Danish North Sea Fisheries 1537-1657. Riberhus Estate

The Danish estate accounts provide a rich documentation of the early modern fishing economy, especially for southwest Denmark. The estate accounts encompass all the region of Southwest Jutland except for the accounts of 1537/8 that do not include the revenue of Vester Horne Herred, which was only added to the castle in 1542. Accounts with details of every vessel, taxed and untaxed, are available for 1537/38, 1581/82, 1585/86, 1598-1601, 1602/03, 1605-1609, 1610-1615, 1616-27, 1629-1644, 1645-1658. Summary ‘extracts’ of the accounts have survived for the years 1562/63, 1565-1569, 1572-1578, 1582-1589, and except for 1627-1630 and 1644/45 are complete from 1591 to 1657 when the records end. After the administrative dissolution of the len estates in 1662, the sand toll was of little importance. The islands of Fanø and Manø were permanently exempted from the toll by royal decree of 26 April 1685, and the toll seems to have become obsolete soon afterwards.