The aim of this book is to use both written sources and archaeological findings to examine the history of urbanization in Denmark from approximately 500 to 1350 AD, a time in which political, religious, and economic processes reshaped the landscape dramatically. From 1050 to 1536, more than one hundred new towns were founded in Denmark, the majority of which before 1350. This book will explore how the political, religious, and economic changes of the Viking and Middle Ages created conditions in which towns could experience unprecedented growth. Towns would come to form the political, religious, and economic centres of the kingdom, and an investigation into the foundation and growth of towns in the Viking Age through the High Middle Ages forms the bulk of this work. Because towns took over functions that had been performed by certain specialized sites prior to this period, they will be the starting point for understanding why and how urbanization took place. The interplay of political, religious, and economic factors throughout the Middle Ages created a synergy directly responsible for the proliferation of towns in the High Middle Ages.

Definitions

The question of when urbanization began and towns first appeared hinges on how we define ‘town’. This is more fraught than it might first seem, and any definition must be flexible enough to account for change over time regarding what types of settlements can be considered urban. As Susan Reynolds has pointed out in her 1977 study of English medieval towns, a definition is different from a description and so does not need to include all the characteristics of all towns. Accordingly, she defines a town as,

Reynolds also notes that this separateness of urban society will manifest itself in different political, administrative, and legal ways, and that the forms and degrees will vary. This definition is general enough that it can include different urban forms, such as the North Sea emporia, which will be discussed in Chapter 2.