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The written History of Aarhus began with its founding as a military fort during the Viking Age in the latter part of the 8th century. It was embroiled in the power struggles of the time and early Danish kings Gorm the Old and Harald Bluetooth held ownership at different times. Its development was shaped by the location by the mouth of Aarhus River in the Danish Straits which allowed it to grow into a trade center and market town. In the Middle Age it benefited from the powerful Catholic Church as the seat of a bishopric but the reformation was followed by a period of stagnation spurred by wars, plague and fires. In the 19th century industry and trade dominated the economy but in the 20th century services came to play a larger role. Today it is the second-largest city in Denmark and a center for healthcare, education and services.
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Although no permanent settlement existed where Aarhus is today the area has been inhabited since the Neolithic and relatively densely populated since the Bronze Age.[1] Archaeological evidence from Himmerland and Lillebælt indicate the area around Aarhus may have been inhabited as far back as c. 100.000 BC but the Weichselian glaciation made human habitation impossible in most of Jutland between 70.000 BC and 13.000 BC.[2][3] Humans returned as the glaciers retreated and evidence points to a hunter gatherer culture living in temporary settlements primarily by water where fishing was possible.[4] Settlements have been found along the coast in the Bay of Aarhus but around Aarhus especially the fjords were relatively densely populated and excavations in Aarhus often produce stone tools from that period.[5][5] Around 4.000 BC to 1700 BC the Nordic Neolithic age marked the period when an agrarian lifestyle took hold; settlements spread out over the best agricultural land in villages and some individual farms.[5][6] Through the Bronze Age from 1700 BC - 500 BC society didn't fundamentally change apart from a growing population and by the Iron Age in 500 BC - 400 AD some 150 villages are known within Aarhus Municipality.[7][8] In the later Iron Age there's evidence there were fewer but larger settlements although they generally remained temporary up to the 1000s.[9][10]
The most visible archaeological evidence from prehistory is primarily burial sites in the form of tumuli, a common practice up to the Viking Age. Some 965 round barrows, 24 long barrows and 68 dolmens are registered across Aarhus Municipality by the Danish Heritage Agency although many have been lost through time to plowing and scavenging of stone.[11] Around Aarhus most of the large Stone Age dolmens are gone but some still exist at Årslev, Ormslev, Hørret Forest and Moesgård Skovmølle while examples of the Bronze Age barrows can be seen in Skåde (Jelshøj), Borum (Eshøj) and at Hjortshøj (Loddenhøj and Hjortshøj).[7]
Aarhus, then Aros, was founded in the 770s during the early Viking Age and is among the three oldest Danish settlements, along with Ribe and Hedeby, that emerged as trade centers and became the economic, political and military backbone of the early Danish kingdom in the 700s.[12][13] Archaeological evidence traces most of the early period until it is mentioned in written records for the first time in 948 AD and later on coins minted c. 1040 by Harthaknut and Magnus the Good.[14] The town was the property of the Danish kings and in Kongsvang (Lit.: King's Fields) in the suburb Viby there's evidence of an estate and pagan holy site believed to have been the royal residence.[15][16] Close to the king's estate at Eskelund was the main inland harbor and shipyard where the local fleet was stored and maintained.[17] The area in Viby was likely the main administrative and religious center while the town by the coast where the city centre lies today was a combined fort and trade post.
The military had a significant presence in Aarhus and it may have been as much a military facility as a town. The construction of Kanhavekanalen on the island Samsø in 726 AD suggests the area was strategically important to the Danish kings as far back as the early 8th century and there's evidence of extensive defensive infrastructure on surrounding islands and peninsulas.[18][19] In the bay Samsø narrows the western approach and Tunø the southern, enabling forward lookout positions to be stationed in an early warning system while Stavns Fjord and coves at Helgenæs could serve as forward staging areas for the leidang fleet in times of war.[20][17] The settlement was fortified for the first time in the early 900s, possibly during the reign of Gorm the Old, in response to the loss of Hedeby and Danevirke to the East Francian king Henry the Fowler.[21] The defenses were reinforced in the late 10th century by Harald Bluetooth who also built the five ring forts Trelleborg, Borrering, Nonnebakken, Fyrkat and Aggersborg around the same time.[22] Aarhus and areas around it are also frequently mentioned in written sources in connection with wars and as a place where the leidang fleet would assemble.[23] According to Saxo Grammaticus Harald Bluetooth and Sweyn Forkbeard in 987 AD fought a battle in the Bay of Aarhus where Harald was wounded and had to retreat to Jomsborg.[24][25] In 1043 Svend Estridsen and Magnus the Good fought a naval battle in the bay which Estridsen lost.[26] Magnus controlled Aarhus for a period although he must later have lost it as his ally Harald Hardrada returned in 1050 and attacked it again.[27]
