Levanger

Levanger grew beside the sheltered waters of the Trondheimsfjord, at the western end of a route across the mountains to Jämtland. Its market brought the inland and coastal worlds together: Jämtland farmers sought salt and sea fish, while traders carried iron and other goods westward.

The winter fair, known as Marsimartnan, was linked to the feast of St Matthias and coordinated with the market at Frösön. Farmers, fishers and Southern Sámi came to trade there. A royal privilege of 1682 recognised the established market and the goods brought by the Jämtlanders. By the late seventeenth century, Trondheim merchants were erecting trading booths along the shore; a fire in 1692 destroyed much of the settlement. Levanger received the rights of a market town on 18 May 1836, giving formal standing to a place whose exchange across the mountains was already centuries old.