Twice as Many Women as Men

The unique pattern of crime in early modern Stockholm

By

Hans Andersson

The criminal statistics of contemporary societies as well as inhistory give an overwhelming support to what might seem to bean almost universal law: Women do not commit crime as often asmen.

There is a wide consensus regarding the immediate reasonfor this ubiquitous low rate of female criminality. Womenoccupy subordinate social positions in almost all societies. Asa woman moves from the position of daughter in one family tothe position of wife in another, and is never brought up totake independent action, which is a prerequisite for committingcrime.1

The idea behind my doctoral thesis was that crime changesradically in times of crisis. The greatest crisis in Swedishhistory occurred in early 18th century, when Sweden had no peacefor over twenty years.2 According to the official doctrine, andas every one could see; Sweden was badly hit by the wrath ofGod – with war, pestilence and famine. In 1709, after thedefeat of the Swedish army at Poltava, several neighborsattacked the country was soon at war not only with Russia, butalso Poland, Denmark-Norway, the Emperor and several powerfulGerman states, such as Prussia, Saxony and Hanover, and withGreat Britain as well. The prolonged war with several major

1 John Braithwaite: Crime, shame and reintegration, Cambridge 1989. Trying toestablish a general theory of crime, based on universally acceptedfacts, the author is much concerned with the low rate of femalecriminality, and discussing the problem of explaining gives an accountof most of the historical and recent opinions in this matter. See alsoJ M Beattie, "The criminality of women in eighteenth century England",Journal of Social History, 1975.2 Also, the period was well suited, because it is placed right in between of two older studies by Lindström (ending 1624) and Sperling (starting around 1800), both based on printed material.

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powers in northern Europe could of course have otherexplanations, but as critique of the royal policy was notallowed, it may have seemed quite reasonable that the kingsuffered because of the sins of his people.

I have investigated the pattern of crime in Stockholm duringthe century of Swedish military hegemony in the Baltic area. Atthe end of this period twice as many women as men weresentenced for different kinds of crime in Stockholm. This is byfar the highest proportion of female criminality that has beenrecorded in any known society.3

In this article three different themes, aiming at anunderstanding of this extraordinary high proportion of femalecriminality, will be discussed:

- The traditional theories on female criminality, and thefeminist critic of these theories.

- My main empirical findings about the pattern of crime inStockholm 1624-1718.

- Three interrelated factors that provide a possibleexplanation of this phenomena.

These three factors are: the uneven sex ratio among inhabitantsof Stockholm I during the early 18th century, the process ofacculturation and the gendered changes in the code of honor.

My research does not cover all the court-material from everyyear, but is confined to four shorter intervals, 1622-26, 1666-67, 1696-99 and the years 1708-1718. The first and the last ofthese periods the research is complete with respect to civilcases and largely also the criminal justice. My research intothe second period, of the sixteen-sixties will not beconsidered in this article, and the third does not cover allaspects of the legal culture. It is only to be regarded as acheck – to see how the high proportion of Female offendersduring the last period compare with the pattern of crime beforethe outbreak of the Great Nordic War.

3 The only comparable figure would be from Amsterdam in the middle ofthe 17.th century, see Peter Spierenburg, The spectacle of suffering,Cambridge 1984. see also Malcolm F Feeley…

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Theories of female criminality

The subordinate social role of women in most societies hasgenerally been accepted as the key to understanding why theyusually commit less crime than men, though the subordination initself has been explained in a number of different ways. Thisissue goes far beyond the criminological discourse that will bereferred to here but the same two main alternatives dominate ineither case. The traditional reason given is that thesubordination in some way is in accordance with the naturalorder and the feminist critic states that it is a result of apaternalistic, or even sexist, suppression.

Cesare Lombroso and his co-writer Giulio Ferrero could at theturn of the century, with a typical touch of the time, statethat women are inferior to men, physically as well asintellectually. They give a wide reference to natural science,such as zoological and anthropological evidence, to show thatcriminality is more abnormal for women than men. One examplegiven is that in 1830 a cow had killed several people with itshorns in Montmartre. They also claimed to have anthropometricalevidence that the same physical characteristics that predestinemen for a criminal career, makes women become prostitutes.4

Apparently they did not pay any attention to the fact that pro-stitution is a crime in some societies but not in others.

Throughout the 20.th century most of the theoriesconcerning female criminality has been variations of sexistthemes. Female criminals as well as women in general have beenseen as deviants from the norm - the ordinary woman is not acriminal and the ordinary criminal is not a woman.

The American sociologist W I Thomas contributed to theLombroso theory, based on biologically determined differences.The natural passivity of women makes them less inclined tocriminality, while using their sexuality most easily cansatisfy their lust for money and luxuries.5

Otto Pollack, on the other hand, proposed that thestatistics regarding the low rate of female crime were due to

4 Lombroso and Ferrero: Das Weib als verbrecherin und prostituierte, Hamburg 1894.Originally published in Italian. 5 W I Thomas, Sex and Society, Boston 1907 and the unadjusted girl, New York1923.

