The Baltic Trade 231
From the times of Gustav Vasa onwards, the production and export of Swedish
copper assumed dimensions of international importance. This was increas-
ingly the result of a new Swedish politic under the kings of the House of Vasa
and changing circumstances at the European market. The quantity of this late
medieval and early modern export can be seen in the Swedish export statistics
of the 1530’s onwards.150
Iron
The second important metal of the Baltic was iron, and just as in the case of
copper, we can also trace the same pattern of geographical distribution. One
part of the Baltic iron came from Sweden, the other from the Slovakian mining
area. But unlike copper, the export of iron from the Baltic in medieval times
was not as important as the export of the Basque Country.151
Since the thirteenth century the region Spiš in Hungary was, beside Kaschau,
very involved in the iron trade. In the same manner, the Teutonic Order, which
exported the iron towards England and Flanders, was engaged in this trade
150 Sven Lundkvist, Gustav Vasa och Europa. Svensk handels- och utrikespolitik, 1534–1557
(Uppsala: Svenska Bokförlaget, 1960), 397ff.
151 R.H. Bautier, “Notes sur le commerce de fer en Europe occidentale du xiiie au xvie siècle”,
Revue d’histoire de Sidérurgie, part i, iv (1960), 7–35, part ii, iv (1963–1), 35–61, here ii,
- and 52f.
075001500022500300001537 1538 1549 1550 1551
Custom yearsIn barrels (fat)Stockholm Kalmar Gävle1552 1558 1559 1560figure 6.5 Swedish copper-export.
S. Lundkvist, Gustav Vasa, 397ff.