Terminology

Village (By)

Village (Swe: By) can denote a named place consisting of at least two neighboring farms and possibly several crofts in the countryside, but was also a legal designation for a collection of farms that are or have been a community for the common ownership and use of certain land or forest - so-called commons (agricultural villages). The latter definition applied before the land reform of the early nineteenth century to Swedish and Finnish land parcels shared by several farms. The term is used primarily to refer to agricultural villages.

Byaman

Byaman, a person who owns land in a village and resides there, i.e. landowning villager. (SAOB).

Village Council (Bystämma)

The village council (Swe: Bystämma) was the institution in which the landowners/shareholders of a village were organized and the council was headed by a village elder (Swe: byaålderman or byfogde) who was appointed by the villagers (the landowners of the village) to manage the village's activities and the rules of the villages were written down in a Village Ordinance (Byordning). The members of the council are called the “byalag” (or byaråd). These had similar legal status in terms of voting rights at the village council. Among other things, the Village Council appointed the village's representatives to the Parish Council (Swe: Sockenstämman). The members of the village council are the villagers (byamännen, byaman in the singular), i.e. those who own land in the village (more than one plot) and thus hold an agricultural property. The village council governed the village according to customary law, often codified in a specially written village regulation, a charter of common affairs issued by the district court. The village elder is elected by merit or in turn according to a rotation system. The village ordinance (Byordningen) regulated obligations and rights with regard to common property, management of livestock, etc. After many villages in Götaland and southern Svealand were split up following several land reforms in the 18th and 19th centuries - Storskifte, Enskifte, and Laga Skifte - the "Byalag" became less important there. In Dalarna, Hälsingland, Jämtland, and other provinces in central and northern Sweden, however, most villages remained intact, and "byalag" has continued to play a natural role there.

Fyrk

The fyrk was the measure used to indicate voting strength in rural municipalities. It was calculated after taxation, and in this respect was a precursor to today's local tax rate (skattekrona). According to the 1862 municipal laws, the fyrk was calculated as follows: for the land set in mantal, a whole mantal was equal to one hundred fyrk, regardless of the tax for which the land was assessed.

Mantal

The mantal was a measure of a landed property’s fiscal size (i.e. a homestead's yield), expressed by the mantal-set value and the basis for the mantal tax. So, the mantal was a property tax code, a measure of propertied, which formed the basis for taxation in Sweden. The mantal was usually calculated in arable and meadow-land, and was estimated in barrels (acres) according to how much grain could be grown on the farmland. Groves and plots were excluded. So, the mantal-set value was a measure of a homestead’s fiscal power (based on the yield) and the tax payments that the homestead had to make. Originally, the measurements were 1, ½, or ¼. Homestead distributions due to inheritance and write- down of the mantal figures (förmedling) gradually led to shifts in the quotas (to ¾ or ⅛, for example), and after a few generations of inheritances to very unwieldy quotas. In Ångermanland province a similar term was used, seland. There were 24 seland on one mantal, i.e. one seland was 1/24 mantal. The mantalspenningar (the mantal tax) was the tax based on the number of the mantal-set value of each homestead, which from 1635 became permanent. Mantalslängd was a roll of the (taxable) inhabitants of a district (parish) of those who were obliged to pay the so-called mantal tax.

Milestones

A milepost (Swe: milstolpe) or milestone (milsten) is an early precursor to signposts. In Sweden, milestones were used from the 1649 Inn Ordinance (Swe: Gästgivarordning) until the 1890s to mark distances along highways and later county district roads. The oldest royal decree on milestones is thus from 1649 and the County Governors became responsible for the erection of milestones. The milestones could be used to calculate the length of a journey. Mileposts were set up according to the Swedish mil system: ¼, ½, ¾ and 1 mil {a Swedish mil was then 10,7 km}. Between each post, there was a quarter of a mil (about 2,672 m). It is from this division that the expression "fjärdingsväg" "a quarter mil" originated. The milestones were either made of wood or stone. In the 18th century, the cast iron milestone became common. The appearance of the milestones varies from county to county and from time to time. In addition to the Swedish "mil" markers, the year, the royal crown, and the county governor's initials are usually also found on the posts. The milestones were usually placed in foundations (pedestals) of dry stone walls. Please note that a Swedish “mil” is not the same as an English mile. The Old Swedish Mil was (years 1699 - 1889) = 10,688 meters. The mil was divided into 4 fjärdingsväg (quarters) of 2,672 meters or 4,500 Swedish cubits each. In 1889, the current mil of 1 mil = 10 kilometers (metric mil) was introduced {10 km = 6.2 miles}. The new Road Act of 1891 (which came into force in 1895) abolished the regulations on the erection of milestones. The images show milestones made of wood, stone, and cast iron respectively. The wooden post is a quarter pole from Älghult parish, Småland. The stone milestone is from Dalby parish, Skåne. Both pictures are from: “Hur klövjestigen blev landsväg”. The cast iron milestone is from Karlskrona, 1794. Photo 2005. Image: Wikipedia.

