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Historisk tidskrift 126:4 • 2006

Innehåll (Contents) 2006:4

Uppsatser (Articles)

Bondebegreppet i det tidigmoderna Danmark Definitioner, begrepp, diskurser

Peter Henningsen

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Summary

The concept of the peasant in early modern Denmark. Definitions, concepts, discourses

Peasants formed the major part of the population in early modern European society of estates, and virtually every state was economically dependent on the peasantry and their labour. Nonetheless, we find that peasants were despised by the members of other estates and that they always formed the lowest level of society in nations where there were large peasant populations. In Denmark, the peasantry was stigmatised by the absolutist regime’s law code of 1683 (Danske Lov). This law stipulated the special privileges – or lack thereof – of the different estates and it is symptomatic that the peasantry was the group that suffered most retrictions. Both in this law and in the many decrees that were forthcoming, a number of rules and demands – directed specifically at the peasant estate and applicable only to peasants – were imposed on the peasantry. The Danish peasantry were given scarcely any privileges. In this, Denmark did not differ from other nations. Similar conditions could be found all over early modern Europe. Concepts like ”peasant” and ”peasant estate” were seldom if ever defined in legislation. From the second half of the eighteenth century the concept of farmer (landman) appeared, which created a certain confusion with regard to who belonged to the peasantry and who belonged to the farmers, as these social groups differed in their composition and expectations. The concept of the peasant represented the old traditional view of the peasantry, whereas the concept of the farmer signified modernity and progress.

Keywords

peasantry, Denmark, history of concepts, legal history, cultural history, estates, agricultural reforms