Black Death in Norway
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Black Death was present in Norway between 1349 and 1350.[1]
In traditional Norwegian history, the Black Death is given major importance, as an explanation for the deterioration of Norway from an independent nation in the early 14th century, to its loss of political independence in the Kalmar Union in the late century, which caused Norway to lose political and economic independence and become a Danish "province" for centuries onward.[1]
While the exact number of deaths from the Black Death is unknown, it is clear that the plague caused a demographic shock. The population did not recover to pre-pandemic levels until the 17th century.[1]
Norway in the mid-14th century
Norway was partially feudalized during the mid-14th century. Peasants were considered free individuals, owning approximately one half of the land used for agriculture. Land was controlled by contracts to noblemen and bishops given directly by the king.[2]
During this time period, Norway was about 135,000 square miles, with approximately 350,000 residents. It is estimated that only 15,000 of these individuals lived in urban areas during the mid-14th century. While overall, the population density is quite low, it is important to note that the population was concentrated in areas of farmland or urban centers since most of Norway consists of mountains and forested regions.[2]
As the population grew, settlements that did reside in the mountains were required to focus on animal husbandry for food. Grain was often in deficit because of the short growing period, forcing the settlers to trade more than people who resided in lower altitudes. Norway was therefore required to establish trade routes from the coast to inland areas.[2]
Farm abandonment in Norway before the mid-14th century
Long before the mid-14th century Black Death, Norway’s countryside held farms in and amongst the mountains. Before the mid-14th century Black Death, there are accounts of people venturing out and seeing almost all of the farms abandoned. These accounts show that crises were occurring decades before the plague. Researchers within the past one hundred years believe the climatic deterioration of the lands around the Middle Ages was a large factor in the severity of the plague. Some Norwegian historians believe that the Black Death was the only cause of population loss and abandonment of farms around Norway in the late Middle Ages. This is disproven by a letter from 1340 in which a person who was leasing a farm at the time outside of Bergen, Norway that was abandoned approximately a decade before. To further support researchers' claims, Diplomatarium Norvegicum, a major collection of Norwegian letters and documents of the medieval period, contains numerous accounts of abandoned farms well before the plague.[3]
As early as around 1280 but mostly 1300 is when historians expected the farm abandonment of Norway to occur. The climate of Norway and most of Europe underwent the early 1300s Little Ice Age.[4] The Little Ice Age was a time of regional cooling that took place right around 1300. Norway experienced colder winters during the Little Ice Age, which was on and off from 1300 to 1850 with varying severity.[5]
The Black Death
Since the outbreak of the Black Death at the Crimea, it had reached Sicily by an Italian ship from the Crimea. After having spread across the Italian states, and from Italy to France, Spain and England, the plague reached Norway by a plague ship from England in the summer of 1349.[1] According to more than one hundred studies of the Black Death in Norway, scholars have estimated that up to sixty percent of the population in Norway died due to the Black Death from the summer of 1349 through winter of 1350. The significance of the major loss in Norway caused outbreak into Europe and Asia during the mid-14th century.[3]
Plague migration
Western Norway
The bubonic plague pandemic known as the Black Death reached Bergen in Norway by ship from England in late summer (probably August) of 1349, and spread from Bergen North to Trondheim in the autumn of 1349.[1]
The Black Death in Norway is famously described in the unique and detailed contemporary Icelandic sources Gotskálks-annál and Lögmanns-annál by Einarr Hafliðason.[1]
The Lögmanns-annál provides information about the migration of the Black Death in Western Norway. It contains the witness statements of the Icelandic Bishops Orm of Hólar and Gyrd Ivarsson of Skalholt, who visited Norway when the plague arrived from England and returned to Iceland when it had left Norway again in 1351. In this testimony, it is described how the infamous "Plague ship" arrived to Bergen in Norway from England. When the cargo was unloaded from the ship, the ship crew started to die. Shortly after, the inhabitants of Bergen started to die, and from Bergen it continued all over Norway, ultimately killing a third of the population. The ship from England reportedly was sunk, but several plague ships were said to have stranded along the beaches in the same fashion.
The Gotskálks-annál names a number of the victims of the plague, among whom were several members of the clergy, an account that can be verified by other sources. It also states that the plague migrated from Bergen north to Nidaros in 1349.
Additional information is found from wills, contracts, and other documents from the period of the plague. Because of this, the plague in Western Norway is better documented than in Sweden, Denmark, and Finland (the plague did not reach Iceland until 1402).
Eastern Norway
In contrast to the famous and documented plague migration in Western Norway, the migration of the plague in Eastern Norway is only indirectly documented, as there are no direct references to it or testimonies similar to the one in Western Norway.[1] Because of the great focus on Western Norway, it was long believed that the plague migrated only from Bergen to the rest of the country.
By the data from the plague deaths in Oslo, it appears that Oslo was in fact reached by the plague before Bergen: already in May or June 1349, with the difference that there are no witness accounts from its progress in contrast to Western Norway.[1]
The plague is likely to have reached Oslo by sea in the spring or early summer of 1349, presumably by ship.[1] From Oslo, it migrated North toward Hamar, West toward Valdres in Central Norway, South West toward Stavanger, and to the East toward Sweden.[1] The Black Death appear not to have reached Stavanger in the South from Bergen, because the first plague deaths are not noted there until 1350, and it likely migrated to it from Oslo.[1]
Northern Norway
It is unknown whether the Black Death reached Northern Norway. However, the fact that Trondenes Church was built in the late 14th century or early 15th century, when the rest of Norway abandoned churches because of the population loss rather than build new ones, indicate that the plague did not reach this part of the nation.[1]
