Landownership and capitalism in eighteenth-century central Sweden

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the years 1718–1721, a large part of the crown-held farmland in Färentuna county was sold into private ownership and the land was transformed into taxable property. This privatisation of farmland was a beginning towards the more modern, large-scale and market-oriented agriculture that was to come. During the whole of the eighteenth century there was widespread interest in Sweden in the improvement of agriculture, not only as a topic of general interest at that time but also as an economic necessity after a war that had lasted some twenty years. Many of the persons of rank who owned and farmed taxable land in Färentuna county were governmental officials and therefore familiar with these issues in their official capacity. Documentary evidence from the 1790s shows that many of them were also interested in practising new ideas on their farms, thus spreading knowledge to the peasants and other landowners.