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Tegnelse means Closed Letter from the King - Danish Genealogy Words

Lene Dræby Kottal
Tegnelse means Closed Letter from the King - Danish Genealogy Words

The Danish word tegnelse means closed letter from the King.

Yesterday I wrote about supplikker and registre. Registre were open letters, meaning letters of general interest, whereas tegnelser were closed letters, meaning directed to one or a few persons.

Like registre, books of tegnelser are copies of outgoing letters, not the original letters. The subjects treated in tegnelser vary a lot. Here are some examples:

  • Permission to pay out the inheritance for deceased Andreas Nissen's children to District Bailiff Bødcker. The request for the permission was made by the brother of the children's father Nicolaj Christian Nissen.1 This example shows that tegnelser sometimes contain evidence of relationships.
  • Permission for shoemaker journeyman Johan Evald of Faaborg Mark Town to be admitted into the shoemaker organization without working for a master for the required number of years first. The permission was granted because Johan was poor and had a wife and children to support.2
  • The King's decision on how to divide Baag-Vends Districts into two districts in 1798, and about whom the bailiff and scribe were to be in each district.3

In the handwritten indexes, tegnelser can be found under the names of people mentioned in the letters and under the place name if it regards an office in a specific place or changes to jurisdictions. This means you can use the indexes to tegnelser to find letters with historical information about places relevant to your ancestors.

Source References:

  1. Danske Kancelli, Fynske og smålandske tegnelser 1786-1799, folio 777 verso, 1799: no. 101 (to Reventlow about the inheritance after Andreas Nissen, 18 October 1799); image copy, The Danish National Archives, Arkivalieronline (https://www.sa.dk/ao-soegesider/da/billedviser?epid=19977495#269888,51229087 : accessed 20 April 2022).
  2. Danske Kancelli, Fynske og smålandske tegnelser 1786-1799, folio 650 recto and verso, 1798: no. 4 (to Buchwald about Johan Evald's occupation as master shoemaker in Faaborg, 12 January 1798); image copy, The Danish National Archives, Arkivalieronline (https://www.sa.dk/ao-soegesider/da/billedviser?epid=19977495#269888,51228909 : accessed 20 April 2022) > images 491-492 of 628.
  3. Danske Kancelli, Fynske og smålandske tegnelser 1786-1799, folio 683 verso to 686 recto, 1798: no. 50 (to Poul Rosenørn about the division of Baag-Wends Herreder, 18 May 1798); image copy, The Danish National Archives, Arkivalieronline (https://www.sa.dk/ao-soegesider/da/billedviser?epid=19977495#269888,51228959 : accessed 20 April 2022) > images 525-527 of 628.
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