Danish Military Levying Rolls: Letters Assigned to Years

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The lægdsrullerene used letters instead of the year. When you need lægdsruller, you need to know the letter that stands for the lægdsrulle year that you are interested in. The letters were reused. For example, the letter Q stand for the years 1841, 1866, 1892, 1918 and the 1944. The overview shows the literation.

Lægdsrulle Year - Not Calendar Year

BE CAREFUL - Until 1843 (letter T) the lægdsrulle year was not the same as the calendar year.

1793-1802: November - October, applies to all rolls

1803-1806: November - October, applies to coming and going rolls

1803-1806: May - April, applies to main rolls

1808-1842: May - April, applies to all rolls

Example: Lægdsrulle J: 1812 = May 1811 - April 1812

This means, the main part of the lægdsrulle with the literation J = the year 1812, which really covers nine months of 1911!!!

Lægdsrulle year R: 1842 = May 1841 - April 1842.

Lægdsrulle year S: 1842 = May 1842 - December 1842.

1843- : January - December, applies to all rolls.

Note also that the year 1952 has both letters Z and Æ.

Two years shown after 1871

After 1871 on the spine of the lægdsrulle books you will find two years shown, such as 1872 and 1890. The first year (1872) indicate the birth year for those who had been entered in the roll, because they have reached the required age for registration. The second (1890) tells which year the roll is reporting. The last year has meaning when you have to follow the movements, since this is the year that the letter designates the year being cross-referenced.

More on movements in Examples 5 and 6