The First Norwegian Towns Seen on the Background of European History

Abstract

New archaeological finds and new research have given us a better understanding of the question about the revitalisation of the economic life and emergence of towns in Europe after the Dark Ages following the fall of the Roman Empire in AD 476. Among other things, the Pirenne Thesis ‘Without Islam, the Frankish Empire would have probably never existed, and Charlemagne, without Muhammad, would be inconceivable’ (Pirenne 1939) is again brought into light. In this paper, I will give an account of this and discuss the emergence of centralisation and subsequent urbanism. The actual span of time in Norway will be the Viking Period and the early Middle Ages (c. AD 800-1130). At the beginning of this period, Norway was not defined as a gathered state, but according to the account of the chieftain and seafarer Othere of Hålogaland from around AD 890, Norway was regarded as a defined territory at that time (Andersen 1977, 84). This was a geographic unit that, without Finnmark and Northern part of Troms, for the most part corresponded with the present day border of Norway. In this article, I will give a survey of the backgroun