Setesvein or setesvenn is the name of
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
and
pre-reformatory armed
pages
Page most commonly refers to:
* Page (paper), one side of a leaf of paper, as in a book
Page, PAGE, pages, or paging may also refer to:
Roles
* Page (assistance occupation), a professional occupation
* Page (servant), traditionally a young mal ...
who acted as local representatives of a
bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...
or of a
feudal lord
An overlord in the English feudal system was a lord of a manor who had subinfeudated a particular manor, estate or fee, to a tenant. The tenant thenceforth owed to the overlord one of a variety of services, usually military service or se ...
in
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...
. Setesveins between 1350 and 1537 are commonly associated with the Catholic
Archbishop, on whose behalf they exercised administrative and military functions in their respective districts. Clerical setesveins were especially numerous in
Northern Norway, where they constitute an important part of the regional upper-class history.
Etymology and definition
The word ''setesvein'' consists of ''sete'', meaning 'seat, residence', and ''svein'', meaning 'young servant' or
'page'. It descends from
Old Norwegian
nn, gamalnorsk
, region = Kingdom of Norway (872–1397)
, era = 11th–14th century
, familycolor = Indo-European
, fam2 = Germanic
, fam3 = North Germanic
, fam4 = West Scandinavian
, fam5 ...
''setusveinn''. Under Danish influence, the word was spelled ''sædesvend'', from which the modern, but today less used form ''setesvenn'' derives. Whilst ''svein'' is considered as
Norwegian Nynorsk
Nynorsk () () is one of the two written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language ( no, Landsmål) parallel to the Dano-Nor ...
and ''svenn'' is mainly used in
Norwegian Bokmål
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe
*Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway
*Demographics of Norway
*The Norwegian language, including the ...
(including
Riksmål
(, also , ) is a written Norwegian language form or spelling standard, meaning the ''National Language'', closely related and now almost identical to the dominant form of Bokmål, known as .
Both Bokmål and Riksmål evolved from the Danish wri ...
), the form ''setesvein'' is predominant in both languages.
In general, a ''svein'' or a ''huskarl'' (
housecarl
A housecarl ( on, húskarl; oe, huscarl) was a non- servile manservant or household bodyguard in medieval Northern Europe.
The institution originated amongst the Norsemen of Scandinavia, and was brought to Anglo-Saxon England by the Danish con ...
) was a page residing at a court, whilst a ''setesvein'' was attached to a court, but had his own residence; thus the word ''sete''.
Johan Fritzner's dictionary of
Old Norwegian
nn, gamalnorsk
, region = Kingdom of Norway (872–1397)
, era = 11th–14th century
, familycolor = Indo-European
, fam2 = Germanic
, fam3 = North Germanic
, fam4 = West Scandinavian
, fam5 ...
defines a ''setusveinn'' as a housecarl who is in the service of a
lendman or of a
bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...
without living at his master's residence or court.
Among other places, setesveins are mentioned in several ''
Diplomatarium Norvegicum ''Diplomatarium Norvegicum'' is a series of books containing the texts of documents and letters from Norway older than 1590, verbatim and in the original language. The series consists of 22 volumes, containing the texts of approximately 20,000 docum ...
'' documents and in the
Codex of the Hird. Examples are:
* RB 7119: þeir sem Noregs konungar hafa áðr leitt í sínum lögum nökkura ''setusveina'' at hafa
* DN III, 477 (35812): engin várra skal fleiri húskarla ok ''setusveina'' hafa en sem lögbók ok hirðskrá vátta
* DN VIII, 592 (58323)
* DN IX, 69413: alle the knaber therinde och ''sædescwenne''
History
Until 1350
A svein was originally an armed
page
Page most commonly refers to:
* Page (paper), one side of a leaf of paper, as in a book
Page, PAGE, pages, or paging may also refer to:
Roles
* Page (assistance occupation), a professional occupation
* Page (servant), traditionally a young m ...
who was in the service of and resided at the court of a
chieftain
A tribal chief or chieftain is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom.
Tribe
The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of western Afroeurasia.
Tribal societies are sometimes categorized a ...
.
Subsequently, they separated into a secular and a clerical section. In the
High Medieval Age (1130–1350) and in the
Late Medieval Age (1350–1537), a page was normally one who had entered the court of a bishop or of a
feudal lord
An overlord in the English feudal system was a lord of a manor who had subinfeudated a particular manor, estate or fee, to a tenant. The tenant thenceforth owed to the overlord one of a variety of services, usually military service or se ...
. It was customary that young men of lower nobility and of local and wealthy families served at the court of the
Archbishop (as a ''svein'') until returning to his district, where he acted as his lord's representative (as a ''setesvein'').
In
Celestine III's papal bull of 15 June 1194, secular officers of the Archbishop received freedom from all taxes and military duties. According to the
Sættargjerd of 1277 (a
concordat
A concordat is a convention between the Holy See and a sovereign state that defines the relationship between the Catholic Church and the state in matters that concern both,René Metz, ''What is Canon Law?'' (New York: Hawthorn Books, 1960 st Edi ...
between the
Church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* C ...
and the
King
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
), which was approved by
Pope Gregory X
Pope Gregory X ( la, Gregorius X; – 10 January 1276), born Teobaldo Visconti, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1 September 1271 to his death and was a member of the Secular Franciscan Order. He was ...
, the Archbishop had the right to have 100 setesveins, and this without paying taxes. Likewise, each bishop could have 40 setesveins.
In the years of the
Black Death (–1353), setesveins in the service of secular noblemen (knights) were placed under the direct control of the King. This represented the end of group of secular setesveins.
