Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1987, Page 26

30
SANDOYARBÓK
as adults come to enjoy a much less distin-
guished status, for in royal tenant house-
holds only the eldest son stood to inherit
the bulk of the family’s holdings and all ot-
her males raised in the household could ex-
pect to spend their adult lives as the poor
relatives or hired hands of the royal tenant.
For these younger brothers leading the vil-
lage dance was to exercise symbolicaily the
power and authority that had been denied
them through primogeniture. It was indeed
these men who devoted a great deal of
their time and energy to learning, main-
taining, and performing their repertoires of
ballads.
Only in the instances of Johan Michael
Hentze at JJttastastova í Trøðum and Hans
Eriksen of Grúkhelli was the royal tenant
himself the singer of a noteworthy reper-
toire. At first glance, the status of both the-
se men seems too assured to need any such
buttressing; but a closer look reveals that
each of them had reason to view his situa-
tion in the village as problematical.
Hentze’s success in local affairs was
undoubtedly the source of great resent-
ment in Sandur, for he, as the son of the
Danish minister, was an outsider and his
success, which stemmed from the machina-
tions of his influential father, was at the ex-
pense of native-born villagers. Hans Erik-
sen, on the other hand, held the royal lease
Informants from Sandur
Number of Adult Place of Year of
Ballads Residence Birth Birth
Hans Johannessen 13 Sandur Sandur 1779
Johan Michael Hentze 10 Sandur Sandur 1781
Ole Clemensen 8 Sandur Sandur 1782
J. Michael Widerøe 6 Sandur Sandur 1787
Hans Eriksen 5 Sandur Sandur 1780
Simon Danielsen 5 Sandur Sandur 1793
JensJensen 3 Sandur Sandur 1786
Mikkel Thomassen 3 Sandur Skúgvoy 1776
Elsebet Joensdatter 3 Sandur Skarvanes 1765
Joen Mortensen 2 Sandur Sandur 1778
Joen Joensen 1 Sandur Sandur 1768
Joen Jakobsen 1 Sandur Sandur 1769
Jakob Joensen 1 Sandur Sandur 1792
Morten Olesen 1 Sandur Tórshavn 1778
Sussanna Olesdatter 1 Sandur Dalur 1777
Birgitte Andersdatter 1 Sandur Strendur 1783
Sigge Johannesdatter 1 Sandur Vestmanna 1751