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 in history give an overwhelming support to what might seem to be an almost universal law: Women do not commit crime as often as men. There is a wide consensus regarding the immediate reason for this ubiquitous low rate of female criminality. Women occupy subordinate social positions in almost all societies. As a woman moves from the position of daughter in one family to the position of wife in another, and is never brought up to take independent action, which is a prerequisite for committing crime.1 The idea behind my doctoral thesis was that crime changes radically in times of crisis. The greatest crisis in Swedish history occurred in early 18th century, when Sweden had no peace for over twenty years.2 According to the official doctrine, and as every one could see; Sweden was badly hit by the wrath of God with war, pestilence and famine. In 1709, after the defeat of the Swedish army at Poltava, several neighbors attacked the country was soon at war not only with Russia, but also Poland, Denmark-Norway, the Emperor and several powerful German states, such as Prussia, Saxony and Hanover, and with Great Britain as well. The prolonged war with several major powers in northern Europe could of course have other explanations, but as critique of the royal policy was not allowed, it may have seemed quite reasonable that the king suffered because of the sins of his people. I have investigated the pattern of crime in Stockholm during the century of Swedish military hegemony in the Baltic area. At the end of this period twice as many women as men were sentenced for different kinds of crime in Stockholm. This is by far the highest proportion of female criminality that has been recorded in any known society.3 In this article three different themes, aiming at an understanding of this extraordinary high proportion of female criminality, will be discussed: The traditional theories on female criminality, and the feminist critic of these theories. My main empirical findings about the pattern of crime in Stockholm 1624-1718. Three interrelated factors that provide a possible explanation of this phenomena.

John Braithwaite: Crime, shame and reintegration, Cambridge 1989. Trying to establish a general theory of crime, based on universally accepted facts, the author is much concerned with the low rate of female criminality, and discussing the problem of explaining gives an account of most of the historical and recent opinions in this matter. See also J 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 Lindstrm (ending 1624) and Sperling (starting around 1800), both based on printed material. 3 The only comparable figure would be from Amsterdam in the middle of the 17.th century, see Peter Spierenburg, The spectacle of suffering, Cambridge 1984. see also Malcolm F Feeley

These three factors are: the uneven sex ratio among inhabitants of Stockholm I during the early 18th century, the process of acculturation and the gendered changes in the code of honor. My research does not cover all the court-material from every year, but is confined to four shorter intervals, 1622-26, 1666-67, 1696-99 and the years 1708-1718. The first and the last of these periods the research is complete with respect to civil cases and largely also the criminal justice. My research into the second period, of the sixteen-sixties will not be considered in this article, and the third does not cover all aspects of the legal culture. It is only to be regarded as a check to see how the high proportion of Female offenders during the last period compare with the pattern of crime before the outbreak of the Great Nordic War. Theories of female criminality The subordinate social role of women in most societies has generally been accepted as the key to understanding why they usually commit less crime than men, though the subordination in itself has been explained in a number of different ways. This issue goes far beyond the criminological discourse that will be referred to here but the same two main alternatives dominate in either case. The traditional reason given is that the subordination in some way is in accordance with the natural order and the feminist critic states that it is a result of a paternalistic, or even sexist, suppression. Cesare Lombroso and his co-writer Giulio Ferrero could at the turn of the century, with a typical touch of the time, state that women are inferior to men, physically as well as intellectually. They give a wide reference to natural science, such as zoological and anthropological evidence, to show that criminality is more abnormal for women than men. One example given is that in 1830 a cow had killed several people with its horns in Montmartre. They also claimed to have anthropometrical evidence that the same physical characteristics that predestine men for a criminal career, makes women become prostitutes.4 Apparently they did not pay any attention to the fact that prostitution is a crime in some societies but not in others. Throughout the 20.th century most of the theories concerning female criminality has been variations of sexist themes. Female criminals as well as women in general have been seen as deviants from the norm - the ordinary woman is not a criminal and the ordinary criminal is not a woman. The American sociologist W I Thomas contributed to the Lombroso theory, based on biologically determined differences. The natural passivity of women makes them less inclined to criminality, while using their sexuality most easily can satisfy their lust for money and luxuries.5 Otto Pollack, on the other hand, proposed that the statistics regarding the low rate of female crime were due to the dark figure, which because of the deceitfulness of women tended to give an underestimation of their actual criminality. Not only were women supposed to lie behind much of the male crime, but also because of the chivalry of policemen and judges, they got away easier than men.6

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 York 1923. 6 Otto Pollack: Criminality of Women, New York 1950.