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the dark figure, which because of the deceitfulness of womentended to give an underestimation of their actual criminality.Not only were women supposed to lie behind much of the malecrime, but also because of the chivalry of policemen andjudges, they got away easier than men.6

This theory has been falsified by self-report studies,showing that, if indeed anything can be proven about the darkfigure, the proportion of female criminality is over repre-sented in the legal statistics.7

While criminology already had begun to accept the relevanceof social and economic factors when relating to malecriminality, the question of female criminality was still,according to Cowie, Cowie and Slater as late as 1968, betterexplained by biological factors.8

These traditional theories rest on essentialist speculations,assuming that the low rate of female crime originates fromnatural differences between men and women. Feministcriminologists, like Francis Heidensohn, Carol Smart and PatCarlen, have tried to establish a more mature view in theirapproach to the subject. The basic thesis, which indeed oughtto be self-evident, is that women are as capable of economicrationality as men. They also claim social and economic factorsto be as valid in relation to female as to male criminality,the same factors are relevant for both men and women in eachcategory of crime and, therefore, somewhat surprisingly, thatfemale criminality as such, is not a isolated and sharplydistinguished entity. But at the same time the discourse ofgender and femininity, that structures the subordination ofwomen, is as crucial a variable as class and race, inunderstanding crime.

Crime and gender in early modern Stockholm

In the formation of gender, the cultural definitions of thebiological difference between the sexes, major determinants arethe law and the code of honor, prevalent in any given society.

6 Otto Pollack: Criminality of Women, New York 1950.7 Braithwaite, 1989 p 44, gives abundant reference to this kind ofself-report studies.8 Cowie, Cowie and Slater: Delinquency in girls, London 1968.

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The role of the law, as a normative system and as part of thepopular culture, and the differences between elite and popularattitudes to the concept of honor will here be discussed from agender perspective, in the case of early modern Stockholm.

The term gender is used to depict the social or culturalconstruction related to the purely biological differencesbetween the sexes. Social realities are perceived throughsystems of symbols and cultural constructions as such are asreal as the basic facts of life. Gender is such a constructionand the discussion of the term has mainly been carried out inthe feminist brands of different sciences. I will for the timebeing avoid getting involved in any more refined attempts ofdefinition of the term.

Stockholm becomes particularly interesting, due to the factthat the Female Criminality, defined as the proportion of womenamong persons sentenced for all kind of crimes, in this city isin the early eighteenth century, as I have demonstratedelsewhere, the highest registered in any known society. I willbriefly discuss my figures concerning the Female Criminality ofStockholm after some conceptual clarifications, beforecommencing with the main analysis.9

For a broad quantification I use only four main categoriesof crime: against property, against persons, sexual offencesand insubordination. Each of these categories will here bedealt with briefly, looking for different factors that might berelevant to different categories of crime, rather than to seekan overall explanation of Female Criminality as such.

Crimes against property A factor that certainly contributed to thehigh ratio of Female theft was the fact that women wereeconomically discriminated. This can be shown by comparing thesocial status of men and women sentenced by the authoritiesthat enforced the laws of commerce. While many men from thepropertied classes were fined for cheating, e g using falseweights or measures or charging unauthorized prices,individuals sentenced for outright illegal trading or manuf-acturing usually were women, from the lower classes.10

9 Hans Andersson, ”Genus och rättskultur - kvinnlig brottslighet i stormaktstidens Stockholm” HT (Swedish Historical Review) 1995:2; Folklig rättskultur i stormaktstidens Stockholm, Stockholm 1996.10 Hans Andersson, "Genus och Rättskultur...", table 4.

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Violence and slander can be seen as related to the code of honorprevailing in a society. In most societies and cultures femalehonor is closely linked to the sexual behavior of women. Whenthe frequency of female violence and slander brought to courtin Stockholm, does not fall like the corresponding malefrequency, this might suggest that the notion of a woman'shonor had not changed. The problem of the unchanged Femalehonor will be further examined in the last section of my paper.

Sexual offences The only category were the rate of femaledelinquents was equal to the male in the 1620-s was sexualoffences. This is of course a quite reasonable figure in asociety where all kinds of extra-martial sex were prohibited.The courts have been said to have adopted a pragmatic approachto the illegitimate sexuality. The old laws of the realm aimedat the protection of young women, in the interest of theirrelatives. To seduce an unmarried woman was an offence againsther father. The woman was not prosecuted. During theseventeenth century the legal capacity of women increased, andone effect of this was that they to a greater extent wereconsidered responsible for their sexual behavior.11

Disobedience here includes all kinds of other crime and offences,in the early 1600s a lot of popular protests and rioting, andin connection with this also many signs of disrespect, towardsthe authorities. In the later sample the category mainlyconsists of servants or apprentices who runs away from theirmasters. It becomes an insignificant category, which may wellbe a sign of a successful disciplining of the people or even asuppression of the popular culture.

