Medieval and early modern ceramics

in urban and rural Norway as evidence for

trade within the Hanseatic world

VOLKER DEMUTH

Demuth, V. 2019. Medieval and early modern ceramics in urban and rural Norway as evidence for trade within the
Hanseatic world. AmS-Skrifter 27, 121–132, Stavanger, ISSN 0800-0816, ISBN 978-82-7760-183-0.

In Norway, pottery from the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries is always imported and mostly concentrated in the urban
centres. The few finds of pottery from this period in a non-urban context can, however, shed light on the spreading of a
continental or Hanseatic culture into the periphery of this country. This paper provides a broad overview of archaeological
finds of pottery from Bergen and their implications as sources of cultural history. Furthermore, this paper presents various
rural and underwater finds of late medieval and early modern pottery in different regions of Norway, along with a discussion
of a possible interpretation of the finds as sources for Hanseatic history.

Volker Demuth, Museum of Archaeology, University of Stavanger, N-4036 STAVANGER, NORWAY.

E-mail: [email protected]

Keywords: pottery, stoneware, Norway, fish-trade, Hanse, urban vs rural, consumption habits

As in most other European countries, medieval ar- found in Bergen exemplifies the contact between Nor-
chaeology in Norway has been predominantly urban way, Britain and mainland Europe. It also shows the
archaeology; as in most other European towns, in variety of pottery that was traded across the North
Norway, pottery forms the majority of archaeologi- Sea. An overview of the pottery sequence in Bergen
cal finds from the cultural layers in medieval towns.1 should give a suitable background to evaluate the pot-
However, unlike any other European country – aside tery found outside the urban centres, which I shall
from the strongly associated North Atlantic island of present later.
Iceland – Norway had no native pottery: all medieval For an archaeologist, especially when trained in a
and early modern ceramic in Norway is imported. field context, the research of pottery generally comes
There are no traces of any pottery production before quite naturally, as it is very often the predominant find
immigrant potters from Denmark and northern Ger- material and it is quite often also the best material for
many started earthenware production in the late sev- dating archaeological layers and structures. Histori-
enteenth century.2 ans, on the other hand, may often question the con-
The following paper tries to provide an overview of tribution of all this research on heaps of fragmented
a selection of finds of medieval and early modern pot- sherds – other than producing some nice illustra-
tery in Norway. The finds were selected and examined tions of material culture. There are, however, vari-
based on their evidence of contact between the places ous aspects of life in the medieval and early modern
where they were found and the continental areas of period, where the contemporary pottery may give a
the Hanseatic world. To start, I shall summarize the unique perspective on the historical reality. In addi-
pottery found in Bergen. This was the largest town in tion to other sources, such as written documents and
Norway throughout the medieval and early modern contemporary art, the archaeological remains directly
period and, with the Hanseatic Kontor at Bryggen, it reflect commercial and domestic activities. Due to
housed one of the Hanse’s most important depend- their frequent appearance and definable origin, finds
encies outside the Hanseatic heartland. The pottery of pottery are particularly suitable as a basis for dis-