This theory has been falsified by self-report studies, showing that, if indeed anything can be proven about the dark figure, the proportion of female criminality is over represented in the legal statistics.7 While criminology already had begun to accept the relevance of social and economic factors when relating to male criminality, the question of female criminality was still, according to Cowie, Cowie and Slater as late as 1968, better explained by biological factors.8 These traditional theories rest on essentialist speculations, assuming that the low rate of female crime originates from natural differences between men and women. Feminist criminologists, like Francis Heidensohn, Carol Smart and Pat Carlen, have tried to establish a more mature view in their approach to the subject. The basic thesis, which indeed ought to be self-evident, is that women are as capable of economic rationality as men. They also claim social and economic factors to be as valid in relation to female as to male criminality, the same factors are relevant for both men and women in each category of crime and, therefore, somewhat surprisingly, that female criminality as such, is not a isolated and sharply distinguished entity. But at the same time the discourse of gender and femininity, that structures the subordination of women, is as crucial a variable as class and race, in understanding crime. Crime and gender in early modern Stockholm In the formation of gender, the cultural definitions of the biological difference between the sexes, major determinants are the law and the code of honor, prevalent in any given society. The role of the law, as a normative system and as part of the popular culture, and the differences between elite and popular attitudes to the concept of honor will here be discussed from a gender perspective, in the case of early modern Stockholm. The term gender is used to depict the social or cultural construction related to the purely biological differences between the sexes. Social realities are perceived through systems of symbols and cultural constructions as such are as real as the basic facts of life. Gender is such a construction and the discussion of the term has mainly been carried out in the feminist brands of different sciences. I will for the time being avoid getting involved in any more refined attempts of definition of the term. Stockholm becomes particularly interesting, due to the fact that the Female Criminality, defined as the proportion of women among persons sentenced for all kind of crimes, in this city is in the early eighteenth century, as I have demonstrated elsewhere, the highest registered in any known society. I will briefly discuss my figures concerning the Female Criminality of Stockholm after some conceptual clarifications, before commencing with the main analysis.9 For a broad quantification I use only four main categories of crime: against property, against persons, sexual offences and insubordination. Each of these categories will here be dealt with briefly, looking for different factors that might be relevant to different categories of crime, rather than to seek an overall explanation of Female Criminality as such. Crimes against property A factor that certainly contributed to the high ratio of Female theft was the fact that women were economically discriminated. This can be shown by comparing the social status of men and women sentenced by the authorities that enforced the laws of commerce. While many men from the propertied classes were fined for cheating, e g using false
7 8

Braithwaite, 1989 p 44, gives abundant reference to this kind of self-report studies. Cowie, Cowie and Slater: Delinquency in girls, London 1968. 9 Hans Andersson, Genus och rttskultur - kvinnlig brottslighet i stormaktstidens Stockholm HT (Swedish Historical Review) 1995:2; Folklig rttskultur i stormaktstidens Stockholm, Stockholm 1996.

weights or measures or charging unauthorized prices, individuals sentenced for outright illegal trading or manufacturing usually were women, from the lower classes.10 Violence and slander can be seen as related to the code of honor prevailing in a society. In most societies and cultures female honor is closely linked to the sexual behavior of women. When the frequency of female violence and slander brought to court in Stockholm, does not fall like the corresponding male frequency, this might suggest that the notion of a woman's honor had not changed. The problem of the unchanged Female honor will be further examined in the last section of my paper. Sexual offences The only category were the rate of female delinquents was equal to the male in the 1620-s was sexual offences. This is of course a quite reasonable figure in a society where all kinds of extra-martial sex were prohibited. The courts have been said to have adopted a pragmatic approach to the illegitimate sexuality. The old laws of the realm aimed at the protection of young women, in the interest of their relatives. To seduce an unmarried woman was an offence against her father. The woman was not prosecuted. During the seventeenth century the legal capacity of women increased, and one effect of this was that they to a greater extent were considered 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, and in connection with this also many signs of disrespect, towards the authorities. In the later sample the category mainly consists of servants or apprentices who runs away from their masters. It becomes an insignificant category, which may well be a sign of a successful disciplining of the people or even a suppression of the popular culture.

10 11

Hans Andersson, "Genus och Rttskultur...", table 4. 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.

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 Categories of crime % Women Against property Violence Slander Sexual offence Disobedience 29 16 26 6 17 8 4 50 24 11 100 100 4 31 26 71 20 70 22 41 28 67 % women 1708-18

Sources: Stockholms tnkebcker, Fine payment rolls, Minutes and Lists of sentences from the municipal courts of Stockholm (Rdhusrtt and kmnrsrtter). Stockholms Stadsarkiv.

