3, 67. 31 DD I: 4, 160. 32 DD I: 4, 74 & 75.

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could also choose to exempt people from having to pay these taxes. In the above example for Næstved, Valdemar I granted a tax exemption up to six marks. Early in his reign Valdemar II granted to the citizens of Ribe, “that favour and freedom, supported by our royal prerogative, that they, wherever they may reach within our kingdom’s borders for the sake of trading, shall neither be burdened by any tribulations, nor shall there be demanded from them any market fine or toll, but they shall be free from all oppression.”33 In 1252, King Christopher I confirmed similar privileges for Schleswig. The burghers were freed from “tolls, market fines, and all other charges, that belongs to our royal prerogative, wheresoever they may travel within the borders of our kingdom to trade their goods […] likewise we give them permission to buy what they will, and freely bring it wherever they will, unimpeded by all prohibitions.”34 The principal section of King Valdemar’s Cadastre provides figures for the royal tax income from several different towns in 1231. Thus, Viborg paid 120 marks for leding and 80 marks for the mint, Randers paid 25 silver marks in addition to twenty silver marks for leding, while Aarhus paid twelve marks for leding besides bailiff service.35 From Horsens the king received two nights service, 60 marks for leding and 40 marks for the mint.36 The entry for Ribe is the most comprehensive and includes 200 marks for bailiff duties, customs, and safe conduct, as well as 120 marks for leding and 150 marks for the mint. In addition, the customs duties on horses paid to the king was 350 marks and more, while customs on salt was 40 marks. Added to that, the mint master paid 100 marks.37 The king received 900 silver marks from the mint in Roskilde,38 while from Lund he received 1200 silver marks and eight gold marks from the mint, 40 silver marks for leding and 60 marks in midsommergæld, of which the cathedral canons received 27 marks annually. Tommarp paid fourteen marks for leding.39 33 “Huius itaque non immemores ciuibus Ripensibus autoritate freti regia hanc libertatis prerogatiuam concedimus ut ubicumque infra regni nostri terminos eos declinare contigerit negociandi causa ne aliquibus angariis pregrauentur, nec quicquam ab eis respectu fori uel thelonei exigatur, sed sine omni op[p]ressione liberi dimittantur.” DD I: 4, 54. 34 “ciues nostros Scleswicenses a theloneo, torgiald, et omnibus aliis solucionibus iuri regio attinentibus liberos dimisimus et exemptos ubicumque infra terminos regni nostri negociandi causa cum suis deuenerint mercaturis...liberam eis facultatem concedentes emendi que uoluerint et eadem libere quocumque uoluerint deferendi prohibicione aliqua non obstante.” DD II: 1, 72. 35 KVJ, 4-5, 36 Ibid., 6. 37 Ibid., 8. 38 Ibid., 20. 39 Ibid., 23.

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In addition to the town taxes included in the principal section, King Valdemar’s Cadastre also includes a borough list for the islands of Zealand, Lolland, and Falster from c. 1241. This list records the taxes paid by each of nineteen towns from these three islands, and these taxes were the urban equivalent of the plough tax paid in rural areas (Table 4). The largest ten towns were all on Zealand, and include Roskilde (80 marks), Næstved (40 marks), Kalundborg (33 marks), Copenhagen (28 marks), Slagelse (18 marks), Vordingborg (15 ½ marks), Skælskør (13 marks), Holbæk (12 marks), Ringsted (9 ½ marks), and Helsingør (8 marks). These are followed by Nykøbing on Falster (7 marks, 5 øre, 1 ørtug), Søborg on Zealand (6 marks), Nakskov on Lolland (5 marks, 2 øre), Stubbekøbing (4 ½ marks) and Saksøbing (4 marks) on Falster, and Stigs Bjergby (2 ½ marks), Slangerup (2 marks), Store Heddinge (1 mark), and Skibby (20 ørtug) on Zealand. Table 4.  Urban Taxes Levied on Zealand, Lolland, and Falster Ranked by Size, c. 1241

(amount paid in marks)40 1. Roskilde 2. Næstved 3. Kalundborg 4. Copenhagen 5. Slagelse 6. Vordingborg 7. Skælskør 8. Holbæk 9. Ringsted 10. Helsingør

80 40 33 28 18 15 ½ 13 12 9½ 8

11. Nykøbing, F. 12. Søborg 13. Nakskov 14. Stubbekøbing 15. Sakskøbing 16. Stigs Bjergby 17. Slangerup 18. Store Heddinge 19. Skibby Total

7⅔ 6 5¼ 4½ 4 2½ 2 1 ⅚ 290 ¾

As is clear from royal charters and from both the principal part and borough list of King Valdemar’s Cadastre, the income to the royal coffers from urban taxes was quite substantial. Moreover, it would benefit the Crown’s finances the larger and more populated the town and the more trade that was carried on. From the borough list, for example, the largest town on Zealand, Roskilde, paid twice as much in taxes as the next largest, Næstved. Increased trade would bring in more from market taxes and customs duties, which would also incentivize the king to funnel trade away from the smaller unregulated trading sites to the towns, most of which were under royal control. Two of the smallest towns, Skibby and Stigs Bjergby, 40 KVJ, 83.

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are not named in any sources again, indicating that not all towns proved successful in the long run. 41 A change in how taxes were levied on trade is evident from the midthirteenth century. Prior to this, taxes were levied on the individuals coming to the towns to trade rather than on the goods traded. For example, in the early thirteenth century, Valdemar II had freed the burghers of Ribe from any tolls or market fines anywhere within his realm,42 suggesting that these tolls were levied on individuals, not necessarily their goods. The customs tariff for the oldest town laws for Schleswig likewise show that customs duties were paid by each person crossing the town border:43 Likewise, merchants travelling to Gotland or elsewhere beyond the Danish kingdom for customs duties shall pay twelve penninge at the mouth of the Schlei and at the castle six penninge and per head eight penninge. Slavs, however, shall pay twelve penninge per head, for five lambs one penning, for two pigs one penning, for a cow or a mare four penninge, for a bull or stallion six penninge. Those sailing into the Schlei shall pay at the mouth of the Schlei, those sailing out in Schleswig. For a wagon going to Hollingsted, four penninge, however one going to Rendsborg, six penninge. If, however, it crosses the Eider River, twelve penninge. 44

The tariff sets the amount for each person entering or exiting the town, with Slavs paying a higher rate. A distinction was also made between sea and overland travel, and those travelling overland payed different amounts depending upon their route. In addition, the concessions that had been granted to the burghers of Schleswig by King Svein (Estridsen), discussed in the previous chapter, includes one regarding foreign merchants as under the king’s peace, without which they would not be able to stay in the town.45 Presumably, this was a right that had to be purchased, and it seems to have been a common means of levying customs before the mid-thirteenth century.46 41 Ulsig and Kjær Sørensen, 22. 42 DD I: 4, 54. 43 Poulsen, ‘The Widening’, 32. 44 “Item mercatores ituri in Gutiam uel alias extra regnum Datie pro teloneo soluant Slesmynne xii denarios et in castello vi denarios et pro capite viii denarios. Slaui autem pro capite xii denarios soluant, pro quinque agnis unum denarium, pro duobus porcis unum denarium, pro uacca uel equa iiii denarios, pro boue uel equo vi denarios. Intrantes in Slyam theloneum Slesmynnæ, exeuntes soluant Slæswyyk. Pro quolibet plaustro eunte Huhelstath quatuor denarios, eunte uero Regnaldzburgh vi denarios. Si uero transierit Eghdoram xii denarios.” DGK I: 9. 45 DGK I: 9. 46 Hybel, The Nature of Kingship, 244.

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From the middle part of the thirteenth century, customs duties were levied on both imports and exports. That taxes shifted from being levied on individuals to being levied on goods shows that there was an increase in market trade. As more goods were being traded, it would have become glaringly obvious that there was money to be made by taxing them directly, rather than the merchants who brought them. This shift also seems to imply that merchants had a general grant of safe conduct and permission to trade that did not need to be granted separately. This situation would be similar to that of England, when Edward I granted such liberties to foreign merchants in 1303. 47 An example for Denmark comes from a 1293 charter, in which King Erik VI placed all guests visiting Ribe under his peace and protection and confirmed their liberties. In addition, he declared a maximum toll amount for a number of export goods, namely, “as payment of our toll henceforth they shall not pay more than two øre for every læst herring which they have bought, one øre for every purchased horse, nine penninge for every pound of bacon or tallow and just as much for a pound of fat, one ørtug for every barrel of butter, and three øre for one mark grain of any kind and nothing more.”48 Tolls on cloth are listed in a trading privilege given to the burghers of Deventer by King Erik VI in 1316. For every parcel of cloth imported into Nyborg and Tårnborg, they were required to pay one copper mark, while for every square of cloth imported into Slagelse and Roskilde, they were required to pay a toll of two øre. 49 By the thirteenth century, trade had become so substantial that it was more lucrative to tax the items traded, rather than the traders themselves. In conjunction with the levying of taxes, coin use increased dramatically in the thirteenth century, and society as a whole became monetized. Monetization first took hold in the towns, and in the thirteenth century, the urban economy can be said to have become a monetary one. Over the course of the century, more and different types of transactions were carried out using cash money, including donations to the Church, rent payments to property owners, and tax and toll payments to the king. Buying and selling in the marketplace also used cash money, and larger numbers of 47 Ibid., 244-245. 48 “quod pro solucione thelonei nostri de qualibet lesta cum allecibus que emerint duas oras denariorum, pro quolibet equo empto oram denariorum, pro quolibet talento lardi aut aruine nouem denarios, et tantum pro talento adipis pro qualibet lagena butiri solidum denariorum et pro qualibet marcha annone cuiuscumque tres oras denariorum et non amplius decetero soluere teneantur”; DD II: 4, 111. 49 DD II: 7, 410.

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people were earning enough coin to able to set money aside for savings.50 Analysis of 9405 single-find coins in Denmark for the period 1241-1340 also suggests that the volume of circulating coins increased dramatically in this period. Coins minted under Erik IV (r. 1241-1250) make up three per cent of the finds, while those minted under Abel (r. 1250-1252) and Christopher I (r. 1252-1259) represent 6.1 per cent. Erik V’s (r. 1259-1286) coins make up 12.1 per cent of the single finds, which breaks down to 4.84 per cent per decade of his reign. Lastly, coins minted during the reign of Erik VI (r. 1286-1319) represent 30.6 per cent, with each decade averaging 9.3 per cent of the total finds.51 Despite the slight drop during the reign of Erik V, there is an overall pattern of steady increase in both production and use of coins throughout Denmark. The quality of coinage also became a matter of political interest, further indicating the increased monetization of society. From the reign of ­Valdemar II (r. 1202-1241), 50 different coin types are known, which suggests that compulsory re-coinages were frequent, perhaps even sometimes annually. Such an aggressive pace of renovatio monetae resulted in an increasingly debased coinage, which would have been financially detrimental to the populace, as well as creating economic uncertainty and unrest. Consequently, a new tax, the plough tax, was introduced, which was intended as a compensation to the king for abandoning frequent debasements of the coinage.52 The first mention of this tax, which was based on an assessment of land in each district, was in 1234, in an agreement between Valdemar II and the Bishop of Ribe in which the bishopric gave up the right to half of the income from the mint in exchange for the plough tax from the districts of Hardsyssel, Almindsyssel, and Vardesyssel along with the towns of Varde and Lemvig.53 Potentially this replacement tax had already been in place in Jutland in 1231, based on the urban taxes listed in the principal part of King Valdemar’s Cadastre discussed above. Of the towns in Jutland, Viborg paid 80 marks, Horsens 40 marks, and Ribe 150 marks for the mints. These amounts are considerably less than those paid by the towns in eastern Denmark, where Roskilde paid 900 silver marks and Lund paid 1200 silver marks and eight gold marks for their mints.54 Such a large discrepancy could be explained by the plough tax having already been instituted for the western part of the kingdom. 50 Grinder-Hansen, ‘Den danske møntøkonomi’, 198. 51 Grinder-Hansen, Kongemagtens krise, 181-182. 52 Grinder-Hansen, Kongemagtens krise, 64. 53 DD I: 6. 182. 54 KVJ, 4-8, 20-23.

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By c. 1241, the tax was in place on Zealand and Fyn, and the borough list in King Valdemar’s Cadastre shows that Roskilde’s tax was now at 80 marks, a considerable reduction compared to ten years earlier and on par with what Viborg was paying in 1231.55 In 1249, the tax was also introduced into Scania. According to the Annals of Lund, in that year King Erik IV instituted a plough tax for all of Denmark, much to the dismay of the Scanians,56 suggesting that the tax was newly imposed for that part of the kingdom. The plough tax was intended to stabilize the value of the coinage in a conservatio monetae system. Money-taxes for this purpose, providing income to the king in exchange for a secure currency, were known from other parts of Europe in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, including France and Spain.57 That such was the case in Denmark is evident from a c. 1251 law which set the tax rate at 1 øre (30 penninge) per plough specifically “insofar as a stable mint may be had.”58 In Denmark, this coinage policy resulted in an improvement of the exchange rate between marks silver and marks penninge. At the beginning of the thirteenth century, the rate had been 1:3 marks silver to marks penninge, whereas by the middle part of the century the rate had improved to 1:2. After the 1250s, however, the plough tax seems to have been abandoned, with the Crown introducing a system of frequent compulsory re-coinages to the detriment of the exchange rate, which quickly fell to 1:4 marks silver to marks penninge.59 Nonetheless, the fact that the quality of the coinage had become a matter of political interest, with the Crown instituting the plough tax as compensation in exchange for not depreciating the coinage, indicates increasing monetization in Denmark. There was likely considerable political pressure on the kings to cease this practice, similar to the situation in other parts of Europe. There would hardly be such widespread concern for the quality and value of the coinage if it was not widely used and important to the Danish economy as a whole. Coin production remained largely under the control of the king, who continued to use it primarily as a source of income. Increases in coin production are more a reflection of the royal need for money to meet financial obligations rather than a macroeconomic reaction in a free market system that increasingly required cash money for trade transactions. The ability of the king to raise money through renovatio monetae was entirely dependent 55 Ibid., 83. 56 Annales Lundenses, 64. It was this tax that earned Erik IV his sobriquet of Ploughpenny. 57 Bisson, 192-194. 58 “quod stabilis moneta habeatur,” AAGA 5, 10; Grinder-Hansen, Kongemagtens krise, 66. 59 Grinder-Hansen, Kongemagtens krise, 66-68.