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cussions on issues like long-range trading and cultural amount of glazed earthenware, mainly from the
influence. The pottery itself was mostly a commodity Netherlands and northern Germany.
of trade, thus exemplifying trade routes. Furthermore, The variations in the areas of origin are reflected
the use of specific vessels reflects certain cultural hab- both in the form and in the usage of the pottery. During
its, which were transmitted or passed on by mutual the twelfth century, cooking and storage vessels are
contacts. Last but not least, highly decorated pottery just as common as drinking and pouring vessels.
may itself have acted as an agent for specific meanings In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, pottery
and mentalities, with the decoration as the medium.3 is predominantly used as tableware for drinking
After presenting pottery from Bergen and consider- and pouring; cooking pots seem to occur rather
ing its significance as a source for discussing Hanse- rarely. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
atic history, I shall present some finds from rural Nor- new forms of pottery appear on the Bergen market
way and discuss the question of a potential Hanseatic simultaneously with other areas of northern Europe.
influence in Norway outside the urban centres. Alongside various cooking pots of different shapes,
previously uncommon tableware such as plates and
bowls – often highly decorated – become frequent in
The Bergen pottery sequence the archaeological material. However, drinking and
pouring vessels of German stoneware make up a large
in the late medieval and proportion of the pottery found in Bergen.
early modern period How can these archaeological finds of pottery be
This section provides a broad overview of the late interpreted to function as a source for describing
medieval and early modern pottery found in Bergen. I the contact between the Hanseatic world and
shall present certain types of pottery in more detail, as Norway, i.e. Bergen? Of course, imported pottery is
these also occur in a rural context and are relevant to a direct indication of trade connections and it shows
that discussion later in this paper. how different regions in the Hanseatic world were
As mentioned above, pottery forms a very large interacting. Although pottery may not necessarily
portion of all archaeological finds from Bergen. Over indicate direct trade between production and
100,000 pottery fragments have been discovered consumption areas, the analysis of ceramics may hint
at the main excavation site at Bryggen, the former at how trading routes were organised.7 As a commodity
German wharf.4 In 1982, British researchers Ian of everyday use, pottery also provides insight into
Reed and Rory Dunlop initially sorted this enormous material aspects of everyday life. This is especially
amount of material by origin. Various researchers have true where ceramic objects were used for preparing,
subsequently published their examinations of certain storing or consuming food and beverages. Hence,
groups of the pottery from Bryggen and other sites in basic cultural elements, such as consumption habits
Bergen.5 and table culture, are directly mirrored in the pottery.
The pottery found in Bergen was imported from Specific types of ceramics may serve as ‘markers’ for
different regions during the medieval and early certain cultural phenomena and their spread into
modern period, with considerable variations in the different regions. When it comes to immaterial aspects
main sources over time. In the oldest layers, from of life, such as mentality, worldview and ideology, these
the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, hard-fired may be reflected directly in the motifs that decorated
earthenware, mainly of western German origin and the pottery. Particularly, highly decorated pottery may
glazed Flemish Ardenne-ware are predominant, aside have functioned as a medium for certain meanings
from some English pottery.6 The majority of thirteenth- which can be related directly to other contemporary
and fourteenth-century pottery in Bergen constitutes sources, such as documents and art.8
various types of English earthenware, mostly glazed,
alongside a variety of southern Scandinavian and
northern German pottery. During the fourteenth Trade routes and connections
century, various types of German stoneware become Though the pottery in Bergen or other trading towns
more and more dominant in the Bergen ceramic is clear evidence of long-range contact, it is important
sequence, culminating in the fifteenth century. From to bear in mind that ceramics were transported from
the sixteenth century on, in addition to the stoneware the production areas to various trading centres and
– which is still quite frequent – there is an increasing redistributed from these, often with several steps in

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AmS-Skrifter 27 Medieval and early modern ceramics in urban and rural Norway as evidence for trade within the Hanseatic world

