In the 900-1000s the power of the monarch in Norway was consolidated through the establishment of a new system of royal estates. Similar systems can also be found in other Northern European countries.
Kingston, Husebygård, Königshof. These three terms in English, Norwegian and German all describe the same thing: royal farmsteads that together formed a network and belonged to the early “state.”
In Norway we know of some 50 royal estates of this kind. In addition, there is knowledge of some thirty or so farmsteads dating back to before the year 1130 that were the kings’ own inherited property.
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