Av samma penning Helsingborg 3 mark

– landskapet, urbaniseringen och Helsingborg

Abstract

“Out of the same tax – Helsingborg 3 mark” – Early Helsingborg and the question of urbanity. Since the 1920s the urbanisation of Helsingborg has been understood as a development in two stages. The first comprised the establishment of a town and a castle on the escarpment (landborgen) during the 11th and 12th centuries, whereas the second encompassed the gradual move of the town to the beach during the 13th to 15th centuries. The article is a critical examination of this hypothesis, but it is also discussed how the urban development in Helsingborg contributes to the wider understanding of medieval urbanity. Instead of an escarpment-town, the evidence suggests five separate settlements located on strategic positions controlling the access to the beach. The earliest was established during the 8th and 9th centuries. During the 11th and 12th centuries a crown estate (later developed into a castle) replaced this settlement, and four aristocratic manors were established at other locations. It is argued that the beach comprised a seasonally granted and taxed market and a landing place, where the royal and aristocrats that maintained the market peace and controlled the fairway on the strait held the settlements on the escarpment.