Introduction

Medieval Sweden’s territory did not include the present-day Swedish regions of Scania, Halland and Blekinge, which were conquered from Denmark in the mid-1600s, nor the counties of Bohuslän, Jämtland and Härjedalen, which were conquered from Norway at the same time, in all 74,000 km2. The vast northern parts of Sweden had some quite obscure territorial delimitations and were extremely thinly populated. Sweden did not enjoy the warming effects of the Gulf Stream, as Denmark and especially Norway did, and the winters were generally much colder. The northern parts were unsuitable for agriculture, mostly settled by people subsisting from animal husbandry in combination with hunting and gathering. The overwhelming majority of the population lived south of the region of Medelpad (south of the present-day county of Västernorrland), within a territory of 185,000 km2.

The size of Sweden’s population on the eve of the Black Death is not known. In order to throw a glimmer of light into the reign of demographic darkness, it could be useful to make an estimate based on a reasonable assumption of comprehensive social and economic similarity between Norway and Sweden. Around 1330, population growth had tapered off and an overall stationary population size had developed, called the high medieval population maximum, which still prevailed on the eve of the Black Death. At the time, Norwegian parishes contained on the average c. 62.5 households. If this correlation of average number of households within parishes is tentatively applied on contemporary Sweden which at the time contained about 1,750 parishes, the following estimate can be made: 1,750 parishes multiplied by 62,5 households produce a total national number of 105,000 households. Assuming a stationary population and multiplied by an average household size of 4.5 persons, this suggests a population of 492,000 persons. In addition, there were some small social categories of people living outside the parish system, fleeting underclasses in the towns, indigents and vagabonds, hunter-gatherers, and so on. Thus, a population size of roughly 500,000 persons can possibly be discerned. The tentative nature of this estimate must be underscored. It is significant that the estimate accords with the relative political and military strength between the Scandinavian countries at the time and, in a more general perspective, appears realistic.