{"id":8666,"date":"2023-03-23T20:59:51","date_gmt":"2023-03-23T18:59:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/?p=8666"},"modified":"2023-03-24T15:58:27","modified_gmt":"2023-03-24T13:58:27","slug":"who-was-the-leiglending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/who-was-the-leiglending\/","title":{"rendered":"Who was the “Leiglending”"},"content":{"rendered":"

When searching for Norwegian ancestors many of us find farmers described as a leiglending<\/em>. What did this mean?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Leilending is an older word for a person who\u00a0rents\u00a0land.\u00a0The designation probably goes back to\u00a0the Viking Age.\u00a0The\u00a0Old Norse\u00a0form is\u00a0leiglendingr<\/em>, derived from the verb\u00a0leiga,<\/em>\u00a0meaning \u201cto rent\u201d, and the noun\u00a0land<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Other words for leiglending are bygslingsmann, bygsler\/b\u00f8gsler. In this article, I will use the English expression tenant\/tenant farmer <\/em>to describe the leiglending.<\/em><\/p>\n

There are distinct differences between a\u00a0leiglending\u00a0<\/em>and a\u00a0husmann (cotter).\u00a0<\/em>You might want to have a look at my article Who was the husmann<\/a>. The husmann rented a smaller piece of land that was not a separate unit in the land records. The land rented by a leiglending was a farm or farm part that was judicially an independent unit. In addition, the leiglending had, as we shall see, more extensive rights when it came to what he could do on the farm.<\/p>\n

From the 9th and 10th centuries and up to 1350, the number of tenants increased. While a majority of farmers in various forms were independent farmers in the Viking Age, the majority were tenants in the early 14th century. At the same time, during this period there was a sharper distinction between political power and ownership of land. The tenancy became more and more a material-economic relationship, and personal relationships of a political nature between powerful landowners and tenants and freeholders became less important.<\/p>\n

The number of tenant farmers increased until the end of the 17th century, when more and more farmers were able to buy to the farm they rented and became freehold owners. The reason for this is that government regulations that was put in place at this time made it less lucrative for the landowners to lease out their land.<\/p>\n

The tenancy system disappeared during the 19th century.\u00a0A person who rents an agricultural property today is called a\u00a0forpakter (<\/em>SNL<\/a>) .<\/p>\n

Serfdom means that a tenant or agricultural laborer is tied to an\u00a0estate\u00a0or to a landlord with his person.\u00a0Serfdom meant that the peasants were in an (often hereditary) social, legal, and economic dependency;\u00a0they were tied to the land and could not move without the landlord’s permission.\u00a0But unlike\u00a0slaves,\u00a0serfs were not completely without rights;\u00a0they had their own farms and produced their own food. (SNL<\/a>)<\/div>In Norway, the tenant farmers were not serfs. As far back as Norwegian laws are known, tenancy has been regulated by law. Especially in the 1500s the legislators tried to limit the negative consequences of the tenancy. The Norwegian tenant farmers were in a stronger position than their peers in the neighboring countries. In the constitution of 1814 tenant farmers were given the right to vote if they had rented the farm they lived at for more than 5 years (Honer\u00f8d\/Nedreb\u00f8: 59).<\/p>\n
Who owned the land<\/h6>\n

Since so many were tenant farmers I just want to mention briefly who owned the land. In an overview taken from Sevatdal (Sevatdal: 44) we find the following percentages based on a land survey (Landkommisjonen) published the year 1661.<\/p>\n