During my first period of investigation, the pattern of crime in Stockholm, as far as the sources can tell us, was quite typical for a northern-European commercial city. 12 It may be noted (see table 1) that women play an insignificant part in the crime-statistics. Only in the small category of sexual offense are they as frequently sentenced as men. Of the categories of crime there is a clear dominance of crimes against person, violence or slander, a term, which is here used for all kinds of verbal abuse. Of the crimes against property about half are different kinds of theft. Quite a lot of popular protest against new state regulations of the economic life has also been registered. The new excise, or sales tax, imposed on foodstuffs, which was introduced to finance the aggressive foreign policy launched by Gustavus Adolph was very unpopular. The excise officers were nicknamed "sausage knaves" (Swedish korvknekt). For example: a journeyman, Anders Tommesson, who once saw one of his colleagues drinking beer in company with an excise officer said: why do you drink with this sausage knave, you are his equal (a frequent test on someones honor was the rites of drinking). The journeymen then started hitting each other with their beer-goblets. There were no charges for assault, but Anders was sentenced to death for this insult against a servant of the king.13
12

Jrn Sandnes, Kniven, let og ren, Oslo 1990, finds that the rate of mortal violence in the Norwegian town Bergen, during the sixteenth century was considerably higher than in British and continental cities. He argues that this mainly is a consequence of the strong sense of centered prevailing among the free farmers since the days of the Vikings. Examples from Icelandic sagas are used as evidence on this issue, in a fashion that I must suspect to be overly romantic. 13 Stockholms tnkebcker XV 1626, Stockholm 1990, 13/2 1626.

If we compare the pattern of crime in the 1620.s with the situation a century later, as shown in table 1, it will first of all be observed that the proportions of the major categories of crime, against property and against persons (violence and slander) remain fairly unchanged. Sexual crime is the only category that became more frequent, while the rate of disobedience fell dramatically. Disobedience became an insignificant category of crime. In the 1620s there was a lot of popular unrest, connected with the new taxes and also many cases of avoidance of communal work. In 1715 a new tax was also implemented, but it does not seem to have been accompanied by any riots or protests. This result could be taken as an indication that people generally had become more disciplined. But the differences between the rates of convicted men and women, shows that this applies only to men. For all categories of crime there is proportional increase of convicted women. Violence was the only major category of crime that in the years 1708-1718 still was dominated by male offenders. The social/gender division shows pronounced differences. Among men the violence was fairly evenly divided between the established groups and the lower classes, but while the women in the upper strata rarely were involved either as victims or aggressors, the lower class women are not only the group with greatest number of cases reported among themselves, but also the most common victim of male violence. It is important to note that this is not only to be taken as an evidence of mistreated women, but at the same time shows that this kind of violence was not tolerated. The courts seem to have been indifferent to the sex of the opponents in these conflicts. In the usual scenario these conflicts start with verbal abuse, which sometimes leads to violence. This is further demonstrated by the fact that women are much more often accused for verbal abuse or slander than men are, and that this kind of aggression is directed upward in the social hierarchies, while the reported violence is directed downwards. Table 2. The gender and social direction of violence registered at the court of south Stockholm (Sdra frstadens kmnrsrtt) 1716. Men/menMen/womenWomen/women Women/menTotal Up-middle/up-middle 14 Up-middle/lower class 23 Lower class/up-middle 15 Lower class/lower class 61 SUM 28 9 4 4 11 3 14 3 14 2 2 3 3 5 29 7

34

36

15

113

Sources: Minutes from Stockholm rdhusrtt and kmnrsrtter. Stockholms Stadsarkiv.

