Monetisation in Medieval Scandinavia

MONETISATION IN MEDIEVAL SCANDINAVIA SVEIN H. GULLBEKK During the last decades a number of in-depth studies related to medieval Scandinavian coins, coinage and monetary issues have been published.1 Several of these studies have discussed the topics of monetisation and development of money economy. The aim of this article is to present some of these studies and some views on the question of monetisation in medieval Scandinavia, mainly for a public outside Scandinavia. While a number of historians, archaeologists and numismatists argue for a society based on natural economy, others argue for a higher degree of monetisation. The sources used range from coin finds and archaeological evidence to documentary evidence, interpreted within frameworks of traditional approaches to interdisciplinary studies and the use of anthropological and sociological models. The use of evidence is, of course, very much decided by what is available for the region or subject of research. And, while literary evidence and legal documents are available from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in Norway, only fragments of such have survived for twelfth-century Denmark and Sweden. The documentary evidence of diplomas is substantial from the 1220s in Denmark, 1250s in Sweden and 1280s in Norway. Sweden has, however, the richest hoard material from the tenth and eleventh centuries, while the Danish finds are the most plentiful from the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The hoards from Norway are, in contrast, few and far between. However, the single finds from medieval churches are more plentiful in Norway than the other countries. If we are to take Iceland into the picture, the literary and legal sources are rich, but the coin finds cannot be characterised as anything but poor. There has, however, been an increase in the number of single finds from archaeological excavations in Iceland in recent years which suggest coins being available, not only in the south-western part, but also in other parts of the saga island.2 Archaeological investigations that have been carried out in the Scandinavian countryside, ranging from Early Iron Age through to the late Middle Ages and Early Modern period, have provided numismatic evidence in abundance. In total the results are sensational. The number of single finds of coins within medieval churches and monasteries is impressive. In total more than 50,000 coins from the eleventh to the seventeenth century have been found in sacred contexts, and that is a high number even by European standards. In contrast, archaeological investigations of farmsteads in rural areas have yielded limited numbers of coins, in total a few hundred. Historical records provide evidence for coins being used as payment for dues, taxes, in land-transactions and commerce both in rural and urban society. Hoards on the other hand appear more often in rural societies than in towns. The substantial numbers of single finds being reported every year as a result of a steady increase in the use of metal-detectors has, in many respects, changed our understanding of how coins were used and distributed in medieval society. In this context I will mention the extraordinary Danish site Tårnborg. This is, from my point of view, one of the most spectacular sites concerning the use of money in medieval society, not only in Denmark, but in a Scandinavian context. The site is an abandoned village in the Jutland peninsula, covering an area of 900 x 200 metres, including 1 Klackenberg 1992; Franzén 1998; Grinder-Hansen 2000; Gullbekk 2003 (a revised edition with English summary was published by Museum Tusculanum Press 2009); von Hejne 2004; Risvaag 2006; Franzén 2006; Myrberg 2008. 2 Holt 1998. MONETISATION IN MEDIEVAL SCANDINAVIA 1459 a fortification and a church. It contains as many as 4,414 stray finds of medieval coins, of which 3,871 coins date from the period c. 1240 to c. 1341, all Danish. The finds from Tårnborg have been published by Keld Grinder-Hansen together with an extensive analysis of the coin use, not only at Tårnborg, but the whole Danish realm. In total more than 170,000 coins have been found from this period. These testify to a significant increase in the monetisation of the Danish society in the decades around the turn of the fourteenth century. This was especially the case in the 1320s and 1330s, when very large mintages of debased pennies were put into circulation.5 In the 1280s and 1290s one of the most remarkable cases of counterfeit minting unfolded itself in the Danish realm. A group of rebels captured King Erik Menved’s moneyers and initiated minting from their headquarters at the island of Hjelm, outside the Jutland peninsula. Large numbers of heavily debased pennies were struck and put into circulation. In a letter from the king to the Papal See, complaints regarding the counterfeiters were presented; they destroyed the basis of the Danish economy.6 In the history of money, the period c. 1241 to c. 1340 must be regarded as a high point of medieval Scandinavian monetisation. Research on medieval Danish coins and coinage has been enriched by a number of important studies in recent decades by Jørgen Steen Jensen and Jens Christian Moesgaard.7 The concept of monetisation was first applied in research on medieval Scandinavian money and economy by the Danish historian Bjørn Poulssen in 1978, in a study of the late medieval and early modern economy in rural Southern Jutland.8 In 1992 the Swedish archaeologist Henrik Klackenberg made it a central feature of his doctoral thesis Moneta Nostra where he concluded that Swedish society became monetised in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.9 His study was based on 7,649 single finds of coins in medieval Swedish churches.10 Klackenberg’s study sparked off a lot of interest, and his general understanding of monetary developments within medieval Sweden has won acceptance in many camps. In