Ressurskrise og borgerkrig

Sammendrag

In recent years one of the most prolific debates within Norwegian medieval history has been about the civil wars and state formation in the period 1130-1240 AD. While the historian Hans Jacob Orning argues that short-term external causes must be granted more importance in discussion of these shifts in power, the historian Sverre Bagge has posit an aristocratic resource crisis instigated by the end of the Viking raids and the onset of donations to the Church. In this paper the question of resource crisis is discussed from a monetary perspective. Here, we note that the starting point of this crisis was at a time of significant increase in the availability of silver for minting in Northern Europe. However, in the time period 1075-1150, the supply of fresh silver dried-up, decreasing the availability of silver significantly. Nevertheless, this alone can hardly be the sole impetus for the civil wars in Norway during the 12th and 13th centuries.