{"id":6048,"date":"2018-08-23T09:48:43","date_gmt":"2018-08-23T08:48:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/?p=6048"},"modified":"2020-01-28T18:40:19","modified_gmt":"2020-01-28T17:40:19","slug":"who-was-the-husmann","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/who-was-the-husmann\/","title":{"rendered":"Who was the “husmann”?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The title “husmann” appear in all the sources we use in\u00a0 Norwegian genealogy.<\/p>\n

The title “husmann” is normally translated into English as cotter or crofter. Looking at definitions of this term found online, I see that the Norwegian cotter’s conditions were a little different from those in other countries.<\/p>\n

The featured photo shows a cotter’s place probably situated in Sunndal, M\u00f8re og Romsdal. The persons are not known. Photo by Ole J Gravem d.e. Stiftelsen Nordm\u00f8re Museum License: CC ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>As I have used the term “cotter” and the term “cotter’s place – Husmannsplass” in many of my writings, I should perhaps have written this article first.<\/p>\n

We may find this term in several sources as husmann, huusmand, pladsemand. <\/em>This is the man in the family. The wife is normally described as huusmandskone <\/em>or pladsemandskone. <\/em>When it is talk about the couple we may find the term pladsefolk\/plassefolk. Husmand<\/em> is sometimes abbreviated to\u00a0Hmd.<\/em><\/p>\n

The term strandsitter<\/em>\u00a0may be used about cotters living by water.<\/p>\n

There has been written several books about the conditions of the husmann so within the scope of this article I have to cover this topic in very general terms<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In short: The “social class” cotter (“Husmann”) was a person who lived on a piece of land that\u00a0 did not appear as a separate entity in the land register. The owner had to pay the taxes on this land. The cotters rented this land and paid either in money or by working at the farm. Some cotters had land where they could do a little farming and keep a few animals (often a cow for milk). Other cotters had no land and had to rely on some kind of handcrafts to support their family. Cotters are often looked upon as very poor people. Some definitely were, but it is not possible to generalise, because the conditions from one cotter family to the next did vary a lot. There were also big differences from district to district. Cotters who performed some kind of handcrafts e.g. coblers, tailors etc. were able to earn a decent living.<\/p>\n

The term Husmann\u00a0was used as far back as in the late 1200’s. At this time and\u00a0through the\u00a0next\u00a0centuries it referred to a\u00a0lodger or a\u00a0person\u00a0who had no permanent employment and\u00a0took odd jobs.\u00a0Husmann could also be used about a\u00a0man who had retired and was now supported by younger people, often his son or daugther’s family.\u00a0Finally, husmann could be used about a person who cleared a piece of land and settled there (Prestes\u00e6ter: 12-13).<\/p>\n

These explanations though, are not<\/strong> relevant for the husmann we meet in the Norwegian sources from about 1700 and onward.<\/p>\n

To understand the term cotter we need to look at the population growth that started in the early 1700’s<\/p>\n

Going\u00a0back to the middle of the 1300’s and the Black plague, we learn that\u00a0in this epidemic 50 to 60 % of the population in Norway died (Wikipedia: Svartedauden)<\/a>. It took about 400 years for the population to grow to the number it was before the Black plague struck Norway (Wikipedia: Norges demografi).<\/a><\/p>\n

There were different ways to meet the needs of the increasing number of households. The farms that were left abandoned during the black plague were inhabitated. There was an extensive cultivating of land that had not earlier been farmed.\u00a0Some of the new households was provided for by splitting the old farms into smaller farm parts. There is, however, a limit to how small a farm can be and still provide for a household.\u00a0 The most extensive splitting of farms took place in areas where one could get additional income. This was the situation on the coast where the fisheries provided income.\u00a0Also in areas adjacent to mines or rich forestries there was an extensive farm splitting (Jones: 38).<\/p>\n

Cotters were divided into two cathegories<\/p>\n