233 Cliapter 2 deals with the provisions regarding land and kinship in provineial laws in the light of cultural anthropological theory. They cannot be recc^inciled with an assumption of patrilinear kinship (the only feature of this type was that sons, for the most part, inherited twice as much as daughters). Land was given in the form of dowries ' or marriage or inheritance portions to daughters to other patrilineages when the women married: As bördsrätt was very closely connected with the right of inheritance (relatives had the right to redeem land in the same order that they would inherit from the seller) not even this could he used to keep land within a patrilineage. The non-normative source material from the Swedish Middle Ages is very scarce; for example, court records are almost totally non-existent but with the help of genealogical literature, practice within the nobility can be studied. No attempt seems to have been made to circumvent the provisions for inheritance as were laid out in the law." The property was split with each generation but within the aristocracy at least, property was retained through close marriage alhances. Also the passing on of names went against the idea of patrilineage, a man, for example, could take his maternal grandfather’s name and there even existed matronymikon (i.e. the mother’s surname+‘son’).‘’ In conclusion, there is nothing m existing sources which would indicate that the mediaeval Swedish kin group was patrilinear and nothing that contradicts the assumption that it was a cognatic kindred. The question as to whether there exists any further alternative can be kept open and is discussed in Chapter 6. 3. “The conservation of the families”: the kin system of the nobility during the 16th and 17th century During the 16th and especially during the 17th century there existed strong tendencies to change the Swedish nobility’s km system, which during the Middle Ages was cognatic, in a patrilinear direction. The passing on of names was changed; inherited fixed family names in a patrilineage came into use. The new feudal grants (Crown lands or taxes from freeholders’ land) which were introduced during the latter part of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century could only be inherited by sons (the counties and baronies only by the oldest son). The Government on several occasions also showed themselves ' In tlic (.'.ISO ()t .1 cliilillcss \vt>m.ni it w.ts licr clctsost tel.tti\ cs wlio \\ ere Iter lifirs .tnd mn tltost.' ot luT hiish.ind. ' I lie pnivinci.il l.iws w ere repl.ieed .irinind 1330 liN' .i enmnion l.iw wliieli w.is .iniended .iroiind 1430 .ind repl.ieed h\ .1 eiimpleteK new l.iw in 1734. ' A .Sw'edrsh nobleni.in’s n.iine during the Middle Age.s eonsrsted of .1 .surn.ime, patronyniikon or 111 eert.iin ea.ses matronvmikon and sometimes a family name, wliieli eould be inherited either from a relative on the father’s or on the mother’s siefe (for example. Hakan Ingehorgsson l.,änia, where Ingeborg is the mother's name).
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