1 Cf. Peter, Laslett, ed., Household and family in past time (Cambridge, 1972)Google Scholar, and Richard, Wall, ed., Family forms in historic Europe (Cambridge, 1983).Google Scholar

2 The first Danish census was taken in 1769 and from 1787 nominal lists became an essential part of the census-procedure. The original nominal lists have survived for the whole of Denmark and contain information on the age, civil status, occupation and position of each person in the household.

3 Cf. Johansen, Hans Chr., Befolkningsudvikling og familiestruktur i del 18. århundrede (Odense, 1975), 91 f.Google Scholar

4 This arrangement - called ‘aftasgt’ - was normally secured in a written contract between the new and the old tenant and was often confirmed by the estate-owner or the local judge. It stipulated the amount of food, firewood, etc., which should be given to the old tenant and ended with an obligation to secure a decent funeral for the older generation.

5 Cf. Johansen, Hans Chr., Næring og bystyre, Odense 1700–1789 (Odense, 1983), 262 f.Google Scholar

6 Johansen, Hans Chr. (1983), 41.Google Scholar

7 The cost of sending a letter from Copenhagen to Odense in the eighteenth century was equal to half a day's wage for an unskilled labourer.

8 Funen Provincial Archives, Odense byfoged, skifteprotokoller.

9 Ibid.

10 Funen Provincial Archives, Odense magistral, fattigvæsensregnskaber.

11 A full-time employed unskilled worker with a family earned about 50 rixdollars a year.

12 Contemporary travellers passing through the city often complained about the swarm of beggars, who surrounded them in the streets when they went out, and there were also complaints from surrounding rural areas, where the urban beggars walked around during the daytime. Cf. Johansen, Hans Chr. (1983), 249 ff.Google Scholar