Medieval timbers in churches of the Swedish province of Västergötland

The Swedish province of Västergötland is home to around 180 churches from the Middle Ages and played an important role in the processes of Christianisation and subsequent state-building of Sweden. The roof structures of these churches act as a window to our past where we can learn information on construction dates and techniques as well as the use of local resources, such as timber. In this joint project between the National Laboratory of Wood Anatomy and Dendrochronology at Lund University and the Västergötland Museum, financed by the Church of Sweden, we have synthesised results from 85 structural elements in Västergötland’s churches that have been dendrochronologically investigated since the 1980s. In our study, we aim to investigate building intensity, forest utilisation, and timber use from the medieval period onwards. Our results indicate two intense church building phases from 1120–55 and 1180–1250, the former coinciding with the ambitions of regional aristocracy and the latter with increased political stability and ecclesiastical control. In contrast, the periods 1155–80, linked to political instability, and 1250–1400, partly coinciding with the late medieval Agrarian Crisis and the Black Death, see low building activity. Three approaches in timber utilisation can be seen in the church roofs throughout these periods. The earliest approach, c 1120–40, is a minimalist one in which communities used few but large trees. This was followed by an excessive approach, c 1140–1250, which eventually concluded by moving towards a more moderate timber consumption approach from 1250, similar to European counterparts. The timber is most often local, but a few examples of more distant transportation can be seen indicating certain specific timber needs for parts of the construction. Finally, we estimate that over 62,000 trees were used for church construction during the High Middle Ages in Västergötland.