Fenced open-fields in mixed-farming systems: spatial organisation and cooperation in southern Sweden during the seventeenth century

The organisation of fields and fences in agriculture that emerged during the Middle Ages and the early modern period was a complex system that combined individual ownership of and communal practices in arable land, meadows and pastures. It was adapted for small and mid-size family-based farming and was a different way to organise agriculture than the medieval estates (demesnes) and the larger coherent fields of the eighteenth century and onwards. The past decade of research in historical geography and economic history has highlighted the origin of this system, which is often referred to as the open-field system; it was open in the sense that it promoted communal farming of primarily arable land. This pre-modern farming system was, however, in many areas a physically closed landscape – a landscape where fences stood out as significant elements. This article investigates the use of fences in a part of early modern western Sweden. The empirical base is a reconstruction of fence-organisations from detailed large-scale maps dating from the mid-seventeenth century. Using historical maps, this study focuses on the collaboration and interaction among farms and settlements. We argue that the open-field system cannot be fully understood without regard to an in-depth analysis of the fences and the institutions holding the complex collaboration together. The occurrence or absence of fences in relation to open-fields involves several questions: What are the characteristics of the fences in the farming systems known as open-field? What can be said about the spatial distributions and connections between the settlements sharing the same open-field? Can agrarian landscapes where fences were prominent elements be considered open-field? The results show that fences appear to be a key factor in understanding settlement patterns and open-fields in Scandinavian regions. A large number of fences created small fenced open-fields. Moreover, the divisions of the arable plots had less importance in the creation of open-fields, which included arable land, meadows and pastures. Instead, cross-settlement collaborations and arrangements are central for the open-fields in the study region. The regional differences within the open-field system provide an understanding of the preconditions and organisation of mixed farming, which combined small-scale arable land cultivation and large-scale pastures

The function of open fields : agriculture in early modern Sweden

This thesis examines the spatial arrangement of holdings and villages in early modern open fields, the dominating system in large parts of Europe for nearly a millennium. Open fields is characterised by the spatial division of holdings, scattered and intermingled in one or more fields. The thesis examines the practical aspects of open field farming and the function of scattered holdings, and the aim is to study how scattered holdings were integrated into farming practice and the larger institutional and communal arrangement of open fields the mixed farming system. Open fields in southwest Sweden are analysed empirically on farm, village and inter-village level using historical maps. Methodologically, maps are combined with written sources for spatial and temporal analysis and estimates of time consumption in cultivation and transportation. Furthermore, it analyses the distribution of plots in two different field systems and discusses the efficiency of small-scale production and area-productivity in open fields, and cooperation between villages and reconstructions and analysis of fence-organisations. This thesis shows that scattered and intermingled holdings facilitated an efficient management of time, work and space. The open fields allowed for spatial and temporal sequence of work and diversification crops. What ultimately defines an open field is both the openness of a physical landscape, fence or unfenced and, more so, the requirement of the cooperation between its participants and synchronisation of key activities of farming

The function of open-field farming – managing time, work and space

Open fields were a dominant agricultural feature in Central, Western and Northern Europe for nearly a millennium. The spatial organisation of villages and the degree of communal management of common resources varied, but the basic characteristics and common features of the open-field system were that individual holdings were fragmented into several small unfenced plots and intermingled in one or more fields. Research on the subject is extensive, and several explanations for its cause(s) have been presented; however, the answer regarding the question of its rationale and persistence over time is still up for debate. The overarching aim of this article is to present new findings concerning open-field farming from a functional and practical perspective. What were the farming practices and how was the spatial organisation in open fields integrated in those practices? This article shows that the common practice in Skaraborg County, Sweden, was diversification by using different crops. In the village of Kleva, the preparation of plots and the planting of different crops was carried out in a sequence. Sources indicate that the scattered plots in open fields were integrated into that sequence and that certain plots were designated for certain crops to be sown at a certain moment in time. In the village of Kleva, open fields were used to cater to precision farming as a way to manage time, work and space