På kanten. Torparnas markanvändning under 1800-talet i Ormesta och Backa, Örebro län.

Abstract

In the middle of the 19th century, approximately 90% of the Swedish population lived in the countryside. A large share were crofters that did not own the land they farmed. Landless crofters are often depicted as a homogeneous group but the amount of land they farmed, varied from area to area and over time. This essay examines the crofters and the crofts, and their land areas and land uses in two small villages outside Örebro, in the province of Närke. The essay is based on solid archival studies of maps, written sources such as house interrogation records and estate records, as well as an archaeological inventory of the area carried out for the essay. The group of people and buildings analyzed is small in numbers but within the group there are large differences in the land areas, land uses and in the estate records that have been analyzed. It is difficult to see clear patterns and explanations for the outcome and the group undoubtedly appears as a very heterogeneous group. The crofters with the largest areas have more than 20 times the area the crofters with the smallest areas have. The highest valued probate is more than 3 times as high as the lowest valued. The result comes from a limited group, in a limited area and in a limited time but there are large variations. What the people have in common is that they are called crofters.