Magdalena Andersdotter (1590–1650) was a

Norwegian 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 ...

shipowner A ship-owner is the owner of a merchant vessel (commercial ship) and is involved in the shipping industry. In the commercial sense of the term, a shipowner is someone who equips and exploits a ship, usually for delivering cargo at a certain frei ...

. Alongside

Beinta Broberg Bente Christine Broberg, known as Beinta Broberg, (1667 – 15 February 1752), is perhaps the best-known woman from the history of the Faroe Islands. She has been the inspiration for novels and a film. Biography Beinta was born in Tórshavn, th ...

, she is one of the two best-known women in the pre-19th century history of the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

Life

Andersdotter was first married to the Norwegian merchant Niels Joenssøn of

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...

, and managed his business as a shipowner as a widow. She remarried the wealthy farmer and official Mikkjal Joensson (1566–1648) on the Faroe Islands in 1616. Andersdotter became known for her many lawsuits and feuds against her husband. After her second marriage, she moved to the Faroe Islands, where she did not adjust well. The lawsuits focused around her husband's attempts to take control over her business as well as slander cases. She was also involved in feuds with her step-sons, who she refused to sit at the main table in her house hold. In 1633, she was banned from leaving the islands, but in 1634 she violated the ban and left for Bergen, and in 1635 she put her cause before the

monarch A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority and power i ...

. She returned to the islands in 1638 and was put on trial, but returned to the monarch in

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 ...

in 1639. It is unknown how the case was settled.

In history

The lawsuits of Andersdotter has played a part in the history of the Faroe Islands and has been interpreted in various ways by the historians during the centuries. In the 1850s, she was made a symbol of the Faroeic resistance in protecting her rights toward the oppressors, in the 1890s as a bad example, and during the 20th century the portrait of her has been subject of physiological interpretations.

References

Dansk Kvindebiografisk Leksikon - Magdalena Andersdotter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Andersdotter, Magdalena 1590 births 1650 deaths Faroese people of Norwegian descent 17th-century Faroese people 17th-century Norwegian businesspeople 17th-century Norwegian businesswomen Ship owners