Den lokala scenen : Torstuna härad som lokalsamhälle under 1600-talet : Torstuna Härad im 17. Jahrhundert - eine lokale Gemeinschaft?

Sammanfattning: The hundreds were territorial divisions in the countryside, which comprised judicial districts. They also had other roles in the political system. Within research the hundreds have been considered local communities in two different ways. As legal entities they have been regarded as political corporations with elements of local self-government and with the ability to negotiate with the state. They have also been considered as closely woven social milieus in which the hundred court could sometimes function as a place where local society could regulate its relationships (communal law). This dissertation studies a hundred in central Sweden to test the validity of both of these assumptions.The dissertation shows that the hundred did not encompass these assumptions. Although the inhabitants of the hundred were well integrated into the legal activities of the ting, thehundred was not a unified social milieu where everyone had knowledge of everyone else. Thenegative result, however, does contain a positive element. There were more sporadic contactsover large parts of the hundred. The results do not exclude the possibility that commoninterests could be formulated by the inhabitants of the hundred.The approach used in the dissertation has been to study various kinds of spatial distribution. The territory of the hundred has been compared with various areas affected by the activities of the hundred and with areas which formed cohesive social milieus. In the latter case methods have been developed for the analysis of social networks.