between. Thus, the appearance of certain ceramic

wares does not necessarily represent direct trade
connections. The ways in which the pottery found in
Norway was distributed must be discussed in more
detail to produce convincing models of interpretation.
As mentioned above, the majority of ceramic finds in
Bergen from the late fourteenth and especially in the
fifteenth century are German stoneware. Among the
different stoneware production centres, the stoneware
produced in the small town of Siegburg outnumbers
any other production area by far. To analyse the
appearance of this pottery in Bergen during the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, a closer examination
of the finds from fire layers is appropriate, as the fire
layers are the closest thing we have to single context
finds among the Bergen material. Bergen was regularly
devastated by fires, which are frequently mentioned
in various written sources. Accordingly, fire layers are
frequently found in the archaeological stratigraphy
in Bergen. The controversial question of the extent
to which archaeological fire layers can be related to
historically documented fires has been debated by
various scholars.9 It is beyond the scope of this paper
to discuss these methodological issues. For this paper,
I have followed the identification of archaeological fire
Fig. 1. Small stoneware jug, early fourteenth century,
layers with historically documented fires made by the
produced presumably in Bengerode, Lower Saxony,
primary excavator of Bryggen, Asbjørn Herteig.10 In
and found in layers from the end of the fourteenth cen-
the layers from the fires of 1393 and 1413, about 65
tury in Bergen (photo: Volker Demuth).
per cent of all pottery is German stoneware. Siegburg
represents 36 per cent of all pottery in the fire layer Baltic shores, so Siegburg stoneware found in Norway
from 1393, increasing to 56 per cent in the fire layer may very well have been brought there from a town in
from 1413. In a fire layer that most probably represents the Baltic where Siegburg stoneware was very frequent
a fire in 1476, 78 per cent of all pottery is German in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.12
stoneware – with Siegburg products alone making up Certain other pottery wares may nevertheless
to 67 per cent of all pottery.11 These numbers show the indicate direct trading contact, as their dispersion
increasing amount of German stoneware in general seems to be restricted to specific find spots and trading
and Siegburg stoneware in particular among the towns. In particular, I would interpret stoneware from
Bergen pottery in the late Middle Ages. the Upper Weser region in Lower Saxony as marker of
To what extent does this archaeological fact increase the trade connections between Bremen and Norway in
our insight into the late medieval trade connections to the fourteenth and fifteenth century. This characteristic
and from Bergen? Though there were well-established stoneware makes up about 3–7 per cent of all pottery
trade routes to the Rhine area, the great amount found in the fire layers from 1393 to 1476 in Bergen
of pottery from the Rhineland must not be taken as (Fig. 1). In the same period, the dominant Siegburg
evidence for the amount of direct trade between products largely replaced the Lower Saxon stoneware
Bergen and the towns along the Rhine or at its mouth. in many Hanseatic towns, where it had frequently been
The dominance of Siegburg stoneware may rather be used in the late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
explained by the dominance of the Siegburg pottery This appears particularly in Baltic towns such as
industry throughout the Hanseatic network. In a way, Rostock, Greifswald or Stralsund,13 but also in inland
Siegburg stoneware is a ‘type fossil’ for Hanseatic towns near the production area, such as Höxter.14
trading activity. This ceramic was extensively traded Yet, in several towns, the characteristic Lower Saxon
between the different ports along the North Sea and stoneware from production sites such as Bengerode

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Volker Demuth

Summing up, the late medieval and early modern

pottery is a material manifestation of the influence of
Hanseatic culture in Bergen as it is widely known from
historiographical research.

Table culture and

consumption habits
The fact that the vast majority of the Bergen pottery
in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was drinking
and pouring vessels points strongly to the conclusion
that the pottery was mainly used for the consumption
of beverages. It is well known from written sources
that, in addition to rye and other grain, considerable
amounts of beer – and to a certain extend wine – were
Fig. 2. Detail of a Raeren stoneware tankard, found
in Bergen, showing the coat of arms of Bremen (photo: imported by Hanseatic merchants to Bergen.24 Thus, it
Volker Demuth). seems convincing to interpret the German stoneware
jugs as the appropriate tableware for the consump-
or Coppengrave15 still seems to be in use in the later tion of the probably highly valued imported bever-
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. In particular, this ages. The larger jugs and beakers may have been used
seems to be the case in Bremen, where Lower Saxon for beer, whereas smaller vessels may have been used
stoneware is found in closed contexts dating to the to drink wine. Considering that all these beverages
middle of the fifteenth century.16 It seems quite natural were traded, transported and stored in barrels, it is
that this pottery is found in significant numbers in clear that the ceramic tableware was used to get wine
Bremen, as Bremen is at the mouth of the Weser river and beer from the barrel and to serve and drink the
and was an intersection point between river and sea beverages at the table. A similar theory was convinc-
trade and a staple market for all goods traded up or ingly presented by the French archaeologists Deroeux
down the river. Also in the small Hanseatic inland and Dufournier in 1992, in relation to French pot-
town of Einbeck, not far from the production sites tery from the thirteenth and early fourteenth centu-
and famous for its beer production, Lower Saxon ries found in Bergen.25 Saintong pottery from south-
stoneware still appears frequently in find contexts western France was interpreted as markers of French
from the early fifteenth century.17 A large proportion wine imported to towns all along the North Sea. The
of the Lower Saxon stoneware in Bergen was found in characteristic Saintong tableware would have been a
layers dating to a period when this pottery is no longer visible sign for the consumer that genuine wine from
found in larger amounts in any other major Hanseatic south-western France was served. Though this trade
harbour town than Bremen. Thus, I would interpret with wine is known from written sources, it does not
the Lower Saxon stoneware in Bergen as a clear marker directly appear in the archaeological material as both
of trading ties with Bremen (Fig. 2). The archaeological the product (wine) and the container (barrel) were
material may directly reflect the contact between consumed or have decayed. However, Saintong pot-
Bremen and Bergen, which are also proven by written tery appears regularly in harbour towns where the
sources.18 In the sixteenth century, many ships sailed import of French wine is likely. If we transfer this
directly from Bremen to Bergen.19 This traffic seems model to the late medieval trade with German stone-
to have been quite steady, starting as early as the ware, we might see at least a part of the stoneware as
thirteenth century,20 eventually declining somewhat a reflection of the import of northern German beer
in the fifteenth century and reaching a maximum in and wine from the Rhine region. However, due to the
the sixteenth century.21 A frequent trade commodity sheer amount of Rhenish stoneware, a significant part
that was shipped from Bremen to Bergen was beer.22 of this was probably traded for itself and not in con-
Beer from Bremen is occasionally mentioned as having nection with any other commodity. Nevertheless, it
been delivered to the royal fortress of Bergenhus, is striking that a considerable quantity of different
which indicates a certain appreciation of this beverage drinking and pouring vessels was found in the ruins
also in a high status, non-Hanseatic environment.23 of the Bergen wine cellar.26 Among other finds, a large

