Book contents
- Frontmatter
- PART I GOVERNMENT
- PART II ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENTS
- PART III SPIRITUAL, CULTURAL AND ARTISTIC LIFE
- PART IV THE DEVELOPMENT OF EUROPEAN STATES
- 17 Germany and the Empire
- 18 Hus, the Hussites and Bohemia
- 19 France
- 20 Burgundy
- 21 England
- 22 The Celtic world
- 23 Italy
- 24 The Iberian peninsula
- 25 The Swiss Confederation
- 26 The States of Scandinavia, c. 1390– c. 1536
- 27 Hungary: Crown and Estates
- 28 The Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, 1370–1506
- 29 Russia
- 30 Byzantium: The Roman Orthodox World, 1393–1492
- 31 The Latin East
- 32 The Ottoman World
- 33 Conclusion
- Appendix Genealogical Tables
- Primary Sources and Secondary Works Arranged by Chapter
- Index
- Frontispiece
- Plate section
- Map 1 European towns in the late Middle Ages
- Map 2 European commerce and trade
- Map 4 Winds and currents facilitating the discoveries
- Map 5 The universities o f Europe in 1400 and 1500
- Map 6 Germany and the Empire
- Map 20 The Roman Orthodox and Ottoman worlds in the fifteenth century
- References
26 - The States of Scandinavia, c. 1390– c. 1536
from PART IV - THE DEVELOPMENT OF EUROPEAN STATES
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008
- Frontmatter
- PART I GOVERNMENT
- PART II ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENTS
- PART III SPIRITUAL, CULTURAL AND ARTISTIC LIFE
- PART IV THE DEVELOPMENT OF EUROPEAN STATES
- 17 Germany and the Empire
- 18 Hus, the Hussites and Bohemia
- 19 France
- 20 Burgundy
- 21 England
- 22 The Celtic world
- 23 Italy
- 24 The Iberian peninsula
- 25 The Swiss Confederation
- 26 The States of Scandinavia, c. 1390– c. 1536
- 27 Hungary: Crown and Estates
- 28 The Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, 1370–1506
- 29 Russia
- 30 Byzantium: The Roman Orthodox World, 1393–1492
- 31 The Latin East
- 32 The Ottoman World
- 33 Conclusion
- Appendix Genealogical Tables
- Primary Sources and Secondary Works Arranged by Chapter
- Index
- Frontispiece
- Plate section
- Map 1 European towns in the late Middle Ages
- Map 2 European commerce and trade
- Map 4 Winds and currents facilitating the discoveries
- Map 5 The universities o f Europe in 1400 and 1500
- Map 6 Germany and the Empire
- Map 20 The Roman Orthodox and Ottoman worlds in the fifteenth century
- References
Summary
towards the end of the fourteenth century the Scandinavian countries were recovering from the effects of two crises. The earlier of these was at least partially caused by a deterioration of the climate, c. 1300. As a consequence of this farms and even villages, often those situated on less fertile soil, became deserted. This happened in Norway and in Denmark, whereas Sweden, colonised later, only felt the crisis after the middle of the fourteenth century. The Black Death (1349– 50) struck the whole of Scandinavia except Iceland; in Norway, in particular, its effects were aggravated by subsequent epidemics, smallpox in 1359– 60, plague in 1371. In both Norway and Denmark the results of the agrarian crisis – deserted farms and redundant peasants – were counter-balanced by the effects of the diseases. In certain regions, however, they were to create a lack of manpower.
Other effects were the formation of large estates belonging to the Church or to the aristocracy, and an increase of the share of animal husbandry in the rural economy. In certain parts of Norway the desertion of farms could be avoided by supplementing rural activities with fishing or forestry. At the end of the fifteenth century water-driven sawmills were founded at many river estuaries in southern and western Norway; this was to become a source of economic growth during the early modern centuries.
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- Chapter
- Information
- The New Cambridge Medieval History , pp. 671 - 706Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1998