Trade was by geographic necessity oriented towards the Danish interior, Kattegat and the Baltic Sea in contrast to Ribe and Hedeby which had easier access to south and west Europe.[28] Still the town was well placed for trade; the Bay of Aarhus is shielded from storms by Samsø and the peninsula Djursland resulting in easily navigable waters, the Aarhus River was a major transport and trade route through the local area and the ford at Immervad was part of one of the main north-south thoroughfares through Jutland.[21][21] Combined these factors made Aarhus a center of trade but primarily a local one that traded to a lesser extent with the rest of Denmark, Norway and the Slavic areas in the southern Baltic Sea.[29] The exports were chiefly fish, agricultural products and livestock from the fertile and relatively densely populated catchment areas around it while imports were soap stone, slate, walrus tooth, rope, antlers and fur from Norway, wine, spices, silk, fabrics, glass and ceramics from Hedeby or pottery and slaves from the Slavic Baltic coasts.[30][21] The smaller role of trade in the local economy meant industrial production was correspondingly limited but it is known there was some production of glass pearls, cloth, jewelry and tools which likely contributed to the export economy.[31]
The dominant religion in Aarhus must have been Germanic paganism throughout the Viking Age but Christianity gradually gained a foothold in the later stage. The holy site in Viby is known to have been dedicated to Týr, the Norse God of war, possibly a reflection of the town's ties to the military.[32] During the rule of Harald Bluetooth in the 900s a wooden stave church, the Holy Trinity Church, was built to the west of the fortified town while the central town square remained a pagan burial site.[21][33] The church likely didn't have a strong cultural or political impact; rune stones and burial sites dated to later periods indicate that worship of the Norse gods continued well into the 1000s AD.[32] However, it is known that Aarhus had a bishopric in 948 AD as the bishop of Aarhus Reginbrand was reported to have attended the synod of Ingelheim.[15] The early bishopric may have been embellished by the German church, eager to show it could convert the heathen Danes, and more closely have resembled a missionary post. In 988 the diocese was dissolved, possibly when Harald Bluetooth was killed, but in 1060 Svend Estridsen re-established it when he divided Denmark in 8 bishoprics and officially appointed Christian I bishop of Aarhus.[34]
Hundreds of archaeological excavations have been carried out in the Indre By borough where wells, streets, homes, workshops and personal artifacts such as utensils, combs, jewelry and tools have been found in addition to 8 runestones from Aarhus and the suburbs Egå, Vejlby and Hørning.[35][36] The initial settlement was laid out along the northern shore of the fjord, extending from a ford at Immervad in the west to the coast in the east where the city bent northwards towards Riis Skov.[13] North-west of the settlement, where Bispetorv is today, was a central, open space used as a pagan burial site. The later fortifications surrounded an area around present day Store Torv and Aarhus Cathedral, marked by the streets Graven (Lit. Moat) to the north, Volden (Lit. Rampart) to the west, the fjord to the south and the coast to the east. West and north of the fortified settlement civilian areas gradually developed in the later Viking Age. The cadastre system in Indre By to this day testifies to the organization of the early settlement. By the end of the Viking Age Aarhus had grown to a population of c. 250, had become heavily fortified and was trading throughout most of the Baltic Sea.[37]
In Aarhus Svend Estridsen's reorganization of the Danish church in 1060 marked a historical intersection point. The new bishopric was more powerful and for the first time had the official backing of the king but the town didn't have a church since Harald Hardrada had burnt it down in one of the last raids of the Viking Age in 1050. The growing power of the Catholic Church in the later Middle Age was a period of not just religious but also physical, economic and social changes. Aarhus continued its role as a military base through the 1200s but also started resembling a more typical European medieval town with a core centered around a cathedral, city hall and town square. The bishopric dominated political and economic life as it became a landowner and tax collector and power and wealth was centralized in Aarhus, the seat of the bishopric, around the cathedral as the educational and administrative center. Aarhus became wealthier and the beginnings of later class society emerged with wider occupational specialization and new powerful merchant class asserted itself and was granted new privileges and recognition.
