Life in the medieval town of Borgund
Shoemakers were a large group of craftsmen in medieval towns. Leather residue and remnants of shoes show that there might have been extensive shoe production taking place in Borgund. 340 shoes and shoe fragments have been found in the area. The shoes date from the late Viking Age to the early Middle Ages (AD 900–1120).
People did not drink water, but they consumed beer in large quantities
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“The beer shall be blessed in gratitude to Christ and St Mary, in hope of a good year and peace”. People were ordered by the church to brew beer. Those who did not could be banished into exile.
Milk was for children and the sick. Some could afford wine – either home-produced wine made from berries or imported – as well as mead. Mead required honey as a sweetener, and not everyone could afford that.
250 textile fragments have been found in Borgund. It is unusual to come across such fragments after a thousand years unless the environment is just right, e.g. in moist wells, bogs or sand.
Borgund was the biggest church town between Bergen and Trondheim in the Middle Ages. It was a natural stopping place for pilgrims travelling by sea to Nidaros.