Isäntäväet ja palvelusväen pito 1600-luvulla ja 1700-luvun alkupuolella : taloudellispohjainen tutkimus Turun ja Porin sekä Pohjanmaan läänien maaseudulta

Abstract

The main questions addressed by the study are as follows: 1) Who recruited hired labour? 2) How was the procuring of hired labour seen from the point of view of the masters? 3) What were the reasons for taking on hired labour? 4) What factors influenced and regulated the need of private households to hire additional labour? The study focusses on the basic unit maintaining hired labour, namely the household. Thus the maintenance of hired labour is examined from the point of view of those needing such labour. In the area under study about a dozen different groups of hiring households can be distinguished. The overwhelming majority of these were peasant households. The remainder were mainly mansions, other farm estates and main parsonages. From the masters' standpoint three critical phases in ¡elation to the keeping of hired labour can be distinguished: the recruitment of labour, its maintenance and its relinquishment. Questions of remuneration became central. Together with many other areas of dispute at the recruiting stage, such questions testify to the growth of competition among masters for hired labour. Peasant households come under detailed focus since their practices differed widely as a result of local livelihood conditions. Four factors affected the utilisation of hired labour: A) population B) economic C) external and D) social factors. The first two were the most important.