('walk the parish') or ('walk around') was a historical form of care for the poor in the

history of Sweden The history of Sweden can be traced back to the melting of the Northern polar ice cap. From as early as 12000 BC, humans have inhabited this area. Throughout the Stone Age, between 8000 BC and 6000 BC, early inhabitants used sto ...

to support the very poorest in the peasant community. was practiced in the Swedish countryside already in the Middle Ages to care for those of the community destitute who could not work. In 1296, it was mentioned in the

Law of Uppland Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a Socia ...

that a community pauper had the right to be given shelter in the households of the parish for 24 hours each. This method was a phenomenon of the countryside, as the city paupers were normally given shelter in the poor houses from at least circa 1300 onward. Those of the destitute (pauper) who could not be placed in a '' backstuga'' or in a poor house, which did not always exist in rural communities, were referred to the '. The households of a parish were traditionally divided into s: normally, one of the village contained six households. Each was given responsibility for one pauper each, who were then shifted between them according to a schedule. Normally, the pauper stayed in each household for one week at a time. The pauper was assigned a ('poor club') or ('poor badge') of wood as a sign of their status, where the schedule was described. They were expected to contribute with what they could in exchange for food, care and housing. Closely related to the ' was the '' fattigauktion'' ('poor auction'), where paupers (often orphans but also adults), were auctioned off to interested households willing to house them more for a year, which differed from '. The people participating in the 'auction' did not actually buy the pauper; however, their 'bid' was the money they demanded from the parish poor care to house them and so those who offered to take care of the poor for the lowest amount won. The pauper auctions were a somewhat later phenomenon, which eventually became more common than ', in particular since ' was abolished for children by the ''

1847 års fattigvårdförordning The Poor relief regulation of 1847 (Swedish language, Swedish: 1847 års fattigvårdförordning) was a Swedish Poor Law which organized the public poor relief system in Sweden. With some alterations in 1853 and 1871, it established the basis for th ...

''.Sven Ulric Palme: Hundra år under kommunalförfattningarna 1862-1962: en minnesskrift utgiven av Svenska landskommunernas förbund, Svenska landstingsförbundet chSvenska stadsförbundet, Trykt hos Godvil, 1962 In the reformed Poor Law of 1918, ' as well as and child auction were abolished along with the poor houses.

References

* Nordisk Familjebok, 1923 {{DEFAULTSORT:Rotegang Social history of Sweden Forced labour by country Labour in Sweden

See also

References