11 Jan Sundin, ”For God, State, and People: Crime and Local Justice in Preindustrial Sweden” in The Civilization of crime, ed Eric Johnson and Eric Monkkonnen, Urbana and Chicago 1996.

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Table 1. The pattern of crime in Stockholm 1624-25 and 1708-18,and the proportion of women, for different categories of crime.Percentage.

1624-25 1708-18Categories of crime

% Women % women

Against property 29 2816 67

Violence 26 226 41

Slander 17 208 70

Sexual offence 4 2650 71

Disobedience 24 411 31

100 100

Sources: Stockholms tänkeböcker, Fine payment rolls, Minutes and Lists ofsentences from the municipal courts of Stockholm (Rådhusrätt andkämnärsrätter). Stockholms Stadsarkiv.

During my first period of investigation, the pattern of crimein Stockholm, as far as the sources can tell us, was quitetypical for a northern-European commercial city.12 It may benoted (see table 1) that women play an insignificant part inthe crime-statistics. Only in the small category of sexualoffense are they as frequently sentenced as men.

12 Jørn Sandnes, Kniven, ølet og æren, Oslo 1990, finds that the rate ofmortal violence in the Norwegian town Bergen, during the sixteenthcentury was considerably higher than in British and continentalcities. He argues that this mainly is a consequence of the strongsense of centered prevailing among the free farmers since the days ofthe Vikings. Examples from Icelandic sagas are used as evidence on thisissue, in a fashion that I must suspect to be overly romantic.

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Of the categories of crime there is a clear dominance ofcrimes against person, violence or slander, a term, which ishere used for all kinds of verbal abuse. Of the crimes againstproperty about half are different kinds of theft.

Quite a lot of popular protest against new stateregulations of the economic life has also been registered. Thenew excise, or sales tax, imposed on foodstuffs, which wasintroduced to finance the aggressive foreign policy launched byGustavus Adolph was very unpopular. The excise officers werenicknamed "sausage knaves" (Swedish korvknekt).

For example: a journeyman, Anders Tommesson, who once sawone of his colleagues drinking beer in company with an exciseofficer said: “why do you drink with this sausage knave, youare his equal” (a frequent test on someone’s honor was therites of drinking). The journeymen then started hitting eachother with their beer-goblets. There were no charges forassault, but Anders was sentenced to death for this insultagainst a servant of the king.13

If we compare the pattern of crime in the 1620.s with thesituation a century later, as shown in table 1, it will firstof all be observed that the proportions of the major categoriesof crime, against property and against persons (violence andslander) remain fairly unchanged.

Sexual crime is the only category that became morefrequent, while the rate of disobedience fell dramatically.Disobedience became an insignificant category of crime. In the1620s there was a lot of popular unrest, connected with the newtaxes and also many cases of avoidance of communal work. In1715 a new tax was also implemented, but it does not seem tohave been accompanied by any riots or protests. This resultcould be taken as an indication that people generally hadbecome more disciplined. But the differences between the ratesof convicted men and women, shows that this applies only tomen. For all categories of crime there is proportional increaseof convicted women.

13 Stockholms tänkeböcker XV 1626, Stockholm 1990, 13/2 1626.

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Violence was the only major category of crime that in the years1708-1718 still was dominated by male offenders. Thesocial/gender division shows pronounced differences. Among menthe violence was fairly evenly divided between the establishedgroups and the lower classes, but while the women in the upperstrata rarely were involved either as victims or aggressors,the lower class women are not only the group with greatestnumber of cases reported among themselves, but also the mostcommon victim of male violence. It is important to note thatthis is not only to be taken as an evidence of mistreatedwomen, but at the same time shows that this kind of violencewas not tolerated. The courts seem to have been indifferent tothe sex of the opponents in these conflicts. In the usualscenario these conflicts start with verbal abuse, whichsometimes leads to violence. This is further demonstrated bythe fact that women are much more often accused for verbalabuse or slander than men are, and that this kind of aggressionis directed upward in the social hierarchies, while thereported violence is directed downwards.

Table 2. The gender and social direction of violenceregistered at the court of south Stockholm (Södraförstadens kämnärsrätt) 1716.

Men/men Men/womenWomen/womenWomen/menTotal

Up-middle/up-middle 9 3 2 -14

Up-middle/lower class 4 14 2 323

Lower class/up-middle 4 3 3 515

Lower class/lower class 11 14 29 761

SUM 28 34 36 15 113

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Sources: Minutes from Stockholm rådhusrätt and kämnärsrätter.Stockholms Stadsarkiv.