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AmS-Skrifter 27 Medieval and early modern ceramics in urban and rural Norway as evidence for trade within the Hanseatic world

temporary drinker. It is notable that these bowls are

found almost exclusively in the ruins of the Bergen
wine cellar, the only officially legalized point for re-
tail sale of wine. Aside from these quite special drink-
ing bowls, also funnel-necked beakers, which were a
common type of Siegburg stoneware in the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries, were most likely designed as
drinking vessels for wine as can be deduced from their
comparatively small volume (Fig. 4).
Larger stoneware jugs, however, were of multifunc-
tional shape and may have regularly been used for the
consumption of beer. The import of large quantities of
northern German beer via the Hanseatic network to
Norway, where it was quite popular, is documented by
Fig. 3. Three Siegburg stoneware wine bowls, excavated written sources. Especially regarding the quite distinct
in the ruins of the wine cellar in Bergen (photo: Volker Lower Saxon stoneware it is likely that it was associat-
Demuth). ed with the popular beer from that region. The Hanse-
atic hinterland along the Weser River was well known
for the beer brewed in towns like Einbeck and Braun-
schweig, but the harbour cities of Bremen, Hamburg
and others also had extensive breweries.27 According
to tax rolls, northern German beer was quite com-
monly imported to Bergen.28 Following the model pro-
posed by Deroeux et al.,29 the brown or reddish Lower
Saxon stoneware may have functioned as a marker for
northern German beer, which had a long shelf-life and
was highly valued for its high quality, due to the use of
hops and its high alcohol percentage.

Mentality and ideology mirrored

in pottery decoration
From the sixteenth century on, highly decorated pot-
tery in the form of relief-decorated stoneware and
painted earthenware became more prevalent, both in
northern German production areas and in Bergen. Ex-
ceeding the purely ornamental aspects of this decora-
tion, the pottery functioned also as medium for images
that evoke meanings. Maybe the most common image
on stoneware throughout the late medieval and early
modern period is the Bartmann, depicting a bearded
male face on the neck of the well-known Bartmann or
Bellarmine jugs. In Bergen, the oldest examples of this
Fig. 4. Siegburg funnel beaker, found at Bryggen in
motif appear on Saxon stoneware jugs from Walden-
Bergen (photo: Volker Demuth).
burg, dating to the late fourteenth and early fifteenth
number of small Siegburg stoneware bowls was dis- century. Curiously, the best-preserved piece is not
covered and interpreted as specialised drinking ves- a real Waldenburg jug, but a very rare copy made of
sels for wine (Fig. 3). Wine from the Rhine area was glazed red earthenware (Fig. 5). This piece, with the
imported to Bergen in large quantities and it seems only known parallels in Riga and Helsingborg, was
obvious that the small bowls would have been the probably produced somewhere in the southern Bal-
appropriate tableware for Rhenish wine for the con- tic.30 It shows the popularity of the bearded man im-