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upon his ability to exclude foreign coins from the Danish economy, which was largely successful until the breakdown of Danish royal power in the 1330s. Despite the fact that foreign coins were not part of domestic coin circulation, they still played a role in the Danish monetary economy. For one, the requirement of foreign merchants to exchange their foreign coins for Danish meant that the king was consistently acquiring foreign currency. These foreign coins could either be melted down and the raw material used in domestic coin production, or they could re-enter the international economy as payment for the Danish king’s military needs abroad, foreign alliances, and the payment of Peter’s pence to the papacy. References to foreign coins in the written sources indicate that they were also used as money of account, usually in ecclesiastical circles, which were more internationally oriented.60 Domestic use of coins remained dependent upon production from the Danish mints, and it is clear that the velocity of money increased rapidly from the thirteenth century to the first decades of the fourteenth. In Lund, for instance, an analysis of single-find coins indicates that up until the mid-twelfth century, coin use was limited to the marketplace. From the middle part of the twelfth century to the 1330s, however, there was a gradual spread in coins that eventually covered the entire town.61 The situation for Roskilde appears to be similar. Up until c. 1150, coin use was largely centred on the harbour area, Vindeboder, and the oldest coins have typically been found in the outskirts of the town. From the mid-thirteenth century, coin finds are spread throughout the town, however, indicating that coins were in regular use and that trade was no longer confined to the harbour area.62 The coin evidence thus reinforces the image of an increasingly monetized society in Denmark in the High Middle Ages. Although the minting of coins was undertaken primarily as a source of income for the Crown, the effect would still have been to facilitate trade and exchange. The steady increase in the single finds in the thirteenth century, which coincides with a general expansion of trade, also points to this effect. The written sources likewise indicate that cash money was largely a necessity in exchange, as the many mentions of the money price of the different commodities sold in the marketplace would suggest. Moreover, by the middle part of the thirteenth century, rural areas were integrated into the monetary economy, with surplus agricultural products sold on the urban market.63 In this 60 Grinder-Hansen, ‘Det danske møntøkonomi’, 199-202. 61 Carelli, ‘Exchange of commodities’, 482. 62 Ingvardson, Møntbrug, 62. 63 Grinder-Hansen, Kongemagtens krise, 236.

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way, connections between rural and urban areas were strengthened, with the towns providing the coins with which rural inhabitants could in turn purchase items from urban craftsmen and merchants.

The Town Law Codes An impetus towards organization and institutionalization is reflected in the efforts by the towns to gain a measure of self-government. The initiative behind the laws could come from either the town lord or the townspeople themselves. In many cases, the king (or other town lord) was the driving force in that he gave a town its liberty and town laws, whether new or borrowed. In 1243, Tønder received the laws of Lübeck, probably at the behest of the duke of Southern Jutland. In 1292, a later duke, following counsel from his best men, including the bishops of Ribe and Schleswig, proposed a town code for Haderslev, which the burghers accepted.64 In other instances, a town’s citizens took the initiative. In Roskilde, for example, the preamble to the first seventeen articles of the town laws from 1268 says, “the ordinances which follow are declared and proclaimed by us, the citizens of Roskilde, following discussion with the illustrious king Erik II [sic], son of Christopher of blessed memory, king of Denmark, and with consultation of both his faithful clergy and prudent laymen and also other noble men, giving his authority and full and express consent thereto.”65 In this case, it was the burghers of Roskilde who proclaimed the laws, which the king had approved after consulting with his advisors, although the king did retain his authority over the town.66 Similarly, the preamble to the 1284 code of Flensburg reads, “the laws, having not been written down, the aldermen, council members, and the other citizens of the town of Flensburg compiled as these laws following, by the grace of the lord Valdemar, illustrious duke of Jutland, were maintained and permitted.”67 64 Riis, 329-330. 65 “edite sunt et promwlgate a nobis, ciuibus Roskildensibus, constituciones, que secuntur, illustrissimo rege Erico secundo [sic], f ilio quondam bone memorie Cristoferi, regis Dacie, habita deliberacione et suorum fidelium clericorum et laicorum prudencium necnon et aliorum nobilium consilio suam auctoritatem et consensum plenum et expressum adhibente”; DGK III: 165. 66 Riis, 330. 67 “seniores, consules coeterique ciues ciuitatis Flensburgh leges ciuiles, scripturae commendatas non habentes, hos articulos legum subsequentes composuerunt, gratia domini Waldemari, illustrissimi ducis Iutiae, super hoc contenta et concessa”; DGK I: 94.

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It was thus the town that had compiled the laws and that Duke Valdemar then authorized.68 Schleswig was one of the earliest Danish towns to have some capacity for self-governance. In the eleventh century, for example, the town negotiated with the king and received a number of concessions from him, including minting rights and the right to bring foreign merchants into the town.69 This action presupposes that the burghers were organized to a certain extent. The burghers also instituted the leadership position of alderman (seniores de ciuitate), of which Schleswig had four, according to the earliest law code.70 From an agreement between the towns of Schleswig and Flensburg in 1282, it is evident that Schleswig had a governing town council that undertook negotiations on behalf of its burghers.71 Flensburg likewise had a governing council (consules) and aldermen (seniores) who are referenced in the 1284 municipal law code quoted above.72 In 1252, the members of the town council and the alderman of Ribe were named in a royal charter in which King Christopher I decreed that the aldermen and council members (senatores et consules) together with the king’s bailiff had decision-making authority in the town.73 The king thus acknowledged that Ribe was self-governing to a degree, and that Ribe’s council members and aldermen had jurisdiction over the town’s inhabitants. The giving of a law code to a town meant that it became a legal entity that could act under the law. As the examples discussed show, towns or their governing councils were acting on behalf of their citizens. They had the power to enter into agreements with the town lord or even other towns. The town lord could also issue charters to the town that would confirm, supplement or modify the existent laws or grant certain privileges to the burghers.74 Sometimes, the town council would promulgate its own provisos to the laws as the need arose, as was the case in Flensburg. In 1321, the town lord, Duke Erik II, ordered that the town’s citizens comply with the provisos, the so-called vilkår, that had been established by the town council.75 Very few of these additions are extant, with most dating from the later Middle 68 Riis, 330-331. The new laws compiled for Flensburg were heavily dependent upon those of Schleswig. 69 DGK I: 9. 70 Ibid. 71 DD II: 3, 36. 72 DGK I: 94. 73 DD II: 1, 68. 74 Jacobsen, ‘Dansk købstadlovgivning’, 395-396. 75 DD II: 8, 330.

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Ages.76 In an example from Schleswig from 1336, the town limited the number of guests that could be invited to a wedding to 40, not including the priest, eight bridesmaids, and eight servers.77 The town law codes, along with the supplemental charters and statutes, were an important step in the urbanization process. They recognized the towns as administrative entities with rights, giving them the status of legal actors. They thus gained a measure of independence, a right that would continue to develop in the following centuries.

Expanded Trade The imposition of customs duties on goods discussed above was concomitant with the growing importance of bulk trade. The major players in northern Europe in this expanding trade in commodities were the towns of the German Hanse. In the tenth and eleventh centuries, German merchants had begun to replace the Frisians as the most important northern traders, and by the mid-thirteenth century, German merchants from several different towns had banded together to form a confederation or Hanse. Their goal was to establish regular and predictable trade with set rules and security. With the rise of the Hanse, new trade networks developed that connected towns and regions across northern Europe, from London to Bruges, Hamburg, Lübeck, Reval, and Novgorod, which were, in turn, connected by waterways to hinterlands. Lübeck, founded in 1159, developed into a major port along the Trave River in northern Germany, and was the linchpin of the entire confederation.78 Denmark was an important destination for foreign merchants, particularly the annual Scanian Fairs that were the busiest market for the trade in herring. The German Hanse towns also sought and gained trading privileges throughout Denmark.79 The commodity trade in which the German merchants played a leading role gained ground in Denmark from the thirteenth century and became extremely profitable for both the urban and rural economies in both regions. Tolls and customs duties provide evidence for the types of items that were traded in bulk. The principal part of King Valdemar’s Cadastre includes the 76 Jacobsen, ‘Dansk købstadlovgivning’, 416. 77 DD II: 11, 308. 78 Epstein, An Economic and Social History, 80-81. 79 Corsi, ‘Piracy or Policy’, 61-62.

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customs duties for Ribe in 1231, and it specifically mentions both horses and salt. 80 Salt, which had been an important trade item in the North Sea emporia network, remained a highly sought-after commodity in the Middle Ages as well. As discussed in Chapter 2, the Frisians had been major players in the northern salt trade from the eighth century, and they continued to supply northern markets in the thirteenth century. Schleswig’s earliest town laws include a provision that sets the toll for Frisians importing salt. If they were living under Frisian law, they had to pay twelve penninge per læst, and if they were under Danish law, they only had to pay half as much, six penninge per læst.81 The salt mentioned in the customs duties for Ribe would have come from Frisia, and the 1284 laws of Flensburg likewise indicate that the town’s citizens were buying salt from the northern Frisian area in Jutland.82 The salt from Frisia was not of the highest quality, however, and had a bitter flavour to it. Of much higher quality was salt from Lüneburg, in Saxony. Production and trade of Lüneburg salt was intimately connected to the herring markets of the Baltic, with the trade in herring dramatically increasing the demand for salt in northern Europe. Lübeck became the major export harbour for salt, and merchants from this town partly owed their success to control of the Lüneburg salt trade.83 The increased demand for salt was tied to the growing trade in herring in northern Europe, since the fish was salted for preservation and transport. The annual fair that took place every autumn in Scania was a major node in the herring trade. The fairs were also the main trading place for goods from eastern and western Europe,84 thus mirroring, albeit on a smaller scale, the role the Champagne Fairs played in France. Herring, which was in great demand all over Christian Europe, was the major attraction, however. Denmark was particularly well placed to take advantage of the demand for fish. Saxo relates that the waters around Scania and Zealand were usually “so full of fish that ships sometimes became stuck and could hardly be moved forward with the oars, and one did not need fishing gear, but could simply catch them by hand.”85 First mentioned in written sources around 1170, by 80 KVJ, 8. 81 DGK I: 9. 82 Ibid., 112. 83 Enemark, ‘Salthandel og Norden’, 217-219. 84 Eriksson, 18. 85 “omnis piscium frequentia repleri consueuit, ut interdum impacta nauigia uix remigii conamen eripiat nec iam preda artis instrumento, sed simplici manus officio capiatur”; Saxo, praef., 2, 4.

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the turn of the thirteenth century the Scanian Fairs had gained international importance.86 As Arnold of Lübeck reports in his Chronica Slavorum: [The Danes] all became very rich because of the fishing that takes place every year around Scania. While the fishing is taking place, merchants come there from all the surrounding nations with gold, silver, and other treasures to buy herring from the Danes, herring that they catch at no cost by the abundant grace of God, while the merchants, in order to make a good bargain, offer the best they have, and sometimes even their lives in shipwreck.87

As Arnold of Lübeck makes clear, herring attracted merchants from all over Europe. Foreign merchants travelling to Scania stayed inland, with each town designated its own plot of land at the fairs. Danish merchants came in large numbers, and in the thirteenth century Danish towns were granted special privileges there.88 Merchants from the German Hanse towns were the most important at the fair, and they negotiated certain privileges with the Danish kings. They had their own jurisdiction on their own plots, certain exemptions from tolls, and the right to load and unload their ships at all times. German, English, Dutch, and Flemish merchants brought luxury items such as wool, cloth, wine, spices, and oil, while merchants from the Baltic region offered grain, hemp, flax, pitch, tar, and timber. For their part, Scandinavian merchants traded stockfish, butter, iron, copper, leather, and furs.89 The towns of Skanør and Falsterbo developed from seasonal fishing and trade sites, and their foundation can be directly tied to the prosperity of the Scanian Fairs. In the thirteenth century, Skanør became the annual meeting place for the Guilds of St. Cnut,90 further highlighting the important position of the town with respect to the merchant trade taking place at the fairs. In addition to salt and herring, horses and other animal products were important export commodities from Denmark. In c. 1200, Arnold 86 Hybel and Poulsen, 243. 87 “Omnibus enim divitiis abundant propter piscationem, que quotannis in Scania exercetur, ad quam omnium circumquaque nationum negotiatores properantes aurum et argentum et cetera queque preciosa illuc deferunt, et comparatis halecibus eorum, que illi gratis ex divina habent largitate, quasi pro vili quodam commercio sua optima, nonnunquam etiam se ipsos naufragando relinquunt.” Arnold of Lübeck, 77; Jahnke, 171. 88 Hybel and Poulsen, 244. 89 Ventegodt, 129-133. 90 Anz, 238.

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of Lübeck reported that Denmark was “full of good horses because of the fertile pastures.”91 In 1226, the English King Henry III ordered his sheriff in Norfolk to purchase five or six of the horses that had come to Yarmouth and Lothingland from Denmark, suggesting that Danish horses were highly sought after and valued in elite circles.92 A customs treaty from 1252 regarding trade at Damme in Flanders, references Danes bringing horses and oxen for sale, of which they owed two penninge for each, regardless of whether they were sold or not.93 Horses are also named in the Ribe customs duties in King Valdemar’s Cadastre from 1231 as mentioned above. They were still traded in Ribe in 1271, when Erik V permitted merchants from Ribe to freely transport certain commodities, including horses, to Flanders and other foreign lands for sale.94 In 1283, Erik V set maximum tolls for a number of different goods purchased by guests in the town. Foreigners were charged one øre per horse that they purchased.95 The liveliness of the horse trade in Ribe is also indicated by the name of one of the town’s three marketplaces, Horstorv (horse market square).96 Ribe was not the only town in which horses were traded. The 1268 town laws for Roskilde set the toll for foreigners purchasing horses to bring out of the town at one shilling.97 A statute in the 1284 town laws for Flensburg also mentions horses for sale in the market there.98 Cloth was another commodity that gained prominence in the thirteenth century. According to Arnold of Lübeck, in c. 1200 the Danes, because of the wealth they earned from the herring fisheries in the Sound, started adopting foreign fashions so that “while formerly they had the look of sailors in their clothing because of their familiarity with ships, due to their living by the sea, now they dress not only in scarlet, vair, gryce, but also in purple and fine linen.”99 Wills also indicate that clothing made from foreign cloth was becoming more widespread. For example, the will of Gythe, widow of the knight Esbern Karlsen, from 1292, includes a number of pieces of clothing. To her daughter, Ingefred, she gave a brunette mantle with stoat fur, and to 91 “Repleta est […] equis optimis propter pascua terre uberrima.” Arnold of Lübeck, 77. 92 DD I: 6, 62. 93 DD II: 1, 64. 94 DD II: 2, 162. 95 DD II: 3, 67. 96 Søvsø, ‘Bebyggelsesmønster’, 52-53. 97 DGK III: 170. 98 DGK I: 101. 99 “cum olim formam nautarum in vestitu habuissent propter navium consuetudinem, quia maritima inhabitant, nunc non solum scarlatto, vario, grisio, sed etiam purpura et bisso iduuntur,” Arnold of Lübeck, 77.

