husförhör

Husförhör, or household examination, was a systematic religious examination of members within a parish conducted by the Lutheran Church of Sweden. It aimed to verify that people could read and understood core Christian instruction, including the catechism, prayers, and Bible knowledge. The practice dates from the post-Reformation period and became standardized in the 17th and 18th centuries, supported by church ordinances such as the 1686 Church Ordinance. During the examination, a priest or catechist would question residents on topics drawn from the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the Lilla katekismen, as well as practical literacy—reading aloud from the catechism and Bible. Some examinations included singing, prayers, or discussion of daily life and morals. The purpose was to confirm membership in the congregation, ensure readiness for communion, promote literacy, and maintain religious oversight of the population.

Records of these examinations were kept in husförhörslängder (household examination rolls). Each roll lists household members, ages or birth years, places of residence, family relationships, and notes on literacy, comprehension, and pious behavior. The rolls also served as administrative registers for tracking movements, births, marriages, and baptisms within the parish. Today the husförhörslängder are valuable for genealogical research, offering a continuous record of households across generations in Sweden (and, in parts of Finland during Swedish rule).

The practice gradually declined in the late 19th century as civil registration and standardized parish bookkeeping took over; by the early 20th century many parishes had stopped conducting regular husförhör. Surviving records are preserved by parish archives and national archives and remain widely used by researchers.