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Volker Demuth

astonishing to find the royal Swedish Wasa coat of

arms in the Danish-Norwegian town of Bergen. Yet,
maybe the Trekronor (the three crowns) were in this
case seen as a symbol of the major Protestant power in
the struggle of the Thirty Years War and thus a politi-
cal statement. Seen this way, also the coats of arms of
Saxony or Jülich-Kleve-Berg would not only have rep-
resented the territorial rulers of important stoneware
production areas, but also an important arena for the
religious and political struggles of the period. The
Electorate of Saxony was from the very beginning the
most important stronghold of the Lutheran reforma-
tion. The United Duchies of Jülich-Kleve-Berg were
not only an important regional actor in the Rhine
area, housing many of the most important stoneware
production centres, but with the War of the Jülich
Succession, the object of a larger Protestant-Catho-
lic conflict, which can be seen as an anticipation or
prelude to the Thirty Years War. So, for the contem-
porary consumer, these coats of arms may have had
an implicit political meaning in the light of the deep
religious struggles that in many ways dominated the
sixteenth and early seventeenth century. These con-
flicts are also clearly mirrored in the religious motifs
that were common on highly decorated stoneware
Fig. 5. Glazed redware copy of a Waldenburg stonewa-
from the early modern period, which explicitly convey
re jug with bearded facemask found in Bergen (photo:
Volker Demuth). Protestant ideas and belief.33

age already in the fifteenth century. The iconography

of the bearded man is most probably connected to the Medieval and early modern pottery
idea of the ‘wild man’ as a symbol of untamed man- found in non-urban harbour sites
hood and male power.31 It is quite interesting to find After this introduction of pottery in Norway, based on
this symbol regularly on vessels for the consumption finds from Bergen, I want to direct some attention to
of presumably alcoholic drinks, strongly indicating a finds of such pottery outside the urban centres. The
connotation of drinking and masculinity, which seems most important non-urban find spots for late medieval
to be a characteristic of early modern mentality.32 and early modern ceramics in Norway are coastal sites,
Bartmann jugs are found quite frequently in Bergen, most probably connected to coastal trade. At several of
both in the Bryggen area, but also at sites that were these sites, medieval German stoneware was found on
clearly inhabited by ethnic Danish-Norwegians, as the seabed.
a sixteenth century example from the royal castle in North of Trondheim on the small island of Nærøy,
Bergen exemplifies. It seems likely that the adoption of by a sound known as ‘Market-sound’ (Martnasun-
these drinking vessels also indicates an adoption of the det), written sources document mercantile activities
corresponding mind-set. from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries.34
Other frequent motifs on early modern stoneware During underwater surveys, among numerous other
include various coats of arms, representing miscel- finds, there was a find of an early fourteenth century
laneous noble houses of contemporary Europe. Aside jug of Lower Saxon stoneware, presumably from Ben-
from a mere representation of the sovereignty over gerode. This intact jug is almost identical with a find
territories where the actual pottery was produced or from Bergen – where the pottery was most probably
consumed, these coats of arms may also represent im- acquired. It is uncertain whether the jug was part of
portant actors in the turbulent political landscape of a cargo or part of personal belongings. If it was cargo,
Early Modern Europe. To give an example, it seems it may have been transported either by Norwegian

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AmS-Skrifter 27 Medieval and early modern ceramics in urban and rural Norway as evidence for trade within the Hanseatic world

Fig. 6. Siegburg sto-

neware jugs found
on the seabed of the
medieval harbour
in Avaldsnes (photo:
Terje Tveit, Museum
of Archaeology, Uni-
versity of Stavanger).

