Leysingi

In Norse law, a leysingr (plural: leysingi) was a freed slave (a freed thrall).^[1][2] While often used interchangeably frjálsgjafar was the lowest rank of freedmen. frjálsgjafar was a person whose freedom was given but not made public. Once a frjálsgjafar gave a freedom ale he became a leysingi. A leysingi had more freedoms after giving a freedom ale and could have more freedoms by doing things such as other work or his master granting him more freedoms. A slave had to be adopted into free kin with such a status as freedman, but they still had lower status in society. In the law codes, a freedman was consistently regarded as inferior, whether they committed an offense or were the victim of one. A master had control over where the freedman lived, who he could marry. When a freedman got old, he relied on the church for care. The act of manumission had to be confirmed by an oath and announced publicly either at an assembly or in the church itself. The freedman could not even leave his master’s property without permission. If the slave had not given a freedom ale he could not earn over 1/3 eyrir. The children of the freedman could not inherit anything unless he was married to a freedwoman, and they had both given their freedom ale. These are just some ways in which a freedman had less rights. Slavery was eventually abolished in Scandinavian society. Each year the assembly had to give one slave his freedom, and slavery had disappeared in most Scandinavian countries by the 14th century.^[3]

A leysingi was much different than the modern conception of freedmen because they had limited freedom. Freedmen were still reliant on their master’s against their own freewill. Masters had control over marriage, business dealings and could not leave without permission. They essentially were still slaves but had slightly more freedom. For slavery itself, it was not necessarily a slave economy, it was more of a small-scale household-based form of slavery. These slaves were brought as prisoners, were traded for, or used to pay off debt rather than based on skin color.

A leysingi was also an old Norse nickname given to freedmen to identify them and this later evolved into the surname Leising. 638 people have the surname leysing in the United States as of 2010^[4]