A Farm Lease from 1807: Understanding Åsetesrett in Practice
My friend and long time reader, Nord Brue has written a forthcoming biography of his Tipp tipp oldefar Nils Trulsen Bru (NTB). One fascinating part of the story involves a farm lease from 1807 that played a role in Nils Trulsen Bru’s life. Nord is an American lawyer who has researched Norwegian archives with the assistance of Professor Nils Olav Østrem of the University of Stavanger. Nord (nlb@nbrue.com) hopes the book will be available from Amazon this summer.
As an introduction to Nils Trulsen Bru, you might want to read the article Nord wrote for my blog back in 2020: Independence as a football Game
Nord asked me to read the final draft, and I found the entire book both engaging and thoroughly researched. One chapter, in particular, stood out to me—because it touches on something many genealogists will eventually encounter.
It centers on the lease of the Bru farm from Truls Brue to his son Nils.
Documents like this are not necessarily rare—but finding the right one can be a challenge. And even when you do, they are often difficult to read and interpret. That makes this example all the more valuable. Fortunately, Nord has provided a translation—and kindly allowed me to share it here.
Chapter 14: Claiming His Åsetesrett
“‘Tis the land I’m here for … and ’tis the land that keeps us. ’Tis our living.”
–Knut Hamsun, Growth of the Soil
Åsetesrett granted the right of the firstborn or oldest surviving son (primogeniture) to inherit property. The firstborn son, Lars, had died in infancy and so NTB became the third consecutive second born son to take the farm. His son Truls would be the fourth. “Åsetesrett was a legal requirement for freehold properties and customary for leilendinger even if occasionally ignored.” P. 124, The Marital Economy in Scandinavia and Britain 1400-1900, Maria Ågren, Routledge 2 Mar 2019
22 but didn’t receive a lease until 50, NTB entered formal possession relatively early. One reason may have been timing: NTB was still unmarried, and it was customary for a bygselbrev to name both spouses. To avoid future complications, it seems father and son agreed not to include Kristi on the document.
A Legal Document, a Family Compact
Legally, the lease began on 15 April 1807, but NTB and Kristi remained at her Dale farm, where their son Daniel was baptized in December 1808. Daily life didn’t change immediately, though the document now marked NTB as a leilending—a registered farmer with a life estate and hereditary rights.
The document itself, preserved in the Stavanger archives and transcribed by Professor Nils Olav Østrem, is a model of primary evidence: a contemporary, official, and meticulously maintained document. Professor Østrem helped me interpret it—and confirmed that NTB’s lease was conditioned by a promise to his parents.
No. 2 […] Børre Rosenkilde – Administrator of the endowment lands of the Bishopric of Christiansand – hereby makes it known on behalf of Bishop Johan M. Keyser, that he has leased the farm Broe in Aschøe Parish and Ryfylke County, which is assessed at 1 ½ Pund grain, land rent, to Niels Truelsen. The lease was previously granted to his father Truls Larsen on the 26th of February 1793 and he has now willingly agreed to the transfer of the farm to his son, on the
condition that Niels Truelsen shall provide for his and his wife’s livelihood yearly as follows:
8 Tønder (barrels) of Oat Grain,
½ Tønde of Barley,
½ Tønde of Malt,
4 Tønder of Rye,
¼ Tønde of potatoes and use of good farmland for planting them.
¼ Sviin (pig),
Truls will also receive:
Pasture for 2 Cows and 8 Sheep, as well as lodging and affectionate care in old age for he and his wife. Should the father build himself a cabin, as permitted, if he needs it, for which his son shall provide him with the necessary firewood.
If one of the parents dies, the survivor shall receive half of the provisions mentioned above. Moreover, the aforementioned Niels Truelsen is obliged to provide his father’s brother, Thomas Larsen, as per his father’s promise in the 1793 lease agreement and later agreement, with 10 spand every Christmas time for as long as Thomas Larsen lives, and no longer.
He must pay the usual taxes, levies, tithes, and land rent in due time before Christmas Eve,
which according to last year’s assessment was 16 Rigsdalers 71 skillings., as well as other
obligatory royal contributions.
The land must be cultivated and improved, nothing must be taken away from it or used by others. He must maintain the buildings on the farm in good condition and behave like a sensible tenant. If the aforementioned conditions are met, he may use this farm during his lifetime, making the best use of it as he deems fit.
The agreed-upon lease has been paid with Støvlepund (unit of weight) and, in agreement with the content hereof, he has given his acknowledgement on the reverse on similar stamped paper, which is hereby confirmed under my hand and seal.
Stavanger, April 15, 1807. – B. Rosenkilde. /L: S:/
[…]
It is hereby noted that, as per the Decree of April 4, 1800, which states that if the estate should be designated as an official’s residence, the leaseholder shall be obliged to vacate the property in return for receiving back the paid lease money, as completely omitted in this lease agreement. Should this occur, the same (text illegible).
The Reverse [side] of the agreement and land rent book, on proper stamped paper, were presented [.text illegible..].
Paid for registration with 12 ½ percent, in total 3 ort (coin denomination), and also for the attestation with 12 ½ percent, 1 ort 12 s:, in total 1 rd 12 s:, which equals one Rigsdaler and twelve Skilling – attested by Hm Mantheii.
(The Reverse of the agreement reads as follows: )
Herewith, I acknowledge and obligate myself to comply with the contents of this lease agreement in all parts or suffer the forfeiture of my lease. – Niels Trulsen Broe. /L: S:/ Paid for writing 2 ort 6 s:, which equals two Rigsort and six Skilling – attested by Hm Mantheij.
