Voices of the forests. Eviction, control, and the birth of the ‘Parish Lapp’ system in early modern Sweden

ABSTRACT This paper examines the birth of the exploitative sockenlappssystemet (the ‘Parish Lapp’ system) in central Sweden during the early eighteenth century. Based on a foundation of control and eviction instituted in earlier laws, the 1720s saw a forceful rise in royal concern over the existence of nomadic Sámi in central Sweden. His Majesty King Fredrik I specifically expressed fear of damage to the resources of the forests through Sámi hunting, especially bird hunting. The period between 1720 and 1730 saw King Fredrik corresponding with the Royal Council, the county governors, and some groups of Sámi agents. The council sought to evict the Sámi and move them or have them move to the lappmarker. The Sámi agents claimed birth right and asserted that Sámi in central Sweden had no relationship to either the land or the Sámi in the northern part of the realm. This paper uses a historical anthropological perspective, based on a wide set of sources, including historical archaeology, history, and ethnography, in order to paint a bigger picture of the conflicted situation that led to the founding of the unique system of forced indenture: the so-called Parish Lapp system.


Introduction
Among some of my [. . .] dear predecessor Baron Palmquist's documents from the latest meeting of the Diet in Stockholm, I find a petition to his Royal Majesty from some Lapps in Helsingland humbly written, and wherein they ask permission to stay in the region [of Gävleborg]. Signed County Governor Bielke, 6 May 1728. 1 Although County Governor Bielke expressed concern for the Sámi's situation in the region of Gävleborg in central Sweden, he had many other tasks demanding his attention. When appointed as county governor, he had found his bailiwick in poor circumstances. Local conditions were affected by Russian raids along the coast in 1721; Russian troops had destroyed every town in the region except Gävle; and the Russians had occupied Finland, resulting in masses of fugitives from the eastern part of the realm. One of the many issues that demanded the governor's attention was King Fredrik's concern about other pressing government problems: illegal fugitives, immigrants, and vagabonds. And the Sámi of the region and their nomadic or traditional Sámi lifestyle was one of these perceived problems. 2 Although Bielke had acknowledged his awareness of previous bills outlawing Sámi nomadism south of the lappmarker he also noted the Sámi supplications and argued that they had lived in the region for generations. His letter is long, full of corrections, and difficult to read; it ends with his suggestion to King Fredrik: . . . thus [it seems that] the institution can be founded that [allows] one or two [Sámi] in each parish to settle in the villages and be forbidden to wander and shoot in the woods but must stay in the parishes and pay ordinary contributions and taxes. 3 Letter to His Royal Majesty concerning Lapps. Gävle County Office, 6 May 1728.
Governor Bielke's letter is unique in several ways. It addresses a now-lost supplication by Jon Larsson and Lars Jonsson, two Sámi from Söderhamn, who were arrested for vagrancy. The supplication is known only through Bielke's reference and the diary of Inrikes civilexpeditionen (the Domestic Board). 4 Bielke's references to Larsson's and Jonsson's supplication express opposition and resistance against the laws of eviction directed at the Sámi in southern and central Sweden. The existence of a supplication suggests that the Sámi in Hälsingland were acquainted with the forms and format of supplications as ways influencing one's state and situation.
The letter of 6 May 1728 also shows Governor Bielke's concern for the supplicating Sámi. He did not express the loathing towards the Sámi that was common in the correspondence of the time; rather he conveyed an understanding of their situation in the region. From Bielke's point of view, it seemed reasonable to allow the Sámi to stay in the county where they had lived for generations. His concern over the opinions and desires of the royal regime to expel all Sámi nomads south of the lappmarker led Bielke to suggest that quotas of Sámi be allowed, and that the Sámi who were deemed part of this quota should be required to end their supposed nomadic lifestyle and be restrained to individual parishes. They should also pay taxes. This is the first known mention of what came to develop into the so-called sockenlappssystemet ('Parish Lapp' system), today a pejorative term, but one that we are forced to use throughout the paper. The term Lapp, is nowadays considered disparaging, but was during the early modern period rather neutral. The negative signification developed during the eighteenth century, and partly related to the development of the 'Parish Lapp' system. Bielke literally uses the term systemet (the system) with the intention of providing a solution to what His Majesty saw as a problem.
Since the late medieval period, northern Sweden had been divided into a set of lappmarker, regions today mainly consisting of Finnish and Swedish Lapland, and with a majority of Sámi inhabitants during the medieval and early modern periods. However, substantial number of Sámi lived south of the lappmark-border, and had done so for a very long period of time. The lappmark-system expanded during the seventeenth century and came to stretch from Jämtland and Åsele in the south to Kemi in the northeast. 5 Larsson's and Jonsson's supplications are the first known petitions by any Sámi in central Sweden trying to avoid eviction to the lappmarker.
The original letter quoted by Bielke, is a reply to several legislative reforms starting in 1671 and augmented from 1720 onwards -legislation with the intention of limiting Sámi habitation in southern Sweden. This eviction policy was severely intensified, beginning in 1720 and throughout the aftermath of the Great Nordic War (1700-1721). The bases for these acts of legislation were the Crown's demands for tjänstehjonstvång (compulsory service) and laga försvar (requiring that all people deemed subjects could fulfil one of four conditions: being in someone's service or having a title, lands, or a trade). These restrictions had governed Swedish politics during the seventeenth century and they were intensified as an effect of the fall of the Baltic Empire and the rise of a new royal family to the throne of Sweden. 6 Anti-Sámi legislation was created in a specific historic context, in which the Crown expressed its ambition to control and homogenize the multicultural population of the realm. The policy led to three things. 1) A forced move of many Sámi families from central Sweden to Jämtland and other regions further north, and 2) the founding of what was unique for Sweden -sockenlappssystemet -an institution of ethnically defined indenture encompassing the Sámi in central and parts of northern Sweden. 3) These two situations, in turn, led to growing conflict between the freeholders and the government, on the one hand, and local Sámi, on the other, as the Sámi tried to remain as peripatetic residents in the region.