merchants, who had the privilege for the trade along Early Modern period – was traded directly from the
the coast north of Bergen, or by Hanseatic merchants, large Hanseatic harbour towns in the Baltic to minor
illegally sailing northwards. The piece may, however, places along the coast of southern Norway.
also have belonged to a north Norwegian fisherman, The most exciting non-urban harbour site along
who traded directly with the Hanseatic merchants in the Norwegian coast is Avaldsnes, on the island of
Bergen. In any case, it is clear that this jug was distrib- Karmøy, approximately halfway between Stavanger
uted along the coast – also outside the urban centres. and Bergen.37 The variety of pottery that has been
If the proposal that the Lower Saxon stoneware was a picked up from the seabed at Avaldsnes paints a simi-
marker for imported beer is correct, this jug may be an lar picture as the pottery found in Bergen. However,
indication that imported beer was also available on the in contrast to Bergen, no English pottery has yet been
northern market. found in Avaldsnes. The material is dominated by
Another small, natural harbour, where presum- Siegburg stoneware (Fig. 6), but there are also redware
ably mercantile activities were carried out is the small cooking pots from the Netherlands and some Lower
bay Prestvika (Priest’s Bay) on the southern cost of Saxon stoneware. Thus, the archaeological material
Norway, in the parish of Bamble in Telemark. A re- makes it very likely that the harbour of Avaldsnes in
cent survey detected a significant number of Siegburg the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was frequently
stoneware, indicating a coastal trading place.35 In this visited by merchants from the Hanseatic realm and
context, it is interesting to note that written sources that their material culture was available and maybe
from around 1600 explicitly mention that pottery was dominating in Avaldsnes. Together with the other
exported from Rostock with destination Langesund,36 sources – written sources as well as archaeological
which is a small trading town quite near to Prestvika. sources mentioned above – the pottery found in the
The combination of written and archaeological sourc- harbour of Avaldsnes can be taken as evidence to sup-
es can, in this case, provide a more complete picture of port the thesis of a Hanseatic harbour at the site (see
the trading activities in this region. The archaeological Ersland and Fyllingsnes, this volume). One other fas-
evidence may indicate that the pottery which, accord- cinating item that deserves mention is a fragment of a
ing to the Sound toll, was to be shipped to Langesund ceramic horn, a so-called Aachhorn or pilgrim’s horn
may have been traded not in the town of Langesund, (Fig. 7). Similar fragments were also found in Bergen.
but in the small natural harbour nearby. To sum up, it These musical instruments were produced in large
is worth keeping in mind that pottery – at least in the numbers in several pottery villages in the Rhine area,

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Volker Demuth

ceramics also became more frequent at rural sites.

Still, it is obvious that there seems to be a concen-
tration of Hanseatic pottery in farm mounds in the
proximity of administrative centres, such as the par-
ish of Trondenes. One example is a rim fragment of a
fifteenth century Siegburg jug found during excava-
tions at a farm site in Bergsodden, a few kilometres
from Trondenes church.42 It thus can be assumed that
the pottery found in the farm mounds of the north
reflects the fact that typical Hanseatic pottery, such
as Siegburg jugs, was both available for and used by
at least parts of the rural population of northern Nor-
way. This can be explained by the structures of trade,
Fig. 7. Fragment of an ‘Aachhorn’ found underwater in
where the producers of fish in the north sailed with
Avaldsnes (photo: Cathrine Glette, Nordvegen History
the dried fish to Bergen to exchange it with Hanseatic
Centre, Avaldsnes).
merchants directly for grain and grain products.43 It
such as Langerwehe, Brühl and others.38 There are a can be assumed that this direct contact with Hanse-
number of sources that indicate the use of similar ce- atic traders and seafarers led to the adoption of typical
ramic horns in the rites of the pilgrimage to Aachen.39 Hanseatic material culture as manifested in the Sieg-
Thus, the horns may be seen as a kind of pilgrim badge, burg stoneware.
indicating a pilgrimage to Aachen. Though especially
in a maritime context such as Avaldsnes, the piece may
possibly also be interpreted as signal horn, as it would Pottery outside the urban centres
have fulfilled this purpose quite well. in south-eastern Norway
To my knowledge, there are no finds of fourteenth- or
fifteenth-century pottery in a non-urban context in
Medieval and early modern south-eastern Norway. While this may be due to the
poor state of research, it is striking that pottery ap-
pottery from rural settlements pears in contexts from the sixteenth century and later
in northern Norway despite the small amount of archaeological research
Aside from the medieval towns I have found during that has been done on early modern rural sites in
my research for this paper, there are very few find Norway. There are, however, some finds of imported
spots with late medieval and early modern pottery pottery from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
on land. Generally, it seems that a region with more found in various places around the Oslo fjord. At a
frequent finds of medieval pottery in a rural context place named Labo, situated on the coast approximately
is northern Norway.40 Whether this reflects the state 40 kilometres southeast of Oslo, the regional cultural
of research, better preservation condition or a his- heritage institution, Akershus fylkeskommune, car-
torical reality remains uncertain. It probably mirrors ried out research on a site that had been a local trading
both the extensive excavations on the ‘Tell-like’ farm spot since the Middle Ages. Amongst the many finds,
mounds in the north, with well-preserved cultural one particular piece stands out; it is a small fragment
layers and the historical reality of close economic of a Siegburg tankard with the coat of arms of Jülich-
bonds between the fishing population and Hanseatic Kleve-Berg. This small piece resembles the many finds
traders. The dried cod from the fisheries of northern with similar ornamentation in the material found in
Norway was of great importance for the Hanseatic Bergen. Obviously, this characteristic sixteenth- and
trading network. Taking the volume of trade into ac- early seventeenth-century Hanseatic pottery was to a
count, it seems at least plausible that this connection certain extent available on the local market in minor
is represented by pottery finds in the north. During trading spots, but we have little evidence to determine
the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries, pottery seems whether this material was only used by merchants that
to be mostly concentrated in the urbanised mercan- carried out business at these places or whether this
tile centre of Vågan or the administrative centre of pottery was also traded from the marketplace into the
Trondenes, close to Harstad.41 In early modern times, rural environment.