The King's Bishops
The early bishops were as much local political and military leaders as religious figures and often fought for the kings that supported the fledgling church.[38] The bishops of Aarhus also actively supported their king; in 1070 bishop Christian participated in a raid to England, in 1134 bishop Ulkil died in the Battle of Fotevik and in c. 1165 bishop Eskil died in a raid to Wendland.[38] However, this political power could also challenge the king; in 1134 King Niels was killed.in a civil war and his relative, bishop Valdemar I of the unruly Duchy of Schleswig, laid claim to the throne, raised his own army and won a war of succession.[39]
It was in this context that Niels of Aarhus, a relative of King Niels, died in 1180 and was buried in Aarhus where his grave became a site of veneration and worship, perhaps due to the air of royalty or the public relations campaign by his family. The Niels cult had the support of Aarhus' Bishop Svend I who unsuccessfully tried to have him canonized on several occasions.[40] The king viewed the attention and veneration of Niels of Aarhus as potentially insurrectionist, something the bishop should have dealt with but didn't. When Bishop Svend I died in 1191 King Canute VI appointed to the bishopric Peder Vognsen of the Hvide family which was among the strongest supporters of ruling bloodline.[41]
Bishop Vognsen moved quickly to stamp out the memory of Niels. Aarhus first cathedral had been the Saint Nicholas cathedral, built c. 1080 west of the city walls on the site of the original viking stave church.[42]. Niels had been buried within the town on the former pagan burial site, now a Christian cemetery, but the Niels cult soon spread to the St. Nicholas cathedral as well; in Latin 'Niels' is 'Nicolai' so exactly which Niels the church was dedicated to and who performed which miracles may not always have been obvious to the illiterate congregation.[43] To deal with the situation the newly appointed Bishop Vognsen had Aarhus Cathedral constructed on Niels' grave, dedicated to St. Clement to avoid further confusion with anything Niels-related, and effectively closed Saint Nicholas church.[44][45] Bishop Vognsen went as far as telling the pope that he had commissioned the first stone church in Aarhus, although the travertine St. Nicolai Cathedral had existed for over a century, likely to hide the controversial issue of closing an existing cathedral.[46] Aarhus Cathedral, or St. Clement's Cathedral, was not completed until the 1300s but already in 1220s the St. Nicolai Church was given to the Dominican order which tore it down in the 1250s and in its place built the Church of Our Lady and Our Lady's Priory.[47][48]
Bishop Vognsen had come to Aarhus to re-establish the cooperation between the bishopric and the king and in that he succeeded. The bishopric was rewarded by Valdemar Sejr with permanent and extensive tax exemptions and the bishop of Aarhus granted more authority over his bishopric than any other. The concessions by the king might explain why the Aarhus bishops henceforth remained steadfastly loyal to the king until the reformation.[49][50] The new close and reciprocal relationship is best illustrated by events in the 1330s. When Bishop Svend II was the only Danish figure of authority that travelled to Germany to help Valdemar Atterdag become king; Valdemar's daughter Margaret I later appointed her chancellor Peder Jensen Lodehat to Aarhus' bishopric and made substantial donations to the cathedral.[49][50]
The Bishops Town
The growing power of the Catholic Church through the Middle Age manifested very visibly in Aarhus. In the Viking Age the town had been prominently ringed by the king's works while the church was left outside; now the new cathedral towered alone above the town while the king was not represented with either palace or fort like in most other larger Danish towns.[51] While legally still the king's property, at least symbolically it was the bishop's town.
The cathedral itself was only part of a larger complex of ecclesiastical buildings that grew up around it in the 1200s; a large bishop's estate was built north of it by Rosensgade, a chapter building was placed on what is today Bispetorv, several canon homes sprung up by Kannikegade while Aarhus Cathedral School was built in Mejlgade.[52][53] The large market square Store Torv in front of the cathedral was also established while Lille Torv was opened as a road leading to Vestergade, the western entrance to the town, forming an axis between the cathedral and Our Lady's Priory.[54] The changes through the 1200s changed the urban plan to model the typical medieval towns in Europe and is to an extent a cultural product of the church.[55]
The economy of the bishopric improved both as donations for atonement and deathbed gifts became more common but also through legal privileges; the bishopric began collecting tithe in the early 1200s, was granted revenues from the leidang system in 1298 and in the 1300s it was given all revenue from the Lisbjerg Hundred.[56][57] In 1350 the bishopric had a substantial tax base and was the largest landowner in Aarhus; the bishop and his canons had become more like nobility, spending most of their time managing their lands and revenue.[58][59] Aarhus grew and prospered along with its bishopric as it became a significant employer; when Bishop Vognsen in the late 1100s established the cathedral chapter it had 6 canons but by the late 1200s it had grown to 22, each with their own estates, lands, staff and servants.[60][44][61]
The Merchants
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Aarhus may have retained the military role it had in the Viking Age up to the 1300s. It was from Aarhus Magnus I departed with his fleet for a battle against Erik Emune in 1133 and the defenses were still being maintained In the 1200s.[62][63] However, the military significance waned over time; defense of the area was taken over by new castles at Skanderborg and Kalø and the ramparts were largely left to decay in the 1300s.[46] In the centuries ahead trade would make up for the shortfall left by the military.
The effect of the bishopric was to centralize regional political and economic power in Aarhus but it was not the only institution seeking this outcome. Forcing economic activity into designated areas allowed the king to more easily regulate trade and collect taxes. In the 1200s Valdemar II built a grain mill at Mølleparken and made it compulsory for farmers in surrounding areas to use it for all milling. In the 1300s it was made illegal for local farmers to sell their products in other towns or harbours.[64][52] In 1441 Christopher III issued the oldest known charter granting Aarhus market town status, although similar privileges may have existed as far back as the 12th century.[65][66] Most exports went to Lübeck but also to the other Hanseatic cities and Øresund.[67] The chief export was grain but in the 14-1500s oxen increasingly became the more profitable export.[68]
Growing trade activity in cities brought with it a wealthy urban merchant class independent of the traditional landed aristocracy and church hierarchy. Wealthy merchants increasingly organized in guilds and corporations and sought political influence. Gradually local political power was devolved from royal representatives to city councils. In the 1200s the first national laws regulating local governance were enacted and Aarhus' first city hall was built in the 1300s.[69][52] The governing body was a magistrate consisting of a city council and two mayors appointed by the king.[70] The council elected its own members and in 1422 new laws limited membership of the council to wealthy merchants.[68] In 1470 the magistrate created the first official register of the wealthiest citizens to further protect their rights and privileges.[71] The system guaranteed that power remained in the hands of a narrow wealthy elite often with interconnected familial ties.[72]
The king exercised little of his authority over the magistrate which was mainly limited to resolving disputes with the bishopric and ensure market town privileges were upheld or expanded.[68][73] The situation can be described as an alliance between the king and the local elite; in exchange for rights and privileges the king received support from the city council for tax collection and conscription.[72] While the initial steps towards local governance thus served to partly to bolster existing power structures it also sought to accommodate a new and growing urban class.