A woman called Elisabeth Swart, challenged the distiller CasperRumpler to come out from his house and in to the street,calling him skälm and hundsfott. Coming out in the street togetherwith his wife, he grabbed her nose, making blood flow. Aneighbor urged him to let go of her, which he did, and movingbackwards, officially accused her of having caused troublebetween him and his wife. According to a witness, Elisabeth hadpulled a knife at Caspar, while he had hit her and torn herhair. They were both fined, he to 30 and she to 18 marks ofsilver.14

Furthermore it must be noticed that there was a dramaticdownward trend in the registered male violence, while theactual frequency of registered female violence is more thandoubled.15 The rate of lethal violence, however, fell sharplyand there is a clear tendency during the period that conflictsare brought to court at an earlier stage, after just an insultor a blow, rather than to seek private vengeance.

During the seventeenth century the population of Stockholm grewfrom about ten to sixty thousand inhabitants and at the sametime the rate of illegitimate children increased. To whatdegree the rising frequency of sexual crime is a result of agrowing ambition of the authorities, and how much of it thatdepends on an actual rate of illegal sex, need not concern ushere. More important is that the number of women sentenced forthis crime highly exceeds the number of men sentenced, thoughthe same number of both sexes surely must have been guilty.

The Swedish laws regulating sexual life were in the lateseventeenth and early eighteenth century extremely harsh, andthe way they were put in effect can, in my opinion, not be seenas anything else than a fundamentally sexist practice of thejuridical system.16

14 Södra förstadens kämnärsrätts kriminalprotokoll 11/2 1716.15 The rate of male violence per year and 10 000 inhabitants falls from41,1 to 9,5, the corresponding figures for women rises from 2,6 to6,5.16 The change of the legal practice in this field has been thouroughlyexamined by Jan Sundin, in "Kyrkligt nit och världslig pragmatism",

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A general fact we can be fairly certain of is that the socialposition of women was subordinate in the traditional societiesin all countries of Europe. Often they were not even allowed totake charge of their own property, but were under custody oftheir father or husband. In a by-passage of the medieval law ofSweden (which was in force until 1734) it was stated that thewife was the most valuable object in a farm - therefore a manthat had seduced a farmer’s wife should not only be punished asa thief, but also be hanged higher than other thieves.17

Of more immediate consequence to the life of lower classwomen in the city was the fact that they were not allowed topartake in any occupation under guild regulation. As it thuscan be shown that women, in a society where their social rolewas clearly subordinate to men, were more inclined tocriminality (more often sentenced for different kinds ofcrime), it would seem obvious that the generally acceptedtheory does not hold.18 I don't think I have to elaborate thispoint, which has been very well covered by numerous researcheson women’s history; instead I will proceed to a more detailedaccount of facts and processes that may have influenced theregistered criminality in Stockholm during the said period.

För Gud, staten och folket, Lund 1992. Sundin is mainly concerned with therural area of Östergötland.17 Tjuvabalken, Kristoffers landslag, 1442.18 The subordination of women in early modern Sweden has beenconvincingly demonstrated by contemporary research. See for exampleMaria Sjöberg in kvinnor makt och jord? 2001, and the vast literaturereferred to in this work.

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Sex ratio and legal change

One factor that might be relevant for explaining the highproportion of female criminality in Stockholm in the early 18th

century is that there existed an unequal sex ratio in the city.Due to almost constant warfare, it is usually assumed thatthere was a lack of men in Sweden at the time. I have carriedout an examination of the property-taxation launched by CharlesXII; the result of which I have presented elsewhere and willnot go into detail here. Suffice to say that there were as manywomen as men taxed among the lower classes. As married womenwere not taxed, this means that if the nuptial rate was 40-50%, slightly less than 60 % of the actual population among thelower classes of Stockholm was women 1710s.19

This sex ratio ought to have had the effect that many womenlacked "normal" family-relations, where a man was supposed todefend their honor in public if challenged. But the sex ratioby itself can be shown to be an insufficient factor inexplaining why the proportion of convicted women could becomeso high in all categories of crime.

From the middle of the 17th century, different parts of thecity were under the jurisdiction of different courts(kämnärsrätt), and it is possible to compare the sex ratio in thepopulation with the proportion of men and women among thesentenced individuals, in these parts. Criminality, especiallyviolence and slander, was most frequent in the southern part(Södra förstaden). Here a larger proportion of the population waspoor, compared to the rest of the city, and though the sexratio appears to have been more equal, the proportion of femalecriminality was the greatest.

It thus seems that the sex ratio has to be combined withother factors to explain the high rate of female delinquency.In the analysis of the high proportion of female criminalityand of possible contributing factors, I will try to adopt thethesis pointed out by the feminist criminologists: thatdifferent factors are relevant to different categories of19 Hans Andersson, "Genus och rättskultur...", p 147. I have not beenable to calculate the actual rate of nuptiality for the lower classes.Among the elite, however, it seems that 80 % of the men were marriedat any given time, during this period. The nuptiality must have beenconsiderably lower among poor people. One might assume that it washalf of the elite's, and thus would amount to 40 %.

