1.
Vilhelmsson, Vilhelm
Contested Households: Lodgers, Labour, and the Law in Rural Iceland in the Early 19th Century Journal Article
In: Scandinavian Journal of History, vol. 48, iss. 5, pp. 572-592, 2023.
@article{nokey,
title = {Contested Households: Lodgers, Labour, and the Law in Rural Iceland in the Early 19th Century},
author = {Vilhelm Vilhelmsson},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-04-05},
journal = {Scandinavian Journal of History},
volume = {48},
issue = {5},
pages = {572-592},
abstract = {The historiography of labour in pre-industrial Iceland has commonly portrayed it first and foremost as life-cycle service in rural households and has suggested that, in a European context, the Icelandic system of compulsory service – or vistarband – was exceptionally harsh due to its broad scope and inflexibility. This approach has been built primarily on demographics and a normative analysis of legal sources. Less attention has been paid to the everyday practices of workers and their employers (or the state) as they manoeuvred within and around the labour legislation to establish working relationships to make ends meet. Similarly, ambiguities within the legislation and discrepancies between law and practice have rarely been explored, nor has people’s understanding of the principal concepts of the labour laws, concepts such as ‘household’, ‘farm’ and ‘servant’, been scrutinized. This article invokes such questions and provides a microhistorical analysis of two court cases which illustrate the nuances and ambiguities of putting such a broad-reaching set of regulations into practice in a pre-industrial rural setting.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
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The historiography of labour in pre-industrial Iceland has commonly portrayed it first and foremost as life-cycle service in rural households and has suggested that, in a European context, the Icelandic system of compulsory service – or vistarband – was exceptionally harsh due to its broad scope and inflexibility. This approach has been built primarily on demographics and a normative analysis of legal sources. Less attention has been paid to the everyday practices of workers and their employers (or the state) as they manoeuvred within and around the labour legislation to establish working relationships to make ends meet. Similarly, ambiguities within the legislation and discrepancies between law and practice have rarely been explored, nor has people’s understanding of the principal concepts of the labour laws, concepts such as ‘household’, ‘farm’ and ‘servant’, been scrutinized. This article invokes such questions and provides a microhistorical analysis of two court cases which illustrate the nuances and ambiguities of putting such a broad-reaching set of regulations into practice in a pre-industrial rural setting.
2.
Vilhelmsson, Vilhelm; Gunnlaugsson, Emil
Passports, Permits, and Labour Im/Mobility in Iceland, 1780s‒1860s Book Chapter
In: Bernardi, Claudia; Müller, Viola; Stojić, Biljana; Vilhelmsson, Vilhelm (Ed.): Moving Workers: Historical Perspectives on Labour, Coercion and Im/Mobilities, 2023.
@inbook{nokey,
title = {Passports, Permits, and Labour Im/Mobility in Iceland, 1780s‒1860s},
author = {Vilhelm Vilhelmsson and Emil Gunnlaugsson},
editor = {Claudia Bernardi and Viola Müller and Biljana Stojić and Vilhelm Vilhelmsson},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-01-01},
booktitle = {Moving Workers: Historical Perspectives on Labour, Coercion and Im/Mobilities},
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pubstate = {published},
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3.
Vilhelmsson, Vilhelm
Sjálfstætt fólk: Vistarband og íslenskt samfélag á 19. öld Book
2017.
@book{nokey,
title = {Sjálfstætt fólk: Vistarband og íslenskt samfélag á 19. öld},
author = {Vilhelm Vilhelmsson},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-01-01},
abstract = {This book is a revised version of my doctoral thesis. It is a study of the dominant labour regime of compulsory service in nineteenth century Iceland, focusing particularly on non-compliance with coercive labour legislation and acts of everyday resistance by servants and illegal day labourers, using regional court archives and arbitration court proceedings to analyse everyday practices. It also discusses in detail the cultural role of life-cycle service and the master-servant relationship as well as dominant ideas of household discipline and social order in early modern Iceland.
},
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This book is a revised version of my doctoral thesis. It is a study of the dominant labour regime of compulsory service in nineteenth century Iceland, focusing particularly on non-compliance with coercive labour legislation and acts of everyday resistance by servants and illegal day labourers, using regional court archives and arbitration court proceedings to analyse everyday practices. It also discusses in detail the cultural role of life-cycle service and the master-servant relationship as well as dominant ideas of household discipline and social order in early modern Iceland.
4.
Vilhelmsson, Vilhelm
Ett normalt undantag? Tillfälligt arbete i lag och praktik i 1800-talets Island Journal Article
In: Arbetarhistoria , vol. 41, iss. 3-4, pp. 32-40, 2017.