conclusion, Sweden was partly monetised in the reign of King Valdemar (1250-1275).12 The monetisation in Sweden has been substantiated through a number of studies by Kenneth Jonsson from the 1980s onwards, and studies of historical evidence for land transactions and other types of exchange by Bo Franzén in his study of monetary regimes in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries (Folkungatiden 1254-1370).13 Traditionally more effort has been aimed at Viking Age than medieval numismatics in Sweden. This has, of course, been a consequence of the many Viking Age silver hoards, especially from Gotland. Another reason is probably due to the late development of national or regional coinage in the Swedish realm. The early royal minting initiatives in the 990s came to an end in the 1020s, and minting was not resumed before the 1140s in Gotland and 1180s on the Mainland. In comparison, national coinages became monopolised in Denmark and Norway in the 1050s and 1060s. While minting was non-existent in Sweden, the main mint in the Danish realm was in Lund in Scandia (southern part of modern Sweden). The Swedish archaeologist Peter Carelli has produced an extensive study of commercial society in Scandia in twelfth-century Denmark, where he finds extensive evidence for a capitalistic spirit being a driving force.14 In his study Carelli makes use of numismatic evidence put in the context of trade, urban development and economic development. In recent years an additional two dissertations using coins and coinage as their main sources have been defended at Stockholm University. First Cecilia von Heijne on Viking Age and 5 8 6 9 Grinder-Hansen 2000, pp. 225-42. Velled 1998. 7 Both Jensen and Moesgaard have served as chief editors for the Nordisk Numsimatic Unions Medlemsblad (NNUM) and Nordisk Numismatisk Årsskrift (NNÅ) for many years, both invaluable sources for Nordic numismatics. See also Jensen et al. 1992. Poulssen 1978. Klackenberg 1992, pp. 179-87. 10 Klackenberg 1992, p. 38. 12 Klackenberg 1992, p. 24. 13 Jonsson 2002; Franzén 2006. 14 Carelli 2001. 1460 SVEIN H. GULLBEKK early medieval coin finds from Southern Scandinavia, and most recently Nanouscha Myrberg on the earliest coinages of Gotland. Both these studies emphasise other aspects of coins and coinage than monetisation, and they provide important evidence for the distribution of coins, mintages and coinage as an integrated part of society and as markers of identity.16 In sum, these three studies provide general arguments for increased monetisation of the early medieval Danish, Gotlandic and Swedish society. The question of medieval monetisation in Norway has also been the subject of several studies in recent years. Svein H. Gullbekk has on the basis of interdisciplinary studies suggested that urban parts of Norway were partly monetised already from the second half of the eleventh century, while rural parts of the country took part in the monetary development to a lesser degree. The evidence of land transactions in historical records from the 1280s onwards contains detailed information not only about prices, but also of what was used as payment. These records provide evidence for coins and commodities being used side by side, with an emphasis on money in towns and commodities in rural areas.17 Mintages for Norwegian coins were substantial in the second half of the eleventh century and from the second half of the twelfth century and the thirteenth century, while the first half of the twelfth century and the second half of the fourteenth century were less so.18 The evidence used as the basis for Gullbekk’s research comprised legal documents, financial contracts, accounts for payments of dues, coins, coin finds and metal analysis of more than 500 medieval Norwegian coins dating from 1067 to c. 1400. Recently Jon Anders Risvaag published the first extensive study of the coins and coinage of a medieval Scandinavian town - the Norwegian town of Trondheim (also called Nidaros) that also held the seat of the Norwegian Archbishop and the remains of St.Olaf in the Nidaros cathedral.20 Risvaag’s study is interdisciplinary, with the emphasis on archaeological and numismatic evidence. The archaeological material from Trondheim is especially interesting from an eleventh -century point of view, with 51 single finds of coins – 49 of them Norwegian from the reign of Harald Hardrade (1047-1066) and Olaf the Peaceful (1067-1093) – from the market area of the town. Risvaag has not only brought the knowledge about the use of money and distribution of coins struck at Trondheim a long step further, but he has also provided a reference study for scholars who will undertake future studies of coinage and money in towns. In the Norwegian case, it is evident from a large body of evidence that the bulk of the population used both commodity money and coins in a range of different financial transactions. Commodity money and coins were in many cases used side by side, as for example in land transactions and payment of land rent, taxes and dues. Monetisation and demonetisation The heterogeneous character of evidence for the use of coins in medieval Scandinavia also attests to the ups and downs of monetisation. While the eleventh and thirteenth centuries seem to have been rich in coinage, the first half of the twelfth century and the second half of the fourteenth century were less so. In the fifteenth century minting ceased altogether in Norway, and for a shorter period in Sweden in the first half of the fifteenth century. Foreign travellers reported that coins were not commonly used in Norway in the fifteenth century. On the contrary both the Venetian Pietro Qvirini and the Byzantine Laskaris Kananos reported that Norwegians were involved in commerce without using coins, even in towns. Their testimonies must be considered as exaggerations, 16 17 von Heijne 2004; Myrberg 2008. Gullbekk 2009, pp. 207-29. 