A woman called Elisabeth Swart, challenged the distiller Casper Rumpler to come out from his house and in to the street, calling him sklm and hundsfott. Coming out in the street together with his wife, he grabbed her nose, making blood flow. A neighbor urged him to let go of her, which he did, and moving backwards, officially accused her of having caused trouble between him and his wife. According to a witness, Elisabeth had pulled a knife at Caspar, while he had hit her and torn her hair. They were both fined, he to 30 and she to 18 marks of silver.14 Furthermore it must be noticed that there was a dramatic downward trend in the registered male violence, while the actual frequency of registered female violence is more than doubled. 15 The rate of lethal violence, however, fell sharply and there is a clear tendency during the period that conflicts are brought to court at an earlier stage, after just an insult or a blow, rather than to seek private vengeance. During the seventeenth century the population of Stockholm grew from about ten to sixty thousand inhabitants and at the same time the rate of illegitimate children increased. To what degree the rising frequency of sexual crime is a result of a growing ambition of the authorities, and how much of it that depends on an actual rate of illegal sex, need not concern us here. More important is that the number of women sentenced for this crime highly exceeds the number of men sentenced, though the same number of both sexes surely must have been guilty. The Swedish laws regulating sexual life were in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century extremely harsh, and the way they were put in effect can, in my opinion, not be seen as anything else than a fundamentally sexist practice of the juridical system.16 A general fact we can be fairly certain of is that the social position of women was subordinate in the traditional societies in all countries of Europe. Often they were not even allowed to take charge of their own property, but were under custody of their father or husband. In a by-passage of the medieval law of Sweden (which was in force until 1734) it was stated that the wife was the most valuable object in a farm - therefore a man that had seduced a farmers wife should not only be punished as a thief, but also be hanged higher than other thieves.17 Of more immediate consequence to the life of lower class women in the city was the fact that they were not allowed to partake in any occupation under guild regulation. As it thus can be shown that women, in a society where their social role was clearly subordinate to men, were more inclined to criminality (more often sentenced for different kinds of crime), it would seem obvious that the generally accepted theory does not hold. 18 I don't think I have to elaborate this point, which has been very well covered by numerous researches on womens history; instead I will proceed to a more detailed account of facts and processes that may have influenced the registered criminality in Stockholm during the said period.

14 15

Sdra frstadens kmnrsrtts kriminalprotokoll 11/2 1716. The rate of male violence per year and 10 000 inhabitants falls from 41,1 to 9,5, the corresponding figures for women rises from 2,6 to 6,5. 16 The change of the legal practice in this field has been thouroughly examined by Jan Sundin, in "Kyrkligt nit och vrldslig pragmatism", Fr Gud, staten och folket, Lund 1992. Sundin is mainly concerned with the rural area of stergtland. 17 Tjuvabalken, Kristoffers landslag, 1442. 18 The subordination of women in early modern Sweden has been convincingly demonstrated by contemporary research. See for example Maria Sjberg in kvinnor makt och jord? 2001, and the vast literature referred to in this work.

Sex ratio and legal change One factor that might be relevant for explaining the high proportion 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 that there was a lack of men in Sweden at the time. I have carried out an examination of the property-taxation launched by Charles XII; the result of which I have presented elsewhere and will not go into detail here. Suffice to say that there were as many women as men taxed among the lower classes. As married women were not taxed, this means that if the nuptial rate was 40-50 %, slightly less than 60 % of the actual population among the lower classes of Stockholm was women 1710s.19 This sex ratio ought to have had the effect that many women lacked "normal" family-relations, where a man was supposed to defend their honor in public if challenged. But the sex ratio by itself can be shown to be an insufficient factor in explaining why the proportion of convicted women could become so high in all categories of crime. From the middle of the 17th century, different parts of the city were under the jurisdiction of different courts (kmnrsrtt), and it is possible to compare the sex ratio in the population with the proportion of men and women among the sentenced individuals, in these parts. Criminality, especially violence and slander, was most frequent in the southern part ( Sdra frstaden). Here a larger proportion of the population was poor, compared to the rest of the city, and though the sex ratio appears to have been more equal, the proportion of female criminality was the greatest. It thus seems that the sex ratio has to be combined with other factors to explain the high rate of female delinquency. In the analysis of the high proportion of female criminality and of possible contributing factors, I will try to adopt the thesis pointed out by the feminist criminologists: that different factors are relevant to different categories of crime, rather than to seek an overall explanation of female criminality as such. The economic discrimination of women and the moral norms that were imposed mainly on women, are regarded as gendered aspects of the process of acculturation. Violence and verbal abuse are categories of crime that are closely related to the concept of honor. The dramatic changes in these crimes, and the differences between the trends of male and female violence, ought therefore to be connected with a gender-related shift of the code of honor, a question that will be more closely examined in the following chapter. The process of acculturation, the shift of the code of honor and the unequal sex ratio in the city are the three interrelated factors that combined can explain the high proportion of female delinquency in Stockholm in the early 18th century. A factor that certainly contributed to the high ratio of female theft was the fact that women were economically discriminated. This can be shown by comparing the social status of men and women sentenced by the authorities that enforced the laws of commerce. While many men from the propertied classes were fined for cheating, e g using false weights or measures or charging unauthorized prices, individuals sentenced for outright illegal trading or manufacturing usually were women, from the lower classes.20 Violence might be regarded as an even more typically male category of crime than the others. Here the proportional rise of female offenders brought to court is not as great as for the other
19

