The Hanseatic museum in Bergen. | © Richard Semik - stock.adobe.com.

Norwegian history | the Late middle ages | Norway

After the Black Death, it took the Norwegian communities centuries to recover. And soon, the country also lost its independence.

The Late middle ages | AD 1350 – 1537

The personal loss experienced by those who survived The Black Death was not something they could shake off in their lifetime. Whole communities had to be reestablished and retaught, a process that must have taken generations. The farm rent was down to a quarter of previous levels, and many farms were abandoned.

The Hanseatic League, a powerful confederation of merchant guilds and market towns, originating in Northern Germany, became a substantial economic and political player, also in Norway. The west-coast town of Bergen became their main trading hub, contributing to prosperity along the long-stretched Norwegian coast.

In the year AD 1397, Norway joined the so-called Kalmar Union, a union between three sovereign states: Norway, Sweden and Denmark, sharing the same monarch. Denmark was the dominant player, and Norway increasingly weaker. In the year AD 1523, Sweden broke away and chose its own king. Norway did not have the same strength, and ended up losing its independence, almost completely.

Around the year D 1500, the Norwegian population was an estimated 140,000-200,000, possibly less than half of what it had been prior to the outbreaks of the great plague.

Next period: Norwegian history | the Early modern period | Norway

Or see the full: History timeline | from stone age to modern era | Norway

BC = before Christ | AD = anno domini = after Christ
Main source: Store norske leksikon – snl.no

LA Dahlmann | history timeline

Vintage photos | the tools and handicrafts | Norway

vintage photos

Old objects tell stories, silent stories about a time gone by.

Folk instruments | the birch trumpet | Norway

folk instruments

One of the oldest Norwegian instruments is the birch trumpet. But is it really an instrument at all – or did it originally have a completely different purpose?

Homestead | the old farm and the need for water | Norway

homestead and farm

The old Norwegian farm needed hundreds of litres of water every single day: for food-making, cleaning, and human and animal consumption.

Strandsitter | is Norwegian for a beach dweller | Norway

homestead and farm

In the coastal districts of the old Norway, a strandsitter was a beach dweller – who rented a small piece of land – but owned the house he built on it. His livelihood was usually connected to the sea.

Queen Maud of Norway | her background and childhood years

norwegian royal history

Queen Maud of Norway was born in London in 1869, as Princess Maud of Wales. Her grandmother was none other than the formidable Queen Victoria.

Norway | on the coastal path along the Oslofjord

landscape

Whether it be on a rainy day – or a beautiful summer’s day like this one – the coastal paths take us through some pleasing stretches of Norwegian scenery.

Norway | a land of water

landscape

In the spring, the Norwegian mountain-snow melts and turns into creeks, rivers and magnificent waterfalls.

Ice export | a booming business for more than a century | Norway

landscape

From the early 1800s and well into the 1900s, Norway was a significant exporter of natural ice. But how did they prevent the ice from melting?

Fjords | gateways to mystery | Norway

landscape

Once upon a time in the distant past, imagine yourself sitting in a small boat, facing this mighty gateway into the bowels of the land.

Horse history in the land of the Vikings vol 1 | Norway

domesticated animals

The horse settled in the Scandinavian landscape after the last ice age. Let us meet this majestic animal – and follow in its footsteps.

Moose calf saved from drowning in 1939 | Norway

wild animals

Magne Løvstuen and his family adopted this moose calf after saving it from drowning in Lake Mjøsa.

The last workhorse at Sandaker farm | Norway

domesticated animals

When I was a boy, it was the workhorse that pulled the heaviest weight in agricultural life. And this had been the reality for as long as anyone could remember.

Reindeer | an ancient presence in the Norwegian mountains

wild animals

When the ice melted after the last ice age, herds of reindeer followed in its wake. And with the animals came their main predator: the humans.

Food history | the «Viking pizza» | Norway

food history

In Norway, the pizza appeared as an exotic newcomer in the 1970s. But bread topped with foodstuffs is nothing new in Norwegian food history.

Food history | milk from the domesticated animals | Norway

food history

For thousands of years, milk from the domesticated animals has had a dominant position in the Norwegian diet. People used milk from the cow, the reindeer, the sheep and the goat.

Food history | the difference between mead and beer | Norway

food history

Mead and beer are both alcoholic drinks known from Norwegian history. The Norwegians call them «mjød» and «øl». But do you know the difference between the two?

Klippfisk | what is Norwegian klipfish? | Norway

food history

Klippfisk – or klipfish – is fish preserved through salting and drying. Since the early 1700s, the Norwegians have been large-scale klippfisk producers and exporters.

The Norwegians | masters at sea | Norway

art

This beautiful oil painting by Johan Christian Dahl says a lot about generations of Norwegians – and the landscape and the skills they knew.

Oslo | is the capital city of Norway

towns and cities

Oslo is the capital city of Norway. It was founded in AD 1048 by the Viking king Harald Hardråde. Historically, the city is also known as Christiania or Kristiania.