Meet the Middle Ages
BackKalmar Town
Handbörd lay far away from town. Still, one travelled to Kalmar from time to time. At the big fair, which took place once a year, St. Bartholomew ´s , many people came to town to buy and sell goods at the "free-market". The peasants would load their horses and take their produce to Kalmar. They would bring, for example, iron, butter, cheese, meat, grain, firewood and timber. It is not hard to imagine how impressed the country-folk must have been by the town. What a lot of people in such a small space! Such great buildings – a huge church, a convent, a school and lots of exciting inns. Everywhere one could hear foreign languages, for example German. Interesting things could be bought in town. The peasants returned with the all-important salt, as well as exotic and expensive spices such as pepper, cloves, ginger, cinnamon and saffron. They could buy Flemish cloth at "Panneryng", the cloth-house near the harbour. They could buy wines from the Rhine or France from the wine-merchant, or German beer. On the return to their farms, the peasants would have lots to tell about Kalmar. Perhaps there would be a feast when they came back.
Read more about the inhabitants of Kalmar in "Möre".