Reformation
Aarhus bishopric eventually became the wealthiest and largest landowner in eastern Jutland.[74] Bishop Jens Langes even held the position of Lensmann and was thus the highest representative of both church and king.[75] The urban elite increasingly saw the church as privileged competition and through the 1400s there was a state of permanent tension between the city council and the clergy.[76][77] In 1490 the disagreements had become so grating that bishop Ejler Bølle stepped down in frustration.[78]
Bishop Ejlers departure was shortly followed by Morten Børup arrival in Aarhus and he brought with him a new Catholic-reformist humanist view that put higher value on education and rejected the prevailing dogmatism of the church. Børup especially disdained the uneducated beggar monks, such as the Dominicans and Carmelites in Aarhus, and in the 1500s these views mirrored popular sentiments. Growing hostility resulted in the monks being driven out of their convents by mobs.[79] The seized property was generally given over by the king to the local councils for use as hospitals or poor houses but in Aarhus it went differently.[80] On 11 December 1529 Frederik I announced that if the Dominicans were to leave their convent in Aarhus it would become the property of bishop Ove Bille and his successors.[81] The Dominicans promptly left.[82] Frederik I took a special interest in Aarhus likely due to who the bishop was. Ove Bille had served as chancellor to three kings and mediated in the rebellions in Jutland in 1523-24 so the king likely viewed it as too difficult to challenge the church in Bille's home.[78] Ove Bille could however not stop the tide of Lutheranism.[83]
The reformation in Denmark had its most ardent supporters in western Jutland and it was here the Jutlandic nobility proclaimed Christian III king which sparked the Count's Feud in 1533. Aarhus could be considered a catholic stronghold and Ove Bille the principal leader of the catholic resistance but the conflict didn't spark civil unrest like it did in Roskilde or Odense nor did the town see battle like Randers and Aalborg.[84][85]
In 1536 Christian III won the civil war and officially made Denmark a Lutheran country. The bishops were imprisoned, church property confiscated and Lutheran superintendents appointed to oversee the transition.[85][86] The former Dominican convent Our Lady's Priory was turned into a hospital, the Carmelites convent at Brobjerg was demolished and used as a quarry to rebuild the town after a fire and the poorhouse Helligåndshuset (House of the Holy Spirit) at Immervad was closed.[87][88] When the St. Oluf's Church collapsed in 1548 it was not rebuilt and the Church of Our Lady was so thoroughly demolished its exact location remains an uncertainty. Several other church buildings in the city were reused for other purposes.[87]
The period from the reformation to the mid-1800s saw class society rise to prominence and become institutionalized. Cities and towns often held exclusive rights to trade in their catchment areas. The trades were increasingly organized in guilds that sought to limit competition and create stability through legal monopolies and privileges. In Aarhus the magistrate and local government was the domain of the wealthy elite merchant class that operated with little oversight or interference from the Danish crown resulting in a powerful and corrupt local oligarchy.
War and plague
The period following the Middle Age were difficult. Especially fires and plague ravaged Aarhus and its people with regular intervals in the 15th and 16th century. Plague epidemics erupted in 1565, 1572, 1578, 1579, 1602 and 1634 but the worst were in 1618-20 and a larger epidemic in 1659 that killed a third of the population nationwide.[89][90][91] Fires were common in part due to the prevalence of thatched roofs in the housing stock and Aarhus burned in quick succession in 1541, 1542, 1546 and 1556. On 1 May 1585 the king decreed that thatching were illegal and roofs should be replaced with tiled roofs.[92]
During the Danish intervention in the Thirty Years' War in 1627 Christian IVs cavalry retreated through Jutland and looted Aarhus on their way north quickly followed by Albrecht von Wallensteins Prussian troops which occupied the town until 1629.[90] 15 years later Aarhus was occupied again from 1644 to 1645 by Sweden during the Torstenson War and 12 years after that the Dano-Swedish Wars erupted leading at various times to occupations by Swedes, Brandenburgers and Poles.[90] In 1657 the king's Polish mercenary cavalry looted the countryside leaving many ruined and destroyed farms.[93] The lack of fortifications generally spared Aarhus from destructive sieges or larger battles but in 1659 13 Swedish warships anchored by the coast and shelled the town, causing widespread fires and loss of much of the merchant fleet.[91][94]
Wars also manifested indirectly in the form of rising taxes. From 1600 taxes doubled by 1610, quintupled by 1620, increased fifteen-fold by 1640 and increased forty-fold by 1650. Food and fuel supplies were strained as the town was obliged to house and feed prisoners of war at various times.[95][94] International instability also disrupted trade in peacetime; in 1583 Rostock was embargoed and in 1627 Stettin.[94] The Great Northern War (1700–1721) caused an economic depression up to the 1720s partly due to reduced trade and higher taxes and partly due to sailors being pressed into service and local ships being commandeered by the navy for troop and cargo transports which resulted in a loss of a third to half of the 70 ships in the local merchant fleet.[96][95]
Grain and Oxen
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Hardships and disruptions aside the fundamentals of the economic structure had changed little from the Middle Age; Aarhus still enjoyed market town status in an area with large agricultural surpluses and although the economic power of the Catholic church and Aarhus Bishopric had been reduced the king now played a larger role in its place.