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another daughter, Cecilie, a scarlet mantle with various furs. She bequeathed to a woman named Cecilie Krummers a sleeveless yellow undershirt lined in fur, a red scarlet cape to Cecilie Svendsdatter, and a blue mantle to Bodil Nielsdatter.100 Cloth was also for sale in Flensburg in 1284,101 and in 1304, King Erik VI set prices for cloth from northern Europe: Concerning the purchase of cloth it is ordered and established that every whole cloth from Ghent shall be bought for 40 marks money and an ell for 1 mark, cloth from Ypres for 36 marks and an ell for 7 øre, cloth from Poperingen for 18 marks and an ell for 10 ørtug, cloth from Nivelles for 18 marks and an ell for a half mark, cloth from Antwerp for 9 marks and an ell for 8 ørtug, cloth from Tournai for 18 marks and an ell for 3 øre, cloth thyuk sayn [saie grasse, a coarse Flemish cloth] for 13 marks and an ell for 3 øre, cloth from Aardenburg and Bruges for 24 marks and an ell for 16 ørtug. It is also forbidden to sell cloth other than that named above, namely Brabantine, English, and Langlagen, and others, in pieces and in ell-measures without our permission or the presence of the bailiff and the mayors, and without every ell having first been appropriately assessed by them.102

As is clear from the decree, cloth was mainly coming to Denmark from the centres of cloth production in Flanders and Brabant. Beer likewise was becoming an important bulk trade commodity. Beer was not a new beverage in medieval Europe by any means, but changes in the technology of brewing allowed it to become a major commodity item in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Hops had been used as a beer additive for centuries, but it was just one of many used by brewers in the twelfth 100 DD II: 4, 67. 101 DGK I: 101. 102 “De emptione panni ordinatum est et statutum, quod quilibet pannus Gandauus integer ematur pro xl marchis denariorum et ulna pro marcha, pannus Ypærsk pro xxxvi marchis et ulna pro vii oris, pannus Popærst pro decem et octo marchis ulna pro x solidis, pannus Nyuælst pro xviii marchis ulna pro j marcha, pannus Auærst pro ix marchis ulna pro viii solidis, pannus Thornist pro xviii marchis ulna pro tribus oris, pannus thyuk sayn pro xiii marchis ulna pro octo solidis, pannus Orthingburgh et Brygist pro xxiiii marchis ulna pro xvi solidis. Inhibitum est etiam ne panni alii preter predictos uidelicet Braband Ængilsk et langla[k]een seu alii particulariter et cum ulna mensurandi uendantur sine nostra licentia uel presentia aduocati et consulum una qualibet ulna per eos debite prius extimata.” DD II: 5, 310. An ell is a unit of measure from a man’s elbow to the tip of the middle f inger and is roughly equal to two feet.

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century. Hops, however, contain certain oils that kill off or inhibit certain bacteria, thus improving longevity for up to six months or more. Around 1200, brewers, probably in Bremen, developed a way to draw the maximum benefit from the use of hops, so that hopped beer could be made with a lower alcohol content, and thus less grain, and remain drinkable for a longer period. Even though hops were expensive, the new heavily hopped beer was still cheaper to produce than the older styles with their higher grain bills. Consequently, the new kind of hopped beer, which was of higher quality, greater durability, and no more expensive, became a long-distance trade commodity.103 German beer, in particular Trave beer from Lübeck, was imported into Denmark in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The principal part of King Valdemar’s Cadastre from 1231 mentions the income from the toll on beer levied at the ferry passage between Falster and Zealand, suggesting that beer was being imported from the German towns to the south.104 In the vita of Bishop Gunner of Viborg, which was written sometime after his death in 1250, we are told that the bishop preferred to drink Danish beer and mead, because “Saxon beer and the new cups, unlike now, had not yet reached our country as trade goods and not very many liked this drink.”105 In 1281, Bishop Ingvar of Roskilde, the town lord of Copenhagen, gave his bailiff in the town and the town council the right to “set the weights of goods and assess them and especially the measure for Trave or German beer, which up until now because of certain people’s excessive negligence and carelessness has been sold without a fixed measure and with no small decrease, and to the detriment of the buyer and to the danger of the sellers’ souls.”106 In 1315, the later King Christopher II (r. 1320-1326, 1329-1332) made a bequest to the abbey of Sorø, on the island of Zealand in which Trave beer is mentioned as part of a memorial feast at the abbey.107 Trave beer at this 103 Unger, ‘Beer’, 113-114. 104 KVJ, 20-21; Venge, Dansk Toldhistorie, 16; Poulsen, ‘Widening of Import Trade’, 42. 105 “potus autem Saxonicus cum nouis vicarijs sitis, (ut) iam est consuetum, ad partes istas nondum venit venalis, nec de tali potu plurimi aliquid curauerunt”; Vita Gvnneri, 272. According to the vita, this beer could have some unfortunate side effects for new drinkers. A man who purchased some when it first came to Viborg became so drunk that he lost all sense and began to bite and scratch at anyone who came near him. He was eventually overpowered and tied to his wagon, but he was able to chew through the restraints. 106 “ac pondera rerum uenalium constituendi, et eadem taxandi, et maxime mensuram trafnisiæ, siue ceruisiæ Theotunicalis, quæ hactenus propter negligentiam, et desidiam quorundam nimiam, sub incerto, et diminutione non modica uendebatur, in detrimentum ementium, et uendentium periculum animarum”; DD II: 3, 5. Trave beer refers to the beer brewed by the Trave River which runs through Lübeck. 107 DD II: 7, 261.

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time was twice as expensive as that brewed in Denmark. Beer continued to be brewed in Denmark and was a commodity for local trade as well.108 Danish merchants had been organizing themselves into guilds since the twelfth century at least, with the oldest known guild dedicated to St. Cnut. The oldest surviving statutes for this guild are from the town of Flensburg and date to the turn of the thirteenth century. The statutes illustrate the communal and religious aspects of this brotherhood, with members committed to arranging funeral processions for deceased members of the guild, paying for the celebration of masses for both dead and living members, as well as taking part in the celebration of the guild drink. This was a religious feast, but it also included other communal and cultural activities, with important matters regarding the guild often being decided at this meeting.109 The importance of the guild for mutual protection and aid, however, is also clear from the statutes. For example, guild members were required to render each other aid in case of shipwreck,110 as well as if a member was imprisoned by a heathen man, in which case his ransom should be paid.111 Loss of property and piracy were also real dangers that merchants faced, and in case of which the brothers were sworn to help each other.112 Statutes from merchants’ guilds in other towns are also known from the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. Odense’s St. Cnut’s guild had statutes in c. 1245, Malmø and Store Heddinge in 1256, and Svendborg in 1337. Store Heddinge also had a guild dedicated to St. Oluf in 1256, while Kallehave had a St. Erik’s Guild in 1266.113 These likewise include provisions concerning the protection of guild members. For example, the statutes from the St. Cnut’s guilds of Malmø and Store Heddinge, state that “if a brother, forced by necessity, vindicates his injustice, and requires aid in the town to protect his life or limbs, then shall twelve named of the brothers be with him day and night for defence and shall follow him with weapons from the lodging to the market place, also from the market place to the lodging, as long as it is necessary.”114 The Kallehave St. Erik’s Guild provisions regarding the 108 Kjersgaard, 95. 109 Bisgaard, ‘Religion, gilder og identitet’, 252-253. 110 DGL: I, 10. 111 Ibid.: I, 11. The heathens were presumably the Slavs of eastern Europe who were the target of the Northern Crusades. 112 Ibid.: I, 11. 113 Ibid.: I, 18-87. 114 “Si qvis fratrum necessitate compulsus injuriam suam vindicaverit et auxilio eguerit in civitate causa defensionis vel tutelae membrorum suorum aut vitae, sint cum eo die ac nocte 12 nominati ex fratribus ad defensionem et seqvantur eum cum armis de hospitio ad forum, de foro autem ad hospitium, qvam diu oportebit”; DGL: I, 41 & DGL: I, 52-53.

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rendering of aid in case of shipwreck and imprisonment was similar to the earlier Flensburg St. Cnut’s Guild, although without mention of heathens.115 The statutes thus indicate how important it could be for a merchant to be a member of one of these guilds, since they could provide assistance and protection for himself and his business interests abroad, as well as a sense of community and fellowship at home. In addition to the merchant trade, crafts remained an important component of the urban economy. Craft production continued the trend towards greater diversification and professionalisation that was begun in previous centuries. In part, this was owed to a decline in self-sufficiency in the towns, so that ever more urban dwellers were dependent upon the market for basic necessities. Consequently, new artisans, such as bakers and butchers, became features of town life. The town law codes provide the best evidence for this development. Around 1200 in Schleswig, butchers are mentioned as a separate group who were required to follow certain regulations. In order to sell in the market, each butcher had to pay two øre to the king. If a butcher wanted to buy cattle before Martinmas, he had to do so before November 5, while if he wanted to sell from his booth at Martinmas, he had to pay an additional two ørtug. Likewise, if he wanted to buy lambs at Whitsun, he was required to pay an extra silver øre.116 In 1284 in Flensburg, butchers were required to pay “two øre to the bailiff and as much to the town.”117 Bakers regularly feature in town laws, and they were also regulated. For example, in Schleswig, bakers had to pay half a mark to the bailiff to enter the trade, and additionally had to give to the bailiff three pounds of flour annually on Midsummer Day (June 24) and an extra six øre three times annually.118 In Flensburg, a baker had to pay one mark to the bailiff upon entry to the trade and three measures of wheat flour on the vigil of Saint Thomas the Apostle (December 20), as well as one mark to the city.119 The 1294 laws from Copenhagen allowed bakers to bake as much bread as they wanted, unhindered, on pain of a fine of nine marks, with three marks each 115 DGL: I, 61-62. 116 DGK I: 10. 117 “Item carnifices non introeant macellum, nisi prius dederint 2 oras aduocato et tantum ciuitati.” DGK I: 103. 118 “Nullus pistor exerceat artem pistoricam, nisi dederit exactori dimidiam marcam argenti. Omnes pistores simul dabunt in festo sancti Iohannis baptiste tria pund farine et ter in anno qualibet vice vi horas denariorum.” DGK I: 9. 119 “Item nullus pistor exerceat artem pistoriam, nisi dederit aduocato marcham denariorum in introitu suo et tres modiolos farinæ tritici in uigilia apostoli s. Thomæ. Simili modo soluat ciuitati marcham denariorum et non farinam.” DGK I: 103.

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rendered to the bishop, the city, and the baker who had been prevented from doing so.120 Table 5. Chronology of occupations in medieval Denmark from written sources, c.  1000-1350.121 1000-1099 1100-1149 1150-1199 1200-1249 1250-1299 1300-1349

smith goldsmith, stonemason baker butcher, skinner, shoemaker, fisherman, carpenter, brick or tile maker, female innkeeper glover, tailor, brewer, shield maker crossbow maker, armourer, cloth shearer, belt maker, master mason

As is clear from the laws, the crafts were regulated and organized by this point, with artisans forming their own guilds similar to the merchant guilds. Mentions of these guilds appear in the sources from the thirteenth century. For example, the town laws suggest that urban artisans were organized into some sort of cooperatives or associations. A master (senior) of the bakers is mentioned in the code for Schleswig, and he was required to pay three marks to the king if the bakers were found guilty of selling bad bread.122 The 1268 town laws for Roskilde likewise mention a bakers’ guild, which had been attempting to enforce all bakers in that town to join their association. The king, Erik V, did not approve of this practice and ordered them to cease: all the bakers living in the city of Roskilde, that none wickedly dare to impede any man who wishes to practice the office of baker there in the town, despite a certain opposing habit, which rather should be called corrupting, on account of which none of the newly arriving, howsoever much skilled and devoted, is able to practice the said office there, unless he gives three and one half marks in Zealand money.123 120 “Item licitum est cuilibet pistori panes pistrare, quocienscumque uoluerit, et quicumque de pistoribus ipsum impedierit, soluet episcopo tres marcas, tantum ciuitati et tantum impedito.” DGK III: 24. 121 From Hybel and Poulsen, 264. 122 DGK I: 9. 123 “Item auctoritate domini regis uniuersis pistoribus in ciuitate Roskildensi habitantibus firmiter inhibemus, ne aliquem in ciuitate ipsa pistoris officium exercere uolentem maliciose presumant inpedire, non obstante quadam, ut dicitur, consuetudine, que pocius dicenda est corruptela, propter quam nullus de nouo superueniens, quantuscumque peritus et f idelis, poterat dictum off icium ibi exercere nisi dans ad ipsorum conuiuium iii marcas et dimidia monete Syælens.” DGK III: 169.

