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Swedish Kin

What does bonde mean?

In Swedish records, bonde means farmer: a man who worked his own or rented farmland in the countryside.

Swedish
bonde
In English
farmer
Also seen as
bönder, bondhustru, Bond., f. Bond., skattebonde, kronobonde, frälsebonde
Group
Occupations and social standing
Illustration of a Swedish farm family eating together at a long table by an open fireplace
A farm family eats porridge from a shared dish in the main room of a farm in the 1700s.

Definition

A bonde (farmer) farmed his own or rented land in the countryside1. Högman translates the word as "farmer, freeholder"2. What kind of farmer he was depended on who owned the land: skattebönder owned it and paid tax to the Crown, kronobönder rented land owned by the Crown, and frälsebönder rented land owned by the nobility3.

In the records

The title is often shortened to "Bond." before the name4. "f. Bond." means former farmer: the farm has gone over to the next generation, and the son is now written as the farmer4. The household examination record does not always show the latest title, since the priest did not always change it; the tax register (mantalslängd) more often has it4.

What it meant

A farmer who was young and had small children often hired farmhands and maids1. The farmer, as master of the household, had the right to use corporal punishment, called husaga, on his wife and children1. When the old couple handed over the farm, they could stay on it for the rest of their lives on undantag1.

Do not confuse with

Hemmansägare (farm owner) means a farmer who owned his farm5. A torpare (crofter) farmed a small piece of someone else's land and paid with days of work5. Some English texts translate bonde as "peasant"; Högman uses "farmer"2.

  • hemmansägare – A farm owner – a farmer who owned his farm, called a hemman, and paid tax on it to the Crown.
  • torpare – A crofter – a man who farmed a small holding on someone else's land and paid for it with days of work.
  • dräng – A farmhand – a male servant on a farm, usually unmarried and hired for one year at a time.
  • Guide: How to Read Swedish Household Examination Records

Sources

Sources in English

  1. Hans Högman, The Old Agricultural Society – hhogman.se
  2. Hans Högman, Genealogy terms A–R – hhogman.se
  3. Hans Högman, Land ownership in earlier times – hhogman.se

Sources in Swedish

These pages are in Swedish.

  1. Umeå University (CEDAR), Kyrkböcker. 1800-talets kyrkoregister, Ulla Nilsdotter Jeub, 2019 (in Swedish) – umu.se
  2. Landsarkivet i Uppsala (Riksarkivet), Hur hittar jag mitt torp i arkiven?, Gunilla Lundberg Ehnström, 2008 (in Swedish) – webbutik.riksarkivet.se

Facts checked against sources, November 2026.