Our goal in this paper is to enhance an understanding of the origin of the so-called Parish Lapp system during the early eighteenth century, through an analysis of the legislative foundation, in combination with an examination of the socio-economic situation of the Sámi living in southern and central Sweden during the period. The people who were then referred to by what became a pejorative term, 'Parish Lapps', were indentured workers under contract with the parish for particular tasks, usually consisting of crafts; wild game hunting; and the killing and butchering of horses, dogs, and cats. Many of them also worked as musicians and healers. 'Parish Lapps' have been studied by ethnologist Ingvar Svanberg, with a focus on an ethno-biological niche perspective. 7 Studies of the historical documents that created the foundation of the ethnically based indenture system is still lacking, however, and an in-depth analysis of the scattered sources contributes to a deeper understanding of this unique system. Wider cultural historical analysis, including historical archaeological, anthropological, and ethnological perspectives are also lacking. More concretely, physical evidence, material culture, and material remains are too seldom used to provide a deeper and fuller understanding of South Sámi life in the early modern period. 8 In this paper, we conduct an analysis of the official correspondence concerning the Sámi in central Sweden and the making of anti-nomadic laws, in combination with a more holistic perspective, through our historical anthropological and historical archaeological method.
We raise two main questions in this paper. 1) What livelihoods and conditions did the Sámi people in central Sweden experience during the turn of the century 1600-1700? (This question is answered primarily by drawing upon historical archaeological studies. 2) How did the authorities argue in matters of the Sámi settlements in central Sweden and the lives of Sámi people? (We address this question primarily by drawing on historical sources.) By answering these two questions, applying a historical anthropological perspective, and introducing the two types of findings, interpreted in light of each other, we tell the history of how the 'Parish Lapp' institution was constructed and evolved. Specifically, we aim to demonstrate how the actions and arguments of various actors led to the establishment of this institution, which resulted in the Sámi of southern Sweden being transformed from free people into indenturers.

Method and material
To understand how the 'Parish Lapp' system was founded and developed, we have employed an application of a cross-disciplinary approach that includes anthropological, archaeological, and ethnohistorical sources. By applying historical anthropological methods through their emphasis on praxis and cultural history, together with a historical archaeological perspective of material culture and spatial analysis, we aim to broaden our knowledge of the situation facing Sámi in eighteenth century central Sweden.
Historical anthropological methods, and perspectives have a long history in Scandinavian historical studies. One cannot overestimate the influence of Fernand Braudel, Jean-Claude Schmitt, Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, and E.P. Thompson, to mention a few renown advocates for this joint perspective. 9 From a Scandinavian vantagepoint, critical contributions to the field have been made by such scholars as Sverre Bagge,Lars Magnusson,and Christer Winberg. 10 Several of the traits advocated by historical anthropologists were also embraced in ethnology, as exemplified in the works of Jonas Frykman and Orvar Löfgren. 11 Recent years have, however, seen a decline of interest in these perspectives.
Historical anthropology emphasizes the pluralistic use of such sources as the artistic/ aesthetic, spatial, and material, providing an opening for a collaboration with historical archaeology and material-culture studies. Historical archaeology draws its methodological perspectives from triangulation: the intersection among studies of material culture, written record, and depictive sources, thereby identifying past events in a particular historical-spatial context. 12 The method draws inspiration from Janken Myrdal's suggestion that source pluralism should serve as a critical method of testing various sources against each other. In the historical context of data scarcity, such as studies of Sámi communities in southern and central Scandinavia during the medieval and early modern periods, the source-pluralistic approach may fill gaps in the data and provide a fuller picture. 13 The anthropological critique of ethnocentrism is paramount in this context. Early modern Scandinavia was a society characterized by a multitude of identities, languages, and traditions. This does not mean that equality of power existed among the various groups, however; rather, as we demonstrate in this paper, the Crown's actions and events that unfolded had the purpose of expanding Crown control over the Sámi in southern and central Sweden. Moreover, it was the Crown's purpose to expand its control over the vast woodlands and their resources, thereby changing a seemingly fluid and borderless multiculturalism into a situation of stricter borders among ethnic groups. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this process led to homogenization and a collective amnesia, whereby Sámi people were considered by the authorities and the general public to be living and having been living nowhere but the far north, in spite of their constant presence in the south.
The study begins with a presentation of the historical situation of Sámi in central Sweden, north of the Mälaren Valley up to Hälsingland, including, Dalarna, Gästrikland, Uppland, and Västmanland. (See Figure 1.) We then present a discussion of six bills and letters, dated 1671, 1720, 1723, 1725, 1728, and 1730 along with responses to these bills by county officials, the Royal Council, and supplications by the Sámi. The conflict that unfolded over these bills and responses to the bills is founded in a competition over the resources of the woods, particularly the forest birds. As exemplified in Bielke's letter of 6 May 1728, the authorities considered the Sámi hunt to be problematic. In a wider context, the conflict over access to forest lands and the commons and over King Fredrik's intention to cut off Sámi access, all tap into the broad issue of original capital accumulation through control and privatization of commons, as identified by Karl Marx and more recent David Harvey. 14 In order to obtain a fuller understanding of the situation in the region during the eighteenth century, our empirical study is broadened with a brief discussion of five recently excavated Sámi settlements in Hälsingland, Gästrikland, and Uppland. The paper concludes with a broader discussion of source pluralism and broadened perspectives in historic studies, generated by the need for a deeper understanding of the Sámi's early modern past and the relationship between the Sámi and the Crown.