Hans Andersson, "Genus och rttskultur...", p 147. I have not been able to calculate the actual rate of nuptiality for the lower classes. Among the elite, however, it seems that 80 % of the men were married at any given time, during this period. The nuptiality must have been considerably lower among poor people. One might assume that it was half of the elite's, and thus would amount to 40 %. 20 Hans Andersson, "Genus och Rttskultur...", table 4.

categories. Still it must be noticed that, considering the actual fall in the over all frequency of crime, that there is a dramatic downward trend in the registered male violence, while the actual frequency of registered female violence is more than doubled.21 The rate of lethal violence fell even more sharply; there was a clear tendency to bring conflicts to court at an earlier stage, after just an insult or a blow, rather than to seek private vengeance. The victims of female lethal violence were usually children. The normal case was of course the unmarried mother who killed her newborn baby. But in the later period women sometimes also killed other peoples children, in what has been labeled "suicidal-murder". 22 This practice was basically an alternative to committing suicide, which surely would lead to hell. The children were usually murdered by drowning, but sometimes by slashing someones throat. After confessing her sins and having them absolved the murderess could then part from life at the scaffold, sure of the grace of God in a forthcoming existence.23 In 1709, Elisabeth Mller, a fishmongers widow murdered a six year old boy, son of a cityguard. In court (7/7) she tells how she one summer day met five small children begging in the street near by the church of St Clara. She asked one of them to come with her, promising to give him some food. Earlier on she had herself got some money from a priest, and now she bought him something to eat. As Elisabeth found no opportunity to throw him into the water, she brought him to an inn at Carlberg outside the city. She bought him a pint of simple beer. Walking by a small pond on the way back to the city she pushed him in the water and held his head under the surface till he died. She declares that she committed this misdeed because she wanted to die, because she was very poor, worried and had maltreated by the relatives of her deceased husband. Adding that she has been considering committing suicide, but did not have the nerve to drown her. Three brothers of the late fishmonger appear in court and Elisabeth is asked what complaints she has against them. She says that one of them has beaten her, but that she had deserved it, and also that when the others have been mean to her, she was to blame because she had been unreasonable. The brother-in-laws says that she for a long time has appeared to be weak and worried and that they have reported to the priest. The magistrate decided that even if she this particular day had a fit of melancholia, Elisabeth has been fully aware of her actions and therefore sentences her to death. It should be noted that there is no indication of a sexist court practice in the early 18 th century legal system of Stockholm, regarding other categories of crime than the sexual offences. Table 3 shows the tendency to sentence a person accused of violence and slander, from an admittedly small sample. The court of the southern part of the city has been chosen, because here the female rate of crime was the highest. As can be seen one third of both male and female defenders in cases of violence were sentenced. The corresponding proportion for both sexes when accused of slander is 45 %. It thus seems like it was easier to get someone convicted for slander than for violence, but it made no difference if the person accused was a man or a woman. Table 3. Men and women accused and sentenced for violence and verbal abuse at the court of south Stockholm (Sdra Frstadens
21

The rate of male violence per year and 10 000 inhabitants falls from 41,1 to 9,5, the corresponding figures for women rises from 2,6 to 6,5. 22 Jansson, 1998. 23 There are about as many of these cases registered as proper suicides. Both are clearly dominated by women (Jansson, 1998).

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Kmnrsrtt) 1716. MEN Violence Accused Sentenced 21 % Sentenced of accused 34 Verbal abuse Accused Sentenced 10 % Sentenced of accused 45 62 17 33 22 35 45 78 WOMEN 51

Sources: Minutes from Stockholm rdhusrtt and kmnrsrtter. Stockholms Stadsarkiv.

The medieval laws, which were still in force during the period of investigation, were formulated to give a paternalistic protection of women. An unmarried woman who became pregnant was not formally punished, but her seducer had to recompense her father. Extramarital sex that did not lead to pregnancy was usually not brought to court, if not conducted in a manner offensive to the public order, or in such forms that were considered unnatural.24 During the seventeenth century the population of Stockholm grew from about ten to sixty thousand inhabitants and at the same time the rate of illegitimate children increased. To what degree the rising frequency of sexual crime is a result of a growing ambition of the authorities, and how much of it that depends on an actual rate of illegal sex, need not concern us here. More important is that the number of women sentenced for this crime highly exceeds the number of men sentenced, though the same number of both sexes surely must have been guilty. The Swedish laws regulating sexual life were in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century extremely harsh, and the way they were affected can, in my opinion, not be seen as anything else than a fundamentally sexist practice of the juridical system.25 The practice of the courts changed during the seventeenth century, so that when a woman had given birth to an illegitimate child, the state acted as prosecutor. The woman herself had, however, to carry the case against the father of the child. Furthermore if she accused a married man of having made her pregnant and he as often was the case swore that he was innocent, she was still committed to the much harder punishment of having had sex with a married man. 26
24