The king sought to increase and ease tax collection in conjunction with the many wars so in 1657 octroi was introduced meaning excise taxes and customs duties had to be collected on imported goods in market towns.[97] In 1660 wooden city walls were erected around the city with gates and toll booths on major thoroughfares in order to prevent smuggling.[98] The city walls effected the layout and composition of the town over the following decades as most traffic was funnelled through and concentrated in a few streets where merchants quarters sprang up especially in Vestergade, Mejlgade and Studsgade.
Politically Copenhagen, as the capital and royal residence, was the beneficiary of extensive legal monopolies and trade privileges which limited opportunities in the rest of the country.[99][100] Trade companies and manufacturing were set up in Copenhagen with royal backing and protection leaving smaller market towns to focus primarily on agricultural products in a more local scope.[101][100] Since the 1400s the most important export had been oxen to towns of the Hanseatic League but in the 1600s grain exports to Norway surpassed it, growing from 20.000 Tønder in 1655 to 35.000 Tønder by the turn of the century.[102][103] Although grain and oxen by far dominated exports some limited diversification was beginning to take place. Smaller amounts of fur, flour, butter. bacon, wax, tallow were exported to Lübeck, rye to Halland and peas, bacon, eel, nuts, mead and wax to Amsterdam.[102] Most imports still came from local areas in Jutland primarily Marriager Fjord, Djursland, Odder and Viborg.[98]
In the second half of the 1500s to the middle of the 1600s Aarhus was the fifth largest city in the country behind Copenhagen, Malmø, Aalborg and Odense roughly of the same size as Ribe and Helsingør.[89] In 1655-56 Aarhus was the ninth largest Danish port, well behind the main oxen export ports Ribe, Kolding and Assens but only slightly behind Aalborg, Helsingør, Malmø and Ronneby.[103] By the early 1700s the combined trade with Denmark, Norway and the areas around the Baltic Sea had reached 1700 gross register tonnage.
The King's Town
The reformation fundamentally changed power structures in the country. The once powerful and wealthy bishopric was relegated to ecclesiastical matters but in a sense it merely represented a merger of the public sector as the king now took over former church responsibilities. The powers of the city council remained largely unchanged and still limited to handling local matters such as maintenance of buildings and bridges, collecting taxes, regulating prices on goods and services and electing its own members with approval of the king's vogt of the Lisbjerg Hundred.[104][105][106]
However, the king soon took a more direct role in local administration.[105] In 1547 the lensmann, the king's direct representative, was made supervisor of market towns and from 1561 also supervisor of mayors, councillors and vogts.[107][106] In 1619 the law Købstadsloven was enacted which limited the power of city councils by transferring further powers to the lensmann and rotating mayors annually.[108][105] In 1660 Denmark adopted Absolute Monarchy which led to further and significant reduction in local power. From 1661 mayors and councillors were appointed by the lensmann as the king's direct representative and an oath of loyalty to the king was required. In 1682 the city council was reduced from 10 to 3 members and mayors from 3 to 2.[108][109][110] Although free to handle local matters with little interference from the king it was contingent on the support of the king and the established order.[111]
Drawing councillors from a narrow elite class of merchants resulted in corruption and abuse of power which increasingly became a problem both nationally and in Aarhus.[112] Locally the system was opposed by a growing and more diverse upper class so in 1658 locals successfully petitioned the king that city councillors be nominated by the burghers of the city and then approved by the lensmann.[108] In 1740 a new Council of Eligibles (De Eligerede) was established partly to appease and garner support from the local burghers and partly to reduce corruption of the city council.[111][88]
The market town system both created monopolies on trade and crafts and forced craftsmen to live and ply their trade within cities.[113][114] Centralization enabled greater specialization both among merchants and in the crafts which manifested in a growing number of guilds partly for insurance purposes and partly for political lobbying.[115][115] By 1700 Aarhus had 10 guilds in different trades with established privileges and protected rights.[116][117] Aarhus gradually became divided into boroughs not just by class but also by occupation.[118]
By 1770 the king had supplanted the church as the pre-eminent force in Aarhus and had taken control of local politics in an alliance with the merchant elite. Class society had become regulated and ordered in a complex legal framework designed to garner support from select groups. The difficulties of the politically unstable period had taken a harsh economic toll; the overall merchant fleet had been halved, many farms had been destroyed and the population had fallen to about 3600 in 1769 from an estimated 5000 in 1570.[119] Aarhus entered a new period with much to rebuild and now firmly controlled by the king.
