| Summary
| | In the 15th century the Nordic countries were united in a joint kingdom in the Kalmar Union. However, conflicting interests in such a centralized government were the cause of disputes and in 1523 the union collapsed.
But for the market towns in the Sound region it was a period of progress, and the church, the monasteries and the nobility built extensively. |
The towns in the Sound region grew and more and more assumed the character of market towns, while at the same time liberating themselves of the massive north German influence.
The North was united in a personal union, the Kalmar Union. The king led an anti-Hanseatic policy and this led to dissatisfaction among the mountian men (part farmer, part mine owner) in middle Sweden. The so-called Engelbreckts uprising reached as far as the Scanian border.
Humanistic currents influenced the spiritual life and the human understanding of the Renaissance began to gain ground. In the monasteries the interest in the knowledge and education of the individual grew. |