By Ivar Teigum

The Dutch trading company Marselis had financial interests in the Norwegian mountain villages of Vågå and Sel in the period from 1653 to 1685. For six years in the 1650s, Selius Marselis owned the Gudbrandsdal copper works in Sel as security for a loan to the Danish king. The Tolstad estate in Vågå with valuable millstone quarries was similarly granted as security to his brother Gabriel Marselis, Jr. in 1661. The family owned this property until the year 1685.

The Marselis trading company

The Dutchman Gabriel Marselis, Sr. (died 1643) was the founder of one of the largest private banking businesses in Europe in the 17th century. Selius (1602-1663) was the second of his four sons. Together with his brothers, he continued the business activities of his father. In the encyclopaedia Store norske leksikon, Anne Hilde Nagel writes that in the 1630s, during the Thirty Years War in Europe, the brothers sold weapons and copper to the different warring parties. They also traded in grain across Europe, and in the 1640s they dominated timber exports from Norway to the Netherlands.

In 1644, Selius Marselis settled in Christiania (later Oslo). There the king granted him extensive privileges. On behalf of the king, governor Hannibal Sehested signed a contract with Selius in 1644 for the delivery of four warships, complete with equipment and crew. It was later discovered that Selius had cheated the monarchy out of almost 50 000 riksdaler. Around 1650, Selius built warehouses and the mansion “Marselienborg” with a grand park in Dutch style in the area around the present Eidsvolls plass. In 1653, six years after the establishment of the postal service in Norway, Selius Marselis succeeded in being appointed postal director and inspector. By 1660, the Marselis family were the biggest landowners in the country. But there were many complaints that they were too inconsiderate and that they increased both fees and workloads.

The Gudbrandsdal copper mines in Sel

Mining in Norway in the 17th century was originally in the hands of the state. Expertise was brought in from Germany. But in 1632 the king made an agreement with the governor and the other fief lords on the right to start mining with exemption from tithes when minerals were discovered in their fiefs. In return, they had to supply the monarchy. The industry depended on farmers in the area around the mines transporting the ore and other goods, and cutting and supplying wood and charcoal.

Privileges and mining

The right to start mining in Sel from 1642 was granted to a partnership of affluent people of the king’s circle. The privilege also included the whole of Gudbrandsdalen if more mineral deposits were discovered. The Norwegian National Archives contain accounts of the operation of the copper works in Sel from 1642 to 1652. After production was started, almost 315 tons of pure copper were produced from 1644. The investment and expenses had reached a total sum of over 67 000 riksdaler. The value of the metallic copper produced until 1652 was 91 614 riksdaler, while the value of the inventory and equipment was put at 32 087 riksdaler. The total profit from the start until 1652 was therefore 56 575 riksdaler. From 1646 to 1651, the son-in-law of Christian IV, governor Hannibal Sehested, had the privileges for the operation of the mine.

As soon as Hannibal Sehested was dismissed from his position as Norwegian governor in 1651, the new governor started negotiations with Selius Marselis for a lease of the mines in Gudbrandsdalen. Selius leased the copper mines for four years, with a clause providing for new negotiations after three years to continue the lease on the same conditions. Selius Marselis’ privilege agreement from 1652 specifically mentions the duty to supply farmers in Lom, Vågå and Fron. Immediately the contract was signed, Selius demanded exemption from tax, land rent and other duties on the Olstad and Formo estates containing the mines. These were affluent properties in the eyes of the local people. Selius got what he wanted.

As soon as Selius Marselis had got hold of the copper mines in Sel, he demanded 2000 to 3000 riksdaler from the king that he needed for “good coal and wood” for his mines in Norway. This was an unpaid settlement from an arms deal. Two years later, the king had to pay copper tithes from Kvikne and Røros worth over 40 000 riksdaler to Selius’ brother in the Netherlands. In Sel, the king paid off the leaseholder in 1656 and asked the mining authorities for money to continue operating the mines, since the lease had expired and Selius was no longer interested. Soon Selius was appointed royal mining commissioner and director of postal services in Norway. For copper from Gudbrandsdalen, he now paid the king 50 riksdaler per ship pound (about 160 kg), 5 riksdaler below the king’s own price. During the new war declared on Sweden, the king had to go cap in hand to wealthy businessmen.