The term sodomy usually referred to bestiality, for which many hundreds of men were executed during the seventeenth and eighteenth century. Homosexuality was not unknown, but I have found only one case in my material (see Hans Andersson Folklig rttskultur... p 76), and it is not mentioned in any other recent work on criminality i early modern Sweden. See Andersson and Perlestam: Sodomiter infr rtta in Karolinska frbundets rsbok, 2002. 25 The change of the legal practice in this field has been thoroughly examined by Jan Sundin, in "Kyrkligt nit och vrldslig pragmatism", Fr Gud, staten och folket, Lund 1992. Sundin is mainly concerned with the rural area of stergtland. A shorter version can be studied in English: for God, State and People: Crime and Local Justice in Preindustrial Sweden, in Civilization of Crime, Violence in Town & Country since the Middle Ages, ed Eric Johnson and Eric MonkkonenChicago 1996. 26 If one of the parties involved in illegitimate sex was married the case was labeled enkelt hor, but if both were married (but not with each other) the term was dubbelt hor (double whoredoom), which was a capital offence. The king Charles XII, to much dismay of his advisors, often sentenced people to death

11

There was also the risk that if the man was acquitted he could make a charge of slander against the woman he had made pregnant.27 Before compurgation was absolved in 1695, at least technically, it could have been necessary for a man; accused of had having illegal sex, to find oath-helpers, prepared to support his innocence. The change, which also can be seen as an aspect 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 on sexuality enhanced the connection between acceptable sexual behavior the female code of honor and may thus have increased the tendency for women to engage in conflicts over honor. The process of disciplining or acculturation in other fields was mainly directed at the male population, as for example: the changes in military organization; the restrictions in the right of carrying arms; the growing efficiency and equality before the law in cases of civil justice; and the commercialization of the economy. All these appear to have a pacifying influence on male behavior and thereby been more firmly connected with the code of male honor. I have studied some of these male-oriented aspects of the processes of disciplining and acculturation in depth. The case of military legal culture and discipline is quite obvious. 29 Also, a student of crime and legal culture cannot fail to notice the concept of judicial revolution, refereeing to the fundamental shift of structure and function of the legal system in Europe from medieval times to the early modern period. The power over the legal apparatus was a strategic key element in the formation of the absolute state.30 The institutional development of the administration of law in Stockholm during the seventeenth century is very well suited to the standard model of the judicial revolution. The main function of the courts had been to solve conflicts between members of the local community, and only in extreme cases were notorious criminals and troublemakers brutally punished or expelled from the city. Economic disputes that occurred were mainly between members of the propertied classes. If a person of lower social rank engaged in such a case he (or, more rarely, she) usually lost the case. It was quite common that the people engaged in prolonged conflicts resorted to slander or violence, when they could not get their right. When the state had taken control over the magistrate and kmnrrtts, this gave people from the lower classes a greater chance to win their cases. It also became very rare that the parties involved in economic disputes which could be solved at court, tried to get their right by unlawful means. About 50 % of the people involved in civil processes, during the period 1696-1720, were from the lower classes and they usually won their cases against parties of higher social strata. 31 As violence, especially in 1620s was mainly a male affair, the more efficient handling of the
even when only one of the persons were married. Birger Wedberg, Karl XII p justitietronen, Stockholm 1944. 27 Which happened, for example, to Annika Lindberg, according to Sdra frstadens kmnrsrtts kriminalprotokoll 11/2 1716. 28 For details, see Hans Andersson: "Brottsliga btsmn" in Forum Navale 49 (1993). 29 See Sodomiter infr rtta etc. 30 Bruce Lenman and Geoffrey Parker: "The state, the community and the criminal law in early modern Europe", in Crime and the law, ed Gatrell et al, London 1980. 31 Hans Andersson: "Rttsskerheten i stormaktstidens Stockholm", in Mnniskovrdet och makten, ed Arne Jarrick & Johan Sderberg, Stockholm 1994. These results are contrary to the common notion, that people from the lower classes rarely participated in civil cases, and that the courts usually supported persons from higher social groups. I have therefore launched a research project in a comparative European perspective "Legal security in three European cities in the early 18.th century", with the aim of comparing some variables concerning civil processes in Edinburgh and Stralsund, with Stockholm.

