A major Norwegian royal, ecclesiastical, and commercial city, later famous for Hanseatic trade.
Bergen was the most important city in medieval Norway and the primary seat of Norwegian royal power from the twelfth century onward. Founded by Olaf Kyrre around 1070, it grew into a major Hanseatic trading port and the administrative capital of the Norwegian realm.
Bergen served as the base of Sverre Sigurdsson during the civil wars of the late twelfth century and as the center of Norwegian administration through the high medieval period. The Hanseatic Bryggen — German merchant warehouses on Bergen's wharf — made the city a conduit between Norwegian fish exports and European markets, shaping its commercial importance for centuries.