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According to the same statue, however, the king did still expect the customary one-half mark be paid to the royal bailiff if someone wanted to enter the profession there. Aside from the town laws, mentions of professional craftsmen and their organization also show up in other sources. For example, a collection of miracles from the second half of the thirteenth century and said to have occurred at the grave of the murdered king, Erik IV, tells the story of a young shoemaker’s apprentice who was born in Lund and was in service in Ystad (in southern Scania) to the shoe master, Henrik Næp. The apprentice was cured of a terrible swelling that rendered him unable to walk when he was brought to the king’s grave in Ringsted, witnessed by his host, Mads Ingesen, and a man by the name of Jens Skinner.124 The story indicates that by the second half of the thirteenth century, if not earlier, even smaller towns such as Ystad had craft apprenticeships that attracted aspiring artisans from larger urban centres, such as Lund.125 In addition, there seems to have been contacts between affiliated artisans in the Danish towns, so that a man with the profession of skinner was with the young apprentice when he was miraculously cured of his affliction. Skinners processed the raw material with which shoemakers worked, so any contact between the two professions would not be surprising. In a charter from 1349, the mayor and town council in Ribe granted certain privileges to the tailors’ and cloth shearers’ guild, namely: When therefore the present bearers of this letter, the aldermen for the confraternity and guild of the tailors and cloth shearers among us, and those attached to the tailors by their manual labour according to their ability, just as other burghers continually put forth and pay towards our town’s fortification and its tax liability, we wish with this letter to favour the said aldermen, tailors and cloth shearers and the brotherhood and guild of the same with the privilege, that no one, regardless of his status, without our and the said aldermen’s consent and special permission for the future, in any way may shear cloth or cut or sew together new garments among us.126 124 VSD, 440. 125 Hybel and Poulsen, 265. 126 “Cum igitur exhibitores presencium, senatores confraternitatis et et conuiuii sartorum et epytonsorum apud nos, et sartores sibi adherentes ad nostre ciuitatis munitionem et talliarum impositionem de laboribus manuum suarum pro suis modulis sicut alii ciuitatenses exponunt jugiter et exsoluunt, dictos senatores, sartores et epytonsores ac jus confraternitatis et conuiuii eorundem tali voluimus prerogatiua tenore presencium confouere, ut nullus, cuiuscunque status

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The charter specifically references the tailors’ and cloth shearers’ guild, which was protected from unlicensed competitors in Ribe. Guilds and confraternities such as this one acted in the interest of their members, and they are an indication of how important regulation and organization was to the various actors in the medieval economy. As more towns were founded throughout Denmark, people changed their patterns of consumption. The towns replaced the landing places and other local sites in the local and regional trade network, and by the thirteenth century, urban trade was increasingly taking place at the market squares within the towns. The market square was a specially designated area in which retail and commodity trade could be carried out. It allowed for more control and regulation of trade, and the historical and archaeological sources reflect that market squares became a common feature of urban life. These designated marketplaces were not a new phenomenon in the thirteenth century, but they did become more common. In Ribe, the original market square was likely located in an area by the present Badstuegade, and it seems to have been in use from the twelfth century through the mid-thirteenth. From the thirteenth century, three additional market squares were in use, Horstorv (horse market square), Fisketorv (fish market square), and Sommertorv (summer market square). Horstorv was located by the southern entrance to the town, and it is known historically from 1224. Fisketorv was east of the cathedral, although its precise location is unknown. Potentially Fisketorv had replaced the early medieval market square following a change in the town’s topography as a result of the construction of a dam and royal mill at the river, Ribe Å. Sommertorv was located on the northern side of this river, and the name could indicate that it was used seasonally.127 For other towns, the first market squares were built in the thirteenth century. In Copenhagen, Gammeltorv (old market square) has been dated to c. 1200,128 while Fisketorv in Svendborg was added in the second half of the thirteenth century.129 Two market squares were constructed in Aarhus in the thirteenth century. The swampy area west of the town ramparts extiterit, sine nostro et dictorum senatorum consensu et licencia speciali apud nos pannum epytondere vel vestimenta noua incidere aut consuere, de cetero valeat quoquomodo.” DGL: II, 1. 127 Søvsø, ‘Bebyggelsesmønster’, 52-53. That there was a seasonal summer market north of the river should likely be seen in conjunction with the shift of the urban settlement from the northern to the southern side of the river that is apparent in the archaeological record, as discussed in Chapter 2. 128 Fabricius, 204. 129 Reinholdt, 55.

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that had functioned as a moat was converted into a marketplace, Lille Torv (little market square), with adjacent roads. The square was paved with stones, gravel, and animal bones. A number of postholes were found along with two wooden posts, which had been dug into the ground through the paving layer. These were dendrochronologically dated to after 1253 and 1268, respectively, meaning the marketplace was constructed sometime between these years. Likewise, a second square, Store Torv (big market square), was built west of the cathedral sometime in the second half of the thirteenth century.130 The market square in Schleswig has been dated archaeologically to c. 1205 or shortly thereafter,131 although the town’s burghers did not have full privileges for the market place until 1261. In this year, the town received permission to hold market days twice per week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays, because of the town’s economic troubles as well as the fact that “at the thing-places and in the towns that surround [Schleswig] market is held.”132 In Aalborg, the market place likely dates to the thirteenth or the early fourteenth century, probably in conjunction with the advent of trade between Aalborg and the north German Baltic towns.133 Markets were not an everyday occurrence, even in the largest towns. As noted above, Schleswig gained the right to hold twice weekly markets in 1261. In 1294, Bishop Jens of Roskilde granted Copenhagen the right to hold a market twice a week, on Wednesdays and Sundays.134 Nyborg, however, in 1299, was only granted market rights for one day a week, on Wednesdays.135 Likewise, in 1301, King Erik VI Menved allowed the citizens of Æbeltoft the right to hold “a regular market every Sunday in the usual place, which is given to them for that purpose on our land.”136 By only holding markets on fixed days, sellers were ensured that there would be consumers in the market square. It would also give travelling merchants the opportunity to move from one town to the next, so they could attend multiple markets. Weekly or even twice weekly markets in conjunction with private trading were sufficient to cater to the early 130 Jantzen, 84. 131 Vogel, 52. 132 “in placitis et uillis forensibus circumquaque eidem ciuitati adiacentibus forum celebretur,” DD II: 1, 330; Kristensen and Poulsen, 197. 133 Knudsen and Kock, 208. 134 ”Item commune forum omni quarta feria et omni sabbato sit Hafnis.” DGK III: 35. 135 DD II: 5, 30. This right was confirmed again in 1320 by King Kristoffer II. DD II: 8, 264. 136 “forum generaliter celebrent singulis diebus dominicis loco consueto ipsis ad hoc in fundo nostro deputato”; DD II: 5, 144.

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urban population. As populations grew, however, fixed shops became an increasingly common and important part of town life. This type of shop is referred to as a taberna in the sources, which is a term that can have several meanings. It can mean a shop or a stall, but it can also refer to a house that is rented out or where poor people lived.137 Such tabernae have been found archaeologically, with many of them used as both a workshop and retail space for craftsmen. In the historical sources it is not always clear exactly which meaning of taberna is meant, but they are sometimes mentioned specifically in regard to trading activities. In 1263, Bishop Esger of Ribe witnessed a property transfer from a citizen in Ribe, Nøsing Ubbesen, to Løgum Monastery. Nøsing Ubbesen gave to the monastery a tabernam, “which is called Kødmagerskammel, [Butcher’s market-stall] which his father Ubbe had owned, with its grounds, located in the town of Ribe at the market place.”138 Another such taberna is mentioned in the 1302 will of a citizen of Lund: Henrik, who was the son of Jens called Brunsvig, left the rent of a tabernae in Lund, to be divided between the poor, a building fund for the church in Lund, and the canons and vicars of the church in Lund. More importantly, this taberna is described as “located among the merchants’ tabernas in the eastern part of the market place between the tabernam of Mads Jonsen, citizen in Lund, and the tabernam of Mads, my maternal half-brother.”139 In 1302, King Erik VI Menved confirmed that Archdeacon Mogens of Aarhus gave to the common board of his fellow canons “four tabernas in the market place in Aarhus.”140 Another example of shops by the market-place changing hands comes from Roskilde. In 1320, a citizen of Roskilde, Frands Marant, pawned to Henneke Fri, another citizen, “a tabernam in the same town by the market place’s north side, where Henrik Smigger lives, and half a tabernae at the same market place’s south side, where the same Henneke Fri has possession and earlier had possession of the other half, for twenty-six marks pure silver.”141 The sale of two tabernae occurred in Roskilde in 1338. In this instance, Peder Jensen, the parish priest in Dalby, sold two tabernas with their grounds in Roskilde to Gerlak Fri. 137 Kruse, 278. 138 “tabernam quandam cum fundo sitam in ciuitate Ripensi, iuxta forum, que dicitur Kiodtmaggerschamel, quam possedit pater suus Ubby”; DD II: 1, 404. 139 “que est inter tabernas mercatorum ad partem fori orientalem sita media inter tabernam Mathei Joonsun ciuis Lundensis et tabernam Mathei fratris mei uterini”; DD II: 5, 194. 140 “iiiior tabernas in foro Arusiensi”; DD II: 5, 216. 141 “unam tabernam in aquilonari parte iuxta forum ibidem situatam in qua Henricus Smiggær residet et dimidiam tabernam in australi parte iuxta idem forum locatam in qua idem Hennikinus Friæ dimidietatem possidet et possedit inantea pro uiginti sex marchis argenti puri”; DD II: 8, 255.

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These two tabernae were located “at the market directly west of St. Cnut’s Guild’s stone tabernis.”142 Craftsmen and merchants would have used these buildings not only as retail spaces, but also as residences.143 The examples quoted here paint a picture of the market place as ringed by these sorts of fixed location shops or stalls, whereby consumers could purchase goods directly from the craftsmen. As towns grew larger and trade and exchange became increasingly important to the town economy, it became subject to increasing regulations. In the town laws dealing specifically with trade, townspeople were particularly concerned with maintaining a just price as well as consumer protection. The just price was simply the current market price, although if there was an emergency or evidence of collusion, the public authorities retained the right to interfere and impose a fair price.144 The town councils were certainly adamant that prices remained just. For instance, a 1254 town law of Copenhagen states that, “[i]t is not permitted of any visitors to buy in bushels in the market a year’s produce or lard to the injustice of the citizens, but it is permitted to the citizens alone. But if someone acts to the contrary, the citizens and the bishop’s ombudsman shall recover that same produce for their use, and no other fine will be exacted in this case.”145 From the 1294 laws of Copenhagen it is ordered that: Likewise, no visitors are permitted to buy in bushels a year’s produce in the market, lard, meat, or animals used for food to the quantity and use of merchandise. Because if it happens, the buyer loses the things thus acquired, and whosoever of the citizens with the money of the visitors fraudulently buys things of this kind, shall pay as much as the purchase price was arranged to be.146

If someone were to purchase grain or meat in large quantities, they could create an artificial scarcity and thus affect the current market price. The 142 “iuxta forum ad partem occidentalem a tabernis lapideis conuiuii sancti Kanuti inmediate”; DD II: 12, 101. 143 Kruse, 278. 144 De Roover, 421. 145 “Nulli eciam hospitum liceat per modios in foro annonam emere uel lardum in preiudicium ciuium sed solis ciuibus. Si autem secus fuerit factum, annonam ipsam recipient ciues et exactor episcopi ad suos usus, nec alia emenda debet exigi in hoc casu.” DGK III: 5. 146 “Item nulli hospitum liceat per modios annonam in foro emere, lardum, carnes, siue animalia esui deputata ad quantitatem et usum mercium. Quod si factum fuerit, res sic emptas emptor amittet, et quicumque ciuium cum denariis hospitum in fraudem res huiusmodi emerit, soluet quantum res, constitit empta.” DGK III: 17-18.

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above laws could refer to the practice of engrossing, whereby someone would buy up the supplies in advance and withhold them until the market price had risen.147 This practice would have been to the detriment of all those needing to buy provisions. Interestingly, the 1254 law specifically prohibits foreign merchants from engaging in this practice. By 1294, however, the law had to be amended to include citizens from acting on behalf of foreigners. Apparently, the foreign merchants had been circumventing the law by having local citizens acting as straw buyers on their behalf, and the activity was egregious enough that the local authorities felt the need to address it in the statues. Forestalling was another way for an unscrupulous merchant to artificially inflate the market price. Forestalling meant that someone bought up the goods ‘before the stall,’ meaning on their way to the market, at a cheaper price in order to resell them later at a prof it.148 Several town laws and statutes outlaw this practice. A 1294 law of Copenhagen states that no merchants “may sell merchandise to someone on their ships or on the bridge, but they must put forth their goods in the market or in rented stalls.”149 In addition, a visitor who “buys fish or other edible things before the hour for the citizens to trade [established market time], loses the thing thus having been bought.”150 A 1335 town law from Aabenraa also legislates against this offence: Likewise a visitor coming with his ship may buy for himself and his companions one cow, one pig, one sheep, one measure of butter, grey cloth for one tunic, one canvas for a sail, if he buys more he shall lose all the goods with him, unless bought from the citizens with the consent of the council, half falls to the bailiff and half to the council. They may not buy other goods in the market excepting horses and mares, although not to the detriment of the citizens, which is called forestalling.151 147 Wood, 139. 148 Ibid. 149 “Item statuitur, ne mercatores merces aliquis uendant alicui in nauibus suis seu super pontem, sed eas in foro seu tabernis primo locatis uenales exponant.” DGK III: 16. 150 “Item quicumque hospes emerit pisces seu res alias commestibiles ante horam ciuibus ad emendum taxatam, rem sic emptam amittet”; DGK III: 23. 151 “Item hospes cum naui sua ueniens emat pro se et sociis suis unum bouem, unum porcum, unam ouem, modiolum butiri, griseum pannum ad unam tunicam, unum dwk ad uelum, emens magis careat omnibus bonis secum existentibus, nisi emptum est a ciuibus cum consensu consulum, dimidietas cedat aduocato et dimidietas consulibus. Alia bona in foro non emant exceptis equis et equabus, tamen non in preiudicium ciuium, quod forkøp dicitur.” DGK I: 246.

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A 1327 law from Vejle does not make the distinction between visitors and citizens engaging in this type of behaviour. It states that nobody may “engage in that purchase called forestalling, to the detriment of the same citizens, provided that he does not want to be penalized monetarily.”152 Regardless of who was prohibited from this activity, anyone caught engaging in forestalling would be punished accordingly. The use of false weights and measures was another practice detrimental to consumers, and one that town officials attempted to regulate against. A law from early thirteenth century Schleswig states that “the wife of an innkeeper or a vintner having an unjust measure shall break it and render to the king nine shillings and render to the town nine shillings.”153 A 1294 law from Copenhagen warned that anyone who was caught “not having an honest ell, peck, balances, pounds, yards, or something similar, pays for the first offence three marks, for the second six, for the third is deprived of his capital portion and will be reputed infamous.”154 Two laws from Ribe dating to 1269 also deal with false weights and measures. The first law concerns false measures in general and states: If someone has a false measure and is discovered with it, he will pay to the city one mark of money and to the bailiff one mark of money, and the bottom of the measure will be thrust out, and the measure will be hung up in the market. Similar is done with a weight, an ell-measure, and a balance. However, no measure or measuring rope or ell-measure can be found fault with except caught during the measuring. But if someone has two of them, namely a large one, with which he receives, and a small one, with which he measures out, if he is caught with them, shall be judged as a thief.155 152 “ne quis emptiones que forkiøb dicuntur in preiudicium eorundem uillanorum in ipsa uilla aliqualiter presumat exercere, sicuti in denariis suis uoluerit, non puniri”; DD II: 9, 429. 153 “Item mulier tabernaria uel uinitor habens mensuram iniustam frangat eam et regi ix solidos et ciuitati reddat ix solidos.” DGK I: 10. 154 “Item inuentus non habens rectam ulnam, modium, stateres, pundær, bismer uel aliquod consimile, soluet primo tres marcas, secundo sex, tercio priuetur porcione capitali et sit infamis.” DGK III: 28. In Danish law the ‘capital portion’ was the part of the inheritance falling to each son or male heir. 155 “Si quis habuerit falsum modium et cum eo deprehensus fuerit, emendabit ciuitati i marcham denariorum et aduocato i marcham denariorum, et fundus modii extrudetur, et modius in foro suspendatur. Simile fiat de pundario et ulna et statera. Nullus autem modius nec aliquis funiculus uel ulna culpari potest, nisi comprehendatur in mensura. Si quis uero ex istis duo habet uidelicet unum maius, cum quo recipit, et unum minus, cum quo erogat, si cum hiis deprehensus fuerit, sicut fur iudicabitur.” DGK II: 12.

