Lecture 34: With the spread of episcopal and monastic institutions in the 11th century, distinct national churches emerged in each of the three Scandinavian kingdoms. Primates at Lund (1104), Nidaros (1153), and Uppsala (1164), for Denmark, Norway, …
Lecture 34: With the spread of episcopal and monastic institutions in the 11th century, distinct national churches emerged in each of the three Scandinavian kingdoms. Primates at Lund (1104), Nidaros (1153), and Uppsala (1164), for Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, respectively, marked the dominance of Christianity in public and intellectual life. With the reception of Christianity came new prosperity and population growth. Cathedral churches and monasteries stimulated the rise of market towns and trade.
The introduction of coulter plows, superior tools, and the three-field system allowed Scandinavians to greatly extend the arable, and agricultural productivity improved significantly for the first time since the Iron Age. Kings, secular nobles, and ecclesiastical landlords demanded taxes and rents in coin, and in Denmark (and to a lesser degree in Norway and Sweden), a dependent peasantry emerged. Yet the Scandinavian kings turned over the lucrative fishing and carrying trade to the German burghers of the Hanseatic League and, thus, tied Scandinavia to the wider European markets.
Suggested Reading:
H. Andersen. “Urbanisation.” In The Cambridge History of Scandinavia, vol. I, Prehistory to 1520. Edited by K. Helle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003, pp. 312–344.
O. J. Benedictow. “Demographic Conditions.” In The Cambridge History of Scandinavia, vol. I, Prehistory to 1520. Edited by K. Helle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003, pp. 237–249.
E. Orrman. “Rural Conditions.” In The Cambridge History of Scandinavia, vol. I, Prehistory to 1520. Edited by K. Helle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003, pp. 250–311.
Lecture 35: https://www.bitchute.com/video/lfp7uyxAE5hb/
