Abstract

With the aid of the great Danish land register of 1688 and old maps, the author studies the changing form of two villages in North Jutland. He maintains that the nucleated form of the Danish village immediately prior to the enclosures¹ of the late eighteenth century was the result of two distinct processes operating from premedieval times. The first was a normal process of internal growth of population with an associated extension of arable land; the second was a periodic concentration of population from peripheral settlements onto a central site.

BRØDSLEV

The township of Brødslev, forming part of the parish of Ingstrup in the province of Vendsyssel, North Jutland (fig. 1), occupies a gently undulating morainic plateau whose soils are derived from sandy boulder claw (fig. 2). During Late Glacial times most of the present site was an island, and the many short valleys, now dry, that cut into the plateau appear to have originated then. When man settled in the area, his expanding arable fields occupied the level extents of glacial soils, while the steep slopes and somewhat damper bottoms of the small valleys were grazed by livestock. At the junction of these contrasting physical and economic landscapes the settlement, with its loosely grouped farmsteads and associated paddocks, arose.

When the great land register of 1688 was compiled, Brødslev township comprised eighteen farmsteads and five cottages. The farms, which were not equal in size or status, fell into three distinct groups (Table I). The first group contained five whole farms

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* English translation by dr. Harry Thorpe, Department of Geography, University of Birmingham.

1. For at description of the Danish village hefore and after enclosure and of the associated documentary evidence vide Thorpe, H., The influence of inclosure on the form and pattern of rural settlement in Denmark, Insittute of British Geographers, Transactions and Papers, No. 17 (1951), London, 1952.

(Gårde), the second group five half farms (Bol) and, finally, came eight quarter farms (Halve Bol). It is interesting to find that althoughstall-feeding of livestock was essential throughout the winter,only the five whole farms (Gårde Nos. 1—5)1^—5) and the five half farms (80l Nos. 6_—10) had specific rights to cut hay in the meadows.

To the east and west of the village lay the common fields divided into 38 shots, each with a distinctive name (Fig. 5). While the shots varied in length according to the nature of the terrain, their width appears to have fallen into certain well-defined groupings. The standard Danish land measure in use at the time was the Zealand ell, equivalent to a little over 2 feet, and the widest shot ranged from 450 to 470 ells (930—975 feet). Each shot was divided into a number of parallel strips, representing allocations of land to individual farms, and from Table II it will be seen that in a great many shots the number of strips was either 7 or a multiple thereof (e.g. 14 or 21). Taking measurements from the more regularly shaped and subdivided shots it is clear that the original width of a standard strip must have been 21.6 Zealand ells or 24 Jutland ells, which coincides remarkably with the customary Dobbeltager (double-acre) recorded in old Danish provincial laws from 1241 onward. Even more common in Brødslev was the single acre of 12 Jutland ells, being half the width of the Dobbeltager.

On the extreme western edge of the common fields lay three shots with very distinctive names — Vestervang, Søndervang and Nordervang (fig. 5) - suggesting that they were the fossilized remnants of the West Field, South Field and North Field of an ancient threefield system. It is highly significant that the strips in these shots belonged only to the five complete farms, and to 80l No. 6 and 80l No. 7. Moreover, the land register records that allocations of strips in these shots were measured »from the Toft (paddock)«, on the strength of which the author concludes that this is a reference to the former existence of a settlement, probably a village or hamlet, on this site. This settlement probably included only the five whole farmsteads, as the two 80l possessed only small strips. It is believed that the three-field system was only introduced into Denmark 1000 A.D., consequently Old Brødsted's pattern of common fields cannot be older than that. Yet the place-name ending suggests that the settlement itself may have originated as early as 500 A.D., and there may then have been two or three small farm clusters of which nothing is now known.

It is possible that this three-field system, based on a rotation of winter seed (rye), spring seed (barley or oats) and fallow, may not have been successful for more than a few centuries. There are good grounds for supposing that the climate deteriorated in late medieval times (from 1300 A.D. unward) and subsequent records describe the non-existing of a winter seed in North Jutland. Accordingly the farmers in Old Brødslev may have been driven to extend their arable land, the only opportunity for such expansion being to the east as shifting sand handicapped activity on the west. As population continued to increase, more and more land was taken in on the east until some time in late medieval times it became desirable for the settlement, now boasting seven farmsteads, to move to a new site more central to its fields. Thus, New Brødslev was created (Fig. 3). Shortly after this event, two additional farmsteads, represented by 80l No. 10 and No. 12 whose land lies mainly to the west of the new settlement, are believed to have been incorporated into the community. The new village now had nine farmsteads, of which all but one had the right to cut hay in the meadow, while No. 12, which was only small, had probably been fashioned out of No. 10.

This still omits us two more farmsteads (Nos. 8 and 9) with meadow rights to be explained. But an old record of 1553 confirms that there were two additional settlements, called Hauenbye and Hauen Torp, in the parish of Ingstrup. The place name ending -by would date the former to Viking times (800^—1000 A. D.), while -torp is considered medieval (1000^—1200 A.D.). A search for further information about these two hamlets has been unsuccessful, but on the enclosure map there are two shots with the significant names of Hauen (Haugen or Hoven) and Gammeljord (Old Land) (Fig. 5). Reference to the land register shows that only farmsteads Nos. 8, 9 and 14 participated in Gammeljord which lay on the eastern periphery of the common fields in 1688. Perusal of the air photograph provides unmistakable evidence of the existence of a »lost« village or hamlet to the south of Gammeljord, which might conceivably be the Hauenbye of 1553. If this assumption is correct, it would appear that the deliberate destruction of Hauenbye and the incorporation of its farmsteads and its land in Brødslev probably occurred soon after 1553.

So far we have accounted for the five Gårde, the five primary 80l
and Halve 80l Nos. 12 and 14, leaving six small 80l to be explained.
Of these, No. 18, which held land only in a few of the more recent

shots, was certainly a very late addition to the community, while the remainder (Nos. 11, 13, 15, 16 and 17) were clearly the same five Halve 80l to which reference was made in the record of 1553. The latter affirms that shortly before 1553 five 80l were built from a farm in Brødslev that had belonged to the priest in Ingstrup. Consequently, at the end of the sixteenth century at least 17 farmsteadswere to be found in Brødslev, while by 1688 the addition of No. 18 had increased this by one.

GRINDSTED

The hamlet and township of Grindsted in Hammer parish is bordered on the south by the steep hill slopes of Hammer Bakker and on the north by low-lying Late Glacial plains whose surface is waterlogged in many places (Fig. 6). The intermediate area, which forms a platform of sandy boulder clay, is of relatively high fertility and intensive arable land-use. The oval village green, around which the farmsteads are grouped, is a common feature in eastern Denmark and closely resembles the German Rundling (Fig. 7). When the great Danish land register was prepared in 1688 the settlement comprised five whole farms (Gårde), seven half farms (80/), four quarter farms (Halve Bol) and thirteen cottages (Table III). Four whole farms and three 80l had rights to cut hay in the meadow, while all farms could cut grass and reeds in the bogs.

The common fields were divided into three great fields (Vange), called Stokbro Mark, V estermark (West Field) and Søndermark (South Field); each of these contained a varying number of shots, which in turn were subdivided into many parallel strips (Fig. 7). The strips contiguous with the eastern edge of the settlement belongedto Gårde 2, 3 and 4 and to 80l l and 5, while those on the western outskirts of the village belonged to Gårde 6 and 7 and to B_}ol 8, 9, 10 and 12 (Fig. 8). At some time past these strips had clearly served as paddocks (Tofter) until a subsequent redistributionof strips led to their incorporation in the common fields. In Stokbro Mark and Vestermark the allocation of strips to individualfarms appears to have been quite haphazard and many farms held two or more contiguous strips, apparently the result of careful exchange of property over many years. Only in Søndermark do we find shots whose strips reveal an orderly allocation to individual farms. For example, in Bløshøys Agre, the largest and oldest of the shots in Søndermark, one finds a remarkable regularity of distribution; making allowances for a few exchanges of property,

one arrives at the following succession, reckoned from east to west — farms 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 6, (9), 12, 10 and 8 (Table V). Both the farmsteads in the village and the paddocks had the same succession, with the single exception that 80l 5 is represented here, but not in Bløshøys shot (compare Fig. 8). Reference to this practice of Solskifte, or the sun-distribution of strips from east to west within a shot, has been found in Danish provincial laws of the thirteenth century.

As there is no firm evidence of Solskifte in the other ancient fields, it would appear that the redistribution of strips in Bløshøys shot took place at a later date than in the other old fields. It may also follow that Bløshøys shot is younger than the others. One is then tempted to ask at what time and for what reason did this late redistribution of Bløshøys shot take place? Could it be that we have here evidence of the extension of GrindstecTs field system as a result of common agreement between all farmers?

From an investigation of the relationship between Gare? property and 80l property in each shot, it is clear that the Gårde were allocatedthree to four times as much land as the 801. But at Grindsted a striking exception to this rule could be seen in Hammerdam Agre, the most westerly of the shots, where the 80l owned no less than 60 % and the Gårde only 40 % (Table VI). One can discount the suggestion that this was a compensation for remoteness from the village. The most reasonable assumption would be that the 80l had a priority to this part of the arable land, possibly because an earlier settlement had existed on this site. Unfortunately, there are no precise records of a village having disappeared here, but there is strong circumstantial evidence that a settlement called Hammer once stood on this site. Grindsted lies in Hammer parish, but althoughthere is an isolated church called Hammer Kirke, a hilly area called Hammer Bakker and a pond called Hammerdam, there is no village of that name. It is not unlikely that such a village did exist in medieval times (1000^—1200 A.D.), when the church was built, but subsequently disappeared. The reason for its disappearancemight lie in the general deterioration of climate at the beginningof Late Medieval times c. 1300 A.D., when more stormy conditions prevailed. A rise in the level of ground water in and around Hammer pond might easily have made tillage very difficult, or even impossible, for the Hammer folk, and induced them to move the village to a more favourable site. Rather than establish an entirely new site, it was decided to extend the existing hamlet

of Grindsted by establishing a western row of farmsteads facing the older eastern row (fig. 8-2). As a compensation for the loss of Hammerdam shot, agreement was reached with the Grindsted folk, whereas all farmers tilled the Bløshøys shot in common.

While these changes were taking place, another 80l (No. 1) had been added on the eastern side of the settlement, so that by the end of the fourteenth century the enlarged village of Grindsted had ten farmsteads (in order Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 6, 9, 12, 10 and 8, in order to their place in the village). At a later date 80l 5 was built, and the settlement now consisted of eleven farmsteads as stated in the record of 1553 (fig. 8-3). Since then the fields have continually been extended by the addition of more strips, usually by individual activity. Especially has this been so in the steeper and less fertile parts of Hammer Bakker, once all the level land of the plateau had been pressed into cultivation. Finally between 1553 and 1688 growth of population resulted in the formation of one more 80l (No. 14) and four more Halve 80l (11, 13, 15 and 16) (fig. 8-4).

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