Introduction

At a 1692 court session in Snevringe, a small village outside of the town Vasteras, farmer Anders Larsson sued farmhand Olof Nilsson for having breached their employment contract. According to their agreement, Olof was supposed to work for Anders for about four months. However, Olof had only fulfilled his duties for six weeks. In his defense, Olof explained that he had fallen ill and thus had been too weak to perform the tasks expected of him. Anders reproached Olof and stated that he had not demanded Olof to exceed his abilities when working for him. Anders added that Olof, despite his current, frail condition, should at least have been able to thresh grain. The court verdict was that Olof should either return his salary in lieu of unfulfilled weeks of work to Anders, or return to work for him for the remaining nine weeks, as stipulated in the original agreement.

The case referred to above offers insights into a typical breach of contract negotiations between a farmer and a farmhand in seventeenth-century Sweden, such as it might unfold in a case of a breach of contract. But it also informs us about how ordinary people in early modern Sweden could use concepts of illness, impairment, and bodily ability in everyday contexts, and more importantly, what meanings were given to these concepts.