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AmS-Skrifter 27 Medieval and early modern ceramics in urban and rural Norway as evidence for trade within the Hanseatic world

the contrary, they tried to revolt against the king and

expel the miners.48

Conclusion
The paper tries to provide an overview of certain pot-
tery finds, mostly stoneware, produced in northern
Germany and exported to Norway during the late me-
dieval and early modern period. Commonly found in
urban northern European contexts dominated by mer-
cantile activities of Hanseatic merchants, the present-
ed artefacts are so closely related that these stoneware
finds may be convincingly described as ‘type fossils’
for Hanseatic culture.49
Fig. 8. Fragments of two green glazed stove tiles, found A central aspect of this paper was to analyse the dif-
at a mid-sixteenth-century mining site near Seljord, ferences in the pottery sequences in urban and rural
Telemark (photo: Christian Berg, The Norwegian environments in Norway. There is obviously a dif-
Mining Museum, Kongsberg). ference in the use of pottery between urban and ru-
ral Norway in late medieval and early modern times.
In areas more distant from the coast, there seems There is maybe an even stronger difference between
to be even less late medieval or early modern pottery. rural coastal areas and inland Norway. This concerns
However, I shall present some of the rare finds here. both the use of pottery and the acceptance of associ-
In the inland of Telemark, in Seljord parish, the Nor- ated cultural patterns. How may these be explained? It
wegian Museum of Science and Technology conducted seems striking that Hanseatic pottery appears mainly
research prior to the building of a dam on the site of a where also persons with a Hanseatic background were
cobber ore mine that was in use in the 1540s.44 During present50 or where the interaction with Hanseatic mer-
that excavation, fragments of a mid-sixteenth century chants was crucial for economic survival/prosperity. I
stove tile were found. The pieces, one showing presum- propose that the physical contact and the interaction
ably the Saxon Elector Johann the Steadfast was pro- with people from a different cultural background is
duced in central Germany and is the earliest stove tile the most important step in adopting cultural patterns.
in inland Norway to my knowledge (Fig. 8). It was found The reason for the comparatively larger amount of pot-
in the remains of an ore-smelting plant from the 1540s. tery in northern Norway farm mounds may be that,
The stove from which the fragments derive belonged for the fisher-farmer population of northern Norway,
to a mining operation that was conducted by German the interaction with Hanseatic merchants was of mu-
miners, who were hired by Christian III.45 Possibly, this tual benefit and the trading resulted in an increased
stove did not heat a dwelling, but rather an ore-pro- quality of life for the fisher-farmers.51 A representative
cessing workshop, as described in the sixteenth-centu- selection of peasant fishermen participated in the fish
ry book about mining by Georg Agricola.46 As the finds transport to Bergen and thus were periodically present
are closely connected to the mine and the smeltery, the in the town, where they would have become acquaint-
users of the imported ceramic inventory were in this ed with the urban lifestyle of the Hanseatic merchants.
case clearly immigrant German miners; according to In this way, the rural population of coastal Norway
written documents, they were the only ones involved seems to have adopted Hanseatic material culture ac-
in the mining and metallurgical process. Interest- cording to the need and opportunity of interacting
ingly, the mining expedition was partly financed by with foreign merchants. In the inland, on the other
merchants from Hamburg, who supervised the work hand, there seems to have been few opportunities and
and were partially present near the mine in the 1540s, incentives to interact with foreigners. This may be due
showing the involvement of a major player in the Hanse to purely geographic reasons but perhaps also due to
League in this development process.47 a more conservative mentality. In any case, the rural
The local farming population in inner Telemark, population of inland Norway obviously did not adopt
however, does not seem to have shown any inclination the table habits of the Hanseatic world, although there
to adopt any cultural traces of these immigrants. On had to be a certain contact with or knowledge of Han-

