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THE NATIONAL ROMANTIC VIEW Ericksen provides a modern perspective on Norwegian nationalism: “With no powerful city bourgeoisie and no strong landed gentry, burgeoning Norwegian nationalism took on a different character from that of the European countries in the 19th century. It was emphatically rural and egalitarian in its orientation, and it trended to glorify the simple ways of life of the countryside rather than revel in urban grandeur of the military pride of the state… The irony of this invention of nationhood is the fact that those individuals who most strongly promoted the idea of Norwegianness as a rural form of life, were themselves urban and highly educated people – their daily life was very far removed from that of the simple peasants who they defined as the carriers of national identify.” A strongly egalitarian approach characterizes this Norwegian cultural view, resisting any who would put themselves in a position of superiority. This results in a consensus oriented and issue oriented approach to problems and an unwritten law to stress social equality and emphasize fairness for all. It has also been characterized less favorably by Dano-Norwegian author Aksel Sandemose as the Jante Law ( Norwegian Janteloven), which requires a rural environment to survive. A HISTORIC BASIS Norwegian Property Laws , so ancient that the time of their enactment is lost, govern Norwegian property transfer. This property system worked to preserve the Norwegian farm and contributed to the independence and relative equality the Norwegians maintained, even during the Danish and Swedish periods. Norway was never a feudal country, or at least was never fully feudalized; the spread, mountainous areas and lack of established communities did not support a centralized feudal order. While Denmark attempted to impose the “vertical” feudal order, with accompanying authoritarian roles and responsibilities, the efforts were with limited success. During the Union Period , Denmark gradually established over-lordship of Norway, which for military purposes and in the eyes of the world made Denmark-Norway one united realm. Not only was the central government located in Copenhagen, but virtually all local officials in Norway were Danes. Official business was conducted in Danish, although the common language remained Norwegian. But this over-lordship remained formal, and external to the people's everyday life. When the governors and sheriff’s attempted to practice in Norway the oppressive practices and virtual slavery that were common in Denmark, they encountered firm resistance and vigorous protests from the bonder. In the 1660s and 1670s a large amount of crown land in Norway was sold to liquidate war debts, mostly to rich burghers, officials and nobles. The bonder who had worked this land now found themselves renter from a far greedier and more oppressive class than their former landlord, the crown. These new landowners introduced oppressive rent practices designed to reduce the bonder to virtual serfdom as was then common in Denmark. Statholder Gyldenløve , interested in forestalling the serious troubles arising, urged the King to curb the greed of the landowners, and is quoted by Gjerset as stating “In Norway, the government differs so much from that of other lands that there it consists of the bonder, and is maintained by them… The prosperity of the bonder is the main thing, the root and basis for the preservation of the whole kingdom.” In 1684-1695 regulations were published that capped the rates of rent to be charged and limited the amount of “free service” to be rendered by the bonder. When a farm was leased, it had to be leased with all its conveniences to the leaseholder for his lifetime, the rent had to be established by unchangeable mutual contract, and fixed prices were established for the products by which the farmer paid his rent. CHARACTERISTICS Mary Wollstonecraft , the mother of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley , described its characteristics in a book published in 1796 as, “The distribution of landed property into small farms produces a degree of equality which I have seldom seen elsewhere; and the rich being all merchants, who are obliged to divide their personal fortune amongst their children, the boys always receiving twice as much as the girls, property has met no chance of accumulating till overgrowing wealth destroys the balance of liberty. “You will be surprised to hear me talk of liberty; yet the Norwegians appear to me to be the most free community I have ever observed. “The mayor of each town or district, and the judges in the country, exercise an authority almost patriarchal. They can do much good, but little harm,--as every individual can appeal from their judgment; and as they may always be forced to give a reason for their conduct, it is generally regulated by prudence. "They have not time to learn to be tyrants," said a gentleman to me, with whom I discussed the subject. “The farmers not fearing to be turned out of their farms, should they displease a man in power, and having no vote to be commanded at an election for a mock representative, are a manly race; for not being obliged to submit to any debasing tenure in order to live, or advance themselves in the world, they act with an independent spirit. I never yet have heard of anything like domineering or oppression, excepting such as has arisen from natural causes. The freedom the people enjoy may, perhaps, render them a little litigious, and subject them to the impositions of cunning practitioners of the law; but the authority of office is bounded, and the emoluments of it do not destroy its utility. “Last year a man who had abused his power was cashiered, on the representation of the people to the bailiff of the district.” RELATIONSHIP TO NORWAY’S “ARISTOCRACY” While under Danish rule up until 1814 there was distinct difference in classes, it was not based on wealth. Norway’s “aristocracy” consisted of its bourgeoisie, and was comprised of professional men, officials, clergy, wealthy merchants, a few industrialists, and a smattering of nobles. At its high point in the 18th Century, it was comprised of less than 50 thousand people. Many were descendents of Danish immigrants in the 17th Century and the others had been educated in Denmark. They read foreign books, were culturally were tied to Denmark, and spoke Dano-Norwegian or book language. None-the-less, most were Norwegian in loyalty, sentiment and interests. REFERENCES ''Letters On Sweden, Norway, And Denmark'' by Mary Wollstonecraft; Cassell & Company; 1889 (reprint of 1795 publication). See Project Gutenberg for an e-text of this book ''A History of Norway'' by Karen Larson, Princeton University Press, 1948 ''The History of the Norwegian People'' by Knut Gjerset, MacMillan, 1915 ''Being Norwegian in a Shrinking World'', by Thomas Hylland Eriksen in ''Continuity and Change; Aspects of Contemporary Norway'', Scandinavian University Press, Oslo, ISBN 82-00-21116-9 |
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