1350–1537
In the Late Middle Ages, clerical setesveins were seated mainly along the coast, from
Sogn
Sogn is a traditional district in Western Norway ''(Vestlandet)''. It is located in the county of Vestland, surrounding the Sognefjord, the largest/longest fjord in Norway. The district of Sogn consists of the municipalities of Aurland, Balestr ...
in
Western Norway
Western Norway ( nb, Vestlandet, Vest-Norge; nn, Vest-Noreg) is the region along the Atlantic coast of southern Norway. It consists of the counties Rogaland, Vestland, and Møre og Romsdal. The region has no official or political-administrativ ...
to
Finnmark
Finnmark (; se, Finnmárku ; fkv, Finmarku; fi, Ruija ; russian: Финнмарк) was a county in the northern part of Norway, and it is scheduled to become a county again in 2024.
On 1 January 2020, Finnmark was merged with the neighbouri ...
in
Northern Norway.
Their function was to administer the Archbishop's estate, for example by collecting taxes.
In addition, they traded, partly themselves and partly on behalf of the Archbishop.
In the 1530s, there were at least 69 setesveins in Norway, whereof 49 in Northern Norway.
The reason for their numerous presence in this region were the important fisheries and the thereto belonging export to Continental Europe.
Whilst they were not noble ''
ex officio'', setesveins had, in general, the same social and economical position as lower nobility.
It is known that a few setesveins received 'noble freedom' from the Archbishop.
Clerical setesveins were recruited mainly among lower nobility and very wealthy farmers.
Alike the
nobility
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The character ...
, setesveins enjoyed full tax freedom for their
seat farm
In Scandinavia, a seat farm ( Danish: ''sædegård''; Norwegian: ''setegård''/''setegard''; Swedish: ''sätesgård'' or ''säteri''; Finnish: ''säteriratsutila'') was a farm where a nobleman had his permanent residence. They were found in the K ...
s. They had freedom from ''
leidang The institution known as ''leiðangr'' (Old Norse), ''leidang'' ( Norwegian), ''leding'' ( Danish), ''ledung'' ( Swedish), ''expeditio'' (Latin) or sometimes lething (English), was a form of conscription ( mass levy) to organize coastal fleets for s ...
'' (military service); however, the Archbishop could order them into military service for the Archdiocese.
After the
Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
in 1537, when the Archbishop went into exile and the
Catholic Church of Norway was dissolved and replaced by the
Church of Norway, setesveins lost the legal foundation on which their positions rested. Furthermore, King
Christian III
Christian III (12 August 1503 – 1 January 1559) reigned as King of Denmark from 1534 and King of Norway from 1537 until his death in 1559. During his reign, Christian formed close ties between the church and the crown. He established ...
did send soldiers to raid the coast, punishing and confiscating goods of setesveins who had supported the Archbishop.
After 1537
In the following years, most setesveins continued being traders and shippers.
Some of them apparently remained local representatives of the Church,
now under the new,
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...
Superintendent
Superintendent may refer to:
*Superintendent (police), Superintendent of Police (SP), or Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), a police rank
*Prison warden or Superintendent, a prison administrator
*Superintendent (ecclesiastical), a church exec ...
and the
canons in
Nidaros. Members of this class of ex-setesveins were known as pages ( no, knape, knabe; lit. 'boy') and are today known under the non-official term ''page nobility'' ( no, knapeadel, knabeadel). They were part of the upper social class in
Northern Norway in the 16th and 17th centuries,
and several
Nordland families
Nordland families ( no, nordlandsslekt) are the older families of Medieval bourgeoisie, burgher or Clergy, clerical estate in today's counties of Nordland and Troms, plus Finnmark, in Norway. These families belonged to the leading social classes o ...
descend from them. Their social significance and their impact on culture have been considerable in the region.
Information and statistics
In a list of 1533, named ''Sancte Oluffz domkirkis Szeteswenne'' (Setesveins of the
Cathedral of St. Olaf), one finds that
Olav Engelbrektsson
Olav Engelbrektsson (, Trondenes, Norway – 7 February 1538, Lier, Duchy of Brabant, Habsburg Netherlands) was the 28th Archbishop of Norway from 1523 to 1537, the Regent of Norway from 1533 to 1537, a member and later president of the ''Riks ...
,
Archbishop of Nidaros had 69 setesveins.
Ending with 'etc.', the list is apparently incomplete.
1533 list: Statistics
1533 list: Names and places
The following list is based mainly on
Ludvig Ludvigsen Daae's presentation of the 1533 list of setesveins. The presentation is a part of an article named ''Den Throndhjemske Erkestols Sædesvende og Frimænd'' (1890). Daae's presentation contains additional comments and references. These are not included in the list below.
References
[Daae (1890), p. 5.]
[Daae (1890), p. 6.]
[Daae (1890), p. 7.]
[Daae (1890), p. 8.]
[Daae (1890), p. 9.]
[Hamre (1970), p. 161.]
[Ytreberg (1980), p. 17.]
[Ytreberg (1980), p. 18.]
[Fritzner]
setusveinn
/ref>
Literature
*
* Daae, Ludvig Ludvigsen: ''Den Throndhjemske Erkestols Sædesvende og Frimænd'', pp. 1–27 in the ''Historisk Tidsskrift'', vol, III, series 1.
Kristiania
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
, 1890.
* Hamre, Lars: ''Setesvein'', pp. 161–164 in ''Kulturhistorisk leksikon for nordisk middelalder'', vol. 15.
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
, 1970.
*
* {{cite book, author = Ytreberg, Nils Andreas, title = Nordlandske handelssteder : virke, hverdag, reiseliv, fest, year = 1980, isbn = 978-82-7028-460-3
Norwegian nobility
History of Finnmark
History of Nordland
History of Troms