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The second law refers specifically to false measures for serving alcohol. It declares: If anyone is discovered with a false measure of wine, mead, or ale, he shall pay to the bailiff one mark of money and to the town one mark of money. And if he has a just measure and will not fill it, he shall pay to the bailiff one øre of money and to the town one øre of money.156

The use of false weights and measures would be an effective way for sellers to cheat customers. They could charge just as much for a commodity as someone using a just measure, but in effect make more profit since they would be selling less of the item. Urban authorities were understandably concerned with this practice, and the punishments could be quite harsh. In Ribe the punishment was being declared a thief. Depending upon the value of the stolen merchandise, the thief would either be branded as such (if the value of the merchandise was less than half a mark) or hanged (if the value was more than half a mark). For the second offence, regardless of the value of the merchandise, the punishment was hanging.157 A woman, on the other hand, “if she deserves to be hanged for thievery, shall, for female honour’s sake, be buried alive.”158 Other types of fraud, such as counterfeiting merchandise or money, were also a concern of town authorities and one in which they offered consumer protection. A 1294 law from Copenhagen declares that “no one may bring false goods, gold, silver, or false money to Copenhagen, because if anyone is found in the town Copenhagen with false goods, gold, silver, or false money, he shall lose them”; if anyone was found knowingly selling these goods or wanting to sell them, he would be punished severely by the bailiff and the town council.159 The punishment is not specified, although the severity of it would most likely vary according to the type and value of the good that 156 “Si quis cum falsa mensura uini, medonis, ceruisie deprehensus fuerit, persoluet aduocato i marcham denariorum et ciuitati i marcham denariorum. Et si iustam mensuram habuerit et eam plenam non importauerit, persoluat aduocato oram denariorum et ciuitati oram denariorum.” DGK II: 12. 157 “Si quis cum furto deprehensus fuerit, dimidiam marcham denariorum ualente, pene suspendii fur reus erit. Si fuerit estimacio minoris precii, signum furis sibi infigatur et, si post hoc cum furto minoris uel maioris precii deprehensus, suspendatur.” DGK II: 12-13. 158 “Et quecumque mulier pro furto suspendi meretur, pro honore muliebri uiua tumulabetur.” DGK II: 13. 159 “Item statuitur, ne quis falsatas merces, aurum, argentum siue numisma falsum Hafnis apportet, statuentes, quod siquis cum falsatis mercibus, auro, argento uel numismate falsis inuentus fuerit in uilla Hafnensis, ipsas amittet. Si autem compertus fuerit eas uendere scienter tales siue eis uti uelle alienando, ad arbitrium aduocato [sic] et consulum grauius puniatur.” DGK III: 16.

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was falsified. In the 1269 town laws for Ribe, the falsification of honey was specifically addressed. It was decided that: If anyone has been discovered falsifying honey, the merchant shall, if he is a visitor, expurgate himself with his sailors. But if he is a citizen, he shall defend and cleanse himself with twelve of his neighbours from both sides. And if this one or that one will fail in purification, he shall be exposed to capital punishment, and the honey shall be burnt and be consumed by fire, and the same shall happen to falsified wax and thus with all things falsified, which shall be destroyed.160

Apparently, the sale of falsified honey was a serious problem in Ribe, since a special law had to be included in the town statutes regulating against it. Not only that, considering the potential sentence, it was considered a very serious crime. These consumer protection laws are reflective of the growing trade and exchange taking place in the towns. The more trade, the more opportunities there were for unscrupulous trade practices that needed to be guarded against, and people would be more willing to buy if they were protected. Moreover, these laws are indications of the medieval tendency towards organization, with the further regulation of trade. The expanding and increasingly wellorganized trade of the High Middle Ages was a major factor in the boom in urbanization in this period. Many of the new towns were located along coasts or accessible waterways, making them ideal locations for both local and long-distance trade. In this way, they are reminiscent of the Viking Age landing places, although the medieval towns had additional administrative and religious functions. The towns replaced the landing places while at the same time they reflected a more sophisticated society with complex needs.

The Church The Church remained an important feature of town life, expanding its presence in the towns in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. While 160 “Si quis cum melle falsif icato inuentus fuerit, si sit hospes mercator, debet se purgare cum nautis suis. Si uero ciuis fuerit, debet cum xii uicinis suis ex utraque parte se defendere et purgare. Et si is uel ille in purgatione defecerit, capitali sentencie subiacebit, et ipsum mel comburi debet et igne concremari, et hoc idem fiet de cera falsificata et sic de omni falsificato, quod perire debet.” DGK II: 12.

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the towns founded before 1200 could be characterized by the relatively large number of churches, the new towns founded in the thirteenth century generally only had one parish church which served the urban population. This phenomenon was tied to the establishment of the parish network in Denmark around 1200, when the rights and extent of each parish was defined. Following this, the inhabitants of a newly established town could only build a church based on narrow conditions set by the church authorities and patron of the rural parish in which the town was founded, since the new urban church would of necessity encroach on the resources of the rural church. Generally, only the town itself was separated from the mother parish.161 Often the churches that were built in the newly established towns were from the beginning subject to the nearest village church, either as an associated chapel or as an annex church.162 Thus, the church in Ebeltoft, which received town status in 1301, was a chapel under the parish church in the village of Dråby.163 The church in Nyborg was a chapel under the church in the village of Hjulby, while the church in Halmstad was an annex to the church in Övraby.164 A similar pattern is known from other parts of Europe, including Germany.165 Construction on a number of new cathedrals was also undertaken in the thirteenth century. The first generation of cathedrals that had been built beginning in the eleventh century, with the exception of Lund, had only a short period of use before they were torn down and replaced. Viborg’s eleventh century cathedral, for example, was replaced with one built of granite in the Romanesque style beginning c. 1130, although it was not completed until sometime in the thirteenth century. The cathedral was very likely the first building that was constructed of granite in Denmark, and the technique was probably brought to Denmark by foreign masons.166 Likewise, construction on a new brick cathedral in Roskilde was begun by Bishop Absalon c. 1170 to replace that built by Svein Nordman in the eleventh century. The building process was a slow one, and sometime in the late twelfth century, the new bishop, Peder Sunesen, changed the plans for the cathedral. Architecturally the new plans were inspired by the French gothic style, which was incorporated into a Danish construction for the first time. It was not until sometime in the early decades of the thirteenth 161 Nyborg, ‘Kirke og Sogn’, 114-116. 162 Nyborg, ‘Kirke og Sogn’, 142-143. 163 Kristensen and Poulsen, 162. 164 Nyborg, ‘Kirke og Sogn’, 143. 165 Kristensen and Poulsen, 162. 166 Kristensen, ‘Kirkens huse’, 85-88; Kristensen and Poulsen, 158.

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century that construction on the new cathedral was advanced enough that the old one could be torn down.167 When a fire broke out in 1282, the northern tower and the two western-most vaults were still not complete. The cathedral by this point had been under construction for more than a century, but it is likely that building was not constant, with long breaks in between stages.168 By the end of the thirteenth century, the cathedral was complete, although later additions were added throughout the following centuries.169 Around the turn of the thirteenth century, Bishop Peter Vognsen initiated construction of a new, Romanesque cathedral of brick in Aarhus. The new cathedral was dedicated to St. Clement, and was a three-aisled basilica with a transept and choir. It was also the first building to be constructed of brick in the town. When the bishop began planning for a new cathedral in the early 1190s, he made the decision to move it inside the town’s fortifications, in the centre of town, as opposed to keeping the same location of the old cathedral, outside the fortified settlement area. As with Roskilde, the construction lasted for more than a century. It was still ongoing when fire broke out in the early fourteenth century, and the needed repairs further delayed construction. The cathedral was finally completed in the mid-1300s, although without a planned western section with a tower at the end of each aisle. This plan was scrapped, likely due to a lack of funds.170 In Odense, construction on a new cathedral to replace the eleventh century one began at the end of the thirteenth century. The church was constructed in the gothic style, with three tall aisles with identical vaulted ceilings.171 By 1301, the western section had been raised. During this first phase of construction, the eastern section of the old brick cathedral was preserved and incorporated into the new building, and it was not until the Late Middle Ages that the entire cathedral had been rebuilt and modernized.172 The first cathedral in Ribe was begun in the first half of the twelfth century, with construction completed sometime in the early thirteenth century. Built in the Romanesque style, the cathedral originally had two slender towers at the westwerk. In the thirteenth century, the northern tower collapsed and was replaced by the town’s citizens with the current large brick tower. The architecture is clearly inspired by that of the Lower Rhine region and its 167 Andersen, ‘Rigets hovedby’, 191-194. 168 Kristensen and Poulsen, 159. 169 Andersen, ‘Rigets hovedby’, 191. 170 Jantzen, 37-39. 171 Nyberg, ‘Erik Glipping’, 238. 172 Kristensen and Poulsen, 160.

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centre at Cologne. The cathedral was built of soft tufa, a variety of limestone, which was imported from Andernach, south of Cologne. Sandstone, which came from the Weser region south of Bremen, was also used. The bricks used in the construction were smaller in size than those typically used in Denmark at this time but are similar to ones used in churches in Verden, in Lower Saxony.173 As was noted in the previous chapter, the construction of these cathedrals would have been very costly and time consuming. At the same time, the building projects would have provided jobs for craftsmen and workers, many of them coming from outside that town and even from far away locales. In this way, the cathedrals and their construction would have contributed to the urban economy and helped grow the towns. The cathedrals also had schools associated with them, and consequently, the cathedral towns became centres of learning in Denmark. The earliest evidence for a cathedral school in Denmark is from Viborg and comes from the vita of St. Kjeld (d. 1150), a twelfth century Danish clergyman. According to the vita, Bishop Eskil of Viborg (d. 1132) had made St. Kjeld a member of the cathedral chapter where “he was first made a teacher of the boys, [and] he taught the boys commendably.”174 In Roskilde, Saxo tells a story of the cathedral schoolmaster, Arnfast, and dean, Herman, who opened the grave of Bishop Vilhelm in 1158. As punishment for their transgressions against the bishop, both men suffered grave illnesses and died shortly thereafter.175 The Roskilde cathedral school was originally housed in the cloister located at the northern side of the cathedral. When the cloister was torn down in the early thirteenth century, the school received its own building which was located west of the newly constructed brick cathedral. The school formed part of the wall constructed around the church, and was a two-storied, brick building with a stone foundation. Following the move to the new school building, the administration of the school came under the direction of a prelate, who was given the title of scolasticus, and he was director of education for the entire parish. Day-to-day teaching in the school was undertaken by the rector scolarum, who in turn had a number of teachers under him. Schooling lasted eight years, which was divided into four two-year classes.176 The move to 173 Ibid., 157-158. 174 “Ubi primum magister puerorum constitutus pueros commendabiliter instruxit”; VSD, 263. 175 According to Saxo, Herman suffered from a terrible burning in his nose which robbed him of all his strength and his power of speech, and he died within three days. Arnfast suffered from a burst liver which he vomited up in pieces. Realizing it was his punishment for the transgressions against Bishop Vilhelm, he donated himself and all his property to the church. He died three months later. Saxo, 11, 12, 3-4. 176 Kruse, ‘Traditionens vogter’, 262-263.

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the new building along with the increase in personnel indicates that more students were attending the school and that the role of education at the cathedral had become more important. In 1253, Bishop Jakob Erlandsen established a fund that would ensure that the two most promising students from the cathedral school could be sent abroad to pursue further studies. Each student sent to Paris or some other university was to be given two silver marks to cover their expenses for the first two years of study.177 In 1275, the Roskilde canon Peter Arnfast gave a house for the Danish college in Paris in the English street which was intended for use by the poor students from Denmark.178 Roskilde became closely connected through this educational network with Paris, so that Roskilde sent more students to study on the Continent than any other Danish town in this period. Moreover, in light of these connections, the cathedral boasted a substantial number of well-educated masters, and the quality of education at the cathedral school in Roskilde was the closest one could get to that of a university in Denmark.179 Roskilde thus was the most important centre of learning in the kingdom, and would have attracted scholars from all over the realm. Ribe likewise had a cathedral school that became an important part of the religious life in the town. The first mention of the cathedral school in Ribe dates to 1145, when Bishop Elias granted certain privileges to the church there. Accordingly, he gave to the cathedral canons “the freedom to establish a school according to their own wish and with the advice of the bishop.”180 The student population in the earliest history of the school is unknown, but by the late thirteenth century, the school seems to have grown. In 1278, the parish church in the village of Darum was brought under the cathedral chapter at Ribe. The Bishop instituted a perpetual vicar in the parish church who would pay an annual rent of two marks rye, presumably to the schoolmaster of Ribe. In return, the schoolmaster was to teach, without fee, all the schoolboys from Darum, whether rich or poor, and 100 poor schoolboys from the diocese of Ribe. The schoolmaster was instructed to provide a full account of the number of students to the cantor and the archdeacon of the cathedral chapter.181 In 1298, Bishop Christian gave lands “for the maintenance of 20 poor students suited to learning letters, and to be recruited anywhere in the diocese of Ribe, for their common cohabitation 177 DD II: 1, 104. 178 DD II: 3, 105. 179 Andersen, ‘Rigets hovedby’, 227-229. 180 “libertatem ut scolas pro uoto suo cum consilio episcopi ordinent”; DD I: 2, 87. 181 DD II: 2, 328.