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crime, rather than to seek an overall explanation of femalecriminality as such. The economic discrimination of women andthe moral norms that were imposed mainly on women, are regardedas gendered aspects of the process of acculturation. Violenceand verbal abuse are categories of crime that are closelyrelated to the concept of honor. The dramatic changes in thesecrimes, and the differences between the trends of male andfemale violence, ought therefore to be connected with a gender-related shift of the code of honor, a question that will bemore closely examined in the following chapter. The process ofacculturation, the shift of the code of honor and the unequalsex ratio in the city are the three interrelated factors thatcombined can explain the high proportion of female delinquencyin Stockholm in the early 18th century.

A factor that certainly contributed to the high ratio of femaletheft was the fact that women were economically discriminated.This can be shown by comparing the social status of men andwomen sentenced by the authorities that enforced the laws ofcommerce. While many men from the propertied classes were finedfor cheating, e g using false weights or measures or chargingunauthorized prices, individuals sentenced for outright illegaltrading or manufacturing usually were women, from the lowerclasses.20

Violence might be regarded as an even more typically malecategory of crime than the others. Here the proportional riseof female offenders brought to court is not as great as for theother categories. Still it must be noticed that, consideringthe actual fall in the over all frequency of crime, that thereis a dramatic downward trend in the registered male violence,while the actual frequency of registered female violence ismore than doubled.21

The rate of lethal violence fell even more sharply; therewas a clear tendency to bring conflicts to court at an earlierstage, after just an insult or a blow, rather than to seekprivate vengeance.

20 Hans Andersson, "Genus och Rättskultur...", table 4.21 The rate of male violence per year and 10 000 inhabitants falls from41,1 to 9,5, the corresponding figures for women rises from 2,6 to6,5.

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The victims of female lethal violence were usuallychildren. The normal case was of course the unmarried motherwho killed her newborn baby. But in the later period womensometimes also killed other people’s children, in what has beenlabeled "suicidal-murder".22 This practice was basically analternative to committing suicide, which surely would lead tohell. The children were usually murdered by drowning, butsometimes by slashing someone’s throat. After confessing hersins and having them absolved the murderess could then partfrom life at the scaffold, sure of the grace of God in aforthcoming existence.23

In 1709, Elisabeth Möller, a fishmongers widow murdered a sixyear old boy, son of a city-guard. In court (7/7) she tells howshe one summer day met five small children begging in thestreet near by the church of St Clara. She asked one of them tocome with her, promising to give him some food. Earlier on shehad herself got some money from a priest, and now she boughthim something to eat. As Elisabeth found no opportunity tothrow him into the water, she brought him to an inn at Carlbergoutside the city. She bought him a pint of simple beer. Walkingby a small pond on the way back to the city she pushed him inthe water and held his head under the surface till he died.

She declares that she committed this misdeed because shewanted to die, because she was very poor, worried and hadmaltreated by the relatives of her deceased husband. Addingthat she has been considering committing suicide, but did nothave the nerve to drown her.

Three brothers of the late fishmonger appear in court andElisabeth is asked what complaints she has against them. Shesays that one of them has beaten her, but that she had deservedit, and also that when the others have been mean to her, shewas to blame because she had been unreasonable. The brother-in-laws says that she for a long time has appeared to be weak andworried and that they have reported to the priest.

The magistrate decided that even if she this particular dayhad a fit of melancholia, Elisabeth has been fully aware of heractions and therefore sentences her to death.

22 Jansson, 1998. 23 There are about as many of these cases registered as propersuicides. Both are clearly dominated by women (Jansson, 1998).

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It should be noted that there is no indication of a sexistcourt practice in the early 18th century legal system ofStockholm, regarding other categories of crime than the sexualoffences. Table 3 shows the tendency to sentence a personaccused of violence and slander, from an admittedly smallsample. The court of the southern part of the city has beenchosen, because here the female rate of crime was the highest.As can be seen one third of both male and female defenders incases of violence were sentenced. The corresponding proportionfor both sexes when accused of slander is 45 %. It thus seemslike it was easier to get someone convicted for slander thanfor violence, but it made no difference if the person accusedwas a man or a woman.

Table 3. Men and women accused and sentenced for violenceand verbal abuse at the court of south Stockholm (SödraFörstadens Kämnärsrätt) 1716.

MEN WOMENViolenceAccused 62 51Sentenced 21 17% Sentenced of accused 34 33

Verbal abuseAccused 22 78Sentenced 10 35% Sentenced of accused 45 45

Sources: Minutes from Stockholm rådhusrätt and kämnärsrätter.Stockholms Stadsarkiv.

The medieval laws, which were still in force during the periodof investigation, were formulated to give a paternalisticprotection of women. An unmarried woman who became pregnant wasnot formally punished, but her seducer had to recompense herfather. Extramarital sex that did not lead to pregnancy wasusually not brought to court, if not conducted in a manner

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offensive to the public order, or in such forms that wereconsidered unnatural.24

During the seventeenth century the population of Stockholmgrew from about ten to sixty thousand inhabitants and at thesame time the rate of illegitimate children increased. To whatdegree the rising frequency of sexual crime is a result of agrowing ambition of the authorities, and how much of it thatdepends on an actual rate of illegal sex, need not concern ushere. More important is that the number of women sentenced forthis crime highly exceeds the number of men sentenced, thoughthe same number of both sexes surely must have been guilty.

