Becoming Anders Magnus – the case of an 18th century crossdresser

In 1777, the Åhrman family welcomed yet another baby to the world. We don’t know much about the family, but given that this baby was sent out to serve as a maid before her teens, we can assume they were at most tenant farmers, probably farm servants. Anyway: the baby was baptised Anna Maria, and by the time she was sixteen, she was working on a farm in Ålbo, not all that far from where she’d been born.

There was a potential scandal brewing in Ålbo: the farmer for whom Anna Maria worked had a daughter, and she suddenly found herself pregnant. Not good, in a time and society where fornication was considered a grievous sin. A father for the babe had to be found, and the desperate farmer cast his eye about and fixed it on Anna Maria. Yes, I know: why her? He needed a potential father, not a maid!

Maybe Anna Maria was somewhat unfeminine, or maybe it was simply the fact of her being new to the area so no-one really knew who she was. Whatever the case, Anna Maria was convinced to dress up like a man—a major, major sin in itself at the time, for a woman to wear men’s clothes—and present herself to the priest, stating that she (oops! HE), Anders Magnus, was the daddy of the as yet unborn babe.

Not everyone took the young man at face value. Some muttered that Anders Magnus looked more like a woman than a man, and so a midwife was ordered to inspect the young man. I imagine this made our protagonist rather nervous, but for some reason, the midwife conducted her inspection without demanding the removal of clothing, and after some groping the midwife concluded that yes, this person definitely had the dangly bits a man had.

Anna Maria had thereby become Anders Magnus, and when she left Ålbo, she did so as Anders Magnus. At the time, any Swedish person leaving a parish had to carry a certificate with them signed by the priest, a document that stated their name, if they had participated regularly in services, had been convicted of crimes, etc etc. Without such a certificate, you could be arrested for vagrancy and locked up. In Anna Maria’s case, she arrived in Ålbo a woman and left a man—at least according to the certificate. There is something of a plot hole here, IMO, as reasonably Anna Maria must have had a certificate with her when she arrived, but maybe someone falsified it before she went to the priest as the potential father.

What happened to the farmer’s pregnant daughter I don’t know. How Anders Magnus managed to get a leaving certificate without having first married the expecting mother is also a bit of a mystery, but I suspect the farmer may have made it very clear that no way did he want someone like Anders Magnus—dirt poor—as his son-in-law.

It seems that Anna Maria discovered there were benefits to being a man. If nothing else, wages were higher, and some years later, he/she was working at a manor called Eke as a taffeltäckare. Essentially, this meant Anders Magnus was responsible for overseeing the setting of the tables, including the tablecloths, china, cutlery, glassware etc. etc. A rather fancy title, and only the richest of nobles had their own taffeltäckare, which indicates Anders Magnus had deffo landed on his feet.

At Eke, the housekeeper was one Anna Fredrika Lundmark. Soon enough, the two were romantically involved. For over a year, they shared a bed, and Anders Magnus was so, so in love with Anna Frederika. He whispered of a potential large inheritance—likely to woo her—and Anna Fredrika fell in love.

In 1799, the happy couple decided to wed.
Wait, wait, wait! To wed? you may exclaim. But they’re two women!

Too right. It seems quite a few of the people working at Eke suspected Anders Magnus was, in fact, a woman. They also knew that the two young lovers had been sleeping together for months and months. But the rumours that Anders Magnus was a woman were persistent enough that the parish ordered a physical examination. That Anna Fredrika knew Anders Magnus was a woman seems indisputable: why else would she convince her brother-in-law to present himself instead of Anders Magnus at that  physical examination?

No one bothered to confirm whether the man examined was, in fact, the bridegroom, and so, in 1799, Anders Magnus Åhrman married his Anna Fredrika and they embarked to live happily ever after.

Except they didn’t.

You see, Anna Fredrika was rather keen on claiming that inheritance her new hubby was always going on about, and when she finally realised there was no money waiting at the end of the rainbow, she and her father marched over to the priest and told him poor Anna Frederika had been duped .
Oh yes, she sobbed, she’d had no idea, none!
Hmm, the priest likely replied. The parish wasn’t exactly huge, so he’d probably also heard that Anna Fredrika and Anders Magnus had been sharing a bed long before they wed. Plus, he’d also heard the rumours about Anders Magnus being a woman, which was why he’d insisted on that physical inspection. So who underwent that inspection? he may have asked.
Err, replied Anna Fredrika

The matter was referred to the county court. Anders Magnus was arrested and the subsequent inspection indicated that he was definitely a she. She was then locked up while awaiting trial. Anna Fredrika was also locked up. They were not allowed to see or talk to each other—I’m not quite sure what they would have had to say to each other in any case.

During the court proceedings, it became very clear that Anna Fredrika had known all along that Anders Magnus was a woman. It also became apparent she had only wed him/her because of the promised inheritance. It is said Anna Maria wept when she heard this, silent tears rolling down her cheeks. She, obviously, did love Anna Fredrika.

What is somewhat interesting to note is that at no point is the fact that the two women slept together and, perhaps, engaged in intimacies, raised as an issue. In the narrow-minded (male) take on the world at the time, two women couldn’t really have sex with each other as they did not have the wherewithal with which to penetrate. Intimacies without penetration was not considered fornication. It was a far graver crime that Anna Maria had the audacity to dress as a man—and that Anna Fredrika helped her get away with it. However, crossdressing in itself would not have sufficed for Anna Maria to be indicted. Instead, what both women were accused of was of making a mockery of the institution of marriage and of fraudulent behaviour.

The court found both women guilty. They were convicted to “lose their honour”, pay a significant fine, and forever leave the parish. The fine was commuted to sixteen days on water and bread (they had no money for the fine) after which they were forced to leave. Anna Fredrika’s father, however, managed to petition the court for the return of his daughter, so she was allowed back. Subsequently, she married again and had children.

No one spoke up for Anna Maria. She disappeared into the winding alleys and stinking poverty of Stockholm. We don’t know what happened to her, but seeing as she was only twenty-four at her conviction, one hopes she had some good years ahead of her.

The case of Anna Maria, a.k.a. Anders Magnus is one of the few documented cases of a woman assuming the identity of a man in Sweden. Another rather famous case is that of Ulrika Eleonora, who spent years as a soldier in the Swedish Army.

Just because there aren’t that many documented cases, doesn’t mean there weren’t quite a few women who chose to live their lives as men instead. Throughout history, many women have found it easier to pretend to be a man than to be subjected to the control of a man, be it their father, brother or spouse. Our female ancestors have fought hard for the liberties us women of the west take for granted today, but it behoves us to remember that not that long ago, being a woman was being utterly dependent on the goodwill of the men in your life. Ugh. Double ugh.