Servants as Creditors: Navigating the Moral Economy of an Early Modern Aristocratic Household

In this article, we argue that servants working for Count Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie (1622–1686) were part of an intricate system of economic and social dependencies. Focusing on the indebtedness of the aristocracy to its workers, we examine how deferred payment of wages opened up for negotiations between servant and master, and suggest that servants became de facto creditors to their master. In a moral economy built on trust, credit and the idea of aristocratic paternalism, servants negotiated arrangements for the future, keeping close track of what was owed them or their spouses in deferred payments. From an investigation of over six hundred petitions, written from people in the lower strata of servants, including, among others, milkmaids, gardeners, stable boys, bird-catchers, lackeys, jesters, and wet nurses, and from which we have chosen to exclude high ranking employees such as bailiffs or chaplains, we showcase the strategies available to people on the margins of society. The arrangements suggested by petitioners show a surprising amount of detailed consideration, at the same time appealing to Christian compassion, paternalistic concerns and a sense of reciprocity between master and servant, thereby both confirming and using hierarchies and asymmetrical power relations to secure advantages.