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took place. An important trade, domestic as well as foreign, soon
developed, being carried on partly by spiritual and temporal
magnates, partly also, as it must be assumed, especially from the 13th
century, by a real commercial class.
Our commercial legislation during the 13th century could
compare with that of the North-German and Italian commercial
towns. Norway also had a considerable number of merchant-vessels
besides a strong military marine. Our most important articles of
export were fish, furs and skins, butter, timber, etc.; while the
chief articles of import were grain, dress goods, liquors, honey, etc.
Those countries with which we did most of our trading during
the middle ages, were especially England, Germany, Denmark,
Sweden (at any rate the now Swedish island of Gotland), Flanders
and to some extent France, as well as those countries that had been
colonised by the Norwegians, namely Iceland and Greenland, which
came under the crown of Norway in the 13th century. The
intercourse was carried on partly by Norwegian, partly by foreign vessels.
For several centuries the most important commercial town,
not only in Norway, but in the whole of Scandinavia, was Bergen,
which was established about 1070. As an instance of the
importance of this town may be mentioned that the number of
dock-labourers, [[** sjk bindestrek]] by a decree of 1302, was fixed at 200. Among other
old Norwegian commercial towns may be mentioned Nidaros, (about
70 years older than Bergen, now called Trondhjem), Oslo (now
Kristiania, which was founded in 1024 near the site of the old
Oslo, which had just been burnt down, and whose citizens were
to move to the new town; the old Oslo now forms one of the
parishes of the capital), and the above-mentioned town of
Tønsberg, which is the oldest of our now existing towns.
In the 13th and 14th centuries, several commercial treaties
were concluded between Norway and foreign powers. Thus in the
year 1217, a commercial treaty is mentioned between Norway and
England, which, among other things, is remarkable from the fact
that it is the earliest commercial treaty extant, concluded between
England and any foreign state. A commercial treaty of Nov. 10th,
1308, between Norway and Flanders exists in the archives of the
town of Lille.
Our relations with the powerful Hanseatic League, which was
founded in 1241, were of fateful importance for our national
commerce. In early ages, the trade of foreign merchants with
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