The Baltic Trade 233
to Stockholm as the main entrepôts but also to Söderköping.161 From there,
iron was distributed in the middle of the thirteenth century all over the Baltic
and the West, but in contrast to copper, iron was not entirely exported to the
west, but was consumed in the Baltic region also.162 One of the destinations
of Swedish iron was England, where it was named under its Swedish denomi-
nation osemund, and where the original barrels were used as units of mea-
surement instead of £.163 Also in this case it can be stated that the amount of
imported Swedish iron in England was modest and laid around 170 to highest
300 tons annually.164
The export of Swedish iron was generally not especially high. At the end of
the Middle Ages, between 1492 and 1496, Sweden exported from Stockholm,
Söderköping, Nyköping, Westerwik and Kalmar between 1,000 t. and 1,300 t.
annually towards Lübeck,165 and at the beginning of the sixteenth century
around 27.000 Schiffspfund (c. 4,314 tons) iron annually to the whole Baltic.166
This export rose first in the 1560’s and later on.167 Whether these low values are
a result of the many wars and revolutions in the second half of the fifteenth
century or of a lack of capacity is unclear.168
Other Products Imported via the Baltic
Within the narrow limits of this chapter, it is certainly not possible to mention
all products that were part of the trade in the Baltic Area. This concerns not
only the trade in metals and agrarian products, where alaun,169 lead,170 green
161 Gustaf Jonasson, Medeltidens Örebro (Malmö: Liber, 1984), 65–69. Örebro Studies, 3.
W. Koppe, Handelsgeschichte, 32f.
162 W. Koppe, Handelsgeschichte, 35 and relativizing Koppes enthusiasm R.H. Bautier, “Notes,”
ii, 42f.
163 Wendy R. Childs, “England’s iron trade in the fifteenth century,” The Economic History
Review, New Series, 34, 1 (Feb. 1981), 25–47, here 33f.
164 W.R. Childs, “Iron trade,” 36ff.
165 R.H. Bautier, “Notes,” ii, 43f.
166 E. Heckscher, Historia, 156f.
167 E. Heckscher, Historia, 156ff and Diagram vi.
168 Rolf Sprandel, Das Eisengewerbe im Mittelalter (Stuttgart: Anton Hiersemann, 1968),
206–211.
169 Rolf Gelius, “Färbewaren im Seehandel der Ostseeländer,” Hansische Geschichsblätter 121
(2003), 93–122, here 102ff.
170 Danuta Molenda, “Der polnische Bleibergbau und seine Bedeutung für den europäischen
Bleimarkt vom 12. bis 17. Jahrhundert.” In Montanwirtschaft Mitteleuropas vom 12. bis
- Jahrhundert, Stand, Wege und Aufgaben der Forschung, ed. Ekkehard Westermann