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and dining.”182 That students were being funded and educated based on merit rather than purely on their wealth and connections indicates a growing society in which it was possible to improve one’s status through education. These students were housed in a stone building close to the school, which later in the Middle Ages became known as Puggård. The students housed here took part in daily Masses in St. Michael’s Church, which was established in conjunction with the school and the student house, likely at the same time. The rest of the cathedral students probably took part in Mass at either the cathedral itself, or the other churches under the cathedral chapter.183 Not as much is known about the early history of education in Odense. By the early fourteenth century, however, the town had two separate schools associated with different religious institutions, suggesting that there was a long history of educating the parish. St. Cnut Monastery was likely the earliest to have a school. In 1314, the bishop, Peter, gave income from the church in Fraugde for the education of the monks, and in 1317, King Erik VI gave the village church in Stenløse to fund the chapter’s students.184 A second school was connected with the church of St. Albans, and Bishop Peter annexed the church in Særslev for the benefit of the students in Odense sometime between 1304 and 1339.185 Before 1319, possibly in 1308, a house for students was established next to the church of Our Lady in Odense.186 Whether there was a school connected with the first cathedral in Aarhus, St. Nicholas, is unknown, but there was a school associated with St. Clement Cathedral. The first mention of the school dates to 1303, when Bishop Jens Assersøn reserved the income from the church in Vellev for the support of the office of teacher at the cathedral.187 The school was located at the site of the present cathedral school, and archaeological excavations in the grounds there have found remains from earlier buildings. Excavations undertaken in 1994-1995 uncovered a corner from a brick building constructed without a foundation that measured approximately four by eight metres. The building was dated stratigraphically to the early thirteenth century, meaning it was 182 “ad sustentationem uiginti pauperum scholarium idoneorum ad literas discendas, undecunque de episcopatu Ripensi assumendorum sub communi cohabitatione et conuictu”; DD II: 4, 291. 183 Jensen, ‘Skolevæsen og domskole’, 198. 184 DD II: 7, 206; DD II: 7, 424; Christensen, Middlealderbyen Odense, 114. 185 DD II: 5, 302; Christensen, Middlealderbyen Odense, 114. 186 DD II: 8, 131; DD II: 8, 132. There has been some question as to whether the institution named in the documents was connected with a school at Our Lady, although Tore Nyberg has argued that it was more likely a collegium for expectant priests who were studying at St. Cnut’s. Nyberg, ‘Biskop Peder Paghs tid’, 271-273. 187 DD II, 5, 242.

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built at the same time as the cathedral. This dating suggests that the building remains were part of the oldest cathedral school.188 By the thirteenth century, the cathedral towns had thus become centres of learning in Denmark. The schools would have attracted people from the surrounding regions, thus increasing the urban population. The support for the schools and the students came not only from the cathedrals themselves, but was also based on rural properties and income, as is clear from the donations to the various institutions discussed above. In this way, rural resources would be funnelled to the towns, providing additional sources of urban wealth. Moreover, the most gifted and well-connected students would be sent abroad to places like Paris to further their education, many returning home after their period of study. The urban religious institutions would thus be connected in a larger educational network that spanned Europe, bringing the Danish schools in line with the trends of the rest of Europe. The Danish cathedral schools would function as a conduit that spread new ideas as well as ideals of courtly behaviour learned abroad.189 From the first half of the thirteenth century the mendicant orders established convents in the larger towns. These new orders focused on towns precisely because there were more people there in need of Christian guidance. Also, there was an economic factor, in that it was only in the towns, with their surplus housing and wealth, that mendicants, who would begin begging as soon as they arrived, could find the financial support they needed.190 The Dominicans founded their first monastery in Denmark in Lund in 1222, which was only six years after they received papal approval for their order.191 Not much is known of the initial foundation, other than that Archbishop Anders Sunesen gave a place to the brothers and erected a proper building for them.192 The Dominicans quickly established a presence in other Danish towns, with houses in Ribe, Roskilde, Schleswig, Odense, Aarhus, and Viborg all founded by c. 1240. Because these were all cathedral towns, it is likely that bishops or cathedral canons were behind the foundations. In Aarhus, for example, the Dominicans took over the old cathedral, which meant that the bishop and the cathedral chapter would have been involved. After the initial wave of foundations in the first half of the thirteenth century, lay patrons might have played a more active role 188 Jantzen, 48. 189 Corsi, ‘Elite Networks’, 150. 190 Madigan, 217-218. 191 Kristensen and Poulsen, 169. 192 De Ordine Predicatorum, 373.

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Map 11. Denmark with location of mendicant foundations to the mid-14th century.193

in the later foundations in other towns. For example, the house in Vejle was founded before 1340 by the king’s steward, Laurids Jonsen, who built a wooden church for the brothers.194 The historical record for Franciscan monastic foundations is more comprehensive. A Franciscan monk from Roskilde, Peter Olsen (d. 1570), provides a good overview of the foundation of individual Franciscan houses in Denmark. The first such friary was founded in Ribe in 1232, when the canons Johannes Scolasticus and Jens Rød gave land to the friars for this purpose. The order quickly spread to other towns following the initial foundation, with new houses established in Schleswig in 1234, in Viborg in 1235, and in Randers and Svendborg in 1236. The friary in Svendborg was endowed by Valdemar II’s steward, Astrad Frakki.195 In addition to the initial Franciscan house in Ribe, a few other ecclesiastical donors are also known. Peter Olsen records that the archbishop of Lund, Uffe, in 1238 introduced the order into Lund, ensuring that they had a place in the town.196 Likewise, in 1267, Cato, a canon in Lund, gave a piece of land in Trelleborg for a house for the friars.197 193 From Kristensen and Poulsen, Fig. 4.5.13, 169. 194 DD III: 4, 333; Kristensen and Poulsen, 170. 195 Petrus Olai, 293. 196 Ibid., 296. 197 Ibid., 298.

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A number of foundations followed over the next several decades, many of them aristocratic lay endowments. Ingerd, countess of Regenstein and member of the powerful Hvide family, for example, established Franciscan houses in Roskilde, Copenhagen, Kalundborg, and Næstved.198 Her donation in Roskilde in 1237 included her urban residence and house, which was enclosed by a wall.199 Johannes Navnesen, knight, and his wife, Elsiff, gave property for a friary in Tønder in 1238, while the knight Nicholas of Barritskov endowed the brothers with his property and house in Horsens in 1261. In 1263, Johannes Hviding, steward to the duke of Southern Jutland, founded a house in Flensburg, and in 1267 Holmger, a knight, and his wife, Katarina, established a house in Ystad.200 The friary in Nysted was endowed by the lords and ladies of Kærstrup and Kjelstrup in 1286, where they built the church and dormitory as well as a library for the friars. In 1288, the knight Henrik Dulmer donated his manor with a chapel for a friary at Dueholm, in Kolding.201 The presence of these orders was a sign of urban prosperity and that the towns were significant centres of population, as the mendicant orders could never establish themselves in settlements that were unable to support them. The coming of mendicants and the speed with which they spread throughout the kingdom suggests that there was a level of affluence in the Danish towns that made them conducive to these types of religious houses. Not only were aristocrats and churchmen wealthy enough to set them up initially,202 but the towns were prosperous enough to ensure their continued survival. Much of that prosperity would be due to flourishing urban trade, as has been discussed above.

Conclusion The period between 1200 and 1350 was a boom time in Danish urbanization, with 63 new towns founded within this century and a half. There was a continuation of the trends that had been developing over the previous centuries, and political, religious, and economic factors all continued to play 198 Ibid., 296. 199 Ibid., 294. 200 Ibid., 297-298. 201 Ibid., 300. 202 The large landed endowments that were the foundations of the mendicant houses in Denmark were not exactly in the spirit of the orders’ founders, but they were perhaps necessary considering the smaller and less affluent towns of northern Europe, compared with those of the orders’ Mediterranean homelands. Michael H. Gelting, email communication.

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their part. Politically, the king and other town lords continued to influence urban development. Many of the new towns in this period were founded on crown lands, and the Danish king was the lord of the majority, although not all, of the towns in medieval Denmark. Kings continued to have an interest in promoting well-organized and regulated trade and exchange, not least because of the taxes and tolls that it could provide. The customs accounts contained in King Valdemar’s Cadastre provide a glimpse of the scope and extent of this trade. The accounts also indicate a shift in the way tolls were collected, from being levied per person entering a town, to being levied on the goods traded, further suggesting that commodity trade was becoming an ever-larger part of the Danish economy. In addition, the king and other town lords were also instrumental in the codification of urban law, which provided a degree of self-governance to the towns. Towns became legal entities capable of acting in their own interests, with town councils becoming common features of urban government. The development of this type of governance is indicative of urban prosperity, with a growing need for the burghers to be able to organize their own affairs. Trade flourished in this period, bringing much wealth to Denmark, particularly the towns. A long-distance commodity trade developed, with Denmark as an active player. Denmark was a major source of animal products, such as horses, herring, lard, and hides. It was also an important market for foreign imports, such as salt, beer, and cloth. The expansion of this type of trade helped bolster urban growth and helps to explain the explosion of new town foundations, with many located along the coasts. Craft production also continued to be an important component of the urban economy, and it too was increasingly organized and regulated. There was a larger variety of different types of crafts in the towns, and urban artisans formed themselves into guilds and confraternities, similar to the merchant guilds that had developed in the previous century. The increase in trade and its further regulation can also be seen in the statutes that were put in place to help govern how the retail trade was carried out and with particular concern for consumer protection. Towns also began establishing permanent marketplaces in which trade was to be conducted, with permanent shops and market stalls becoming a regular feature of the urban topography. The Church continued as a central feature of town life, with many of the new towns that were founded forming their own parishes. The cathedral towns experienced a building boom in these centuries, with new cathedrals constructed to replace the early medieval ones. These projects attracted craftsmen and workers to the town, providing jobs as well as a

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new base of consumers. In addition, cathedral schools developed, and the cathedral towns became centres of learning in the kingdom. The schools also connected Danish thinkers with other important education centres in Europe, with Danish students pursuing higher education in the medieval universities of Europe. Many of these students subsequently returned to Denmark, bringing new ideas and knowledge with them. In this way, they helped disseminate wider knowledge at home, with each cathedral town serving as a nexus in the educational network of Europe. The increased prosperity of the towns also attracted new religious orders, the Franciscans and the Dominicans. These mendicant orders needed to be in prosperous centres of population, since they were dependent upon begging for their survival. The quickness with which they spread throughout the kingdom is indicative of Danish urban wealth by the thirteenth century. The growth and prosperity of Danish towns was the result of a whole host of different factors: political, economic, and religious. The confluence of these different areas of development spurred on town growth, so that by the fourteenth century, Denmark was becoming urbanized.

6. Conclusion Tracing the history of urbanization in Denmark from c. 500-c. 1350, the preceding chapters have shown that there was a multitude of elements that influenced the development and growth of towns. Rather than considering urbanization as purely either an organic, bottom-up process or one directed from the top down, this book has argued that both forces were at play, with interconnected political, religious, and economic factors all having a significant role in town development. ‘Town’ is also defined more broadly in this study than in previous medieval urban histories, which allows for change over time and the inclusion of urban forms not usually considered in studies of medieval towns. Consequently, a ‘town’ is defined as any permanent settlement forming a social unit distinct from the countryside and with a significant portion of its population living off non-agricultural occupations. This book follows an interdisciplinary approach, bringing together written as well as archaeological and numismatic sources, which allows for a much fuller picture of Danish medieval urban history. In order to understand how urbanization got its start, it is necessary to begin before there were any towns in Denmark. Medieval towns would come to serve as the political, religious, and economic centres of the kingdom, but these functions had been carried out in other types of sites prior to the foundation of the first urban settlement. These non-urban sites served as locations for local authority, religious ritual, as well as craft production and local markets in the Late Iron Age and Viking Age. This was a period of great social and economic change, and many of the developments of this period would set the stage for later urbanization. Magnates consolidated both political and economic power, indicated by the trend towards larger farms and magnate complexes. Elites controlled large landed estates, with the magnate farm surrounded by smaller dependent farms. Agriculture was heavily animal based, with only a small portion of land under plough and large tracts of uncultivated land between settlements. This situation would change, however, in the following centuries. Productive sites, which are characterized by the large quantities of coin and metalwork finds and typically located along major lines of transport and communication, proliferated across Denmark in the Iron Age. These sites can be divided into five different groups: magnate farms, smaller agricultural sites with limited craft production, specialized production sites, coastal landing places, and emporia. Activities at the magnate farms included specialized production of crafts and finished goods, and they also

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served as local markets. As such, they were an important part of local and regional trade networks. Ritual and cult activities would also be carried out at the magnate complexes, such as was the case for Tissø on Zealand. Smaller sites that have evidence of craft production, but on a lesser scale, include Boeslunde on Zealand and Stentinget in northern Jutland. The craft production and market activity at these settlements would eventually be a key feature of medieval towns, so that there was continuity of function if not in form between the earlier settlement types and the later towns. Specialized production sites, such as those at Bejsebakken and Næs, were established to provide larger scale production of certain crafts, particularly textiles. Although they can be considered as centres of local industry, neither of these settlements can be classified as urban, since they lacked large permanent populations and there is no indication of market activity. Nevertheless, the types of production carried out at these specialized productive sites would later become important urban occupations. A fourth type of productive site includes the many specialized landing places that have been found along the coasts of Denmark. These settlements were especially important to the maritime aspect of Viking society, in addition to being sites for craft production and exchange. They almost all show evidence for shipbuilding and repair, and they were important hubs for sea transport during this period. It is likely also no coincidence that proliferation of these sites coincides with the increasingly frequent maritime expeditions for which the Vikings are famous. A prerequisite for the Viking expansion was the adoption of the sail by Scandinavian sailors, and weaving and textile production, largely for making sails, were important activities taking place at many of the landing places. These particular crafts also indicate the presence of women at the sites, as weaving was considered women’s work throughout the Viking Age. The landing places also functioned as seasonal markets and transhipment sites, with craftsmen gathering here to produce items such as amber, glass beads, and bronze jewellery. These goods were for the most part destined for the agrarian villages of the hinterland. The landing places however, ceased to exist by the beginning of the twelfth century, as their functions were to a large extent taken over by medieval towns. With the emporia, which are the first settlements in Denmark that can be considered urban, the trends that would influence how urbanization progressed become increasingly visible. This category of settlements developed in the North Sea region beginning in the seventh century. They functioned as nodes in long-distance and regional trading networks, and they were located in spaces that were most convenient for international

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connections. They were also an important source of tolls and taxes for kings and local magnates, and it is clear that these rulers took an interest, such as when the Danish King Sigifrid entered into a trade agreement with the Carolingian king, Louis the German, in 873. Denmark entered the emporia network in the beginning of the eighth century with the foundation of Ribe. Trade was extremely important to its genesis, with Frisian merchants looking to expand their trade opportunities northwards. These merchants could not have acted without the permission of the local ruler, however, and it was probably the Danish king, Ongendus, who consented to the initial settlement. The site was internationally oriented, with artisans working with imported material such as glass and non-ferrous metal. Like Ribe, Hedeby also was founded with a view to trade. In 808 the Danish king, Godfred, forcibly relocated the merchant population of Reric to a site within his own territory. Modelled on the Frisian emporium of Dorestad, Hedeby had connections with Francia, Saxony, Frisia, and Scandinavia. Aarhus dates to around the same time as Hedeby, and it was ideally located for trade to the north, west, and southeast of Jutland, including with the Baltic region. Likewise, Kaupang on the Oslo Fjord and Åhus in Scania were internationally oriented sites, with extensive craft production using imported raw materials taking place at both settlements. The minting of coins further facilitated the trade carried out in the emporia, although the use of coins in trade transactions did not yet regularly feature in the Danish economy as a whole. The role of the Danish emporia in local and international trade networks was crucial to their development, as it would be for later medieval towns as well. Political developments, which were in many ways entwined with economic ones, were equally as important to the Danish emporia. The involvement of a central authority is clear in the early plot divisions and demarcations within the settlements, as well as in the construction of fortifications around Ribe, Hedeby, and Aarhus. Neither Kaupang nor Åhus was fortified, and neither site continued as a settlement into the Middle Ages, indicating that political will was an important component that allowed urban communities to flourish. It was in the interest of the local leadership to provide secure and well-organized urban trading settlements, as the taxes and tolls that could be realized were necessary for their political well-being. Wars over control and expansion of territories were frequent and expensive, and the emporia provided much needed revenue. Consequently, while political forces shaped the history of the emporia and other later urban sites, the rulers were just as dependent on the wealth generated by the emporia network for their own political fates.