Copper was used to make cannons, church roofs and kettles. The leaseholders were looking for quick profits at a time when metal was in great demand, especially in connection with wars and weapons production. The initial general optimism may have turned to pessimism and financing problems after some years. In the early 1650s and also after Selius Marselis withdrew his interest in Gudbrandsdalen, the king had to search for sources of funding to continue operating the mine. Accounts from the Sel copper works appear to show that activity in the 1660s had declined to almost half of that of the 1640s.

The Tolstad millstone hill - from royal collateral in Amsterdam to farmers’ property in Vågå

In 1661, the Tolstad estate in Vågå was one of the properties King Frederik III granted as security to the Gabriel Marselis trading company in Amsterdam. The estate was the largest in the parish, and was assessed as worth seven cowhides. It included a hill with garnet-mica schist which had long supplied a large neighbouring area with millstones. The tenant at this time was Hans Pålsson Tolstad (1625-1695), one of the more affluent farmers.

During the Carl Gustav War of 1658, the bailiff in Gudbrandsdalen gathered 516 farmers armed with halberds and rifles. They were under the command of two farmer-captains, one of whom was Hans Tolstad from Vågå. In return for this service, Hans was granted exemption from taxes and rent on the leased estate. After the death of Gabriel Marselis Jr. in 1673, his heirs were interested in selling the Norwegian inland properties, and in Vågå, Hans Tolstad’s son, Pål Tolstad was the natural buyer.

Tithes, or every third stone

In 1685, Pål Tolstad was highly satisfied with the deal he had done with the Marselis family. The property included a large forest and the hill with the millstone quarries. The following year, the priest in Vågå estimated an annual profit of 100 riksdaler for the millstones, and 200 riksdaler in good years. One advantage was that the fixed payment of tithe stones to the landlord no longer applied. On the other hand, the Tolstad farmer had made a good profit from this arrangement. The term “tithe stone” did not mean every tenth stone. In accordance with tradition, Gabriel Marselis had required every third millstone for payment on the collateral. For these millstones, the leaseholder would receive a fixed amount in payment, 24 riksdaler or the equivalent value of eight cows.

Gabriel Marselis was an active owner of Tolstad. In the year 1673, records show that he refused to pay more than 16 riksdaler for the millstones. He argued that the quality of the stones delivered was unsatisfactory. Therefore, he now demanded compensation in cash from the Tolstad farmer and exclusion from the quarry of any stonecutters unwilling to pay rent.

After Pål Tolstad took over the estate and the hill with its quarries in 1685, he informed the local council in Vågå that four tithe stones remained uncut from the time that Tolstad was mortgaged by the king’s creditor in Amsterdam. The geographical distance had been a distinct advantage for Pål Tolstad in dealings with a dissatisfied landlord.

As a tenant farmer under the king and later Marselis, but also as head of the local police and army, Pål Tolstad held a position between the authorities and the rural community. The millstone hill was in the middle of the village and the industry had primarily benefitted the neighbouring villages for several hundred years. From 1685, Pål Tolstad had thus become the owner of the millstone hill and the recipient of every third millstone. There was no longer any income from the tithe stones, and it was more important that the villagers continued working and paying fees.

In 1677, four farmers from Vågå had sent a complaint to the governor about the way Hans Tolstad was running the quarries. At the subsequent court hearing, Hans Tolstad’s lease document from 1651 was produced. During the hearing, with local people as witnesses and representatives of all parties present, the traditional rights of the villagers were upheld. The leaseholder was responsible for ensuring that the landlord received the tithe stone, and he was otherwise required to respect time-honoured customs.

The property register from 1668 lists 93 mills in Vågå parish, including Sel and Heidal. At these mills, grain from 209 farms was ground. Not all millstones came from Tolstad. But if they had, about 45 pairs of stones, i.e. every third stone, would have been delivered to a market that provided income for the Marselis trading company.

In 1688, in the name of a younger son, Hans Tolstad purchased the Tofte estate at Dovre from the later Lieutenant-General Carsten Herman von Hausmann. Through marriage and trade, father and son at Tolstad now owned land to the value of twenty cowhides. In spite of being under strict landlords, Pål Tolstad had managed to become one of the richest men in Gudbrandsdalen.