The Swedish System of Payment 995-1534

The medieval system of payment in Sweden was complex. This paper aims at clarifying some essential features of it in a way that may facilitate further study of medieval Swedish economic history by international researchers. For instance, the presentation of the exchange rate between the silver mark and the mark penningar provides information that is indispensable to anyone who wishes to convert nominal Swedish prices into silver prices, which in turn is necessary for international comparisons. Part of the complexity of the monetary system is due to the lack of a country-wide monetary standard for most of the medieval era. Several currencies existed alongside the mark penning. In addition, various foreign gold coins circulated at a floating rate. The exchange rates between these various currencies are sometimes not known with any precision. We have, however, tried to summarize the available information in several tables.