| Summary: | The aim of this study is to investigate colonization processes and population and agricultural development during the 16th century. The studied geographical area consists of the northern part of the northernmost province of Sweden of that time, Västerbotten. During this period, this part of Sweden consists of four parishes, from the south to the north: Piteå, Luleå, Kalix and Torneå. The area constitutes a bailiwick (county administrative division) of its own, the northern bailiwick of Västerbotten. The geographical area studied in this thesis is today’s County of Norrbotten below the border of Lappmarken and Torneå Municipality in Finland. By the middle of the 16th century the region is an established and developed agricultural district. The average farm’s acreage is nearly three acres. The differences between the parishes are considerable, however. Besides arable farming and cattle farming, fishing is important. Studying land colonization, settlements and population in 16th century Sweden means being limited mainly to one kind of source, namely bailiff accounts (fogderäkenskaper). These accounts consist of cadastres (land registers of rent and revenue), registers of other ordinary and extraordinary taxes, and, from the end of 1560s, the tithe registers. This collection of registers constitutes the bailiffs’ accounts of incomes and expenses and is an expression of the increased control exerted by the Crown over production and private wealth in the country. An important task has been to check the quality of the sources for the study. Quality means in this context up-to-dateness and completeness. An investigation of the sources shows that they were regularly updated. By comparing the different registers the completeness can be examined, i.e. the extent to which they correctly follow the instructions, “undervisningar”. These circumstances, the up-to-dateness and completeness of the sources, guarantee the possibility of describing, in a correct manner, the real situation in the region regarding the land ...
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