12

civil cases and a greater chance to win such a case against a social superior would foremost have had an effect on the male part of the population. Gender and the code of honor I have been putting forward the hypothesis that the moral code changed more dramatically for men than for women, and that this could explain why the rate of male violence fell while the female rate remained constant or even risen. A more detailed study of the changing code of honor is made through an examination of the actors in cases of slander, and of the actual contents of the verbal abuse brought to court in Stockholm from 1620 to 1720.32 Table 4. The gender direction of verbal abuse in Stockholm 1620.s and 1716. Percentage. Men/men 1624-25 1716 64 12 Men/women 18 10 Women/women 9 48 Women/men 9 30 (N=198) (N=184)

Source: Stockholms tnkebcker 1622-26, Kmnrsrtternas protokoll 1696-99 and 1716. Stockholms stadsarkiv. Note: These figures are not compatible with the ones given in tab. 1, which are based on sentences and individual cases, while these are based on accusations and individual words of abuse, of which there may be more than one in each case. The period examined is also more limited, especially for the 1710.s

It should be pointed out that in the legal culture of early modern Sweden, and probably in most parts of Western Europe, it was at least as important if an act was dishonorable, as if it was illegal. And violence - if not conducted against persons that could not defend themselves - as well as slander did not defile the honor of the actor. 33 Therefore there are almost no examples of words of abuse that relate to these kinds of crime. In cases of violence there is no necessary connection with the code of honor, but verbal abuse is always related to, or rather an assault on, someones honor. Irrespective of the dark figure, the cases of slander give a good representation of what kinds of insults were considered serious attacks on ones honor. As can be seen in table 4, the percentages of who was charged by whom changed dramatically during the period. In the column-headings the gender given before the slash is related to the person accused of slander, after the slash the person abused and therefore also plaintiff. In 1624-25 it was usually men that were reported for abusing other men, while women played an insignificant role, either as accused, or victims, of slander. The sample from 1716 on
32

This later part of the analysis quite closely follows the method once tried by James Sharpe in "Defamation and sexual slander in Early Modern England: the Church Courts at York" (Borthwick papers, no 58), York 1980. 33 Act of king Gustav Vasa in 1538, in Schmedeman. Only killing of defenseless people, e g when sleeping or swimming, and also children, did, according to this act, lead to the loss of honor. Honor is here mainly considered in its judicial aspect, a person without honor could not appear in court as a witness, oathswearer or, of course, function as a judge or sit in a jury (nmnd).

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the contrary shows women as the active part, in abusing both men and other women. The code honor is not, however, determined only by the direction of registered slander, but also of its content. There are almost no examples of words of abuse that relate to assault or other words of abuse (which would have been a kind of meta-slander). Theft, on the other hand, was considered dishonorable, both for men and women, in the 1620.s as well as later. The change in vocabulary concerning Female honor can be interpreted as being to a lesser degree a result of a change in the code of honor than in actual behavior of lower class women. In the 1620.s the most common words of abuse against men was thief and sklm (from German schelm, denoting a man without honor and originally therefore aus der gesellschaft ausgeschlossen mensch34), and against women hora (literary whore, but at the time not necessarily meaning a prostitute, but an adulterous woman). There is not much difference related to the content of slander and if a man or a woman uttered it, therefore the variable will be left out.35 In the early 18.th century thief (in Swedish usually tjuvkna, the word kna being an old expression for woman, but at the time rendered a distinct derogatory touch - see example below) had also become a common word in abusing women. The expression hundsfott (from German Hundfotze, referring to the genital parts of a bitch) that was only rarely used in the 1620.s, quite commonly occurs when men are insulted in the 1710.s.36 From table 5 it can be seen that the three standard words of abuse against men, together stands for slightly above 50 % of the registered insults, while the two standard expressions used against women amount to more than 70 %. There is no change in these figures between the two examined periods. This indicates that the concept of womens honor was, throughout the period of investigation, more stereotype than the concept of male honor. I will give an example of a conflict, with verbal abuse and violence between men and women: A man called Pihlstrm accused his maidservant, Lisken Meijer, of having given him a box on the ear. She claimed that he had arrived home drunk late one evening, and then called her satans kna, because there was no milk in the house. She had hit him because this got to close to her honor, and besides he had not given her any money to buy milk. According to a witness, she had also called him a thief and some other words of abuse. She complains before the court, that she did not know how to behave in her situation, because, if she let him have his way with her, she would become pregnant, be considered a loose woman and also fined for this, but when she defended herself she was fined anyway.37 Obviously there were other reasons behind their conflict. In this case the woman's sexuality still
34 35