The Swedish laws regulating sexual life were in the lateseventeenth and early eighteenth century extremely harsh, andthe way they were affected can, in my opinion, not be seen asanything else than a fundamentally sexist practice of thejuridical system.25

The practice of the courts changed during the seventeenthcentury, so that when a woman had given birth to anillegitimate child, the state acted as prosecutor. The womanherself had, however, to carry the case against the father ofthe child. Furthermore if she accused a married man of havingmade her pregnant and he – as often was the case – swore thathe was innocent, she was still committed to the much harderpunishment of having had sex with a married man.26 There was

24 The term “sodomy” usually referred to bestiality, for which manyhundreds of men were executed during the seventeenth and eighteenthcentury. Homosexuality was not unknown, but I have found only one casein my material (see Hans Andersson Folklig rättskultur... p 76), and it is notmentioned in any other recent work on criminality i early modernSweden. See Andersson and Perlestam: “Sodomiter inför rätta…” inKarolinska förbundets årsbok, 2002.25 The change of the legal practice in this field has been thoroughlyexamined by Jan Sundin, in "Kyrkligt nit och världslig pragmatism",För Gud, staten och folket, Lund 1992. Sundin is mainly concerned with therural area of Östergötland. A shorter version can be studied inEnglish: “for God, State and People: Crime and Local Justice inPreindustrial Sweden”, in Civilization of Crime, Violence in Town & Country since theMiddle Ages, ed Eric Johnson and Eric MonkkonenChicago 1996.26 If one of the parties involved in illegitimate sex was married thecase was labeled enkelt hor, but if both were married (but not with eachother) the term was dubbelt hor (double whoredoom), which was a capitaloffence. The king Charles XII, to much dismay of his advisors, oftensentenced people to death even when only one of the persons weremarried. Birger Wedberg, Karl XII på justitietronen, Stockholm 1944.

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also the risk that if the man was acquitted he could make acharge of slander against the woman he had made pregnant.27

Before compurgation was absolved in 1695, at leasttechnically, it could have been necessary for a man; accused ofhad having illegal sex, to find oath-helpers, prepared tosupport his innocence. The change, which also can be seen as anaspect of the secular trend towards greater individualization,made it easier for a man to be set free on his oath.28

The regulation of sexual offences and the discourse onsexuality enhanced the connection between acceptable sexualbehavior the female code of honor and may thus have increasedthe tendency for women to engage in conflicts over honor. Theprocess of disciplining or acculturation in other fields wasmainly directed at the male population, as for example: thechanges in military organization; the restrictions in theright of carrying arms; the growing efficiency and equalitybefore the law in cases of civil justice; and thecommercialization of the economy. All these appear to have apacifying influence on male behavior and thereby been morefirmly connected with the code of male honor.

I have studied some of these male-oriented aspects of theprocesses of disciplining and acculturation in depth. The caseof military legal culture and discipline is quite obvious.29

Also, a student of crime and legal culture cannot fail tonotice the concept of judicial revolution, refereeing to thefundamental shift of structure and function of the legal systemin Europe from medieval times to the early modern period. Thepower over the legal apparatus was a strategic key element inthe formation of the absolute state.30

The institutional development of the administration of lawin Stockholm during the seventeenth century is very well suitedto the standard model of the judicial revolution. The mainfunction of the courts had been to solve conflicts between

27 Which happened, for example, to Annika Lindberg, according to Södraförstadens kämnärsrätts kriminalprotokoll 11/2 1716.28 For details, see Hans Andersson: "Brottsliga båtsmän" in Forum Navale49 (1993).29 See “Sodomiter inför rätta – etc.30 Bruce Lenman and Geoffrey Parker: "The state, the community and thecriminal law in early modern Europe", in Crime and the law, ed Gatrell etal, London 1980.

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members of the local community, and only in extreme cases werenotorious criminals and troublemakers brutally punished orexpelled from the city.

Economic disputes that occurred were mainly between membersof the propertied classes. If a person of lower social rankengaged in such a case he (or, more rarely, she) usually lostthe case. It was quite common that the people engaged inprolonged conflicts resorted to slander or violence, when theycould not get their right. When the state had taken controlover the magistrate and kämnärrätts, this gave people from thelower classes a greater chance to win their cases. It alsobecame very rare that the parties involved in economic disputeswhich could be solved at court, tried to get their right byunlawful means.

About 50 % of the people involved in civil processes,during the period 1696-1720, were from the lower classes andthey usually won their cases against parties of higher socialstrata.31 As violence, especially in 1620s was mainly a maleaffair, the more efficient handling of the civil cases and agreater chance to win such a case against a social superiorwould foremost have had an effect on the male part of thepopulation.

