"The Danish Agrarian reforms of the 18th century have been an evergreen in Danish historical studies, and for good reason. In the course of half a lifetime, Denmark went from a socio-economic system based on a manorial structure with an enserfed peasantry to one moving in the direction of full farmer owner-occupancy subject to direct state taxation - an unbloody revolution at the most cellular level of society. However, fundamental questions remain, or at least need to be posed again: What motivated the reforms? Where should we draw the lines of conflict? And what was the impact of European enlightenment ideas on the process? In this presentation, I argue that we have to frame the period within a centuries-long historical struggle between the Crown and lords. The agrarian reforms belong to a phase of this conflict which begins in 1660 with the arrival of Absolutism in Denmark and the concomitant establishment of a new form of vassal aristocracy which derived its position directly from the state. Via this framing, I analyze the appeals to, and meaning of, natural law in the debates on agrarian reform in the latter half of the 18th century. I conclude that natural law was a weapon wielded to strip the traditional aristocracy of its abilities to directly dominate its manorial peasantries, effectively undermining their social position and local sovereignty."
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