Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
NO LONGER INDEPENDENT
The Vikings may have been fast disappearing into history, but Viking expansionism, along
with the coming of Christianity, planted the seeds - of success, of decline - for what was to
come. As Norway's sphere of international influence shrank, Norway's neighbours began to
close in, leaving this one-time world power having to fight for its own independence.
Trouble Abroad, Trouble at Home
In 1107 Sigurd I led an expedition of 60 ships to the Holy Land. Three years later, he
captured Sidon, in modern-day Lebanon. But by this stage foreign conquest had become a
smokescreen for serious internal problems. Sigurd died in 1130 and the rest of the century
wasfraughtwithbrutalcivilwarsoversuccessiontothethrone.ThevictoriousKingSverre,
a churchman-turned-warrior, paved the way for Norway's so-called 'Golden Age', which
saw Bergen claim the title of national capital, driven by Norway's perennial ties to for-
eign lands and, in particular, trade between coastal towns and the German-based Hanseatic
League (
Click here
). Perhaps drawn by Norway's economic boom, Greenland and Iceland
voluntarily joined the Kingdom of Norway in 1261 and 1262, respectively.
But Norway's role as a world power was on the wane and Norway was turning inward.
HåkonVbuiltbrickandstoneforts,oneatVardøtoprotectthenorthfromtheRussians,and
another at Akershus, in 1308, to defend Oslo harbour. The transfer of the national capital
fromBergentoOslosoonfollowed.WhenHåkonV'sgrandsonMagnusunitedNorwaywith
Sweden in 1319, Norway began a decline that would last for 200 years. Once-great Norway
had become just another province of its neighbours.
In August 1349 the Black Death arrived in Norway on board an English ship via Bergen.
Thebubonicplaguewouldeventuallykillone-thirdofEurope'spopulation.InNorway,land
fell out of cultivation, towns were ruined, trading activities faltered and the national cof-
fers decreased by 65%. In Norway, as much as 80% of the nobility perished. Because their
peasant workforce had also been decimated, the survivors were forced to return to the land,
foreverchangingtheNorwegianpower-baseandplantingtheseedsforanegalitarianismthat
continues to define Norway to this day.
By 1387 Norway had lost control of Iceland and 10 years later, Queen Margaret of Den-
mark formed the Kalmar Union of Sweden, Denmark and Norway, with Eric of Pomerania
asking.Margaret'sneglectofNorwaycontinuedintothe15thcentury,whentradelinkswith
Iceland were broken and the Greenland colonies mysteriously disappeared without trace.