Control, repression, and multitude
By the turn of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, laws forcing people into service and creating limitations to freedom of travel were implemented in Sweden. As mentioned previously, there were only four legislative foundations for achieving the status of subject of the Crown: being a landowner, having a title or a trade, or being employed. 15 People not belonging to any of these four categories could be forced into service or imprisoned. The 1671 bill against nomadic Sámi south of the lappmarker was aimed at securing inhabitation in the far north and expressed the Crowns' fear of losing its far-northern subjects -the very people who handcrafted the gloves, hats, and purses for the evergrowing military forces of the expanding Swedish realm. 16 Or as stated in the bill: ' . . . thet Landscapet som af ingen annan än Lappar beqwemligen brukas och cultiveras kan . . . ' (' . . . a land that could not be farmed and cultivated by anyone else . . . '). (See Figure 2.) 17 The rise of the fiscal state and the Crowns' growing demand for expanding control of its subjects was directed primarily at limiting the nomadic lifestyles characteristic of the Sámi but was also aimed at other groups, such as the Roma. In the bills of the 1720s and 1730s, suggesting eviction of the Sámi, the theme had changed, however, from a focus on securing population in the far north to restricting nomadism in the south. Moreover, the legislations introduced in the 1720s were directed at protecting forest hunting and at limiting Sámi access to wild game and forest birds. Control over the lands continued to grow. 18 The forests and the commons expanded in importance and were increasingly seen as economic assets. Growing industrialization through the expansion of metal works in Sweden's traditional mining districts was another reason for growing competition over the forests' riches. In fact, there seems to be overlap between the expanding metal works in the forested areas and early indications of Sámi habitation, a situation that was rife with conflict and demands further research. Throughout the eighteenth century, increasingly limited access to forests and firearms was directed at Sámi in central Sweden. A veritable struggle over woodland resources was played out and intensified throughout the eighteenth century. 19 The aftermath of the Great Nordic War, the ascension of a new royal dynasty through the marriage of Ulrika Eleonora and Fredrik of Hessen, and Fredrik's 1720 coronation seem to have accelerated the pressure on Sámi inhabitants in southern and central Sweden. Early peacetime saw the making of the foundation for the peculiar and unique system of ethnically distinguished indenture service, the sockenlappssystemet ('Parish Lapp' system).
A tradition of small-scale reindeer pastoralism and semi-nomadic habitation that had developed over centuries, with roots in early medieval society, was coming to an end. 20 As Bielke asserted in 1728, regarding the Sámi of Söderhamn: ' . . . that these, as well as in several other places down here, vagrant Lapps, apprehend that they have been living here since distant times and that they had never visited the lappmarker . . .' 21 Two years later, in May 1730, a group of Sámi men (Ander Hindersson, Hindrich Mårtensson, Erich Hindersson, Nils Andersson, Siuhl Hindricsson, and Matz Larsson) in Sundborn and Svärdsjö in Dalarna signed a related supplication concerning a similar matter and stating a similar fact. They stressed that they owned nothing and that they had no way of making a living in the lappmarker and that their 'forefathers' fathers were born here and to their dying days had their livelihood here '. 22 This reply from the Sámi is unique, because Sámi history is characterized by narratives about the Sámi, rather than of the Sámi. 23 Sources about Sámi in central Sweden are not unusual, however. In early modern Stockholm, Sámi worked as civil and military servants, as domestics, and as members of the clergy. 24 The sphere around Johannes Schefferus during the second half of seventeenth-century Uppsala, included Sámi students, for example. The 1732 words of Carl Linneaus when he passed Jättendal in Hälsingland on his way to Lapland are famous: No sooner had I entered the forest than I caught up with 7 Lapps who were driving 60 to 70 of their reindeer, and they had young calves with them . . . I asked them how they came to be right down here, and they said that they had been born down here by the coast and wanted to die here. They spoke good Swedish. 25 The words 'wanted to die here' resembles those of the Ander Hindersson group petition and clearly expresses not only a will but an identity. The Linneaus quote indicates a clear difference between the Sámi in Jättendal, Svärdsjö, and Söderhamn on the one hand and the Sámi living in the northern part of Fennoscandia on the other. That recurrent expression, 'wanted to die here' indicates that the Sámi were adjusting to a shared conceptualization of their identity as belonging to the lands in the south.
Travel journals, descriptions, church books, and oral traditions from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in County Gävleborg and neighbouring counties recurrently mention and address nomadic and sedentary Sámi. Over time the entries concerning permanently settled Sámi working as 'Parish Lapps' began to grow in number.
Despite this plethora of sources, there is still a lacuna in the knowledge concerning the context behind the birth of the 'Parish Lapp' system. For a long time, Yngvar Nielsen's framryckingsteori (the expansion theory), published in 1891, dominated historical and archaeological interpretations. Nielsen's study was based on a lack of older historic evidence on Sámi settlement in the region of Trøndelag, but his study came to have wide recognition among scholars in Scandinavia. His limited examination of historic documents (few sources address the situation before the seventeenth century) led to ex silentio assumptions. Nielsen also ignored oral traditions, linguistic data, place names, and archaeological evidence, all of which would have suggested a deep Sámi history in Trøndelag and surrounding counties. Nielsen's' work gained widespread attention and was used to indicate a late Sámi migration to the whole of central Scandinavia; it also served as an argument for the systematic land transfer from Sámi to non-Sámi landowners. His expansion theory supported a nationalist archaeology and ethnology, expressed by Oscar Montelius, among others. 26 The history of the 'Parish Lapps' in central Sweden is dominated by the works of Ingvar Svanberg who, in several articles and in the monograph Hästslaktare och korgmakare (1999; Horse butchers and basket makers), has created the scientific foundation concerning Sámi habitation in central Sweden in general and specifically addressed the birth and development of the 'Parish Lapp' system. Svanberg proposed that there is continuity between the 'Parish Lapps' of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and the Sámi of central Sweden, information that he gleaned from seventeenth century baptismal records.
More recently, linguist Lars-Gunnar Larssons' study of the lexicon of a local Sámi variety spoken in the region of Gävle in the early 1770s has shed light on this complex history. Larssons' analysis of records from Carl Linneaus' student, Per Holmberger, of one extinct Sámi language, Valbosamiska/Valbo Sámi, has been of the outmost importance for a deeper understanding of early modern Sámi history in central Sweden. 27 Holmberger recorded over 1600 words in a Sámi language spoken in the region around the Daläven and Gavleån valleys, showing a connection to the metal-producing district of Sweden. The Sámi that Holmberger encountered also had about 50 words for reindeer husbandry, but equally many names for handicrafts, especially leather craft, a finding that indicated a mixed economic foundation, based on reindeer herding and crafts.