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The religious developments that would become an integral part of town formation also began to be felt in the emporia. While Denmark was not Christian until 963, Christianity was already being propagated within the kingdom. The emporia were the earliest sites of Christian missionary activity in Denmark. They were centres of population that included Danes and foreigners, many of whom were Christian merchants, and as such they were attractive points of entry for Christian missionaries. Despite the fact that this early missionary activity had only mixed success in terms of conversion, missionaries were able to establish churches in Hedeby, Ribe, and likely also Aarhus. Moreover, the construction of Christian churches in the emporia also helped to make these settlements more prosperous, attracting foreign Christian merchants. Additionally, the very presence of a church helped to ensure permanency, and it is likely no coincidence that Ribe, Hedeby, and Aarhus, which had churches, continued to thrive, while Kaupang and Åhus, with no evidence of such structures, did not. The following centuries showed a continuation of the trends begun in the emporia, even as a new form of urban settlement, the medieval town, would come to take their place. These trends reflect that Danish society was becoming increasingly organized politically, religiously, and economically. As in earlier centuries, craft production continued to be centred in the urban settlements, and urban artisans continued to produce the same types of products. The minting of coins, which had begun in Ribe and Hedeby, continued. They became a more regular feature of urban life in the last century of the Viking Age, and several new towns were designated as mints in the decades around the year 1000. Danish kings also continued to take an interest in promoting trade, while cargo ships continued the trend towards larger holds and deeper draughts. Much as had been the case previously, local trade with rural areas also remained an important feature of urban life. Political developments also show a continuing trend towards state formation and consolidation of power in the hands of the king. This was the period in which Harald Bluetooth claimed to have won all of Denmark for himself, and the great building projects, including town fortifications, show this to have been the case. These fortifications provided security and protection for both town inhabitants and those travelling to and from the urban settlements. Additionally, in the decades surrounding the year 1000, the kings founded and developed new towns that were designed to meet the administrative needs of a more powerful royal government. Some administrative functions, such as coin production and tax collection, had been taking place in the emporia. The new towns, including Viborg, Roskilde, and Lund, were founded deliberately in regions without any pre-existing

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urban settlements, and they were located in order to maximize control in the main regions of Denmark. Trade seems to have been less of a consideration on the part of the Crown in the initial development of these centres, with merchants coming in order to cater to the administrative personnel already in place. In this way, the king and his government helped stimulate urban development in the Late Viking Age. Political and religious developments intertwined with the conversion of Denmark to Christianity in 963 under Harald Bluetooth. Conversion allowed for a more systematic religious organization in the kingdom, which is reflected in the fact that churches are often the earliest physical evidence of settlement in the towns founded around the year 1000. The Church and its hierarchy had administrative needs that were centred in the towns. In this way, the Church mirrored the developments in political administration, and it would have been an important stabilizing force for the settlements. The Crown and the Church in Denmark were both becoming more organized and structured, bringing together all the pieces that would make up the medieval civitas. Following the end of the Viking Age, the basic trends towards increasing political consolidation and a more organized society continued and were felt in urban development. New factors arose that also made their mark in this process. Importantly, there was a shift away from agriculture geared towards animal production to one focused on arable farming. Cereal production, which is more efficient than animal husbandry, was able to support a larger population from the same land use. Along with an increase in the amount of land under cultivation and the spread of new cultivation techniques and technologies, there was a larger overall production. The effectivization of agriculture would be an important component in feeding the growing urban centres. Despite the civil war of the first half of the twelfth century, generally speaking the Danish kings continued to consolidate power for the monarchy between 1050 and 1200. When Valdemar I emerged as the sole king in 1157, he was able to re-establish order and peace to the realm. The monarchy in this period continued to provide an important impetus for urbanization. As was the case in previous centuries, kings had an interest in increasing their fiscal revenues. The Crown sought to control and regulate trade and exchange and implemented new town taxes and tolls to profit off it. As part of this effort, Danish kings in the eleventh and twelfth centuries expanded coin production, which remained a royal prerogative. During his reign, Svein Estridsen instituted a coin monopoly so that only Danish coins were legal tender. The resulting renovatio monetae system became lucrative income for

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the king, particularly as cash became a more important means of payment in Denmark. In addition to their concern with regulating trade so that they could profit off it, kings also continued to be the guarantors of the peace and protection. They provided security not only in case of physical attack, but also by granting people access to the law. Even foreign merchants could be under the king’s peace and allowed to seek his justice, as is evident from the early town laws for Schleswig. In this way, a more powerful monarchy could help to encourage trade, which would be beneficial to town growth. In terms of religious developments in Denmark, the Church expanded its footprint in the early medieval period. Partially this was connected with a strengthened monarchy, which allowed Svein Estridsen to institute a diocesan reform increasing the number of bishoprics in the kingdom to nine. All except the northern most diocese were urban, with the administrative needs of the Church expanding to new cathedral towns. Following the reorganization of the Church structure, new stone cathedrals were built in these towns, representing an immense investment in both money and labour. The new cathedrals strengthened the administrative and religious presence of the Church in these towns, which was an important component of their development and growth. The medieval economy was an incredibly dynamic one, and throughout Europe an expansion of trade brought new wealth to a growing professional merchant class. Written sources increasingly mention Danish merchants and trade with Denmark, while there was continuing development of specialized cargo ships, such as the cog. In accordance to their growing importance in medieval society, medieval thinkers advanced new ideas to incorporate merchants into the medieval worldview. Protection continued to be a necessary pre-requisite for trade, and medieval merchants formed guilds for that purpose. The oldest known merchant guild in Denmark is that dedicated to St. Cnut, which was in existence from at least the twelfth century. Like merchants, urban artisans also became increasingly professionalized. The production of crafts continued to be funnelled to the towns, acting as both a cause and effect of the final abandonment of the landing places. Over the course of the twelfth century, these artisans became independent producers supplying goods for a market, fundamentally altering the nature of exchange. The confluence of these political, religious, and economic developments would lead to a burst of urbanization in Denmark in the period between 1200 and 1350, with 63 new towns founded. The monarchy continued to have a heavy hand in town growth, with many of the new towns in this period founded on crown lands. Taxes and tolls continued to be an important source of income for the royal coffers, and kings continued to have an interest

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in promoting well-organized and regulated trade and exchange. The tax records and customs accounts from King Valdemar’s Cadastre show how lucrative this trade could be. In his role as town lord, the king, or other local authority, was also instrumental in the codification of urban law, providing a degree of self-governance to the towns. These law codes gave towns the ability to act under the law in their own interests, and they formed town councils to lead the urban governments. The development of this type of governance is indicative of urban prosperity, showing there was a growing need for the burghers to be able to organize their own affairs. This prosperity was a result of the flourishing trade of the High Middle Ages. The development of long-distance commodity trade across Europe was an important factor in increasing urban wealth. Denmark was an active player in this trade, and Danish exports were particularly focused on animal products, such as horses, herring, lard, and hides. Imports such as salt, beer, and cloth also flowed into the Danish market. Expanding commodity trade helped bolster urban growth and helps to explain the explosion of new town foundations, with many of the new foundations located along the coasts and thus well-placed to take advantage of the growing sea-trade. Organization and regulation of craft production continued to be an important consideration in how they would develop. Not only was there a larger variety of crafts in the towns, but urban artisans formed themselves into guilds and confraternities, similar to those of the merchant guilds. Moreover, statutes were put in place by town governments to help govern how the retail trade was carried out and with particular concern for consumer protection. Additionally, the towns established permanent marketplaces in which trade was to be conducted and regulated, and these squares became a recognizable feature of urban retail districts. Along with the overall urban expansion in this period, the cathedral towns experienced a building boom. New cathedrals were constructed to replace those built in the Early Middle Ages, attracting craftsmen and workers to the town, who became a new base of consumers. Also, the cathedrals developed their own schools, with the towns becoming centres of learning in the kingdom. Connecting Danish thinkers with other important education centres in Europe, the Danish cathedral towns became nodes in the educational network of medieval Europe and served as conduits through which new ideas and knowledge could spread throughout the kingdom. Also, following the increased urban prosperity, new religious orders, the Franciscans and the Dominicans, came to Denmark. As they were dependent upon begging for survival, mendicants sought out prosperous centres of population. The mendicant orders spread quickly, indicating the extent of

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Danish urban wealth by the thirteenth century and how central the towns had become to the religious and economic life of the kingdom. As this book has shown, there was not a single explanation for why and how towns developed over the course of the eighth through the thirteenth centuries. Multiple factors, including a more centralized monarchy, a more organized Christian Church, and a more expansive and regulated economy, all contributed to this process. It was thus a confluence of different developments, political, religious, and economic, which brought about Denmark’s urbanization and the shift from landing place to town.

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Index References to illustrations are in bold. Aabenraa 19 Aalborg 47 boundary ditch 112 Christian burial ground 113 coin mint 114, 120 excavations 112 fortifications 180–1 longhouses 113 metalworking 112 pit houses 112 royal presence 113–14 transition to town 113 Aarhus 19, 69–71, 225 Baltic region contacts 90 cathedral 157–8, 213 school 216–17 church 84, 88 craft production 70 Dominicans 217 emporium 53 fortifications 71 pit houses 70 royal mint 88 royal presence 71, 88 textile production 70 Absalon of Lund, Archbishop 17, 143, 145, 168, 212 Adam of Bremen, chronicler 66, 104, 167, 169 Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum 17–18 on the slave trade 59 Æbeltoft 19 Aggesen, Sven 16 agriculture 135–9 animal husbandry 135, 227 cereal production 136, 173, 227 and climate change 137 field size 139 land cultivation, increase 137 land measurement 137 mills 138–9 rye cultivation 129–30, 138 see also magnate farms Åhus I and II emporia 73–4 craft production 74 demise 74, 86 Alcuin of York 63 Alfred the Great, Anglo-Saxon king 72, 90 Andrén, Anders, Den urbana scenen (The Urban Scene) 14 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 59

animal husbandry, Viking Age (c.750-1050) 27–8 Annals of Fulda 56, 59 Annals of Lund 190 Ansgar, Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen, missionary work 79, 81–3, 87 archaeology marine 20 medieval towns 19–20 urban 20 Arnold of Lübeck, Chronica Slavorum 196 Ashby, Stephen P. 123 bakers 201–2 Becker, C.J. 121 beer trade 198–200 Bejsebakken production site 48, 224 pit houses 36–7 Birka, emporium (Sweden) 53, 53, 67 bishoprics map 157 towns 98, 156, 212 Black Death 21 Boeslunde 35 craft production 36, 48, 224 longhouses 36 Boserup theory of population 139 Callmer, Johan 54–5 Carolingians, warfare 44–5 cathedrals 157–62, 174, 212–14, 228–9 rebuilding 162, 212 Roskilde 158–9, 212–13 schools 214–17, 221, 229 Viborg 160, 212 Celestine III, Pope 162 Chochilaicus, king of Denmark 45 Christianity bishoprics 156 map 157 cathedrals 157–62 cemetery at Ribe 83 conversion of Harald Bluetooth 82, 97–8 conversion of Harald Klak 80 Denmark 156–62, 227 early churches in Denmark 83 emporia 79–84, 226 and prosperity 82–3 in Roskilde 106 and urbanization 91–3, 132–3 see also missionary work; The Church

258 

Urbanization in Viking Age and Medieval Denmark

The Church 211–19, 227–8 parish network 212, 220 churches in Denmark 83, 136 and emergence of towns 83–4, 98, 140, 212 in emporia 92 in towns 98 climate change, and agriculture 137 cloth trade, Denmark 197–8 Cnut the Great of Denmark 45, 105, 114 Cnut IV, king of Denmark 15, 32 Cnut Lavard, St 164 canonization 149 death 148, 164 family tree 147 suppression of piracy 168, 174 Cnut VI, king of Denmark 181 coin mints and minting 78–9 Aalborg 114, 120 Aarhus, royal mint 88 Lund 109, 118 Odense 111, 120–1 outputs 121, (table) 122 sites founded before 1050 100 Slagelse 115 coinage and coin use 74–9, 90, 115–23, 226 Cnut the Great coinage 118–20 counterfeiting 210 cross coins 116–17, 117 Denmark 151–2, (table) 153, 154-6, 174, 188–92, 225 emporia 74–9, 90, 225 evidence 20–1, 115, 121 foreign inflows 121 and growth of towns 20–21, 115, 121 Hedeby emporium 88 hoard, Roskilde 105 medieval towns 20–1 predominance 75 quality 189 royal monopoly 227–8 silver 74–6, 116 Svein Forkbeard’s coinage 117–18 see also pennies; sceattas commodity money system 75 see also coinage and coin use Copenhagen 19, 143–5 churches 144 earliest mention 143 fortifications 179–80 graveyard 144 local trading centre 144–5 royal presence 145 Saxo Grammaticus on 143 strategic location 145 craft production apprenticeships 203 Boeslunde 36, 48, 224

landing places 38, 40–2, 48, 224 Ribe 61 Sebbersund 40 settlements 35–6, 224 Stentinget 36, 48, 224 towns 123–4, 171–3, 201–4, 220 crofts, sizes 26 Danegeld 116, 118 Danevirke ramparts 68–9, 71, 88, 91, 94, 96 Denmark Christianity 156–62, 227 civil war 148–9, 182–3 cloth trade 197–8 coinage and coin use 151–2, (table) 153, 154–6, 174, 188–92, 225 dynastic conflict 182–3 election of kings 146 Europe, trade 169–71 expansionism 181–2 guilds, formation of 163–5, 175, 200–1, 228 horses trade 196–7 Iron Age 19, 21 merchant class, emergence 163 occupations (1000-1350 AD) 202 political centralization 99 political developments 146–56 population growth 136, 139 retrenchment 182 rule in England 44 Scanian Fairs 194–6 tax system 150–1 Diplomatarium Danicum 18 dirhams, Islamic 75, 116 Dominicans 221 Aarhus 217 Lund 217 Dorestad emporium 53, 53, 55 decline 85 Dudo of Saint Quentin, chronicler, on Viking raiders 43 economic growth, European, and slave trade 60 emporia 51–92, 224–5 and Christianity 79–84, 226 churches in 92 coastal locations 57 coin use 74–9, 90, 225 Danish 89 demise 85–9 and elites 54–5 goods traded 51, 54 Hedeby (Jutland) 53, 53, 56 international trade 60 intra-regional trade 60 North Europe, map 53 permanence 52

