Fogder på Færøyene ca. 1520–1556

A central question in Norwegian research on fief holding is when and to what degree the local fief-administrators,stewards (fogder), were transformed from fief holders’ private adjuncts to royal officials. Although there has beensome debate as to when the process was completed, historians generally agree that it began after the Reformation andgained momentum toward the close of the sixteenth century. The question is equally pertinent for research on gov-ernance in the Faroes, a tributary province and fief under Norway’s crown. Whereas some historians claim that stew-ards were fief holders’ adjuncts, others assert that they were royal servants or fief holders. This article addresses thesedivergent views. It focuses on the early sixteenth century, when the conditions for fief holding in the Faroes wereundergoing change. I argue that the monarchy exerted considerable power over Faroese governance, and that stew-ards were “his royal majesty’s stewards” earlier than their counterparts in Norway.