Making a Living, Making a Difference Making a Living, Making a Difference Gender and Work in Early Modern European Society EDITED BY M ARIA ÅGREN Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America © Oxford University Press 2017 All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Ågren, Maria, editor Title: Making a living, making a difference : gender and work in early modern European society / edited by Maria Ågren Description: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2017] | Includes bibliographical references and index Identifiers: LCCN 2016021507 (print) | LCCN 2016033627 (ebook) | ISBN 9780190240615 (hardcover : alk paper) | ISBN 9780190240622 (pbk : alk.paper) | ISBN 9780190240639 (Updf) | ISBN 9780190240646 (Epub) Subjects: LCSH: Labor—Europe—History | Sexual division of labor—Europe—History | Women—Employment—Europe—History | Europe—History—1492– | Europe—Social conditions Classification: LCC HD4851 M343 2017 (print) | LCC HD4851 (ebook) | DDC 331.5/60940903—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016021507 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Paperback printed by WebCom, Inc., Canada Hardback printed by Bridgeport National Bindery, Inc., United States of America CONTENTS Acknowledgments Contributors ix vii Introduction: Making a Living, Making a Difference Maria Ågren The Diversity of Work 24 Jonas Lindström, Rosemarie Fiebranz, and Göran Rydén Working Together 57 Dag Lindström, Rosemarie Fiebranz, Jonas Lindström, Jan Mispel aere, and Göran Rydén Marriage and Work: Intertwined Sources of Agency and Authority 80 S o f i a L i n g , K a r i n H a s s a n J a n s s o n , M a r i e L e n n e r s a n d, Christopher Pihl , and Maria Ågren Less Than Ideal? Making a Living before and outside Marriage Hanna Östholm and Cristina Pry tz Constitutive Tasks: Performances of Hierarchy and Identity K a r i n H a s s a n J a n s s o n, R o s e m a r i e F i e b r a n z , a n d A n n -C at r i n Ö s t m a n The Dark Side of the Ubiquity of Work: Vulnerability and Destitution among the Elderly 159 Erik Lindberg, Benny Jacobsson, and Sofia Ling 127 103 vi C o n t e n t s Gender, Work, and the Fiscal-Military State 178 M a r i e L e n n e r s a n d, J a n M i s p e l a e r e , C h r i s t o p h e r P i h l , and Maria Ågren Conclusion 204 Maria Ågren Appendix 221 Bibliography 231 Index 253 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This book is the result of a large research project in the humanities: Gender and Work in Early Modern Sweden The project grappled with one of the eternal questions in history—what ordinary people did and thought in the past—and, thanks to modern technology and “big data,” this book offers new answers The book makes a contribution to the early modern history of work, but equally important, it proposes new methodology and models what we can with a large, complex dataset The project has been very generously funded by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, and the Swedish Research Council has provided additional funding to make the Gender and Work database a reality As the leader of the project, I wish to express my sincere thanks not only to these providers of funding but also to project members, colleagues, and friends in Uppsala, Sweden, and around the world Deeply felt thanks go to Sheilagh Ogilvie, Margaret Hunt, and Martin Naylor, who have all given the project group invaluable support, inspiration, and well- earned criticism We would never have dared to embark upon this project had it not been for the model that Sheilagh’s work set for us, and her enthusiastic but always candid feedback helped us sharpen our arguments We would never have completed the book had it not been for Margaret, who started out as an external adviser and ended up as our colleague Margaret, thanks for your meticulous reading and sound advice And, Martin, this book would have been so much less readable if you had not been at our side, never sparing your own time to help us improve our English Equally warm thanks go to the people at the Demographic Database, Umeå University, who tailor-made the GaW database for us Maria Larsson, Jimmy Ljungberg, Pär Vikström, Lars-Göran Carlsson, Bo Persson and Sören Edvinsson were always eager to help us; we have shared both sorrow and (more often) joy since we first started to work together If all human collaboration were as smooth as ours, the world would be a better place The database has had an advisory vii viii A c k n o w l e d gments group of its own: thanks go to John Rogers, Per-Anders Edin, Bo Danielsson, Thorleif Pettersson, Sören Edvinsson, Linda Oja, Joakim Nivre, Anki Mattisson, Bengt Dahlqvist, and last but not least