The deep history of Sámi in central Scandinavia, has been analysed at length by archaeologist Inger Zachrisson; through the studies of the Vivallen settlement in Härjedalen, she initialized a deeper discussion of the multi-cultural late Iron Age and early medieval period in Scandinavia. 28 Recent years in Norway have seen a rapid growth in knowledge concerning the Sámi past in southern and central Norway through studies by Hilde Amundsen, Jostein Bergstøl, and Hege Gjerde. 29 This deeper history is relevant for the understanding of the 'Parish Lapps', since it clearly shows that the Sámi of central Sweden were not newcomers to the region -rather the opposite.

A multi-cultural, early modern Scandinavia
Both the written and material sources related to Sámi life in pre-modern and early modern southern and central Sweden are scattered and dominated by court and church records and foreign visitors' diaries and journals, together with primarily anti-nomadic bills and laws. In 1671, the first law was aimed at the emigration or resettlement of Sámi -who, due to what was perceived as poverty or for other reasons, had moved and were scattered in southern and central Sweden. This law had local precursors, for as early as 1641, the archdiocese in Uppsala had expressed the opinion that nomadic Sámi should return to the north. 30 And in 1645, a local decision by the County Assembly of Hälsingland strived to expel all Sámi in their county. 31 Furthermore, by 1652 legislation, freeholders in Hälsingland were forbidden to shelter and support Sámi individuals. 32 These anti-Sámi policies in Hälsingland may elicit surprise, given that in 1645 the local court was located to Järvsö, a parish with a substantial Sámi habitation during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Archaeological evidence also suggests a long Sámi habitation in central Hälsingland. 33 Laws against Roma (1662) and other travelling groups were concurrently issued by the Crown, stipulating a choice between eviction or execution. 34 The reasons and background to these local and national regulations are largely unknown, but growing control over taxation seems to have been the overarching reason, in combination with growing competition over the resources of the forests, as outlined here with respect to later laws and regulations. 35 A general view of the Crown was that the Sámi were a people of the far North -a view that appears in the law of 1671 and later, in the laws of the 1720s. This is a confusing perception, however, given that Sámi were de facto both inhabiting southern and central Sweden or including them in their travels. A substantial body of evidence in the form of archaeological data and written records suggests that medieval southern and central Scandinavia hosted a wide variety of Sámi habitation. Saga material from the first centuries of the second millennium frequently address the presence, roles, and functions of the Sámi in relation to the Norse kings and queens. 36 From the high and late medieval period, there is both documentary and material evidence of Sámi habitation in southern Finland, southern Norway, and central Sweden. 37 Texts such as tänkeböcker (town protocols) contain information about Sámi people of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries living and working in Stockholm and other towns. 38 These records suggest a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds ranging from poverty to relative affluence. Sámi names are present in the earliest population registers of the 1620s and in court records. 39 Sámi students attended university, particularly Uppsala University, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and Sámi traders frequented the markets and fairs. 40 Journals and diaries of diplomats and travellers visiting Sweden in the 1650s, including Bulstrode Whitelocke and Raimondo Montecuccoli, tell of meeting Sámi families working in Stockholm. 41 A more ample description originates from an anonymous French servant who spent a year in Stockholm during the 1660s. These entries include mentions of Sámi traders, servants, and visitors. The fashion of having Sámi servants as an exotic element of a household is also described. 42 In short, there was a substantial group of Sámi in a wide range of social strata, living far south of the lappmarker borders.
Written records concerning Sámi people of central and southern Sweden provide a limited picture of the life and socio-economic situation of the Sámi people. These records are cursory and generally consist of brief, lapidary entries, usually from the perspective of non-Sámi people. Some Sámi seem to have owned farms, some served in the navy, some were training to be clergymen, others served as entertainers or gamekeepers at the royal court. 43 Documents written by Sámi during the early modern period are more limited, consisting of a few reports, such as those providing the empirical basis for Johannes Schefferus' (1673)  There is, however, a body of historical-archaeological evidence, albeit scattered, providing evidence of Sámi presence and cultural diversity that has been modestly analysed. In combination with written records, it presents a rich source of knowledge. Among these sources are loose finds of objects, deserted habitation sites, place names, and oral traditions, suggesting continuous Sámi habitation from the Middle Ages to the present in many parts of central Sweden. 44 Place names that include the words 'Finn' or 'Lapp' are, not surprisingly, common in Finland, Norway, and Sweden. Many Finn names in Sweden are connected to the so-called Forest-Finn settlements of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. This movement mainly comprised Savonian settlers and practitioners of slash-and-burn agriculture who settled in central Sweden and western Norway. 45 Other Finn names may be derived from the man's name Finn; yet others may be related to people of Sámi extraction. In Norway, the prefix Finn usually denotes Sámi. 46 Place names, ethnonyms, and names of objects or activities including the word Lapp, such as Lappland or Lapp-boot (a boot made by a Sámi) refer to Sámi people in one way or another. Notably such words were shaped in exonymic situations to describe Sámi habits and traditions, objects made by Sámi, or locations where Sámi lived.
Surveying the existence and spread of Sámi-related place names suggests a way of mapping Sámi historic habitation, and during the past half decade archaeologists have directed field surveys at localities bearing Lapp names. The results are promising. At several locations, remains of habitation have been identified as oral traditions and the remains of cabins, hearths, and hunting facilities. 47 The remains of bird-hunting devises and stone constructions have been found, often in hilly, forested terrain in central Sweden suitable for the hunting of forest birds such as Tetrao urogallus (Capercaillie), Lyrurus tetrix (Black grouse), and Tetrastes bonasia (Hazel grouse). 48 Together these indications suggest relatively widespread and diverse historic Sámi settlement, based on a highly diverse economy. 49 The connection between Sámi material heritage and game and bird hunting is evident in various legislations and Crown policies introduced throughout the 1720s -and in Bielke's letter of May 1728. There is also a concentration of material remains, place names, and oral traditions along the lower Dalälven basin, including northern Uppland, the lower Dalarna, and the forests between Svärdsjö and Sundborn (the home of Ander Hindersson and his group), and the Gavle River basin.