@article{nokey,
title = {Ett normalt undantag? Tillfälligt arbete i lag och praktik i 1800-talets Island},
author = {Vilhelm Vilhelmsson},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-01-01},
journal = {Arbetarhistoria },
volume = {41},
issue = {3-4},
pages = {32-40},
abstract = {This article discusses the ambiguous status and role of casual day labourers in nineteenth century Iceland and argues that masterless casual day labour was a “normal exception” in many localities, accepted as an economic necessity and cultural norm despite being illegal and frowned upon in public discourse. The article highlights the important distinction between normative prescription and everyday practice.},
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This article discusses the ambiguous status and role of casual day labourers in nineteenth century Iceland and argues that masterless casual day labour was a “normal exception” in many localities, accepted as an economic necessity and cultural norm despite being illegal and frowned upon in public discourse. The article highlights the important distinction between normative prescription and everyday practice.
5.
Sundevall, Fia (Ed.)
Fritt och ofritt arbete i Norden: nya perspektiv på Arbetarhistoria Collection
2016.
@collection{nokey,
title = {Fritt och ofritt arbete i Norden: nya perspektiv på Arbetarhistoria},
editor = {Fia Sundevall},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-01-01},
journal = {Arbetarhistoria},
volume = {3-4},
abstract = {This special issue of the Swedish language journal “Arbetarhistoria” [Labour history] provides new perspectives on labour history in the Nordic Countries. It consists of four empirical articles exploring various fields and degrees of labour coercion in Denmark, Iceland and Norway between 1600 and 1900.
},
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This special issue of the Swedish language journal “Arbetarhistoria” [Labour history] provides new perspectives on labour history in the Nordic Countries. It consists of four empirical articles exploring various fields and degrees of labour coercion in Denmark, Iceland and Norway between 1600 and 1900.
2023
Vilhelmsson, Vilhelm
Contested Households: Lodgers, Labour, and the Law in Rural Iceland in the Early 19th Century Journal Article
In: Scandinavian Journal of History, vol. 48, iss. 5, pp. 572-592, 2023.
Abstract | Tags: 19th century, agrarian labour and rural history, europe, household, iceland, labour law, scandinavia, service
@article{nokey,
title = {Contested Households: Lodgers, Labour, and the Law in Rural Iceland in the Early 19th Century},
author = {Vilhelm Vilhelmsson},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-04-05},
journal = {Scandinavian Journal of History},
volume = {48},
issue = {5},
pages = {572-592},
abstract = {The historiography of labour in pre-industrial Iceland has commonly portrayed it first and foremost as life-cycle service in rural households and has suggested that, in a European context, the Icelandic system of compulsory service – or vistarband – was exceptionally harsh due to its broad scope and inflexibility. This approach has been built primarily on demographics and a normative analysis of legal sources. Less attention has been paid to the everyday practices of workers and their employers (or the state) as they manoeuvred within and around the labour legislation to establish working relationships to make ends meet. Similarly, ambiguities within the legislation and discrepancies between law and practice have rarely been explored, nor has people’s understanding of the principal concepts of the labour laws, concepts such as ‘household’, ‘farm’ and ‘servant’, been scrutinized. This article invokes such questions and provides a microhistorical analysis of two court cases which illustrate the nuances and ambiguities of putting such a broad-reaching set of regulations into practice in a pre-industrial rural setting.},
keywords = {19th century, agrarian labour and rural history, europe, household, iceland, labour law, scandinavia, service},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
The historiography of labour in pre-industrial Iceland has commonly portrayed it first and foremost as life-cycle service in rural households and has suggested that, in a European context, the Icelandic system of compulsory service – or vistarband – was exceptionally harsh due to its broad scope and inflexibility. This approach has been built primarily on demographics and a normative analysis of legal sources. Less attention has been paid to the everyday practices of workers and their employers (or the state) as they manoeuvred within and around the labour legislation to establish working relationships to make ends meet. Similarly, ambiguities within the legislation and discrepancies between law and practice have rarely been explored, nor has people’s understanding of the principal concepts of the labour laws, concepts such as ‘household’, ‘farm’ and ‘servant’, been scrutinized. This article invokes such questions and provides a microhistorical analysis of two court cases which illustrate the nuances and ambiguities of putting such a broad-reaching set of regulations into practice in a pre-industrial rural setting.