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Volker Demuth

seatic sea trade. The region discussed is situated by the 21

Ibid., 221.
Telemark waterway, along which various goods were
22
von Blanckenburg 2001, 22.
23
Nedkvitne 2014, 225.
transported. Products from inner Telemark, such as 24
Helle 1982.
Eidsborg hones, were widely used in the Hanseatic 25
Deroeux et al. 1994.
world, as proven by, for example, the finds on the so- 26
There were several excavation campaigns in the Bergen
called Darss shipwreck.52 The medieval stone churches wine cellar. The architectural remains were published
of Kviteseid and Seljord along the waterway have chalk by Ekroll 1990 and an article based on a master thesis
paintings showing seafaring ships.53 about pottery from the excavations was published online
(Tøssebro 2012).
The episode about the conflict with foreign miners 27
Blanckenburg 2001.
may be interpreted as follows: when the inland farm- 28
Helle 1982, 318.
ing population had the opportunity to meet foreigners, 29
Deroeux et al. 1994.
they would go to any length to get rid of anyone who 30
Russow 2004.
might have represented a challenge to their traditional 31
Gaimster 1997, 280; Husband 1980.
lifestyle rather than to adopt their ways. This may well
32
Roper 1994, 65, 67.
33
Buckholm 1998; Gaimster 1997, 148.
have been the case, as contact with strangers would 34
Nymoen 1994.
have held little benefit for the inland farmers. This was 35
Falck et al. 2013, 66.
probably a striking difference to the situation along 36
Möller 2008, 543.
the northern Norwegian coast. 37
Elvestad and Opedal 2001.
To sum up, I would interpret the spreading of medi-
38
Klutig-Altmann 2015, 98.
eval and early modern pottery as yet another indica-
39
Haasis-Berner 1994.
40
Brun 1996; Karoliussen 2008.
tion of the importance of cities and sea trade for the 41
Brun 1996, 56; Karoliussen 2008, 69.
transferring of cultural phenomena in this period. 42
Pers. comment by the excavator, Morten Olsen.
43
Nedkvitne 1988, 267.
44
Thuesen 1979.
Berg 1999.
Endnotes
45

46
Agricola 1556 [1928], 274f.
1
Reed 1994. 47
Berg 1999, 41.
2
Reed 2009. 48
Ibid. 38.
3
Gaimster 1997, 148f. 49
Gaimster 2011, 344.
4
Lüdtke 1989, 11. 50
For the discussion about Hanseatic material culture see
5
Blackmore and Vince 1994; Demuth 2001; Deroeux et al. e.g. Mehler 2009; Müller 2014.
1994; Lütdke 1989; Tøssebro 2012. 51
Nedkvitne 2014, 416.
6
Lüdtke 1989, 28. 52
Förster 2002, 235.
7
Mehler 2009. 53
Dørum 2014, 69.
8
Gaimster 1997, 144.
9
Øye 1998.
10
Herteig 1989, 12.
11
All these statistic data are extracts from my ongoing References
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1981) or Bengerode (Grote 1976; Lönne 2004). A south-east England found in the Bryggen excavation
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