Stockholm During The Middle Ages - Population

Population

By the end of the 15th century, the population in Stockholm can be estimated to 5-7.000 people, which made it a relatively small town compared to several other contemporary cities, even in a medieval context. (Hamburg and Bremen ~20.000, Lübeck 25.000, Köln and London 40.000, and Paris 100.000.) On the other hand, among the approximately forty cities in the Swedish kingdom, the second largest must have been either Kalmar or Åbo, none of which can have been a home to more than 1-2.000 inhabitants. Of course, these estimations are very unreliable as there was no census in the modern sense, only tax rolls (skotteböcker) enlisting individuals liable to taxation. For example, it is well-known trade was dominated by Germans, and these tax rolls seem to indicate one third of the city's tax-paying population were Germans, most originating from Lübeck, Danzig, and Westphalia. They were, however, most likely over-represented in these records as they formed an elite in the city centred around the southern square Järntorget, while Finns, also believed to have been numerous in the city, are hard to discern in these records, especially as they often took Swedish names (i.e. Bengt instead of Pentti), but also because they in general had simpler duties and didn't necessarily pay taxes. Furthermore, it is generally assumed no European city managed to reproduce its own population before the early 19th century and thus was dependent of people moving in. Considering medieval warfare and epidemics, the population must have fluctuated considerably.