Truls reserved significant rights: a share of crops, animals, and even housing. It was, in effect, a family contract. NTB promised support; if he failed, Truls could reclaim the farm. There’s no record Truls ever built the cabin he was promised. Most likely, he and his wife lived with NTB and Kristi, sharing the farmhouse with their growing family.
Beer, Malt, and the Still
The list of reserved goods offers a glimpse into daily life. NTB promised his father staples like oats, rye, and barley—unsurprising enough. But another item stood out: half a barrel of malt.
A Norwegian biographer once suggested NTB was a teetotaler. But between the malt, the still in his probate inventory, and Professor Østrem’s observations, the evidence points the other way. NTB (or his father) likely brewed øl (farmhouse beer). Malted barley would be soaked, sprouted, dried, and then boiled with hops and yeast. The yeast was almost certainly kveik, a traditional Norwegian strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae that ferments at high temperatures, produces fruity aromas, and allows for rapid brewing. Today, kveik is even available commercially in the U.S. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kveik)
I tried a time or two to make beer with truly dreadful results. Wine was more my thing. The use I found for malted barley came when I founded Bruegger’s Bagels. At Bruegger’s we used nondiastatic malt syrup imported from Canada in 660-pound drums. We added malt to the dough for flavor and to the water in which we kettled (boiled) the bagels to impart a shiny, crusty finish. Our marketing people discovered the correlation between bagels and beer. Beer drinkers were avid bagel eaters and possibly the reverse was true. All this said, I am pretty certain the NTB was not using the malt to bake bagels.
The Potato Clue
Another reserved item caught Professor Østrem’s eye: a quarter-barrel of potatoes and land to plant them. This detail matters. The British blockade, which began in late 1807, triggered a boom in Norwegian potato cultivation. Truls’s reservation confirms he was growing potatoes before the blockade—and may even have been a pioneer of their use in Rogaland.
When we visited Eivind Bru at NTB’s old bruk in 2023, my grandchildren Nora, Ben, Owen, and Thea (all except toddler Amitai) dug potatoes in the same fields. We took four plastic bags (a twenty-first century intrusion to our idyll in nineteenth-century Norway) of the early season
potatoes with us when we returned to Stavanger and son Erik persuaded the chef at our hotel to boil some. They were as delicious as only homegrown, freshly dug potatoes could be—a memory to hold close. When we got to Oslo, we asked our cousins if they would like some “dirty potatoes” and they enthusiastically said yes. Any descendant of NTB would welcome some organically grown, freshly dug potatoes from the farm on Bru.
Eivind told us his current yield is about ten to one. If that held true in 1807, Truls’s 25 kilos of seed potatoes could yield 250 kilos—over 500 pounds. That’s a lot of spuds for a retired farmer and his wife. Then again, potatoes also made aquavit. Given the family still and the popularity of potato spirits, we won’t rule out that possibility either.
A Lease—and a Legacy
As my friend and genealogy blogger Martin Roe Eidhammer observed, the lease NTB received wasn’t just a legal step forward—it also came with obligations. Among them were support for NTB’s uncle Thomas Larsen, Truls’s younger brother. When Martin asked what I knew about Thomas, I dug into the records and ran into a classic genealogical challenge: conflicting birth dates.
The bygdebok, relying on the 1758 Sjæleregister (since the kirkebøker from that decade are missing), listed Thomas as born in 1748. But the 1801 census and his death record said 1745—making the “younger” brother actually older. Meanwhile, later records show Truls was born in 1743, not 1746 as the bygdebok reported. In cases like this, I defer to what adults and their families reported at death rather than to third-party records from childhood. I updated both
records—and smiled at the resolution.
Lease Conditions and Legal Form
A Cultural Insight
While discussing this document with my daughter Marget, she offered an unexpected insight: detailed contracts like this one may be more common in high-trust cultures than low-trust ones. At first, I found this counterintuitive. But in reflecting on legal traditions in the U.S. and British-influenced systems, I realized she had a point. In high-trust societies, long, detailed contracts for future performance (what lawyers call executory contracts) help avoid misunderstanding and litigation—not because people don’t trust each other, but because they expect to honor what’s written.
One clause stands out: a boilerplate “consideration” clause, reminiscent of language in American real estate—something like “in consideration of $10 and other good and valuable consideration.” The lease was executed by “B. Rosenkilde” and marked “L.S.” (locus sigilli), Latin for “place of the seal,” a phrase still used in twenty-first century legal documents.
A Reminder of Ownership—and a Path to It
An addendum to the lease referenced a royal decree from 1800, confirming that the farm remained Church property. The lease could theoretically be revoked and the land reclaimed for state use. This was rare, and it never happened in NTB’s lifetime. After his death, the family purchased full ownership—likely funded by herring profits. The buyout began in 1837 and was completed nine years later. (Vaula & Lindanger, p. 1073)
Still, in 1807, the bygselbrev gave NTB something powerful: legal standing as a registered landholder. It made him part of the landed class—and, when suffrage came, it gave him the right to vote.
Nordahl (Nord) Leo Brue is a lawyer and entrepreneur, best known as a founder of Bruegger’s Bagels. Brue is a member of the Board of Trustees of American Ancestors and New England Historic Genealogical Society.
Reference
Lindanger B og Waula J: Rennesøy. B. 1-3 3. B. 1-3 3 : Gard og ætt :Rennesøy kommune, 1993
