”Både borgere og bønder og dog ingen af delene”. Småbyfeudalisme i enevældens nordjyske godsejerbyer

Abstract

“Both burghers and peasants and yet none of them.” Small-town feudalism in manorial towns in North Jutland Unlike the rest of Scandinavia, few new towns were founded in Denmark in the period from 1500 to 1850. In North Jutland, however, some small towns were founded to trade with the new towns that were established in southern Norway in the 17th and 18th centuries. This chapter examines the Norwegian historian Finn-Einar Eliassen’s theory that the new towns in North Jutland resembled those in southern Norway in the sense that they also lay on private lands and were dominated by private landowners. After the Reformation in 1536, the king seized control of the towns of Thisted and Sæby, which had previously been owned by the church. In Limfjord, the growing fishing port of Nibe lay on royal land. The town had its own court, and the inhabitants did not pay feudal dues. However, when the town land was sold to a manorial lord in 1664, they were obliged to pay feudal dues. Nibe kept its own court and received town privileges in 1727. Løgstør was also a growing fishing port with its own court, situated on royal land. Unlike Nibe, Løgstør’s inhabitants bought their own dues after the town was sold to a manorial lord in 1671, but the town was not granted town privileges like Nibe. Struer grew as a trading port on the land of a manorial lord but was bought by a company of nine burghers from Holstebro in 1799. On the east coast of North Jutland, the crown established garrisons at Hals and Fladstrand after defeats in the Swedish Wars. Hals received town privileges in 1656, but never grew to be a town, whereas Fladstrand grew to be a town on the land of a manorial lord. In 1719, its inhabitants got into a conflict with their lord when they petitioned the king to become burghers free of feudal dues. Instead, the land with its dues was bought by a local merchant in 1749 and by the town government after Fladstrand received town privileges under the new name of Frederikshavn in 1818. On the north-western coast of Jutland, the ports of Klitmøller and Løkken grew as a result of trade with Norway. The ports were dominated by rich peasant merchants that had, despite their status as tenants, the economic power to dominate the manorial lords and the towns of Thisted and Hjørring. The ferry town of Nørresundby grew as a satellite town around the ferry crossing to Aalborg. The inhabitants violated the privileges of Aalborg, but were protected by the lords of this town. In sum, the power relations of the private towns in North Jutland resembled those of their Norwegian counterparts. The private owners had the right to demand feudal dues, but they did not exert power over the courts or the regulation of the towns as in Norway.