Recent studies have also included archaeological excavations of dwellings inhabited by 'Parish Lapps' and nomadic Sámi groups. Between 2017 and 2019, the remains of two cabins were excavated in Järvsö, Hälsingland. The oldest, Lappatäkten was inhabited between c. 1786 and c. 1812, and one, called Lappens, was inhabited between c. 1820 and c. 1865. Between 2021 and 2022 we excavated a cabin inhabited by 'Parish Lapps' in Nora Parish, northwest Uppland, and determined it to be from the early nineteenth century to the end of that century. Their findings suggest inhabitation by three or four generations of Sámi, and the material evidence confirmed that they were farmers, crafters, and ritual/medical specialists.
In nearby Östervåla Parish, an aernie (a hearth) from a låavthgåetie (a tent) was excavated in 2021. (See Figure 3.) Radio carbon dating determined that the remains were from the mid-nineteenth century. In spring 2022, archaeological fieldwork in the outskirts of Gävle revealed the foundation of a gåetie (a permanent turf or timber dwelling), with finds suggesting that it was used during the second half of the eighteenth century until the early nineteenth century. (See Figure 3.) The results are still being analysed, but the finds strongly indicate traditional Sámi life and an economy based on highly specialized craft. The proximity to Tolvfors iron works in Gävle, where Per Holmberger worked, and preliminary dating of the finds suggest that the Sámi living in this gåetie were among Holmberger's informants. These results, together with the previously mentioned scattered data, suggest a relatively widespread and diverse Sámi settlement in southern and central Sweden, with a particular concentration to southern Dalarna and Gästrikland. 50

-continuity or discontinuity?
The concrete process leading up to the petition by the Sámi in Söderhamn was initiated on 2 August, through a letter from the newly appointed King Fredrik to the newly appointed County Governor Magnus Palmqvist of Gävleborg. This letter is lost and known to us only through Bielke's reference to it in his May 1728 letter and in the diary of the Domestic Board previously quoted here. On 14 September 1728, Palmqvist received a letter from King Fredrik: Our favour and gracious will with God Almighty trusted Lieutenant General and county governor, While We have apprehended how not only Lapps but other vagrants [löst partie], roaming the country and not only through threat and force, all sorts of inconvenience and unlawfulness bestowed on the people, but also damage and spoil [to] the forests, consequently is My gracious will and command to You, that You in Your grace entrusted county sees to the problem of the Lapps, that they in Your county to the next county governor on their way home be taken and guided while We to the other county governors orders will be sent and that they make preparations to pass on from county to county until they are in their right homes. Concerning other vagrants, if they are to be found, it is Your orders through the royal decrees to expel, and cautiously what concerns the one as well as the other of the concerned peoples and their undisciplined behaviour be constrained. In other cases, the responsibility is yours to see that this is not neglected. And we command God Almighty graciously. Given Stockholm in the Chamber of the Council, 1 September 1720. Friedrich 51 A similar letter was sent to County Governor Grundell in Västerbotten, further to the north. These letters reveal three major things. 1) The Sámi were seen as freely roaming the country, as feared, and as was expressed already in the bill of 1671. 2) It was not only the Sámi that were seen as disturbing elements, but other nomads and 'vagrants' as well.
3) It was feared that damage would occur to the woods -and this is the first time this issue arises. The nature of the Sámi's threat to the forests is unclear, but it was probably related to their hunting of birds and game and their reindeer grazing in the forests. Palmqvist replied to King Fredrik on 15 September 1720, expressing concern about how to act against the 'Tartaren old term for Roma], Zigeuner och lappar' who were travelling and seeking refuge as a result of the Russian occupation of Finland, given the law of 12 May 1662. The letter ended with a specific request for guidance from His Majesty. Should the governor work for the security of his subjects, or should he follow the laws of eviction from 1662 and 1671? What is visible is a royal servant who is seemingly anxious to do right by both the king and the king's subjectswhich, in 1720, nearing the end of the Great Nordic War, were clearly two different things.
After the peace treaty was signed in 1721, the issue of forest resources resurfaced, and on 22 October 1723 King Fredrik issued a resolution to a besvär (petition) of the clergy with direct reference to the resolution of 1 September 1720. King Fredrik's reply readdresses the issue of the perceived damage to the woods: . . . concerning the Lapps, this gracious command that those who inflict on the farmers whatever inconvenience and harm and vitiate the forests, they should through one county to the next be transported and guided until they come to stay in their right abode/domicile in the lappmarker.
That this [attending mass] is not respected gives the Majesty displeasure and is already proclaimed in previous resolution to be solved and executed. Regarding, however, concerned county governors and Royal Officials to thoroughly inquire to what congregation/parish such Lapps belong, until they can from these parts be removed. However, should all those who cannot present a vicar's proof that they have attended mass in any parish, and that they have necessary knowledge in Christianity, for their blessedness [salighet] use, be they arrested and to public work be taken, and for as long as they are kept and an earnest will be shown, to let then be led to knowledge about God and step out of the darkness of ignorance. This should all Jews, Vagrants, Wire pullers [Tråddragare] hook makers [häcktmakare] that travel the country as a result of The Majesty's resolution on the clergy's petition for the year 1660 to be arrested and in the service of the Crown be used. But with the Tartare and Zigeuner that along with impiety with divination, lies, thievery cause the farmers great distress and inconvenience, should concern county governors and royal officials and the town councils, as soon as such are found have their heads taken off, after the bill of 14 May 1662. 52 This resolution and the combined concern for the woods and Christian piety may be understood as the sources of King Fredrik's growing unease over the unsolved question of the Sámi and other nomadic/vagabonding people of Sweden. It also ties the issue of Sámi use of the forest to the royal demand for laga försvar, which defined who was and was not a subject of the Crown.
