The Danish Peace Academy

Holger Terp: Danish Peace History

Working paper 1

Denmark-Norway during the dictatorship of the kings 1660-1849

The ruling system of absolutism created from 1660 to 1849 a perverse system of oppression against the unpropertied persons, culminating with the adscription (registration of and forced labour of villeinages) in 1701.

To learn about the absolute society I am dependent on archival references of the administration of agricultural history, development of law & order and punishment, legal history and the history of taxation. Taxation could show the interaction between the military burden, taxes and protests against them

Denmark was a farming country then. Browsing in the encyclopaedic “Handbook for Danish local historians⁴²“ gave the article Hartkorn, a Danish unit for land valuation and the key words and the reference needed were given. The key words are: portion money⁴³, cavalry money⁴⁴, march money⁴⁵, food tax⁴⁶, all taxes that were part of the military burden. The reference is from Nielsen and Thalbitzer’s jubilee publication “Tax and tax administration in older times⁴⁷“. It was the first breakthrough. The two tax historians wrote that by the time of the great Nordic war 1701-1720, the navy had to be rearmed and an expensive system of conscripted soldiers was introduced: “The share of military burden in the total state budget was so great, that changes in the military areas marked the total account (of public expenses). The preponderance of the military expenses of wars, armaments and changes in the military policy thus greatly influenced the states finances and was quickly manifested in the tax policy⁴⁸“. And because it was the history of tax and tax administration, the different military related taxes and the protests against them was easy to find and prove; as the connection between tax administration and conscription also is the subject of the important philosophical doctor’s thesis “Great Landowner and Public Administrator” of the archivist Birgit Løgstrup.

Law & order and punishment would possible show non book printed protests especially regarding to the military, conscription and desertion. By 1701 a complex detailed adscription conscript registration system was enforced wherewith the agricultural workers became slaves of the landowners. The only time off was during military service⁴⁹. Historian Finn Stendal Pedersen connects again the conscription register to the landowners from 1733 to 1793, when conscription was taken over by the military⁵⁰, resulting a growing number of complains to the Danish Chancellery. This had been possible from 1687. By 1785 there were 5086 complaints. In 1795, 9546 according to the research by Michael Bregnsbo. The files of Danish Chancellery is a new source to complains about enlistment and conscription⁵¹.

By the year 2000 Tyge Krogh was able to publish his second major empirical based thesis, “The Enlightenment and the magical : Executions and corporal punishments in Denmark in the first half of the 18^th century⁵²“. Krogh analyses criminal cases 1719 to 1756 presented to military courts covered by the Provincial court of Zealand. Krogh even has a database of military criminal cases⁵³! Soldiers drafted collectively. The military historian Niels Friis wrote, that as late as July 21, 1783, 37 soldiers deserted, “possibly at the same time”⁵⁴. Now the pacific desertion cases and protests against conscription should be easy to record in the period up to the Danish constitution of 1849.

Birgit Løgstrup proves in 1986 that general protests, disobedience, strikes and even civil disobedience, like boycotts was possible for the peasants, at least from 1781⁵⁵.

Birgit Løgstrup analyses in her thesis some of the conscientious objector cases: refusal to engagement up to 1741⁵⁶, bribery⁵⁷, complaints to the supreme court and the king⁵⁸, deserting from the land owners⁵⁹, refusal of church confirmation and communication to 1777⁶⁰, marriage, employment in towns⁶¹ and skilled employment as in the case of the musician Olle Larsen Esch (after 1755) etc. In a later volume “Bound to the Earth”, Birgit Løgstrup also describes immigration by conscientious objectors⁶² and self mangling is seen as late as 1846⁶³.

It should be kept in mind, that these learned historians only researched local cases and that similar research has to be completed in the rest of Denmark.

Conscription to the navy during time of war there have always been in Denmark, by 1688-1689 the admirality introduced conscription i peace time for sailors, doctors and trumpeters with little succes. By 1705 the navy tried again by forcing persons who wanted to become sailors to enlist with the result, that during the great Nordic war there were so many deserter cases, that the conscription system nearly broke down. The sailors emigrated to foreign countries. By 1722 the admirality by itselves gave quater to the sailors, shows a new study by Claus Rafner.

According to the Record Office's Militære fondsregnskaber, the army and navy departments established 1790-1871 funds by which salaries and pensions could be paid or supplemented. The income from those funds came from fines and fees from failing to appear at the session.

The intelligence work of the police began on May tenth 1780, according to the historian Kenn Tarbesen⁶⁴. The police intelligence should “control and put social clubs under surveillance”.

During the Napoleoni wars there was a rebellion in the Norwegian valley Lejrdalen or Lerdalen against conscription in January 1802. Also there was a similar rebellion in the island Karmø near the Norwegian town of Stavanger. The people in Lejr-dalen meet at the draft and was registered, but did not report for service in the army. An armed military expedition was sent from Denmark to the dale, and the citizens gave in; but formed only a light company with the explanation, that none of them “could ski”⁶⁵.

After the battle and terror bombardment of Copenhagen 1807, Danish and Norwegian prisoners of war were imprisoned in English prison ships (an early form of concentration camps) up to 1814, when they were released. Some of the imprisoned Norwegian sailors became Quakers and established Quaker communities in Norway, which came under Swedish rule after the Napoleoni wars⁶⁶. The British imprisonment policy during the Napoleoni wars needs attention, regarding the prisoners of war from countries other than Denmark and Norway.

In 1841 the Quaker Elizabeth Fry and her brother Joseph John Gurney visited Copenhagen, where they had talks with the king, recommending him to abolish slavery in the Danish West Indies Islands⁶⁷.

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