The Danish economy gradually improveD from 1740 in what became known as Den florissante Tid (Lit.: The Blooming Age) and by 1770 Aarhus again started to experience growing trade and population growth.[100] The city expanded, new transportation links were established and early industries were founded. Political centralization and economic growth at first empowered the merchant class but a new urban working class combined with liberal and democratic ideals pushed political reforms.
Early industry
In the late 1700s a number of large international wars abroad chiefly the Seven Years' War (1756-63), the American Revolutionary War (1775-83) and the French Revolutionary Wars (1793-1802) proved beneficial for trade. Mercantilist and monopolist policies initially centralized much of the growth in Copenhagen but from the 1770s the upswing started to reach the provincial cities.[116] Denmark enjoyed an export monopoly to Norway between 1735 and 1788 which Aarhus with a relatively large merchant fleet and productive agricultural catchment areas was particularly well positioned to take advantage of. Especially grain proved to be a remunerative export and this export blunted the worst of the recession and helped to city bounce back faster.[120][121] Between 1770 and 1800 the merchant fleet in Aarhus doubled restoring it in size relative to the early 1700s.[121]
The positive economic outlook in the late 1700s was briefly halted in the early 1800s as an economic recession followed the unfavourable outcome of Denmarks involvement in the Napoleonic Wars. During the war Denmark had been blockaded and subsequently lost Norway and suffered a series of state bankruptcies between 1813 and 1825.[122][122] However, by the 1830s growth returned due to a rising demand for agricultural produce driven mainly to industrialization abroad. The loss of the export monopoly to Norway proved only a temporary economic dampener for Aarhus as exports to other cities increased especially to Altona and Flensburg.[123]
Since the 1770s conditions for manufacturing had gradually improved as rising grain and food prices meant more wealth among farmers and merchants could be invested locally.[120][96] The first factories were built in the late 1700s, generally small in scale and employing less than 10 workers in the areas textiles, leather, rope, oil and tobacco and in the early 1800s the first coffee and sugar factories were built.[124]. Textile and tobacco factories initially had the greatest economic impact but from the middle of the 17th century demand for machines and other steel products rose in parallel with industry and rail construction. In Aarhus the first iron foundry was built in 1840, the iron works Frichs Jernstøberi og Maskinfabrik (Lit. Frichs Ironsworks and Machine Factory) was founded in 1854 and a large train repair facility was built in 1862 in conjunction with the first railway links. In Aarhus steel and machine production became the chief industrial products and the Frichs Ironworks and the rail yard the two largest employers.[125]
In the period 1830 to the 1870s divided labour processes and larger machines became the norm in production and factories generally grew more productive and larger in scale.[120][126] The census of industry in 1855 listed 30 industrial companies in Aarhus employing 472 workers which by 1872 had grown to 43 companies employing 1014 workers signifying growth in both number and size.[126]
Early democracy
Through the 1700s there had been numerous attempts at small scale industrial production in Aarhus which had generally failed due to the legal and political framework of the time. Craftsmen in the city held monopolies on most production and attempts at changing the system was opposed by the guilds and the small elite group of merchants who held sway over the city council.[127] However, the late 1700s saw escalating numbers of lawsuits and court processes as the guilds sought to defend their privileges against a rising interest in establishing independent industrial enterprises.[128]
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The King had generally supported the guilds through the 1700s but increasingly dispensations were granted and in the late 1700s the national legal reforms Landboreformerne liberalized customs, manufacturing and trades in cities. In the 1820s the copper and iron caster guilds outright lost their monopolies shortly followed by guilds in other fields.[129][128] In 1857 the consumption tax and market town tolls which had been in place since 1657 were abolished and the city walls shortly torn down.[130] The guild system was abolished in 1857 when the law Næringsfrihedsloven came into effect.
The rise of industry also meant rise of a new urban working class although it initially gained little political influence. Locally the wealthiest citizens by contrast experienced growing influence while the influence of the king came under pressure. The Council of Eligibles, introduced in 1740 as a voice of the upper class and a counterbalance to the city council controlled by the king, became increasingly influential as the upper class continuously pressured the king for concessions and by 1787 the city council could no longer legally force decisions against its will.[131][132][111] The city council remained under control of the king into the early 1800s and eventually became de facto representatives of the king. The number of magistrates were reduced from 3 to 2 in 1766 and to 1 in 1803.[133][133] In 1821 the position of mayor became a formal royal office as it was taken over by the city Vogt.[133]
The unwieldy system of dual councils ended in 1837 as the Council of Eligibles was abolished in favour of a democratically elected city council consisting of 15 members.[134] The new city council could participate in administrative matters along with the mayor and magistrates appointed by the king in addition to electing two new magistrates. However, most influence remained in the upper class as strict demands for eligibility limited participation to the wealthiest citizens. In 1844 just 174 citizens out of 7000 were eligible for office.[135]
