were lower down in the line of succession, and thereby not prioritised. The person who laid out the compensatory sum was the person who purchased the land and not the person who sold. It was perhaps not the selling party who wanted to keep a relative from buying after all but rather, the purchaser, who really wanted to buy a fixed piece of land that he did not have a pre-emptive right to and could therefore contemplate laying out a little extra for it, in order to have the opportunity to buy.This form of good will can indicate that sales to unrelated parties increased in the late 15th Century in Jämtland and that the use of money increased. Additional limitations that were connected to pre-emptive rights and rights of inheritance in relation to sold land were the rights that minors had to redeem sold land when they became of age. This right was utilised both in Jämtland and in Finnveden by direct heirs. Only direct heirs could take advantage of this right in contrast to pre-emptive rights which could extend over a period corresponding to several lines of entitled heirs – both up and down and to the sides – counted from the person who owned and would sell the land. The exchanges were carried out, in contrast to sales, very infrequently between relatives in my investigation areas, which is not surprising.The exchanges were of course not limited by rules of pre-emption, so the aristocracy could exchange land with any nobleman without taking into consideration the possible opinions of the relatives.The nobleman often made use of his wife’s land in his exchanges and, accordingly, did not need her relatives’ approval for the transaction since the exchanged land continued to remain in her possession. He only needed his wife’s approval for the exchange because the land she owned through the exchange would end up being located in another place.The men in Finnveden, thus, exchanged women’s land with one another, but it was very seldom indeed that the parties were related. In Finnveden, in 43 per cent of exchanges, the other party was Nydala Monastery. These exchanges could function for both parties as opportunities l e g a l a c q u i s i t i o n , l a n d m a r k e t s a n d m o n e t i s at i o n 288
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