Mid Sweden University

This paper examines how long a farmer were responsible for running a farm in Sweden’s old peasant society. By examine the average farming period among the peasants the purpose with this paper is to nuance the traditional picture of the old peasant society as a static society. Life in Kville parish in the province of northern Bohuslän, between the year of 1681 and 1710, have been studied on an individual level by using population registers and land registers. The main conclusion that has been drawn from this material is that an average framer was responsible for running a farm in 12-13 years. Whereas the farms own by the nobility hade a higher average of 16 year. The paper also studies the female farmers during this period and how their farming period differed from the male. The female farmers farming period was significantly shorter and they usually functioned as a bridge between a father farming period and their son’s. This paper also discusses the changes over time and if periods of peace versus periods of war effected the length of the farming period. Connections between period of war and period of short farming time could not be drawn. The conclusion is that there is probably more factors that contribute to periods of instability whit short farming periods.