Vilhelmsson, Vilhelm; Gunnlaugsson, Emil
Passports, Permits, and Labour Im/Mobility in Iceland, 1780s‒1860s Book Chapter
In: Bernardi, Claudia; Müller, Viola; Stojić, Biljana; Vilhelmsson, Vilhelm (Ed.): Moving Workers: Historical Perspectives on Labour, Coercion and Im/Mobilities, 2023.
Tags: 19th century, early modern history, europe, iceland, labour law, migration and mobility, scandinavia
@inbook{nokey,
title = {Passports, Permits, and Labour Im/Mobility in Iceland, 1780s‒1860s},
author = {Vilhelm Vilhelmsson and Emil Gunnlaugsson},
editor = {Claudia Bernardi and Viola Müller and Biljana Stojić and Vilhelm Vilhelmsson},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-01-01},
booktitle = {Moving Workers: Historical Perspectives on Labour, Coercion and Im/Mobilities},
keywords = {19th century, early modern history, europe, iceland, labour law, migration and mobility, scandinavia},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inbook}
}
2017
Vilhelmsson, Vilhelm
Sjálfstætt fólk: Vistarband og íslenskt samfélag á 19. öld Book
2017.
Abstract | Tags: early modern history, iceland, scand, service, wage labour
@book{nokey,
title = {Sjálfstætt fólk: Vistarband og íslenskt samfélag á 19. öld},
author = {Vilhelm Vilhelmsson},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-01-01},
abstract = {This book is a revised version of my doctoral thesis. It is a study of the dominant labour regime of compulsory service in nineteenth century Iceland, focusing particularly on non-compliance with coercive labour legislation and acts of everyday resistance by servants and illegal day labourers, using regional court archives and arbitration court proceedings to analyse everyday practices. It also discusses in detail the cultural role of life-cycle service and the master-servant relationship as well as dominant ideas of household discipline and social order in early modern Iceland.
},
keywords = {early modern history, iceland, scand, service, wage labour},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {book}
}
This book is a revised version of my doctoral thesis. It is a study of the dominant labour regime of compulsory service in nineteenth century Iceland, focusing particularly on non-compliance with coercive labour legislation and acts of everyday resistance by servants and illegal day labourers, using regional court archives and arbitration court proceedings to analyse everyday practices. It also discusses in detail the cultural role of life-cycle service and the master-servant relationship as well as dominant ideas of household discipline and social order in early modern Iceland.
Vilhelmsson, Vilhelm
Ett normalt undantag? Tillfälligt arbete i lag och praktik i 1800-talets Island Journal Article
In: Arbetarhistoria , vol. 41, iss. 3-4, pp. 32-40, 2017.
Abstract | Tags: early modern history, iceland, scandinavia, wage labour
@article{nokey,
title = {Ett normalt undantag? Tillfälligt arbete i lag och praktik i 1800-talets Island},
author = {Vilhelm Vilhelmsson},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-01-01},
journal = {Arbetarhistoria },
volume = {41},
issue = {3-4},
pages = {32-40},
abstract = {This article discusses the ambiguous status and role of casual day labourers in nineteenth century Iceland and argues that masterless casual day labour was a “normal exception” in many localities, accepted as an economic necessity and cultural norm despite being illegal and frowned upon in public discourse. The article highlights the important distinction between normative prescription and everyday practice.},
keywords = {early modern history, iceland, scandinavia, wage labour},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
This article discusses the ambiguous status and role of casual day labourers in nineteenth century Iceland and argues that masterless casual day labour was a “normal exception” in many localities, accepted as an economic necessity and cultural norm despite being illegal and frowned upon in public discourse. The article highlights the important distinction between normative prescription and everyday practice.
2016
Sundevall, Fia (Ed.)
Fritt och ofritt arbete i Norden: nya perspektiv på Arbetarhistoria Collection
2016.
Abstract | Tags: denmark, iceland, longue duree, norw, scandinavia
@collection{nokey,
title = {Fritt och ofritt arbete i Norden: nya perspektiv på Arbetarhistoria},
editor = {Fia Sundevall},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-01-01},
journal = {Arbetarhistoria},
volume = {3-4},
abstract = {This special issue of the Swedish language journal “Arbetarhistoria” [Labour history] provides new perspectives on labour history in the Nordic Countries. It consists of four empirical articles exploring various fields and degrees of labour coercion in Denmark, Iceland and Norway between 1600 and 1900.
},
keywords = {denmark, iceland, longue duree, norw, scandinavia},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {collection}
}
This special issue of the Swedish language journal “Arbetarhistoria” [Labour history] provides new perspectives on labour history in the Nordic Countries. It consists of four empirical articles exploring various fields and degrees of labour coercion in Denmark, Iceland and Norway between 1600 and 1900.