The multicultural situation previously highlighted here is also visible in other correspondence between County Governor Palmqvist and the Royal Council. In a letter dated 18 February 1725, Palmqvist stated that the transportation of paperless vagabonds is costly, and that people are also coming from Norway into Gävleborg County. The same year, on 17 July, the Crown expressed its dissatisfaction with Palmqvist, probably related to King Fredrik's letter five years earlier: 'But as we have no less understood, that this kind of Lapps are still present in Your county, and of which not only the peasants suffers, but the forests are inflicted upon.' 53 Here again the forests are emphasized as a resource. County Governor Palmqvist seemed vexed over the situation and replied on 25 August: 'I have not noticed any complaint for the peasantry nor any others concerning wandering Lapps in the forests, nor are there any other people from other counties.' 54 And further: 'should Lapps from other counties come here and settle (?) in the forests, I will not hesitate to promptly send them to Västerbotten [Lappland was included in Västerbotten County at the time] . . .' 55 Two days later, on 27 August, County Governor Palmqvist sent a letter to his five kronobetjänter (royal officials) for the districts of Gästrikland, Northern Hälsingland, and southern and northern Ångermanland, in which he emphasized that Sámi were causing inconvenience to the farmers and damaging the forests, and that they were vagrants: 'all such in the forests vagrant Lapps should be arrested . . . if these Lapps could not be found in the service of the farmers'. 56 Four days later, King Fredrik replied to Palmqvist with satisfaction and encouragement. He warned against the return of the Sámi, however, and encouraged his servant to be meticulously on his guard. 57 After this letter, the situation seemed to calm down. There are no documents in the authorities' archives for the next three years. Yet the expelling policy seems to have commenced.
In a letter of 27 July 1728, Bielke referred to Palmqvist's correspondence of 1725. He also referred once again to the lost petition to His Majesty from a group of Sámi living in Gävleborg County.
If Their Majesty should in grace acknowledge these petitioning Lapps in Hälsingland may stay, can I to your Majesty subserviently report [crossed out and replaced with the following:] Now is The Majesty not unaware of that these as others down here in the lower [southern] regions vagrant Lapps perceive that they of old, [barn efter barn, generation after generation], in this land has had their living and that they have never seen the lappmarker, nor have they had any other whereabout known in Hälsingland, Medelpad, and Ångermanland, but they have lived in certain parishes and . . . The draught (for the original letter is lost) has many corrections, part of it is written in the margins, and it concludes in the same manner as the letter written in May: It may be possible to arrange so one or two in each parish would settle in the villages and be deprived, with strict inhibition to go shooting in the woods, but to keep themselves to the parishes and uphold order, pay their taxes [contribution och mantalspenningar]. 58 This letter reveals three key points. 1) Concern about the forests and their resources was the authorities' main issue. 2) The 'Parish Lapp' system was not founded on royal decree or by any royal or stately concern; nor was it founded in the interest of local Sámi groups. Rather it came from a middle level of the administration, perhaps based on a concern for the petitioning Sámi, but also as a way of solving a problem that had been progressing for decades. 3) Carl Linneaus' reiteration of the Sámi's claim, 'they said that they had been born down here by the coast and wanted to die here' 59 was not unique. Bielke's reference to the supplication of the Sámi in Söderhamn also indicates a practice of defiance and resistance by the Sámi against the royal decrees. County Governor Bielke's suggestion for solving the 'Lappish problem' is linked to the first information about the capturing of Sámi people -and as an example of resistance -their avoidance of custody.
On 14 May 1728, County Governor Bielke wrote a letter to Sheriff Burberg in Hille Parish, Gästrikland, animadverting upon the transport of 19 Sámi men and women from Västmanland en route to Västerbotten. The Sámi company was subjected to the largest eviction and forced move of Sámi of the early modern period, predating the forced move of northern Sámi in Swedish Lapland in 1919. 60 The Sámi had been kept under guard and moved to Gävle Castle (see Figure 4) and from there further to the north, passing Hille Parish, just outside the town. 61 They had left Gävle on February 11 the same year and were already at their first stop in Trödje, in the northern part of the parish by 12 February. Three Sámi had escaped, and Bielke castigated Burberg for allowing three villagers -Olof Ersson, Anders Andersson, and Lars Olsson -to serve as guards. Bielke ordered Burberg to investigate the matter and to ensure that the members of the Sámi group, now comprising 16 men, women, and children, not only left their own parish but went further to Hamrånge Parish and on to Skog Parish and 'to further investigate how their passing through had commenced . . . and to uphold detailed knowledge of the whereabouts of these Sámi '. 62 This incident may suggest not only that the Sámi were exhibiting a strong will to avoid eviction and stay in their home region. It may also indicate that the freeholders felt sympathy for the Sámi and helped them escape. It is not possible to determine the role of the peasants who served as guards, but it cannot be ruled out that they helped the Sámi escape. The further destiny of this party of Sámi is not known, and there is no report of their having arrived in Västernorrland. But a year later, a group of 13 Sámi men, women, and children was brought to the jail in Gävle and were also transported to Jämtland. 63 In 26 July 1728 a letter from the county office to the befallningsman (county servant) reported that one of two captured lappgåssar (Sámi boys), who were being sent to the lappmarker, fled custody in Hälsingland. 64 A letter dated 15 November 1728 specified that the captured Sámi should be sent to Västerbotten and from there to the Jämtländska lappmarken -the Sámi region of county Jämtland. 65 County Governor Bielke also reported that he had interviewed the group of 19 Sámi that had left Gävle on 11 February 1728. He had spoken with a Sámi man, over 70 years of age, who had told Bielke that his parents were from the lappmarker. 66 He could not give more specific details about their origins. Bielke's letter demonstrates the complexity of the situation. Sámi people with generations of history in the region had blended in with more recent newcomers. In the same letter Bielke writes that he had allowed some Sámi to come back to the county after he had realized that there was not enough room in the north to house any more people.