259

Index

ports 52–3 proto-urban settlements 51 royal protection 56–7, 91 as safe zones 57 salt production and trade 57–8 slave trade 58–60 tolls and taxes collection 55–6 towns, distinction 52 trade intermediaries 60–1 Viking attacks 85 see also individual towns, e.g. Ribe emporium England, Danish rule 44 Eoforwic (York) emporium 53, 53 Trade 124 Europe, Denmark, trade 169–71 farming practices, Viking Age (c.750-1050) 27 farms, size and social power 27 see also magnate farms Flensburg 19 guilds 200 forestalling practice 208–9 Franciscans 218–19, 221 Ribe 218 Svendborg 218 Frisia, Viking raiders 43 Frisians, traders 53–4 Füsing, craft production 67–8 fuþark alphabet 16 German Hanse, towns 194 Germanic Iron Age (c.400-800 AD) 21, 25 gift-giving 75 Godfred, king of Jutland 28, 64, 68, 79, 90 Gokstad, ship burials 46 Grathe Heath, Battle (1157) 149 Gregory of Tours, chronicler 45 Gudme elite residence 39 main hall 30 number of farms 30 religious site 31 treasure hoards 30 Guild of St Cnut, Schleswig 175, 196, 200, 228 Valdemar I joins 164, 166 guilds Flensburg 200 formation in Denmark 163–5, 175, 200–1, 228 tailors’ and cloth shearers’ 203–4 Gunner of Viborg, Bishop, vita 17 Haderslev 178 Hamwic (Southampton) emporium 53, 53 decline 86 Harald Bluetooth, king of Denmark 28, 132 construction projects 71, 94, 226

bridge at Ravning Enge 94–5 Trelleborg fortresses 94–5, (map) 95 conversion to Christianity 82, 97–8 rune stone 94 Harald Hardrada 45, 88 Harald II, king of Denmark 99 Harald Klak, king of Jutland 28, 79 conversion to Christianity 80–1 Hedeby emporium 53, 53, 64–9, 225 coinage 88 comb making 67 connections 90 craft production 66 demise 69 excavations 65 fortifications 69, 88, 91, 96 goldsmithing 67 growth 87 Hedeby 1 warship, discovery 46 hinterland 67 Kovirke fortification 96–7 layout 65–6 population 66 prime location 65 Saxons in 66 textile production 66 traded items 66 women traders 66–7 see also Schleswig herring trade, and salt trade 195–6 Hodges, Richard, Dark Age Economics: The Origins of Towns and Trade A.D. 600-1000 54 honey, fake 211 Horik the Elder, king of Denmark 81–2 horse trade, Denmark 196–7 Horsens 19 fortifications 180 ibn Fadlan, Ahmad 59–60 Ibrahim ibn Ya’qub al-Tartushi, Arab diplomat 82 Ipswich emporium 53, 53, 86 Iron Age (Denmark) 19 period 21 Islamic world, trade 162–3 John of Worcester, chronicler 124 just price 207 Kanhave Canal 70–1, 91 Kaupang emporium 53 craft production 72–3 demise 73, 86 population 73 port 90 zones 73 Kinch, J.F., Ribe Bys Historie og Beskrivelse 12

260 

Urbanization in Viking Age and Medieval Denmark

King Valdemar’s Cadastre 17, 185–6, 189–90, 194–5, 220, 229 Køge 19 Kovirke fortification, Hedeby emporium 96–7 Kristensen, Hans Krongaard & Poulsen, Bjørn, Danmarks Byer i Middelalderen (Denmark’s Towns in the Middle Ages) 15 land measurement 137 landing places 22, 29, 37–42 bronze making 42 comb making 42 craft production 38, 40–2, 48, 224 demise of 47–8 glass bead production 42 map 38 pit huts 38, 41 readying of ships 40 ship building/repair 38, 41, 48, 224 transit sites 47–8, 224 weaving 41, 224 law codes, towns 18–19, 192–4, 201, 207, 229 Lejre bronze items 33 buildings 33 craft area 33 elite site 33–4 grave goods 33 large hall 33 longhouses 33 royal residence 32–3 treasure hoard 34 Lindisfarne monastery, Viking raiders 42–3, 58–9 Löddeköppinge 41–2, 60 London see Lundenwic Louis the Pious 79–80 Lund 19, 107–10 cathedral 160–1, 161 Christian burial ground 108 Churches 107, 140 coin mint 109, 118 Dominicans 217 English presence 109 houses 109 location choice 108 pottery finds 109–10 roads 108–9 Lundeborg 30, 38–9 craft production 39 Roman imports 39 shipbuilding/repair 39 Lundenwic (London) emporium 53, 86 McCormick, Michael 55 magnate farms 29–35, 223 craft production and exchange 29 first-generation sites 29–30 map 26

second-generation sites 30 size, and social power 27 magnate power 26–9 Magnus Barelegs of Norway 45 Magnus the Good, king of Denmark 120–1 Malmø 19 marketplaces, towns 204–5, 220, 229 markets counterfeit goods 210–11 illegal practices 207–11 towns 205 Matthiessen, Hugo Middelalderlige Byer (Medieval Towns) 13 Torv og Hærstræde (Market Square and Army Road) 13 The Medieval Town Project (Projekt Middealderbyen) resources 13 selected towns 13 mendicant orders 217–19, 221, 229–30 in Denmark (map) 218 see also Dominicans; Franciscans merchant class Denmark 163 in the social order 166 under Church protection 166 under royal protection 166–8 Middle Ages Early Middle Ages (c.1050-1200 AD) 21 High Middle Ages (c.1200-1350 AD) 21 Late Middle Ages (1350-1536 AD) 21 missionary work Ansgar, Archbishop of HamburgBremen 79, 81–2, 87 St Willibrord 63–4, 79 see also Christianity Næs production site longhouse 37 textile production 37, 48, 224 wells 37 Nyborg, Ebbe 14 occupations, Denmark (1000-1350 AD) 202 Odense 19 bishopric 111–12 cathedral 159–60, 213 school 216 coin mint 111, 120–1 history 12 links 110 Odense Bys Historie 12 origin of name 110 pit and dwelling houses 110 royal presence 110–11 Ongendus, Danish king 90, 225 meeting with St Willibrord 63–4 Oseberg, ship burials 46

261

Index

Ottar the Black, poem 41 Otto III, German emperor 111 pennies 78, 116 piracy Saxo Grammaticus on 167–8 suppression by Cnut Lavard 168, 174 Wollin base 167 see also Viking raiders plough tax 190 production sites 29, 48, 223 map 26 specialized 36–7, 224 see also emporia; landing places; magnate farms profiteering 207–8 Quentovic emporium 53, 53, 55 relocation 85 Ravning Enge bridge 94–5 Reric emporium 53, 56, 64, 68 imported goods 68 manufacturing 68 trade network 68 Reynolds, Susan 11–12 Ribe emporium 19, 53, 53, 61–4, 89–90 cathedral 213–14 school 215–16 cattle trading 61–2 Christian cemetery 83 church 87 craft production 61 decline 86–7 fortifications 178–9 Franciscans 218 history of 12 marketplace 62–3 metal finds 62 physical organisation 61–2 pit houses 61 sceattas hoard 76 Rimbert, archbishop of HamburgBremen 79–80, 82, 87 Vita Anskarii 17, 28, 56, 59 Ringsted coin mint 114 monastery 114–15 thing centre 114 Roesdahl, Else 43 Roman Iron Age (c.1-400 AD) 21 Roskilde 19, 104–7 cathedral 158–9, 212–13 chapter house seal 159 school 214–15 Christianity in 106 churches 105, 158 coin hoard 105 craft production 107

ecclesiastical centre 105 mint 119 royal foundation 105 Roskilde Chronicle 16–17, 114–15, 149, 158 Roskilde Fjord Skuldelev 1, cargo ship, discovery 46 Skuldelev 2 warship, discovery 46 Royal Frankish Annals 64, 80 rune stones 16 rye cultivation 129–30, 138 St Philibert’s monastery, Viking raiders 43 saints lives (vitae) 17 salt trade 195 emporia 57–8 and herring trade 195–6 Sarrazin, Jean-Luc 58 Sawyer, Peter 43 Saxo Grammaticus 32, 136–7 on Copenhagen 143 Gesta Danorum 16–17 on piracy 167–8 on Schleswig 142 Saxons, in Hedeby emporium 66 Scandinavians, colonizations 43 see also Viking raiders Scanian Fairs, Denmark 194–6 sceattas (silver coins) 76 distribution map 77 Föhr hoard 76 Ribe hoard 76–7 Woden-Monster Type 77–8 Schlei Fjord 57, 65, 67 Schleswig 19, 140–3 dam construction 140–1 Guild of St Cnut 164 international trade 142 Saxo Grammaticus on 142 self-governance 193 succeeded Hedeby 69 Sebbersund 39–40, 60 church and churchyard 40 craft production 40 trading centre 40 Selsø-Vestby 42 ships burial places 45 cargo ships 46, 87–88, 126–7, 168–9 cog model 169, 174, 228 Hedeby 1 longship 88 Hedeby 1 warship 46 Hedeby 3 cargo ship 87 specialization 45–6 and superiority of Viking raiders 45 warships 4 shops, towns 206–7 Sindbæk, Søren M. 55 Skuldelev 1, cargo ship, Roskilde Fjord, discovery 46

262 

Urbanization in Viking Age and Medieval Denmark

Skuldelev 2 warship, Roskilde Fjord, discovery 46 Slagelse coin mint 115 monastery 115 Slangerup 19, 177–8 slave trade Adam of Bremen on 59 emporia 58–60 and European economic growth 60 and Viking raiders 58–9 snekke (warship) 71 Snekkeeng 71 social power, and farm size 27 societal groups 25 society, theory of the three orders 165 Sorte Muld geomagnetic abnormalities 31 metalworking 31 treasure hoards 31 Southampton see Hamvic Stalsberg, Anne 66 Starup 178 Stentinget 35 craft production 36, 48, 224 jewellery 36 metalsmithing 36 Svein Estridsen, king of Denmark 18 family tree 147 sons 146, 148 Svein Forkbeard, king of Denmark 45, 98 coinage 117–18 Svendborg, Franciscans 218 Thietmar of Merseburg, chronicler 33 thing sites Ringsted 114 Viborg 101 Tissø, Lake 55, 224 cult building 34 foreign objects 34–5 manor houses 34 weaponry finds 34 Toftegård buildings 35 found material 35 halls 35 towns archaeology 19–20 bakers 201–2 bishoprics 98, 156, 212 churches 83–4, 98, 140, 212 coinage and coin use, evidence 20–1, 115, 121 craft production 123–4, 171–3, 201–4, 220 customs duties 187–8, 220 definition 11, 223 economic factors in development 162–73 food supply 127–31 meat 129

plant products 127–9 plough improvements 130–1 rye cultivation 129–30 fortifications 97, 178 founded before 1200, map 141 before 1350, maps 22, 179 German Hanse 194 law codes 18–19, 192–4, 201, 207, 229 location considerations 99–100 marketplaces 204–5, 220, 229 markets 205 mint sites, founded before 1050, map 100 royal presence 178, 220, 226 royal tax income 183–7, 228–9 rune stones 16 scholarship 12–15 scope of history 21–3 shops 206–7 trade, local and long-distance 123–7 urban taxes (table) 186 written sources 15–18 trade bulk 194 commodities 194, 220, 229 Denmark, Europe 169–71 expanded 194–211 Islamic world 162–3 local and long-distance 123–7 and urbanization 211 Trelleborg fortresses 95–7 Map 95 Uppåkra evidence of trade 32 found material 32 royal associations 32 urbanization and Christianity 91–3, 132–3 growth 228–9 influencing factors 223 new trends 132–3 role of kings 132, 173–4, 227 and trade 211 see also towns Valdemar I, king of Denmark 181, 227 family tree 147 joins Guild of St Cnut 164, 166 Valdemar II, king of Denmark 181-182 King Valdemar’s Cadastre 17, 185–6, 189–90, 194–5, 220, 229 Verhulst, Adriaan 54 Viborg 10, 101–4 buildings 103 cathedral 160, 212 school 214 ceramics finds 104 craft production 101–2

263

Index

excavations 101 leatherworking 101 road system 103 royal presence 102–4 thing site 101 workshop 102 Viborg Søndersø, excavations 101–3, 123 Viking Age (c.750-1050) 21, 25, 42–7 animal husbandry 27–8 farming practices 27 textile production 37 village structure 26 Viking raiders and demise of emporia 84 driving forces 42 fleets 44 Frisia 43 leadership 44–5 Lindisfarne monastery, attack on 42–3, 58–9

sail, adoption of 37, 41, 46, 224 St Philibert’s monastery, attack on 43 ship superiority 45 slave trade 58–9 Viking warfare 44–5 village structure, Viking Age (c.750-1050) 26 Vitae Sanctorum Danorum 17 Vorbasse 20, 25–6 map 26 weights and measures, false 209–10 Widukind of Corvey, chronicler 97–8 Willibrord, St meeting with king Ongendus 63–4 missionary work 63–4, 79 Winchester 86 women traders, Hedeby emporium 66–7 York see Eoforwic