232 Jahnke
also.152 The Slovakian iron used the same route as the copper, and all north-
bound iron had to be stapled in Thorn.153 But in the course of the fourteenth
century Cracowian merchants developed the route on the Oder via Breslau
and Stettin as well, in concurrence with the staple in Thorn.154 It can be gen-
erally stated that the export of Hungarian iron to markets west of the Baltic
increased at the end of the fourteenth century for political reasons but experi-
enced a backlash during the following decades. Hungarian iron was part of the
Hanseatic trade in Flanders and England and traded by the Dutch merchants
also, even if its importance in trade is not clear at all.155 The total amounts for
the Hungarian/Slovakian iron-export have been unclear until recently, but it
seems that this kind of export was not as important as the iron production in
Sweden.
Contrary to the copper-production which was concentrated at the mountain
of Falun, iron was mined in many Swedish regions, on the islands of Gotland
and of Utö near Stockholm, in Dalarna, at the Norberg and Skinnskatteberg
in Västermanland, in Uppland and Södermannland156 and in the important
mountain region of Örebro, called Nor(r)askog (The northern forest).157
The iron-mining industry in Sweden had developed a long tradition paral-
lel to the copper-industry and under the influence of Hanseatic merchants.158
Around 1340, we have the first written evidence for this industry159 and the
annual production for Noraskog at this time is estimated by 2,400 Schiffspfund
(c. 324,794½ kg) iron annually.160
In Sweden the cities of the Mälardelta, primarily Arboga and Örebro, tried
to concentrate the iron-trade in their walls. The metal was then sent further
152 Josef Vozár, “Die Eisenproduktion und der Eisenhandel in den Städten der Slowakei.” In
Stadt und Eisen, ed. Ferdinand Opll, Beiträge zur Geschichte der Städte Mitteleuropas,
Band xi (Linz an der Donau: Österreichischer Arbeitskreis für Stadtgeschichtsforschung,
1992), 97–109; R.H. Bautier, “Notes,” ii, 52f. and 55.
153 H. Oesterreich, “Handelsbeziehungen,” 27.
154 R.H. Bautier, “Notes,” ii, 54f.
155 R.H. Bautier, “Notes,” ii, 55–59.
156 Lars Magnusson, Sveriges ekonomiska historia (Stockholm: Prima, 1996), 133; B. Boëthius,
Kopparbergslagen, 256–259.
157 Johan Johansson, Om Noraskog. Äldre och nyere Anteckningar, Part i (Stockholm: Ivar
Haegeströms Boktryckeri, 1875), Part ii (Stockholm: Ivar Haegeströms Boktryckeri, 1881–
1882) here i, iiif. See also Eli F. Heckscher, Sveriges ekonomiska Historia från Gustav Vasa
(Stockholm: Albert Bonnier Förlag, 1935–1949), here i, Bilag 1.
158 J. Johansson, Om Noraskog, i, passim; R.H. Bautier, “Notes,” ii, 37–40.
159 Gunnar Larsson, Bergsbruket som Kolonisationsfaktor i Bergslagen, speciellt Noraskog
och Linde Bergslaget, Uppsats för D1 i arkeologien Umeå 1984, 26ff.
160 J. Johansson, Om Noraskog, ii, 73f.