Place Names and Roads

In many place names, information about our oldest infrastructure can be found directly or indirectly. Examples of place names that indicate some kind of worked ford are Örebro, Örsundsbro, and Jordbro. The word ör- comes from the Old Norse word "aur" which means, gravel, gravel bank. Place names with bor in the name indicate that there was a place where boats were carried or towed past rapids and shallows, for example Borlänge. Names of kavel- indicate that there has been a bridge (usually over a bog or marshland) made of round logs, kavelbro (Eng: corduroy road). In Kavelmora there was certainly an old corduroy road. The meaning of a round wooden piece is also found in the word “brödkavle” (Eng: rolling pin). In the past, there was a need to be able to refer to different sections of a road in order to locate events or conditions along the way. It could be a hill that had become impassable due to weather conditions or a part of the road washed away by rain, etc. It could also be an assault or the sighting of a wanted person in a wooded area, etc. The names of the different road sections were needed. In Ytterlännäs parish, Ångermanland, there are examples of some such names: Skarplands backen, Lägdern, Djupdalsbacken, Manslagarbackarna, Långman, Molivägaskälet, Finnsgrinna, Finnsbacken, Angstagrinna, Bursjövägaskälet, Hästhagen, Lillskola, Hans Jonsbacken, Kroken, Nybron, etc. Source: The Old Ytterlännäs. Names with “backen” being part of the name indicates that this was part of a road going up a hillside or slope.

Road Maintenance Stones

Road maintenance stones (Swe: väghållningsstenar) are markers of varying design that used to be erected along public roads, indicating the stretch of road that a road-keeping landowner was obliged to keep in a passable condition. Already in the medieval provincial laws, it was stipulated that the landowning farmers were responsible for road maintenance in the form of so- called natural road maintenance (Swe: naturaväghållning). In order to ensure a fair distribution of road maintenance obligations, the National Land Survey (Swe: Lantmäteriet) drew up special road division rolls in 1628. In these rolls, the roads were listed and divided into different parts called road lots (Swe: väglotter). The road lots were to be maintained by the landowning farmers in proportion to their landholdings, the mantal-set land. The road lots were numbered in the rolls and it was noted which farmer was the road keeper on which lot. The roads were inspected annually. Farmers who had not done a good job of maintaining the roads were then given recorded remarks. A farmer's road lots could be found in several places in the parish and in order to know where the different road lots were located, the farmers put up so-called road maintenance stones (Swe: väghållningsstenar) at their respective road lots. These stones were shaped according to the farmer's own taste. They were usually made of wood, but sometimes also of stone. On these posts and stones, they carved the number of the road lot and its length, and sometimes also the name or initials of the farmer or farm (owner’s mark) and the farm's mantal, as well as an arrow marking the direction in which the maintenance extended. In 1891, Sweden received its first Road Act, which came into force in 1895, and which for the first time provided for road maintenance stones. Under the Act, the newly established road maintenance districts (Swe: väghållningsdistrikt) were now responsible for road maintenance. In § 30, it is stated concerning road maintenance stones: "At the endpoints of each road section divided for maintenance, the road keeper shall affix clear markings indicating the property, which has the maintenance of the road section committed to him." The images show two road maintenance stones. The upper one is a road maintenance stone from Norrlanda parish, Gotland. Image: Wikipedia. The lower one is a road maintenance stone from Dalsland. Picture from the Road Administration Museum.