Ingrid Almqvist, who coined the term “verb-oriented method.” With Eva Pettersson, Joakim Nivre, and Beáta Megyesi we have run an exciting side project with the purpose of finding a way of automatically identifying relevant verb phrases in early modern texts Over the years, the GaW project has benefited from the advice of Christina Florin, Jan Lindegren, Leif Runefelt, Karin Sennefelt, Johan Söderberg, Rolf Torstendahl, Kirsi Vainio-Korhonen, and Eva Österberg Thank you for many good ideas and a very good time together In 2013, the advisory group was extended to include Amy L. Erickson, Alexandra Shepard, Judith Bennett, and Margaret Hunt Thanks for helping us at a critical moment of our work We also wish to extend our thanks to the scholars who have visited us as guest researchers over the years: Amy Erickson, Kirsi Vainio-Korhonen, Sheilagh Ogilvie, and Julie Hardwick Thank you for enriching our academic milieu The home of the project has been the History Department at Uppsala University We thank former vice chancellor Anders Hallberg, former vice rector Margaretha Fahlgren, and former dean Jan Lindegren for proposing the project to the Wallenberg Foundation We also thank former head of department Lars M. Andersson for his unstinting support and Elisabeth Brandberg for managing the money Elisabeth, you are a pearl! Linda Oja and Elisabeth Gräslund Berg were members of the project at an early stage, and even if they not stand as authors of this book, their contributions are integral parts of the message that we want the book to convey Jessica Karlsson assisted with transcription of documents The maps were made by Matilda Svahn, Josefine Andersson, Fanny Reuterskiưld, Jaqueline Ưsterberg, Jesper Runfors, and Ellen Andersson, students at Uppsala University We are lucky to have Susan Ferber as our editor Thank you, Susan, for believing in this book: not every editor would enthuse at the idea of a multiauthored monograph about a small country in northern Europe, based on new methodology Thank you also for being such a warm and generous person We are also lucky to have Maya Bringe and Susan Ecklund at our side; Maya coordinated the production process in a calm and good-humored way and Susan copyedited the manuscript beautifully Thank you! Maria Ågren CO N T R I B U TO R S Maria Ågren is professor of history at Uppsala University Her work focuses on the intersection of economic, social, legal, and gender history She is the author of Domestic Secrets: Women and Property in Sweden, 1600–1857 and The State as Master: Gender, State Formation and Commercialization in Urban Sweden, 1650– 1780 She is the leader of the Gender and Work research project and the GaW infrastructure project Rosemarie Fiebranz is senior lecturer in history at Uppsala University Her work focuses on gender, property, and work in early modern and nineteenth- century society She has a strong interest in microhistory and historical methodology She is the author of Jord, linne eller träkol? Genusordning och hushållsstrategier: Bjuråker 1750–1850 (2002) She is coordinator of the GaW database Benny Jacobsson holds a PhD in the history of science and ideas from Stockholm University He is the author of Den sjunde världsdelen: Västgötar och Västergötland 1646–1771: En identitetshistoria His many interests include the history of education He is a research assistant within the Gender and Work projects Karin Hassan Jansson is senior lecturer and docent in history at Uppsala University Her work focuses on gender, sexuality, service, and political debate in early modern society She is the author of Kvinnofrid: Synen på våldtäkt och konstruktionen av kön i Sverige 1600–1800 (2002) She is the lead author of chapter 5 in this book Marie Lennersand is docent in history and senior archivist at the Swedish National Archives Her work focuses on early modern state formation, as well as on social and legal history She is the author of Rättvisans och allmogens beskyddare: Den absoluta staten, kommissionerna och tjänstemännen, ca 1680– 1730 (1999) and, with Linda Oja, Livet går vidare: Älvdalen och Rättvik efter de ix ... Making a Living, Making a Difference Making a Living, Making a Difference Gender and Work in Early Modern European Society EDITED BY M ARIA ÅGREN Oxford University Press is a department... and time-consuming to trace the exact nature of this Making a Living, Making a Difference work Most working people lacked occupational titles, much work was unpaid, and the work of women and. .. both sameness and difference On the one hand, both men and women took part in almost all forms of work in early modern Scandinavian society, and this may have nurtured ideas about sameness, particularly