Saga - 2012, Síða 102

is í klæðaburði.64 Sama gildir um karla. Í skiptagögnum má nefni-
lega greina persónuleika, lífssýn og metnað, jafnvel stefnumótun.65
Hægt er að greina hópamyndun, jafnvel þvert á það sem oft er talað
um sem njörvaða stéttskiptingu í stöðnuðu samfélagi. Gögnin
verðskulda meiri athygli af hálfu fræðimanna en þau hafa fengið til
þessa.
Abstract
már j óns son
ICELANDIC PROBATE INVENTORIES 1740–1900
Probate inventories have been systematically utilised for some decades by
European and US historians who study consumption, living standards and mate-
rial culture. In Iceland, however, these remarkable sources have been neglected,
except for limited studies on book ownership (Sólrún B. Jensdóttir 1968, 1971),
cultural differences among farmers (Christina Folke Ax 2002) and housing condi-
tions (Hörður Ágústsson 2004). Otherwise, probate inventories have been used
only sporadically in biographies and works on local history. The main argument
of this article is that these documents deserve closer attention, in particular
because they reveal in detail the everyday struggle of ordinary Icelanders for a
decent life. A project now underway to index the over 20,000 extant inventories
will pave the way for scholars who wish to take advantage of these sources in
their research. Fortunately, these documents have been preserved quite well in
every region of Iceland, though there are occasional gaps. The preliminary figures
presented in Tables 1 and 2 show steadily increasing numbers of probate inven-
tories from around 1780 until 1870, after which there is a decrease, most likely due
to new legislation in 1878. Both the new laws and the previous legislation are
analysed here in some detail, along with the administrative practices of the offi-
cials responsible for registering these inventories: sýslumenn and hreppstjórar. In
1769, the inheritance provisions of the 1687 Norwegian book of law (Norske lov)
were introduced in Iceland, stipulating that whenever inheritors were (1) minors,
már jónsson102
64 Sbr. í Noregi: Åsa Elstad, „Skiftemateriale, hamskifte og klesskifte“, Skiftene
som kilde, bls. 92–110; Kristin Røgeberg, „Kvinners gangklær. Skiftene som
kilde til kvinners klesskikk på 1600–1700-tallet“, Skiftene som kilde, bls. 111–128.
65 Sjá grein mína „Máttvana meyjar á 19. öld“, Staðlausir stafir. Afmælisrit Helgu
Kress. Væntanlegt frá RIKK 2012; einnig: Guðný Hallgrímsdóttir, Hulda: sjálfs-
tjáning kvenna á 18. og 19. öld. MA-ritgerð í sagnfræði frá Háskóla Íslands
2009; Yngvi Leifsson, Flökkufólk. Líf og ferðir flökkufólks á Norðurlandi
1783–1816. MA-ritgerð í sagnfræði frá Háskóla Íslands 2011 (aðgengilegar á
vefslóðinni skemman.is).
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