Gender and the code of honor

I have been putting forward the hypothesis that the moral codechanged more dramatically for men than for women, and that thiscould explain why the rate of male violence fell while thefemale rate remained constant or even risen. A more detailedstudy of the changing code of honor is made through anexamination of the actors in cases of slander, and of the

31 Hans Andersson: "Rättssäkerheten i stormaktstidens Stockholm", inMänniskovärdet och makten, ed Arne Jarrick & Johan Söderberg, Stockholm1994. These results are contrary to the common notion, that peoplefrom the lower classes rarely participated in civil cases, and thatthe courts usually supported persons from higher social groups. I havetherefore launched a research project in a comparative Europeanperspective "Legal security in three European cities in the early18.th century", with the aim of comparing some variables concerningcivil processes in Edinburgh and Stralsund, with Stockholm.

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actual contents of the verbal abuse brought to court inStockholm from 1620 to 1720.32

Table 4. The gender direction of verbal abuse in Stockholm1620.s and 1716. Percentage.

Men/men Men/women Women/women Women/men

1624-25 64 18 9 9 (N=198)

1716 12 10 48 30(N=184)

Source: Stockholms tänkeböcker 1622-26, Kämnärsrätternas protokoll 1696-99and 1716. Stockholms stadsarkiv.

Note: These figures are not compatible with the ones given in tab. 1, whichare based on sentences and individual cases, while these are based onaccusations and individual words of abuse, of which there may be more thanone in each case. The period examined is also more limited, especially forthe 1710.s

It should be pointed out that in the legal culture of earlymodern Sweden, and probably in most parts of Western Europe, itwas at least as important if an act was dishonorable, as if itwas illegal. And violence - if not conducted against personsthat could not defend themselves - as well as slander did notdefile the honor of the actor.33 Therefore there are almost noexamples of words of abuse that relate to these kinds of crime.In cases of violence there is no necessary connection with thecode of honor, but verbal abuse is always related to, or ratheran assault on, someone’s honor. Irrespective of the dark

32 This later part of the analysis quite closely follows the methodonce tried by James Sharpe in "Defamation and sexual slander in EarlyModern England: the Church Courts at York" (Borthwick papers, no 58),York 1980.33 Act of king Gustav Vasa in 1538, in Schmedeman. Only killing ofdefenseless people, e g when sleeping or swimming, and also children,did, according to this act, lead to the loss of honor. Honor is heremainly considered in its judicial aspect, a person without honor couldnot appear in court as a witness, oathswearer or, of course, functionas a judge or sit in a jury (nämnd).

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figure, the cases of slander give a good representation of whatkinds of insults were considered serious attacks on ones honor.

As can be seen in table 4, the percentages of who was chargedby whom changed dramatically during the period. In the column-headings the gender given before the slash is related to theperson accused of slander, after the slash the person abusedand therefore also plaintiff.

In 1624-25 it was usually men that were reported forabusing other men, while women played an insignificant role,either as accused, or victims, of slander. The sample from 1716on the contrary shows women as the active part, in abusing bothmen and other women. The code honor is not, however, determinedonly by the direction of registered slander, but also of itscontent.

There are almost no examples of words of abuse that relate toassault or other words of abuse (which would have been a kindof meta-slander). Theft, on the other hand, was considereddishonorable, both for men and women, in the 1620.s as well aslater. The change in vocabulary concerning Female honor can beinterpreted as being to a lesser degree a result of a change inthe code of honor than in actual behavior of lower class women.

In the 1620.s the most common words of abuse against menwas thief and skälm (from German schelm, denoting a man withouthonor and originally therefore aus der gesellschaft ausgeschlossenmensch34), and against women hora (literary “whore”, but at thetime not necessarily meaning a prostitute, but an adulterouswoman). There is not much difference related to the content ofslander and if a man or a woman uttered it, therefore thevariable will be left out.35

In the early 18.th century thief (in Swedish usuallytjuvkåna, the word kåna being an old expression for woman, but atthe time rendered a distinct derogatory touch - see examplebelow) had also become a common word in abusing women. Theexpression hundsfott (from German Hundfotze, referring to thegenital parts of a bitch) that was only rarely used in the

34 Wahrig, Deutsches Wörterbuch, 1978.35 For a full catalougue of the words of abuse registered in mysamples, and if they were uttered by men or women, see: HansAndersson: "Bland tjuvkonor och hundsfottar", Karolinska förbundets årsbok1995 - in press.

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1620.s, quite commonly occurs when men are insulted in the1710.s.36

From table 5 it can be seen that the three standard words ofabuse against men, together stands for slightly above 50 % ofthe registered insults, while the two standard expressions usedagainst women amount to more than 70 %. There is no change inthese figures between the two examined periods. This indicatesthat the concept of women’s honor was, throughout the period ofinvestigation, more stereotype than the concept of male honor.I will give an example of a conflict, with verbal abuse andviolence between men and women:

A man called Pihlström accused his maidservant, Lisken Meijer,of having given him a box on the ear. She claimed that he hadarrived home drunk late one evening, and then called her“satans kåna”, because there was no milk in the house. She hadhit him because this got “to close to her honor”, and besideshe had not given her any money to buy milk. According to awitness, she had also called him a thief and some other wordsof abuse.

