Serfdom in Norway

For information about Norwegian serfdom in the Middle Ages, see thrall.

Norwegian serfdom can be a way of defining the position of the Norwegian lower class farmers, though they were not actually in serfdom by European standards.[1][2] The evolution of this social system began about 1750.

The institution only applied in the Kingdom of Norway, not in the rest of Denmark-Norway. Iceland (a Norwegian dependency) had its own system of serfdom, while a somewhat similar institution, the stavnsbånd, existed in Denmark proper. Slavery was the backbone of the Dano-Norwegian colonies in the Caribbean.

  1. ^ Gascoigne, Bamber (2001). "History of Norway". HistoryWorld. Retrieved 21 November 2009.
  2. ^ Kajanto, Iiro. "A Historical Note". Norway: Database of Nordic Neo-Latin Literature: University of Bergen. Archived from the original on 22 December 2009. Retrieved 21 November 2009. In Norway and Iceland, serfdom never made any inroads.