Medieval Scandinavia

Contributions to social and economic history

Fredrik Charpentier Ljungqvist, Dag Retsö, Olov Lund, Janken Myrdal

• Publisher: Nordic Academic Press
• Year: 2026
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9789189936430
• Subtopic: European History
• Index: History

This volume comprises of an extensive introduction followed by ten cutting-edge thematic studies that explore diverse aspects of the social and economic history of the three medieval Scandinavian kingdoms – Denmark, Norway, and Sweden (including Finland). Contributed by archaeologists and historians, these chapters present new empirical findings, methodological innovations, and critical syntheses of current research. The topics addressed span a wide range of fields, including population estimates, building activity levels and their implications, the impact of plagues, residential architecture, coinage, trade, mobility, gender dynamics, Saami trade networks, and wage structures. The Nordic countries are examined both individually and collectively, as well as in relation to their broader European context.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• 1. Introduction
• 2. The Scandinavian population in the Middle Ages
• 3. Variations in late medieval building activity: Their economic, social, and demographic implications
• 4. Interpreting the second plague pandemic in Scandinavia: A historiographical review of recent research
• 5. Farms, farmsteads, and farm buildings in medieval Scandinavia
• 6. The introduction of coinage in medieval Scandinavia
• 7. Scandinavia as a trading area in the Middle Ages
• 8. Meetings in Varanger: On transcultural exchange in medieval and early modern northern Fennoscandia
• 9. Women’s geographical mobility in the Middle Ages: Norms and realities
• 10. Gendered agency, family, and the marital economy in the medieval North
• 11. Service and salaries: A contribution to the history of wage work and aristocratic household economies in late medieval Scandinavia
• About the authors