She complains before the court, that she did not know howto behave in her situation, because, if she let him have hisway with her, she would become pregnant, be considered a loosewoman and also fined for this, but when she defended herselfshe was fined anyway.37 Obviously there were other reasonsbehind their conflict. In this case the woman's sexuality stillseems to be the crucial point of her honor, though the conflictat first glance appears to be connected with other issues.

36 It can be observed that the expression fitta (cunt) also is used onlyon men (and by other men). See Andersson "Brottsliga båtsmän...).37 Södra förstadens kämnärsrätts kriminalprotokoll 21/6 1716

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Table 5. Standard words of abuse in Stockholm, 1620.s and1710.s, and their combined proportions (rate of stereotype). Inpercentage.

1620.s 1716

Against men: Thief 32 13

Skälm 42 16Hundsfott 1 10

Out of 148 73Rate of stereotypes 51 % 53 %

Against women:Whore 33 43Thief 4 38

Out of 49 103Rate ofstereotypes 76 % 79 %

Source: Stockholms tänkeböcker and Södra förstadens Kämnärsrätts protokoll.Stockholms stadsarkiv.

The fact that the abuses on female honor changes, so thataccusation of thievery becomes more frequent, does notnecessarily signify a change in the concept of female honor.The frequency and proportion of women sentenced for theft hadrisen to extreme levels has also to be considered.

On the other hand the hypothesis, that a woman's honor isinvariably connected first and foremost with her sexualbehavior, does not seem to hold. As long as women behavedproperly in other respects, the words of abuse did concentrateon the always-interesting sexual aspect. But as soon as therate of women accused of, and probably in reality committing,theft, grew the content of the standard words of abuse alsochanged.

The rate of women accused and sentenced for other crimes,such as violence and slander, did not lead to the same kind ofchange in the words of abuse. Theft, on the other hand, was

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considered dishonorable, both for men and women, in the 1620.sas well as later. The change in vocabulary concerning femalehonor, can be interpreted as being to a lesser degree a resultof a change in the code of honor than in actual behavior oflower class women.

Summary

With the recent growth of historical research into thecriminality of early modern societies a wide range popularculture and behavior of lower class people has been brought toattention. It has been possible to show that women, thoughusually not as often accused of crimes as men, could display awide range of active use of the legal system, acting aswitnesses, experts in particular fields, sometimes leaning onthe appropriate norms of a passive helpless victim.38

Early modern Stockholm is the only known example of apattern of crime dominated by women. In late seventeenthcentury about half of the persons accused of, and sentencedfor, any kind of crime, in this city were women. Duringsubsequent decades the proportion rose to almost 70 %, thehighest rate of registered female criminality in any knownsociety. Viewing gender subordination as cause of the usuallylow rate of female crime is in my opinion totally falsified bythis single piece of evidence.

Another problem is to explain this remarkable or even uniquepattern of crime. I have argued that three distinct butinterrelated factors or processes may account for the rate offemale criminality: the actual proportion of women among theinhabitants of Stockholm, the process of acculturation, whichhad different implications for men and women, and the shift ofthe gendered code of honor.

At the beginning of the eighteenth century there was anuneven sex ratio in Stockholm. This affected the situation ofwomen and reinforced their criminal behavior in mostcategories of crime. Still it can be shown to be insufficientas an over-all explanation of the high proportion of femaledelinquents.

38 The maybe best recent example being Women, the Courts in Early ModernEngland, edited by Garthine Walker and Jenny Kermode, London 1994.

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In cases of theft and illegal sex, the main reason for thehigh proportion of women sentenced seems to be thesubordination itself. The economic discrimination of womencontributed to a high degree of female theft. Concerningillegal sex the authorities apparently had a greater ambitionand/or ability to punish women than men. This practice cannotbe evaluated as anything other than sexist, and as such itforms a part of a wider (more or less consciously coordinated)policy of subordination.

The frequency of men convicted for crimes against theperson fell dramatically during the seventeenth century. Atthe same time the frequency of female violence and slander wasactually increasing. The changes in gender-related proportionsof sentences in these categories of crime cannot be referredto a policy of subordination of women. It would rather seemthat the subordination of women is replaced, as the decisivefactor, by the process of disciplining, that the stateprimarily directed towards its male subjects. The shift in thecode of honor, due to the growing power of the state, does notseem to have affected women in the same way as men.

The courts seem to have been indifferent to the sex of thepersons involved in these conflicts. In the usual scenariothese conflicts start with verbal abuse, which sometimes leadsto violence. This is further demonstrated by the fact thatwomen were much more often than men accused for verbal abuseor slander, and that this kind of aggression is directedupward in the social hierarchies, while the reported violenceis directed downwards.

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