When the early modern society of the Baltic area is studied, towns and urban life are often overlooked since only a minority of the population lived in towns. Although conditions varied widely between the sparsely populated areas in the northern part of Scandinavia and the more urbanised areas on the south and southeast borders of the Baltic sea, towns and their inhabitants were nevertheless of great importance in the Swedish empire and other states contiguous to the Baltic Sea. Thus, in researching the state-building processes taking place in early modern Europe, towns and activities relating to towns are important cornerstones.