Signposts

Some form of road markings has been around for at least a couple of thousand years. The predecessors of today's road signs or signposts were various forms of markings along different roads, mainly for those who traveled by horse. Trees, for example, could be marked to help people find their way around, and sometimes stones were put up to mark where the road went. Some runestones have also been used for wayfinding. After some time, milestones were added along the roads. Several royal decrees from 1649 onwards provided for the erection of mileposts or milestones along the public roads to assist travelers. The county governors were responsible for their erection. The oldest form of permanent waymarking or trail blazing is probably the old way of making bright marks in tree trunks by cutting away bark and the outer pieces of wood of the trees along the path (Swe: bläckning). This method of marking the way by debarking the surrounding trees is well known. The ax was used to cut out chips of wood from spruce or pine trees. In addition to their actual purpose, runestones were often used to mark the route at particularly important points. The image to the right shows a trail in woods waymarked by cuts in the bark of tree trunks. This way of marking the path is called “bläckning” in Swedish. Image: Wikipedia. The milestones marked the beginning of systematic signposting in Sweden. The milestones themselves were no signposts, but they were part of a communication system in which the inns, the stage driving service, and the road were linked. Signposting then evolved from this system. Signposting was formed with Queen Christina's Inn Ordinance of 1649 and is considered to begin with this order. In the 1734 Law and the newly issued Inn Ordinance, it was stipulated that "If a road leads to a town, parish, mill, seaport or other knowable places, then marks must be set, showing the road to the place. So shall a tablet be hung at the gate of each inn, listing how far it is to the next inn, and the fee for a renting a horse to that inn". However, neither the law nor the inn ordinance specified what the marks should look like. As a result, the parishes and districts that set up the signs also decided what they should look like. The 1891 Road Act abolished the milestone system. The Act now provided for signposts: “Where roads meet, signposts shall be placed; the cost thereof, as well as for their maintenance, shall be borne by the road fund”. During the 1910s, cars became more common and the need for signposting along the roads became greater. At the same time, the signposts that existed at the time were not of a uniform standard and were perceived as archaic, consisting of milestones and a number of simple signs at inns. In 1916, the Swedish Royal Automobile Club (KAK) developed a type of signs consisting of a triangle with text underneath explaining the message of the mark. The image to the right shows an old signpost in Lökeberg, Foss parish, Bohuslän. Photo: Åke Fredsjö, 1959. Image: Bohuslän Museum, ID: UMFA54631:1133.. A few years earlier, at an international conference in Paris in 1909, a uniform type of road sign had been decided on, consisting of round blue panels with white text. Over time, the European standard became a sort of combination of the standard set in Paris and the Swedish Royal Automobile Club (KAK) standard. The KAK triangular signs evolved into warning signs, while the signs developed in Paris became prohibition signs. This standard was spread throughout Europe. In the beginning, almost all warning and location signs were yellow with black text and black characters. The image to the right shows a signpost from the 1930s. Image Wikipedia. From 1958, a new color scheme was introduced whereby road signs would have a white reflected text with a background that would be dark blue. From 1978 onwards, the Swedish Road Administration decided to switch to a new color scale for signs. From now on, highways would have medium blue signs while motorways (controlled-access highways) would have green ones. In countries following the Vienna convention, the motorway qualification implies that walking and parking are forbidden.

Road and Travel Maps

A road map is a map mainly adapted for road traffic, where highways are particularly clearly marked. Many printed road maps often include outline maps and several more detailed ones. Special road and travel maps began to be produced in Sweden in the 17th century in connection with the more established organization of the National Land Survey and increased travel. In 1628, the Office of the National Land Survey was established and the 1643 land survey ordinance contains specific provisions on the surveying of roads. Gripenhielm's general map is Sweden's first general map of "Svea and Göta rike and the Grand Duchy of Finland", drawn up by the cartographer Baron Carl Gripenhielm between 1687 and 1688. In the early 18th century, a series of road maps of the various parts of the country were produced. However, ordinary travelers had no access to these maps, as they were strictly confidential, foremost for military reasons. But as travel increased in the 18th century, so did the need for printed travel maps. In 1730, the National Land Survey was commissioned to inventory and map the passable highways in all of Sweden's counties, indicating inns and post stations. The maps were drawn by county. The finished result, “Chartebok öfwer Landswägarna uti Swea och Göta Rike”, was presented to King Frederick I in 1742. During the 19th century, many road or travel maps were published and from the 1860s, steamboat routes and railways were also usually drawn on the maps. The map below shows the roads in Kopparberg County, Sweden, in 1742, from “Chartebok öfwer Landswägarna uti Swea och Göta Rike.” (Road maps of the highways in Swea and Göta Rike (Sweden)). Image: National Land Survey of Sweden (Lantmäteriet), Gävle. i

Related Links

• Road History, page-1 • Inns and Stage Services • Summer Pasture • The Conception of Socken (parish) • Domestic Travel Certificates • History of the Swedish Police • History of Railways in Sweden • History of Göta Canal • Old Swedish Units of Measurement • Agricultural Land Reforms, Sweden • Postal Services Formerly

Source References

• Vägen i kulturlandskapet, vägar och trafik före bilismen, Vägverket, 2004 • Det gamla Ytterlännäs, Sten Berglund, 1974. Utgiven av Ytterlännäs hembygdsförening. Kapitel 39, sid 368 och framåt. • Hur klövjestigen blev landsväg, Gösta Berg, 1935. (Svenska kulturbilder / Första utgåvan. Andra bandet (del III & IV), sid 269 och framåt.) • Gästgiveri och skjutshåll, Ur det forna reselivets krönika, av Sven Sjöberg. Ur årsboken Uppland, 1959. • Stigen av Lars Levander, 1953 • Svenska Akademins Ordbok, SAOB (Swedish Academy Dictionary) • Wikipedia • Lantmäteriet (The National Land Survey of Sweden) Top of page