However, limitations on democratic participation proved relatively temporary. In 1848 the combined position of vogt and mayor separated and the vogt was made police commissioner and royal representative. In 1849 electoral laws were reformed again and the majority of the municipal boards were opened to all citizens although a minority remained reserved for the wealthiest citizens.[134] In 1868 the city council was expanded to 19 members and given more power although the position of mayor would remain a royal appointee until 1909.[135] The structure of the city council of 1868 has remained in place largely unchanged until present day.[136]
Expansion
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Transport links to the rest of the country improved significantly during this period. From the late 1700s Copenhagen and Kalundborg had been served by regular yacht and schooner departures but in 1827 the first steamship was put in and in 1829 the Paddle steamer Dania began serving the route to Copenhagen.[137] By 1842 there were two routes from Aarhus, one to Copenhagen and one on the triangle Aarhus-Aalborg-Copenhagen.[138] The ferries between Aarhus and Copenhagen became important transport links in Denmark and would remain in operation until the mid 1900s.[137] In 1796-98 roads around Aarhus were measured by military engineers and in the 1830s roads to Randers and Horsens were improved and modernized.[139][139] In 1850s new roads to Silkeborg and Odder were constructed.[140] In 1831 there were daily coaches to Randers and Horsens and a few years later routes serviced Viborg and Ringkøbing as well.[141]
The harbour was also expanded in the 1800s in part due to the fjord gradually becoming clogged with sandy deposits and in part due to ships becoming larger making the inland harbour impractical. In 1810 the inland harbour was expanded but in 1845 it was moved to the coast to better service larger ships and growing freight volumes.[120] The number of wharfs and harbour was depth doubled and the ground area was quintupled.[142] The first rail connection in Jutland, the Aarhus-Randers Line, was established in 1862 followed by connections to Viborg (1865), Fredericia (1868), Silkeborg (1871), Grenå (1877) and Odder (1884).[143]. The rail network placed Aarhus on the crossroads to Holstebro, Horsens and Aalborg. Trade from central and west Jutland that had previously gone through Aalborg and Thisted could now be shipped from Aarhus.[140] The rail and port expansions made Aarhus a central traffic hub for larger parts of Jutland and trade volumes grew significantly.[123][140]
Aarhus grew in lockstep with the growth of industry. New buildings and streets were established mainly in brick which had previously been a mark of exclusive buildings. In the early 1800s the streets Sønder Allé, Vestre Allé and Nørre Allé roughly formed the boundaries of the city. When the city walls were removed in 1851 the city expanded in all directions. Northwards into what became the Nørre Stenbro quarter, mainly small-scale industry and small villas, and North-west into what became Vesterbro.[144][145] In the following decades expansion mostly happened south of the old city core around the new Railway Station and along Nørre Allé.
During the period 1840-1870 population doubled from 7,000 to 15,000. In 1840 Aarhus grew larger than Randers, in 1850 it surpassed Aalborg as the largest city in Jutland and in 1870 it was larger than Odense and thus the second largest city in Denmark. Many new inhabitants became factory workers but there was also growth in other fields such as masonry and blacksmithing. Agriculture diminished in importance at the same time as the surrounding fields that had been collectively farmed by the citizens for centuries were sold off first partially in 1801-02 and then entirely in 1841-42.
Schleswig Wars
In the 1800s the Schleswig-Holstein Question became an issue of rising tensions between Prussia and Denmark ultimately resulting in two wars. During the First Schleswig War Aarhus was occupied by German troops from 21 June to 24 July 1849 and again during the Second Schleswig War from 26 April to 20 November 1864. The city was spared any major destruction as most battles took place further south and there were no military fortifications to besiege although a cavalry skirmish was fought in Vejlby to the west of Aarhus in 1849.[146][147]
The occupations posed some economic hardship in the form of housing and feeding German garrisons but relative to prior occupations the city was economically in a better position. The relative shortness of the conflicts also limited economic disruption.[148][149] The cavalry skirmish fought during the First Schleswig War is commemorated with a monument at the intersection of Trøjborgvej and Nørrebrogade approximately 2 km. south of the actual engagements. Numerous streets in Aarhus are named after Danish officers who served in the wars especially in Frederiksbjerg and Trøjborg which were being developed at the time or following years.
In 1880 Aarhus had surpassed Aalborg and Odense to become the largest Danish provincial city. To accommodate the growing population the city annexed surrounding lands and developed new neighborhoods such as Trøjborg, Frederiksbjerg and Marselisborg and built large, modern hospitals such as Aarhus County Hospital (1882) and Aarhus Municipal Hospital (1893). Many of its cultural institutions were also established at this time such as Aarhus Theater (1900) and the State Library (1902). The unprecedented growth also manifested in new found self-confidence and ambition leading the city council to successfully lobby to host the Danish National Exhibition of 1909 which became the largest project the city had ever undertaken.
In 1908 electoral laws were reformed again, granting women's suffrage and ending class restrictions, and from 1919 mayors were elected by city councils rather than appointed by the Crown.[150][151] In the 1919 elections a political pattern was established that last to this day; the Social Democrats gained most mandates while the remainder was split between a conservative opposition party and other smaller parties.[152] The first elected mayor was the Social Democrat Jakob Jensen who, symptomatically for the changing social and political landscape, was a tradesman that had later made a career in the labor movement. During the tenure of the first elected mayors attention shifted towards social policy; in particular public education was improved with many new schools and the establishment of Aarhus University in 1928.
