Scania Market was a major
fish market for
herring which took place annually in
Scania during the
Middle Ages. From around 1200, it became one of the most important events for trade around the
Baltic Sea and made Scania into a major distribution center for
West-European goods bound for eastern
Scandinavia.
[Etting, Vivian (2004). Queen Margrete I, 1353-1412, and the Founding of the Nordic Union (Chapter 5: "). Brill, ISBN 9004136525, pp. 39-44.] The Scania Market continued to be an important trade center for 250 years and was a cornerstone of the
Hanseatic League's wealth.
The fair took place from
August 24 to
October 9, mainly in locations between the two Scanian towns of
Skanör and
Falsterbo at the southern mouth of
Öresund, with much of the connected industry spread out on the surrounding peninsula, but
Køge,
Dragør,
Copenhagen,
Malmö,
Helsingborg,
Simrishamn,
Ystad and
Trelleborg were also part of the Scania Market. Since the fishermen erected their trading booths and temporary shops close to the area where the herring was
spawning, the exact locations of the Scania Market changed from year to year.
[. Terra Scaniae, 2007. In Swedish. Retrieved 27 August 2008.]Herring trade and salt import
Medieval herring fishing in Scania (published 1555).
The basis for the market's popularity was the rich herring
fishing around the
Falsterbo Peninsula. Legend tells that the herring fishery off the Scanian coast was so rich, that one could scoop up the fish with one's hands.
After a visit to the region in 1364, the
French crusader Philippe de Mezieres wrote: "Two months a year, that is in September and October, the herring travel from one sea to the other through the Sound, by order of God, in such large numbers that it is a great wonder, and so many pass through the sound in these months, that at several places one can cut them with a dagger."
As early as the 12th century the peninsula had become a centre for the herring trade; the Scanian name for the town
Falsterbo was
Falsterbothe, which meant "the booths for fish from Falster".
The 13th-century
German chronicler Arnold of Lübeck, author of
Chronicon Slavorum, wrote that the Danes had wealth and an abundance of everything thanks to the yearly catches of herring at the Scanian coast.
The demand for herring during this period was great; it was a fairly inexpensive source of
protein for the populations around the Baltic during the winter and the
Catholic Church demanded
fasting (from meat), in
Christ's following, in connection with
Lent. Due to the large production and the great demand, the Scania Market became the most important North European market in the 14th century.
During the fishing season, the necessary
salt and
barrels for conservation came from Hanseatic
Lüneburg and were provided by Hanseatic traders mainly from
Lübeck. Lübeck also, to some extent, provided the Scanians with an additional work force, so called "
gill-women" who cleaned the fish, ensuring a swift salting of the landed fish.
Danish taxation
The fishing trade was closely regulated by the Danish crown, with special rules regarding issues such as the fishing nets' mesh size, enforced by special bailiffs who policed the trade. Royal governors were installed in castles at Skanør and Falsterbo to collect customs and act as judicial and administrative leaders.
Apart from the fishermen and the local fish traders, merchants from Lübeck and other Hanseatic towns, as well as from
England,
Scotland,
Flanders and
Normandy, came to the herring market to buy herring, but also to trade in other goods with the Scandinavian merchants, landowners and peasants. Traders arrived from Denmark, eastern
Norway and
Sweden, as well as the rest of the Baltic. A wide variety of goods were traded, among them
horses,
butter,
iron,
tar,
grain and
handicraft products from the North,
Prussia, and
Livonia.
The fishing and the Scania Market yielded a large income to the
Danish Crown, and made together with the
Sound Toll the state virtually independent of
tax incomes for extended periods of time. A good fishing year in the 14th century could mean an export of 300.000 barrels of herring; and it is estimated that one third of the Danish king's income came from the Scania Market.
Strife between Denmark and the Hanseatic League
The Extent of the Hansa about 1400.
Most of the 14th century was characterized by strife and wars between Danish kings and the Hansa. According to a German view, the Danes got herring "for nothing from God" — only to sell it dearly. As opposed to
Stockholm and
Bergen, which had Scandinavia's largest Hanseatic colonies, the Danish towns of the Scania Market did not encourage large permanent settlements of Hansa merchants; most of the merchants arrived in the summer and went back home after the end of the market.
In 1367, the Hansa towns allied themselves with
Sweden,
Mecklenburg and
Holstein, and the
Confederation of Cologne went to war against Denmark and Norway. With the
Treaty of Stralsund in 1370, a peace was settled that left the Hanseatic League in control of the fortifications at the Scania Market and along the rest of Oresund for 15 years.
[Pulsiano, Phillip and Kirsten Wolf (1993). . Taylor & Francis, ISBN 0824047877, p. 652.] The abundance of herring around Scania abruptly ceased in the beginning of the 15th century and the region lost its importance as a trading place.
See also
