Lödöse

Kings still came here in the 14th century: in 1349, as the plague reached Scandinavia, Magnus Eriksson held a council of the realm at Lödöse and ordered every Friday kept for fasting and prayer. But by about 1450 the Danish toll at the greatly enlarged fortress of Bohus, downstream, had become too heavy a burden on the river trade. In 1473 the Council of the Realm ordered a new town founded near the mouth of the Göta älv, and most of the burghers moved down to Nya Lödöse. The old town lingered on for more than a century and a half, until in 1644 Swedish troops plundered it and Danish troops burned it, and in 1646 it lost its town rights for good.