Several companies of a national and international scope were founded in Aarhus during industrialization and many left iconic marks on the urban landscape. The Ceres Brewery was established in 1856 and served as Aarhus' local brewery for more than 150 years, expanding into an industrial district that is today the CeresByen borough. Korn- og Foderstof Kompagniet (KfK) was founded in 1896 and became the largest Danish supplier of grain and animal feed by the 1960s; its silo complex dominating Aarhus harbor front to this day. Otto Mønsted created the Danish Preserved Butter Company in 1874, focusing on butter export to England, China and Africa and later founded the Aarhus Butterine Company in 1883, the first Danish margarine factory. Other companies of note include the dockyard Aarhus Flydedok, the oil mill Århus Oliefabrik and the ironworks Frichs.
On 9 April 1940, Germany invaded Denmark, occupying Aarhus the following day and 5 years hence. The occupation was a destructive period with major disasters, loss of life and economic depression. The Port of Aarhus became a hub for supplies to the Baltics and Norway while the surrounding rail network supplied the Atlantic Wall in west Jutland and cargo headed for Germany. Combined, these factors resulted in a strong German presence, especially in 1944–45.[153] The first years were peaceful in conjunction with the policies of the Danish Protectorate Government, but following the enactment of the Communist Law in August 1941, the first armed resistance and sabotage commenced, gradually growing in intensity over the years with repression and terror in response.[154]
Small, independent resistance groups first appeared in 1941–42 but the first to coordinate with the Freedom Council was the Samsing Group, responsible for most operations from early 1943.[155][156] The Samsing group, along with others in and around Aarhus, was dismantled in June 1944 when Grethe "Thora" Bartram turned her family and acquaintances over to German authorities.[157] In response, requests for assistance were sent to contacts in England and in October 1944 the Royal Air Force bombed the Gestapo headquarters successfully destroying archives and obstructing the ongoing investigation.[158][159]
The 5 Kolonne group was established with assistance from Holger Danske to restore a resistance movement in Aarhus along with the L-groups, tasked with assassinating collaborators.[160] Resistance operations escalated from mid-1944 with most major sabotage operations and assassinations occurring in the period 1944–45.[161][154] The growing resistance was countered with 19 Schalburgtage terror operations by the Peter Group from August 1944, including large-scale fire bombings and murders.[162] The increasingly destructive occupation was compounded when an ammunition barge exploded in 1944, destroying much of the harbor and damaging the inner city.
On 5 May 1945 German forces in Denmark surrendered but during the transitional period fighting broke out between the resistance and German soldiers resulting in 22 dead.[163] Order was restored by the end of the day and on 8 May the British Royal Dragoons entered the city.[164]
In the 1980s the city entered a period of rapid growth and the service sector overtook trade, industry and crafts as the leading sector of employment for the first time. Workers gradually began commuting to the city from most of east and central Jutland as the region became more interconnected. The student population tripled between 1965 and 1977 turning the city into a Danish centre of research and education. The growing and comparably young population initiated a period of creativity and optimism; Gaffa and the KaosPilot school were founded in 1983 and 1991 respectively, and Aarhus was at the center of a renaissance in Danish rock and pop music launching bands and musicians such as TV2, Gnags, Thomas Helmig, Bamses Venner, Anne Dorte Michelsen, Mek Pek and Shit & Chanel.
- 1962 Aarhus Municipality repeatedly tried to get sorrounding municipalities absorbed but failed. In 1962 Skejby/Lisbjerg Parishes, northern Hasle, part of Tilst and Vejlby were annexed. [165]
- 1960 - Families tend to leave the city while retirees, students and the poor remain behind [165]
- 1970 - Municipal reform, right-wing suburban municipalities vs social democratic Aarhus, opposition [166]
- 1950s - industry leaves the city for the suburbs , 20% fewer [167]
- Early 1960s - Aarhus home port for international shipping routes and for receiving Japanese cars [168]
- 1950s - Jazz - Cirkle Jazz, Saratoga, Panama, Club Harlem [169]
- 1950 - 3 newspapers, Aarhus Stiftstidende (70%), Aarhus Amtstidende, Demokraten, Konservative, Venstre, Socialdemokratiet, in 194 Stiften had monopoly [170]
Since the turn of the millennium both skyline and land use has changed as former industrial sites are being redeveloped into new city districts. Starting in 2007, the former docklands are being converted to a new mixed use district dubbed "Aarhus Ø" (Aarhus Docklands).[171] The site of the former Royal Unibrew Ceres breweries began redevelopment in 2012 into "CeresByen", a residential district with educational institutions.[172] The former DSB repair facilities at Frederiks Plads have been demolished and is being developed into a new business district with high-rise buildings scheduled for completion in 2017.[173][174] The main bus terminal is planned to be moved to the central train station by 2018 and the current site will be made into a new residential district.[175][176] Construction of the first light rail system in the city commenced in 2013, with the first increment to be finished in 2017.[177] The light rail system is planned to eventually tie many of the suburbs closer to central Aarhus. The next phase will connect a large planned suburb west of Lisbjerg.[178][179]
Accelerating growth since the early 2000s brought the city to roughly 260,000 inhabitants by 2014. The rapid growth is expected to continue until at least 2030 when Aarhus municipality has set an ambitious target for 375,000 inhabitants.[180]
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