Seat farm

The seat farm Holsteinborg in Denmark.
Artist: Jens Peter Trap (ca. 1860)

Seat farm (Danish: sædegård; Norwegian: setegård/setegard; Swedish: sätesgård or säteri; Finnish: säteriratsutila) was in the Kingdom of Denmark, the Kingdom of Norway, the Kingdom of Sweden, and Finland a farm where a nobleman had his permanent residence.

Norway

Elingård Farm in Norway. The earliest known owner was Olav Torsteinsson (Gyldenhorn) in the 15th century

Interior of the manor at Sturehov in Sweden

The term was originally used for any farm where a nobleman chose to reside. In 1639 the status of seat farm was restricted to farms that for at least forty previous years had enjoyed this status. After 1660, when absolute monarchy was introduced in Norway, also non-noble persons could achieve this status for their farm of residence.

Seat farms had, especially, freedom from tax and tithes. After 1800 the tax freedom was modified, and under the 1821 Nobility Law the tax freedom was ended at the then current owner's death.

• Approximate number of seat farms in 1639: 100
• Approximate number of seat farms in 1821: 25

See also

• Danish nobility
• Finnish nobility
• Norwegian nobility
• Swedish nobility

Literature

• Hvidtfeldt, Johan (editor): Håndbog for danske lokalhistorikere (Danish)
• Vigerust, Tore H.: vigerust.net: Adelens setegårder, hovedgårder og jordegods i Norge til ca 1800 at vigerust.net (Norwegian)
• Nationalencyklopedin: säteri at ne.se (Swedish)
• Norsk historisk leksikon: Setegård at lokalhistoriewiki.no (Norwegian)
• Store norske leksikon: setegård at snl.no (Norwegian)