Valdemar II
Banned
... But I had heard about the Danish Heath Society and admired their tenacious transformation of rough heathland to farmland between 1866 and the 1950s. It's hard to reconcile modern Jylland with the wastelands of the past. It also surely argues for Odense as the most suitable location for Denmark's modern capital if Jylland is an island.
INo as Arctic Warrior says a city on the southen strait make the most sense in early modern context, northern Kattegat will have stronger winds than the southen strait so the main trading route will lie to the south, which will make any city laying there being the most developed one by 1600. Copenhagen are unlikely to be as developed as in OTL, we will likely see a greater development of the Alt. Helsingør and Malmö instead. Odense like Roskilde and Lejre only make sense as royal residence in a early medieval context, Schleswig/Hedeby suffer somewhat from the same. This is because when ships trade shift from the cogs with it oars to only sail, cities with easier access to the sea are going to grow faster (which was why Flensburg outgrew Schleswig). The primary reason Copenhagen became capital in OTL was because it was both biggest town and laying on a important trade route.
Haithabu (Hedeby) would remain an important coastal town of Jylland or Angeln, rather than declining, assuming that the channel - the Jylland Baelt - is south of the Eider. The second city of Denmark? But vulnerable (as in OTL) to German and Viking attacks.
The new capital and biggest town will likely lie in the area, on the east side of the Jutland island or on the East Holstein island, but close to the south easten corner. According to the map the new sound/strait lie around 30-50 kilometer south of Hedeby, so I think Hedeby/Schleswig will go end up the sameway as in OTL. Of course the new capital will likely only really develop in the late medieval periode, when the Viking Age has ended.
Last edited: