A market harbour (kaupang) at Borgund, just east of modern Ålesund, the largest trading place on the coast between Bergen and Nidaros in this period, with its church and booths along the shore.
It lives on the fish and coastal trade of Sunnmøre. Not a chartered town; it declines in the 14th century.
Who holds it
- Name
- The king's officer in Sunnmøre (not pinned)
- Title
- Not a lordship: a trading place under the king's officers
- Confidence
- low
Borgund's trading place flourished from the 11th to the 14th century; the excavations show it at its height around 1200. Lordship rests with the king's officer; no townsmen's institutions recorded.
Lord in 1200
The king's officer in Sunnmøre (not pinned)
Overlord
King Sverre
How things stand that morning
A busy trading place in Sverre's realm.
Wealth
No figures.
Council
None recorded
Communities
Fishermen, traders and craftsmen of Sunnmøre.
Fairs and markets
None recorded.
Militia
None recorded; the district levy
Trade and crafts
Fish, coastal shipping, local crafts (excavated workshops of the 12th-13th centuries).
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Known mainly from excavation; its government in 1200 is not documented.
On the map: A point only.
Primary sources for Norway (Sverre)
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The Danish annals of Lund, Ryd and other houses (12th and 13th centuries; Lund continued to 1307, Ryd to 1288). Short dated entries from Lund, the archbishop's seat, and from Ryd in Schleswig. Read online
- Chronicle of the Kings of Mann and the Isles, Anonymous (monks of Rushen abbey, Mann) (about 1257, with continuations to 1316). The only native record of the kingdom of Mann and the Hebrides. Read online
- The Icelandic annals to 1578 (compiled from the late 13th century onward from older notes). Year-by-year notices that fix Icelandic chronology. Read online
- Deeds of the Danes, Saxo Grammaticus (about 1185 to 1208). Saxo was writing at Lund in 1200 under Absalon, who died in March 1201, and his last books are an insider's history of Valdemar I and Knud VI to 1185: the Wendish wars, the taking of Rügen, the submission of Pomerania in 1185, the Danish fleet, Absalon's power and the Danish quarrel with the Empire. Read online
- The saga of King Sverre of Norway, Karl Jónsson and a continuator (begun about 1185 under Sverre's own supervision, completed about 1210 to 1220). The king's own authorised saga. Read online
- The saga of the descendants of Knut (the kings of Denmark) (about 1250 to 1260). An Icelandic kings' saga of Denmark that draws on Saxo and Danish tradition and ends in 1187 with Knud VI and Absalon's Wendish wars. Read online
- The sagas of the Baglers (about 1210 to 1220, in a shorter and a longer version). Begins with Sverre's death in March 1202 and the reigns of Hákon Sverrisson, Guttorm and Inge Bårdsson against the Bagler kings Erling Steinvegg and Philippus, so it has nothing for 1200 itself. Read online
- Saga of the Earls of Orkney, Anonymous (Icelandic) (about 1200 to 1230; surviving text mainly from Flateyjarbok, about 1390). The saga's last chapters are about Earl Harald Maddadsson, who in 1200 held Orkney under King Sverre of Norway and Caithness under William the Lion: his long rule, his quarrel with the Scottish king that cost him Caithness in 1196 to 1197, his recovery of it, and the maiming of Bishop John of Caithness and the king's revenge in 1201 to 1202. Read online
6 more in the sources library for Scandinavia.
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.