Danish Lægdsruller Workspace

Back to Denmark Page►

Danish Lægdsruller, What are they?
Lægdsruller are records of the men who could be listed for service in the army. These rolls have many different uses. For genealogical purposes they are used mainly to follow the men's movements or to find which military unit they were assigned and when they completed their obligation.

Some context for lægdsruller

In 1788, adscription was repealed and the foundation was laid for a civilian service. This was done by regulation on June 20, 1788. Previously the private landowners had the obligation to provide personnel for the army. After adscriptionøs repeal this responsibility was shifted to the king and the state. There was thus created a direct relationship between the state and the conscripts.

In subsequent years there was an agency created by the government known as a lægdsvæsen to watch over its conscripts. It was important for the government to know how large a force it possessed in case of war. Therefore it became the states responsibility to keep detailed records of the male population in lægdsruller.

Lægd

The word lægd comes from the Danish word sammenlægning or combination. Since 1600 the word has been used to indicate the number of farms that together would provide one soldier. The country's militia was established in 1701. At that time the land was divided into lægder of approximately 27.25 acres. Each lægd should in principle make a soldier available.

In 1788 the country's conscription rules were changed and the country was divided into 1656 different lægder. Each lægd was virtually identical to a parish and from 1843, in the cities the same as a town. Each lægd was sequentially numbered within each county. This means that the first lægd in each county were lægdsnummer 1 and so forth. Soldiers were no longer conscripted based on the lægds production of wheat but rather on the lægds population.

Changes to the miltary obligation law of March 6, 1869 established 6 districts instead of the county sub-divsions or lægds. Here after the lægds were sequentially numbered in each of the 6 districts. After reunification in 1920 the 7th district (Sønder Jylland) was established.


 * Why use the Lægdsruller?
 * Content of the Lægdsruller?
 * How to follow someone in the same county.
 * How to follow someone to a different county.

Different Types of Lægdsruller
Lægdsvæsenet maintained several types of lægdsruller, namely the main rolls, entry rolls, and from 1871, rewritten rolls.

Main Rolls

The main rollers are records of all those with military obligations in a lægd in a given year.

In 1861 it was decided that the entire roll keeping process should be revised. That meant effectively eliminating the former head rolls, so from that time forward there would only be entry rolls and rewritten rolls.

Below is an overview of the use of head rolls:

1789-1795* Head rolls (also called extra session rolls) were conducted annually.

1795-1849 Main rolls were conducted every third year. In the intervening years only entry rolls were maintained.

1849-1861 Main rolls were conducted every sixth year. In the intervening years only entry rolls were maintained.

1861-1871 Transition Period. The main rolls should be compiled only once every 10 years, and these should not include the last five years.

1871 The last main roll.


 * However, often only from the early 1790's.

Entry rolls

Entry rolls contain those who joined the rolls in a given year, either because they reached the registration age or because they moved to the lægd, or already was enrolled in the roll of a lægd from which they had moved.

Below is an overview of the use of entry rolls:

1795-1861 Entry rolls were kept in the years when the main roll was not kept.

1861-1871 A transitional period where principient each year was led entry rolls.

1871 1956 Entry rolls were kept each year.

Rewritten rolls

All rolls are rewritten 11 years after their creation. The rewritten rolls contain information about the conscripts, who had lived in lægdet in all 11 years or who were still conscripts. For example an entry roll from the year 1897 would be rewritten in 1908.

1871-1956 rewritten rolls each year.

After 1956 lægdsrullerne entered unto cards.


 * Army
 * Navy
 * Copenhagen
 * Other cities

Tools for using the Lægdsruller

 * List of the Lægdsnummer
 * Letter associated to the year of registration
 * Common abbreviations in the Army Lægdsruller.

Where do you find the Danish Lægdsruller?

 * Access through Statens Arkiver
 * Access through FamilySearch