What happened to these people and when they were released is not known -if all of them were sent to the north or if some stayed or even escaped and fled back south on their way to the lappmarker. In relation to the incarceration of the 19 Sámi, Dalarna County Governor Dankwart wrote to his colleague, Bielke, concerning the groups of Sámi coming from Gästrikland and Hälsingland back to Dalarna. Dankwart expressed a wish that Bielke would guard the border between the counties, specifically in the parishes of Torsåker and Ovansjö in Gästrikland. 67 During the latter part of the century and well into the nineteenth century, this region in southern and western Gästrikland became a virtual centre for Sámi habitation in the region. 68 The eviction of the Sámi in central Sweden had consequences for the northern regions; as Bielke had ascertained, there was no room in the north and all land was taxed. Growing pauperization may in part have been reinforced by the arrival of these unpropertied Sámi arriving from the south. In February 1730, the Council of the Realm attended to a letter from County Governor Grundell of Västerbotten, who claimed that the Sámi should remain in the south. 69 In reply to this discussion and clearly as a reply to the 1727 supplication of Jon Larsson and Lars Jonsson and the 1730 supplication of Ander Hindersson's group, County Governor Dankwart suggested to the Council of the Realm that some Sámi families be allowed to stay in the south, on the condition that they would not threaten the population of forest birds, or fail in Christian piety -just as Bielke had proposed. 70 In July 1730, a second supplication reached King Fredrik. This time it was from a group of Sámi in southern Dalarna. The supplication is preserved as a copy in the protocol of the Council of the Realm and reads: . . . we wretched and of the world despised Lapp-men from this place with our wives and children be removed and to Lapland be sent, where we have never been, and where we own nothing, neither can we in our deep desperation and poverty: to be able to provide and care for us at that place . . . Subserviently  On 1 June 1730, the Council of the Realm discussed the supplication of Hindersson's group, and the Secretary of the Council reported that he had tried to convince King Fredrik to give the Sámi the freedom to stay in the counties of central Sweden. In their protocol, the council proclaimed that the Sámi were landsens barn (natives to the lands). The king had again expressed reluctance to let the Sámi stay, given the threat they posed by hunting forest birds. 72 It seems that the Crown's issue with the Sámi came to an intermediary resolution on 18 November 1730, when the Council of the Realm again discussed the petition of Hindersson's group, presenting His Majesty's consent for the Sámi to stay as long as they did not hunt or shoot (presumably hunting birds in the forests, which appears to have been the authorities' main concern). 73 Even though concern about the Sámi in the south seemed to decrease, the Crown and its officials continued to be concerned about vagrancy and about the Roma travelling throughout the country. Correspondence between the county governors, their officials, and the records of the Council of the Realm, along with the occasional expression of King Fredrik's agenda, clearly indicates that the resources of the forests, including the hunting of forest birds, was jealously guarded by the Crown. And Christian piety and attendance at mass was critical. The concern of the Sámi as native to lands in combination with the realization of the officials that there was no untaxed land free for the evicted Sámi to settle led to the officials being exhausted by the situation. The Sámi's defiance seems to have worked. Their supplications in Söderhamn in 1728 and that of Hindersson's group in May 1730, and again in July the same year, together with the active resistance of many Sámi in avoiding capture and fleeing captivity finally yielded results.
Petitions and supplications by individuals directed towards the Diet grew in importance and extent throughout the Age of Liberty, from the end of the Great Nordic War to Gustav III's coup d'état in 1772. Martin Almbjär has shown how the number of supplications grew throughout the period and became a critical tool for many subjects. Members of the burgher class/estate strongly dominated this form of influence, but the number of supplications from unrepresented subjects -people not belonging to any of the four estates -were limited. 74 But, as seen from Bielke's letter and the diary of the inrikescivilexpeditionen, Sámi did write supplications and included this tool to their repertoire of resistance.
County Governor Bielke's suggestion in May 1728 to allocate a limited number of Sámi to settle permanently in the south and to work with crafting and hunting was soon realized. How the system came to be implemented is largely unknown but local authorities and agents, such as the vicar in Hudiksvall Olof Broman may have played an important role. In the court records from Lit court district in Jämtland in 1729 a Sámi man is mentioned working for the parish of Rödön. 75 This is the first record of a so-called Parish Lapp, but the first Sámi with the title 'Parish Lapp' is known to have been from Berg Parish in Jämtland in 1731. 76 Within a couple of decades, the system had spread, and during the mid-eighteenth century, a majority of the parishes in Dalarna, Gästrikland, Hälsingland, Jämtland, Medelpad, and Ångermanland, had contracted 'Parish Lapps'.
The number of 'Parish Lapps' grew throughout the century, and the system expanded in Västmanland and Uppland. Some towns, such as Gävle and Hudiksvall, had even employed stads-lappar ('Town Lapps'). 77 Concurrently Sámi nomads kept including the region down to the Mälaren Basin in their annual travels. Ethno-historic sources and archaeological evidence provide a plethora of data suggesting widespread Sámi habitation in the region, both within and outside the limitations of the 'Parish Lapp' system. In Dalarna, Gästrikland, and Hälsingland, bird-hunting devices located in the hilly terrain in the woodlands can still be found, and several of these traps are connected to oral traditions mentioning Sámi. Over the course of the eighteenth century, local legislations criticized the Sámi hunt and demanded the surrender of guns during the mating period of forest birds in early spring.

Discussion
Combining historical, archaeological, and ethnohistorical sources provides a rich picture of the situation for Sámi in central Sweden from the end of the seventeenth to the end of the eighteenth century. Evidence indicates a strong regime of control encompassing the Sámi in Dalarna, Gästrikland, Hälsingland, and Västmanland. Sámi communities had been living in and travelling through the region for hundreds of years. This tradition, with roots in the early medieval multi-cultural society, were to come to an end during the eighteenth century. The Crown's policy was not particularly successful, however. As suggested by the archaeological and historical data, Sámi stayed on as so-called Parish Lapps, sedentary, or nomadic inhabitants of the forests. The controversial hunt continued. (See Figure 5.) The 'Parish Lapp' institution was a unique system of servitude, forcing Sámi people to act as servants of the parishes and creating an ethnically defined group of indentures, not free to leave their place of employment. The institution also meant that some Sámi families could stay in the region legally, avoiding eviction and incarceration. The many reports of Sámi avoiding arrest and deportation simply by running away is consistent with reports of the many Sámi who, later in the eighteenth century, avoided the surrender of guns by simply going into hiding.
