Who owned the mines in pre-17th century Scandinavia?

by mp96

Got a question at work regarding this topic and I'm really unsure myself. Mining (in sources) are recorded from ~12th century AD, but back then the Northern parts of Scandinavia had no kings, thus they can't be the mine-owners. I'm therefore guessing that individual land owners also owned the mines on their own lands, but I would love a clarification on the topic.

vonadler

If you are talking about Lappland and anything north of Jämtland, the answer is no-one. While the land nominally belonged to either Denmark-Norway, Sweden or Novgorod (later Russia) and their respectuve rulers and they went to war over the right to tax the semi-nomadic Sami peoples in the area, none of them had any real control beyond the immediate coast and the odd fort and trading station. In theory, any ore would be the property of the crown by the bergsregale law in Sweden, but Swedish law was rarely enforced in Lappland before the mid-18th century.

The rich iron ore around Kiruna and Malmberget was discovered in the 17th century, but mining did not start until the mid-18th century and it was not until the Luleå-Gällivare railroad was finished 1888 (and expanded to Kurina, Malmberget and onward to Narvik 1902) that larger amounts of iron ore could be transported away from the site (before that it was transported on Sami reindeer sleds, which had limited capacity).

If you are talking about the iron and copper mines in northwestern Uppland and Dalarna, it was nominally owned by the crown (by the bergsregale law), which granted licenses to both nobility (which did not have to pay tax) and commoners to extract and work the ores.

The commoners were often part-time miners and part-time farmers and worked in a proto-corporation/proto-cooperative where a number of farmers and miners would work together to maintain a mine.