The change of a medieval town

the main results from a ten-year excavation campaign in Horsens

Abstract

The change of a medieval town

- the main results from a ten-year excavation campaign in Horsens

Until recently, the understanding of how Horsens developed during the Middle Ages was based mainly on a few ambiguous written sources. Only the occasional archaeological excavation had supplemented the insight into the town plan changes during this period. However, between 1990 and 1998, Horsens Museum was given the opportunity to carry out comprehensive archaeological excavations, due partly to sewerage work in all the medieval streets, partly to development and the establishing of a new paving on the town square (figs. 1-3). These archaeological excavations have completely changed the understanding of the town's history and the topographic development from the end of the 10th century until the end of the Middle Ages.

The excavations revealed the first traces of a Viking settlement (fig. 4): in the Borgergade street, six pit-houses were found, which are supposed to have been part of a large farm. The house types and the artefacts resemble corresponding finds from agrarian settlements in other parts of Viking Age Denmark. A pagan burial ground belonging to the settlement was found Jess than 200 metres west of the settlement. Thirteen graves were excavated (figs. 5-6), all of which were inhumation graves. Most of the graves had an E-W orientation, and the majority contained coffins. Ten graves had skeletal remains. One grave had a burial chamber, and this was also one of the few graves containing grave goods -a small vessel, a glass bead and a whetstone (fig. 7). Another remarkable grave was an irregular burial containing two females -supposedly slaves- who had been sacrificed and carelessly buried next to a coffin grave containing the body of a man (fig. 8).

The following century has so far been represented by a 27-m long house with curved walls (fig. 10), which was found in the town's square, and by a boundary ditch and road layers in the area above the excavated pit houses. Archaeological finds from the 12th century are also present in large areas of the town. Settlement remains (figs. 11-12) and roads, including a plank road, were found in the road track. However, more information on these should be sought in the adjoining plots, as ditches for service pipes revealed numerous house traces that we have so far not been able to investigate further.

Quite unexpected, the excavations revealed the positive traces of extensive structural changes in the town layout in the decades around 1300 (fig. 13). From having resembled a village, Horsens now got a town plan similar to that known from many contemporary trading towns in Northern Europe, including Denmark -a fine Danish example of which is the town of Køge. This new layout, which had the royal St. Jacob's chapel as its centre (now The Church of Our Saviour), is responsible for the basic appearance of the present town. Several completely new streets were established -such as Søndergade and Nørregade and several small streets connecting them to the harbour- and a large square was laid out in the centre. The original topsoil was removed from the streets and the square and replaced by a uniform stone paving (fig. 15). On that occasion, most of the streets -including the wide Søndergade- were given the width they have today. During the following decades, new buildings sprang up along the streets. During the excavations, traces of a number of half-timbered houses were registered (fig. 16) as were parts of three stone houses from the 14th and 15th century (figs. 17-19). The new town plan was completed when a wide moat and adjoining rampart encircling the 14th century market town was constructed, with gates for the radial roads (figs. 22-24).

However, the square was not left undisturbed for very long. In the beginning of the 14th century, a regular fortification was built here. It had a 140-m diameter and surrounded the area of the royal St. Jacob's chapel and perhaps an adjoining royal farm (figs. 20-21). A wide and deep moat was dug, which according to the excavation results was only used for a few years before it was filled in again. This peculiar town fortification should perhaps be associated with the peasants' revolt against King Erik Menved -it may represent an attempt to defend the king's own farm.

Whereas the excavations in the streets revealed the development in broad outlines, the complete excavation of the square exposed town life between 1300 and 1600 in detail. In the Middle Ages, the square was not an open area. A number of buildings were situated here (fig. 25). South of the church was a large porch from c 1350, which has since been demolished (fig. 26), and east of this, against the chancel, were a number of light, open-shed stalls, where the needle­maker and others had their workshops. On the south side of the square was a 27-m long half-timbered house, built in 1433, which may have been rented out to craftsmen or grocers (fig. 29). In a much more dominant position, right in the middle of the square, was the first town hall, which was built during the first half of the 1300s. The town hall was an 8X11-m large building, which was supposedly half-timbered, with a bricked arcade towards the south side of the square. This was where the town kept its seal (fig. 27) and other important items.

The artefacts from more than 700 culture layers, the dating of which were supported by coin finds (fig. 28) plus 22.000 pottery sherds have given a good impression of the common crafts and trade activities in a small medieval town in East Jutland. The market trade concentrated on the sale of agrarian products from the fertile surrounding area and imported items such as iron (fig. 30) and salt -all products difficult to establish in an excavation, as opposed to the different workshop products. Here the needle-maker made sowing and darning needles (fig. 32), and next to him, both the metalworker and the tinker were active. In another corner someone was making whetstones out of slate imported from Sarpsborg in Norway (fig. 31). Carved bone also occurs in the square (fig. 34).

The find material from Horsens is characterised by being mainly local. Only a few imported items were found, for instance three pilgrim badges found near the St. Jacob's chapel (fig. 33).

The excavations have provided new knowledge of a medieval town during a period of dynamic change, starting around 1300.The town did not only get a new street plan, a moat and a rampart, a square and a town hall, but also a friary, a hospital and a leprosy hospital. After all these changes, Horsens -in spite of the smaller size- appeared as a town with a look and functions similar to the cities of Northern Europe.

Ole Schiørring