ABSTRACT
The development of the fiscal systems in the three kingdoms (Denmark, Norway and Sweden) during the Middle Ages up to the beginning of the sixteenth century is discussed. During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries permanent taxes emerged. They originated mostly in commutations of certain services claimed by the kings. Another royal resource was demesnes in Denmark and Sweden. Diverging principles of assessing taxes are discussed, as well as the urban taxes. The permanent duties became insufficient and made extraordinary taxation necessary. They had to be approved and challenging negotiations weakened the political stability. From the late fourteenth century, the three kingdoms were in a personal union, the Kalmar union, with Denmark as the political centre, and existed until the early 1520s. There were initially trends towards an increasing importance of new and permanent taxes, but the development was aggravated by administrative incapacities and endemic political struggles. The end of the Union and the Reformation from the 1520s was the rise of the more efficient modern states in Denmark and Sweden. Ecclesiastical lands were confiscated; the royal demesnes increased. Administrative reforms created, notably in Sweden, an efficient fiscal system.
