Black Death

The Black Death is the bubonic plague that swept through medieval Europe in the 1300s. In the book’s historical account of Norway’s stave churches, it serves as a chronological landmark: construction continued from the arrival of Christianity in Scandinavia until the end of the plague era.

Definition and Historical Setting

The book identifies the Black Death with the bubonic plague and places its spread in medieval Europe during the 1300s. It supplies no further account of the plague’s course or effects, presenting it instead as part of the historical setting for a discussion of Norwegian wooden churches.

Chronological Boundary

Stave churches began to be built soon after Christianity arrived in Scandinavia around 1000 C.E. The book says they continued to be erected up until the end of the Black Death. The plague therefore marks the far end of a long construction period, rather than a single date or a stated cause for the building tradition’s conclusion.

Significance in the Account

The Black Death’s role here is chiefly chronological. By linking the churches’ construction history to the plague’s endpoint, the account situates this distinctive architecture within a broad medieval span, without suggesting that the plague directly altered the buildings or caused their construction to cease.