A Scanian town and market landscape where Olaf IV died suddenly in 1387.
Falsterbo on the Scanian coast (then part of Denmark) was one of the most commercially significant seasonal markets in the Baltic region, dominated by the Hanseatic League's herring trade. Olaf IV of Norway died there suddenly in 1387.
Olaf IV's unexpected death at Falsterbo — he was only about seventeen — created the succession crisis that Margaret I exploited to consolidate her position as ruler of Denmark, Norway, and eventually Sweden. The Kalmar Union, which she engineered in 1397, was the direct political consequence of Olaf's death at Falsterbo.