Wahrig, Deutsches Wrterbuch, 1978. For a full catalougue of the words of abuse registered in my samples, and if they were uttered by men or women, see: Hans Andersson: "Bland tjuvkonor och hundsfottar", Karolinska frbundets rsbok 1995 - in press. 36 It can be observed that the expression fitta (cunt) also is used only on men (and by other men). See Andersson "Brottsliga btsmn...). 37 Sdra frstadens kmnrsrtts kriminalprotokoll 21/6 1716

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seems to be the crucial point of her honor, though the conflict at first glance appears to be connected with other issues. Table 5. Standard words of abuse in Stockholm, 1620.s and 1710.s, and their combined proportions (rate of stereotype). In percentage. 1620.s Against men: Thief Sklm Hundsfott Out of Rate of stereotypes Against women: Whore Thief Out of Rate of stereotypes 32 42 148 51 % 33 4 49 76 % 1716 13 16 1 73 53 % 43 38 103 79 %

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Source: Stockholms tnkebcker and Sdra frstadens Kmnrsrtts protokoll. Stockholms stadsarkiv.

The fact that the abuses on female honor changes, so that accusation of thievery becomes more frequent, does not necessarily signify a change in the concept of female honor. The frequency and proportion of women sentenced for theft had risen to extreme levels has also to be considered. On the other hand the hypothesis, that a woman's honor is invariably connected first and foremost with her sexual behavior, does not seem to hold. As long as women behaved properly in other respects, the words of abuse did concentrate on the always-interesting sexual aspect. But as soon as the rate of women accused of, and probably in reality committing, theft, grew the content of the standard words of abuse also changed. The rate of women accused and sentenced for other crimes, such as violence and slander, did not lead to the same kind of change in the words of abuse. Theft, on the other hand, was considered dishonorable, both for men and women, in the 1620.s as well as later. The change in vocabulary concerning female honor, can be interpreted as being to a lesser degree a result of a change in the code of honor than in actual behavior of lower class women. Summary

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With the recent growth of historical research into the criminality of early modern societies a wide range popular culture and behavior of lower class people has been brought to attention. It has been possible to show that women, though usually not as often accused of crimes as men, could display a wide range of active use of the legal system, acting as witnesses, experts in particular fields, sometimes leaning on the appropriate norms of a passive helpless victim.38 Early modern Stockholm is the only known example of a pattern of crime dominated by women. In late seventeenth century about half of the persons accused of, and sentenced for, any kind of crime, in this city were women. During subsequent decades the proportion rose to almost 70 %, the highest rate of registered female criminality in any known society. Viewing gender subordination as cause of the usually low rate of female crime is in my opinion totally falsified by this single piece of evidence. Another problem is to explain this remarkable or even unique pattern of crime. I have argued that three distinct but interrelated factors or processes may account for the rate of female criminality: the actual proportion of women among the inhabitants of Stockholm, the process of acculturation, which had different implications for men and women, and the shift of the gendered code of honor. At the beginning of the eighteenth century there was an uneven sex ratio in Stockholm. This affected the situation of women and reinforced their criminal behavior in most categories of crime. Still it can be shown to be insufficient as an over-all explanation of the high proportion of female delinquents. In cases of theft and illegal sex, the main reason for the high proportion of women sentenced seems to be the subordination itself. The economic discrimination of women contributed to a high degree of female theft. Concerning illegal sex the authorities apparently had a greater ambition and/or ability to punish women than men. This practice cannot be evaluated as anything other than sexist, and as such it forms a part of a wider (more or less consciously coordinated) policy of subordination. The frequency of men convicted for crimes against the person fell dramatically during the seventeenth century. At the same time the frequency of female violence and slander was actually increasing. The changes in gender-related proportions of sentences in these categories of crime cannot be referred to a policy of subordination of women. It would rather seem that the subordination of women is replaced, as the decisive factor, by the process of disciplining, that the state primarily directed towards its male subjects. The shift in the code of honor, due to the growing power of the state, does not seem to have affected women in the same way as men. The courts seem to have been indifferent to the sex of the persons involved in these conflicts. In the usual scenario these conflicts start with verbal abuse, which sometimes leads to violence. This is further demonstrated by the fact that women were much more often than men accused for verbal abuse or slander, and that this kind of aggression is directed upward in the social hierarchies, while the reported violence is directed downwards.

38

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

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