18 20 Gullbekk 2005. Risvaag 2006, pp. 294-314. MONETISATION IN MEDIEVAL SCANDINAVIA 1461 since both archaeological and historical evidence make it clear that coins were in use, however to a lesser degree than both before and after the fifteenth century. In Denmark the political situation was dominated by Civil Wars after 1341, and minting was on the decline well into the fifteenth century. The periods of monetary contraction are closely tied to political unrest and changes in the preconditions for minting, like a decrease in silver supply.22 A consequence was that coins became less available and the use of commodity money more common. In an extensive study of Sturetidens monetära syste or The Swedish Monetary System in Late Medieval Times, based on historical records from the town of Arboga in Sweden, the historian Bo Franzén accepted the results achieved by Henrik Klackenberg concerning a long process of monetisation in Sweden, starting in the eleventh century and regaining speed in the late twelfth century after a century without minting. However, Frantzén reveals an extensive use of commodities as means of payments and money-of-account in medieval Arboga (and Sweden),23 and from that perspective the town economy of Arboga in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries was to a large extent built on the use of commodity money rather than coins. Comparable situations were in existence in Denmark and Norway. Natural economy was a central feature of the medieval Scandinavian economy. While numismatists often have emphasised monetisation, historians have often put emphasis on commoditymoney. The Norwegian historian Kåre Lunden has, in a series of articles debating the issue of money and its use in medieval Norway with Svein H Gullbekk, not argued against the concept of monetisation, but rather the very idea of medieval agrarian societies being anything near resembling monetisation.24 The monetary contraction that became a feature of late medieval societies in Europe and Scandinavia created a demand for coined money. In Norway an important feature of the monetary history was lack of money. References to complaints about insignificant supply of coins are known from the fifteenth century onwards. Such complaints continued even after the discovery of Scandinavia’s largest resource of silver in the Kongsberg region in 1623. This situation was a consequence of Norway being a Danish domain from 1397 to 1814. Indeed complaints about the availability of small change and the quality of the petty coins in circulation continued in Norway up until 1842, when the government carried out a recoinage of older skilling-coins in circulation. Was Scandinavia monetised in the Middle Ages? The question of monetisation is, of course, one that forces sweeping generalisations about a topic that is, indeed, of a very heterogeneous character. First of all, the Scandinavian society was very different, depending on whether one looks at Southern Scandinavia or Northern Scandinavia – Scania or Arctic Norway. Even on a regional level the differences between people living from subsistence farming, fishing and/or hunting, toolmaking, daily labour or trade, would be significant. Also, one must not forget the heterogeneous and multicultural character of people living in medieval towns in comparison with the population living in rural districts. Peasants in Denmark would, in general, have much easier access to markets and towns compared to Norwegian and Swedish peasants. This factor of urbanisation is probably one of the most important preconditions for monetisation on a broader scale in a population in general, and in this instance for Scandinavia in particular. In 2007 the Danish historians Nils Hybel and Bjørn Poulsen published a large volume on Dan22 23 Poulssen 2000-2002, pp. 326-30 and Gullbekk 2009, pp. 177-82. Frantzén 1998. 24 Lunden 1974; Lunden 1978; Gullbekk 1998; Lunden 1999; Gullbekk 2003; Gullbekk 2005; Lunden 2005. 1462 SVEIN H. GULLBEKK ish medieval economic history with the title Danish resources c. 1000-1550. The study covers the whole medieval economy of the Danish Middle Ages. The picture they draw is one that catches a lot of the diversity in medieval economics, and one of their concluding remarks is that Denmark in the Middle Ages did not experience a transition from a natural economy to a market economy.29 In my view, I think their studies document very well that a market economy prevailed in different parts and at various times within Danish society. However, taking the society as a whole into consideration it comes across as a plausible statement. That pockets of money economy developed in parallel with the natural economy within medieval Scandinavia was most certainly the case. If, however, we consider the coinage and economy in medieval Scandinavia, it is evident that the monetary projects launched in the eleventh and twelfth centuries were relatively primitive compared to the large-scale monetary projects carried out in Denmark in the early sixteenth century. And indeed, if we compare the monetary situation in Denmark (Norway and Sweden) c. 1100, c. 1300 and c. 1500, the differences are profound. The monetary regime prevailing in Denmark c. 1500 had scale, objectives and nature that come across as being of a more modern nature. To my mind, it is absolutely clear that market economy and money economy were achieved in parts of Scandinavia during the Middle Ages. However, I do not think it is fruitful to adopt the concept of monetisation in society as a whole, meaning either Denmark, Norway or Sweden. The concept of ‘one-size-fits-all’ is unrewarding for the analysis of medieval societies. The question whether Denmark, Norway or Sweden was monetised comes across as an over-simplification. It is more likely that the people living in Bergen c. 1300 had more in common with town-dwellers in Lübeck and York than with their countrymen living in rural Norway, even if not more than some miles away from the town. 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