Historical-and the archaeological evidence at the two excavated crofts, Lappatäkten and Lappens in Järvsö, Hälsingland, suggest that they were inhabited by Sámi families, of which some family members, generally the husbands, were contracted as 'Parish Lapps'. Several generations of Sámi lived in these crofts from the 1780s to the 1860s. In Lappviken (Ingboviken), Östa, Nora parish in northwest Uppland, some three or four generations of Sámi lived in small cottages, some serving as 'Parish Lapps'. At these three sites, the position of 'Parish Lapps' that included the hunting of wild game and crafting was combined with such expertise in medical treatment, music, and spiritual habits. 78 From the second half of the eighteenth century until the early nineteenth century, at least one generation of Sámi lived permanently in a traditional gåetie in Lapphällan, just south of Gävle, working with specialized handicraft, probably for the Gävle market. 79 This family (or families) may not have served as 'Parish Lapps' (or in this case, as so-called Town Lapps). The find material, including several miniature glass bottles, indicates, as in the case of the other Sámi families studied, that their livelihood was derived at least partially from offering medical treatments. 80 Archaeological and ethnological sources confirm the tasks that County Governor Bielke proposed for the Sámi on 6 May 1728: the needed nödvändige slögder (crafts). And traces of handicrafts were indeed recovered in the excavated Sámi cottages. Evidence of leather craft and tin-wire craft are the most evident and were well represented in the cabins in Järvsö. Finds of a specialized cutlery tool in the Nora cabin provide tentative indications of basketry, and a gem in Lapphällan in Gävle indicate other specialized crafts.
Other localities with 'Lapp' names such as the Lapphällarna site in Östervåla, Uppland, suggest good grazing for reindeer. Here a Sámi aernie (a hearth), and traces of a låavthgåetie (a traditional movable Sámi tent) have been partly excavated and the radiocarbon dating suggests its use up to the middle of the nineteenth century. 81 Together with the traces of bird hunting demonstrated by hunting devices, there is evidence of Sámi use of the forests in central Sweden that provoked the authorities to evict and control the Sámi, but their hunting and use of forests commenced. At the same time, the examined settlements in Järvsö, Gävle, and Nora are examples of a transfer of access and control of vital capital (land and water) and the redistribution of the forest to the Crown, the freeholders, and the metal industries.
Material evidence from the three excavated 'Parish Lapp' cabins and the gåetie in Gävle suggest that the Sámi traditions were practiced and developed throughout the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The drum tradition and the bear cult were in practice and everyday spiritual practices were conducted. 82 The role of the bear and the use of sacred drums in rituals were specific to the Sámi peoples. These traditions were widespread, having their roots in prehistoric societies and were still in practice in the eighteenth century in Central Sweden. 83 The lexicon of the now-extinct Sámi language spoken around the town of Gävle in the 1770s (there were at least ten Sámi languages at the time) 84 and documented by Per Holmberger gives a rich body of evidence suggesting a well-developed Sámi tradition, the practice of reindeer husbandry, and the bear cult. 85 Taken together, this evidence indicates that bills aimed at controlling and evicting the Sámi yielded little success for the authorities -or at least their success was slow. Radiocarbon dating of the Sámi hearth as far south as Östervåla Parish, Uppland indicates that some Sámi did cling to their traditional nomadic lifestyle. The end of the nineteenth century evidenced a decline in Sámi habitation in central Sweden, however, probably as a result of expanding homogenization politics, urbanization, and paradoxically, for the Sámi, the economic liberalization reforms from 1864 onward. Liberal reforms marked the end of the 'Parish Lapp' system, and data suggest that many Sámi left their cottages and cabins during and directly after this period for a life elsewhere, with fewer bonds and restrictions.

Conclusions
The early modern period saw a rise in legislation aimed at controlling the Crown's subjects and increasing the tax base. Control over the forests and the commons, in particular, became increasingly important. In this context, the authorities saw the Sámi habitation and traditional lifestyle as problematic. Hunting for forest birds was increasingly controlled by authorities. Fredrik of Hessen's ascension to the throne in 1720 marked an intensified policy of elimination of the Sámi and their access to the forests from central Sweden, and, eventually, the founding of the 'Parish Lapp' system. The raison d'être of this system was the restriction of nomadism and the Crown's anti-Sámi policy, evident in the laws from 1671 onward.
In this paper we have analysed six bills and letters propagating the eviction and removal of Sámi from the counties of Dalarna, Gävleborg, and Västmanland. King Fredrik was clearly the driving force. County governors, trying to ensure the will of the king encountered resistance from the Sámi, and perhaps also from some freeholders. Several Sámi wrote supplications and others fled custody. The Sámi argued that they considered the regions in central Sweden their homelands where they had lived for generations. More specifically, the task and situation of the people who came to be called by the term, 'Parish Lapps', was presented on 6 May 1728 by County Governor Bielke in Gävleborg, at which time he suggested to the king that a limited number of Sámi should be allowed to stay as part of 'a system' in the parishes. This region, together with Dalarna also became the core of the 'Parish Lapp' system. According to archaeological and ethnographical evidence, a substantial Sámi population had lived in these regions as nomads, semi-nomads, and sedentary people before the 1720s.
The 'Parish Lapp' was a Sámi, 86 who served a parish under contract, with certain tasks, usually the hunting of wild game, the skinning of horses, and crafts. As discussed in this paper, slögder (handicraft) was specified as activities conducted by the Sámi and sought after by the peasants. The first mentioning of a person to be doing the service of a 'Parish Lapp' is from 1729, Lit parish in Jämtland, and the first person to be called a 'Parish Lapp' was Clemet Mårtensson in Berg Parish, also Jämtland, in 1731. During the 1730s, the system spread rapidly. By the end of the century, a majority of the parishes in Dalarna, Gästrikland, Hälsingland, and Jämtland had 'Parish Lapps', and the system had spread to neighbouring counties.