Knygotyra ISSN 0204–2061 eISSN 2345-0053
2021, vol. 76, pp. 51–71 DOI: https://doi.org/10.15388/Knygotyra.2021.76.75

Motivation to Read? Reading among the Upper-Class Children in Finland during the 17^th and 18^th Centuries

Tuija Laine
Department of Church History, University of Helsinki
Box 4, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland
E-mail: tuija.laine@helsinki.fi
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8530-0579

Summary. In the early modern Finland, the Catechisms were the only literature intended for children. Otherwise, the children from all classes had to read adults’ literature. Finland was a part of Sweden until 1809 and the reading of Swedish literature was possible especially among the upper classes and even the common people in the Swedish-speaking western coast. Three case studies of Finnish upper-class children from the 17^th and the 18^th centuries tell us about children’s reading habits, attitudes to reading and reading motivation in this situation. Richard M. Ryan’s & Edward L. Deci’s theory of self-determination has been used as a theoretical basis for this study. It highlights the combination of three basic psychological needs as means to motivation: autonomy, competence and relatedness.

Autonomy was the most limited during the 17^th century and emerged step by step towards the end of the 18^th century. Relatedness would depend on circumstances in the family. If the family led an active social life, it would also reflect in the reading habits of the household members. All the children in this research belonged to the upper class, so they could read, and they studied diligently. Therefore, they felt competence. The relatives exhorted them in studying, which still increased their self-confidence. Motivation was mostly external at the beginning, but in some cases it gradually grew towards internal motivation. According to these cases, upper-class girls were freer to read what they liked than boys. Comparing to boys they were less educated, but at the same time they experienced less pressure to make progress in literary reading. If the domestic duties permitted, they would be able to use their free time for reading fiction. Boys had to concentrate on thinking about their future careers and subjects relevant to that.

Keywords: reading, children, motivation, early modern period, upper classes.

Ar yra motyvacija skaityti? Skaitymas tarp aukštesniosios klasės vaikų Suomijoje XVII ir XVIII a.

Santrauka. Ankstyvuoju moderniuoju laikotarpiu Suomijoje nebuvo vaikų literatūros, o tik keletas vaikams skirtų katekizmų. Visų socialinių klasių vaikai buvo priversti skaityti suaugusiųjų literatūrą. Suomija buvo Švedijos dalis iki 1809 m., o švedų literatūra buvo ypač prieinama aukštesniosios klasės atstovams ir net paprastiems žmonėms švediškai kalbančiame vakariniame krante. Trys atvejų tyrimai apie XVII ir XVIII a. aukštesniosios klasės suomių vaikus byloja apie vaikų skaitymo įpročius, požiūrį į skaitymą ir motyvaciją skaityti. Richardo M. Ryano ir Edwardo L. Deci apsisprendimo teorija buvo naudojama kaip teorinis pagrindas. Ji apibrėžia trijų pagrindinių psichologinių poreikių (autonomijos, kompetencijos ir ryšių) derinį, vedantį į motyvaciją.

Autonomija buvo labiausiai apribota XVII a. ir laipsniškai išryškėjo XVIII a. pabaigoje. Ryšiai priklausė nuo aplinkybių šeimoje. Jei šeima gyveno aktyvų socialinį gyvenimą, tai atsispindėjo ir šeimos narių skaitymo įpročiuose. Visi šio tyrimo vaikai priklausė aukštesniajai klasei, todėl knygos jiems buvo prieinamos ir jie stropiai mokėsi, jautė turintys gebėjimų. Artimieji ragino juos mokytis, o tai išryškino jų pasitikėjimą savimi. Motyvacija pradžioje buvo daugiausia išorinė, tačiau kai kuriais atvejais ji po truputį kito judėdama vidinės motyvacijos kryptimi. Remiantis šiais atvejais galima teigti, kad aukštesniosios klasės mergaitės turėjo daugiau laisvės skaityti tai, kas joms patinka, nei berniukai. Palyginti su berniukais, jos buvo mažiau išsilavinusios, tačiau tuo pačiu metu jų pažangai raštingumo srityje buvo keliami mažesni reikalavimai. Jei pareigos namuose leisdavo, savo laisvalaikį jos galėjo naudoti grožinės literatūros skaitymui. Berniukai buvo priversti galvoti apie būsimą profesinę veiklą ir su ja susijusius svarbius dalykus.

Reikšminiai žodžiai: skaitymas, vaikai, motyvacija, ankstyvasis modernusis laikotarpis, aukštesnioji klasė.

Received: 2020 11 24. Accepted: 2021 03 31
Copyright © 2021 Tuija Laine. Published by Vilnius University Press. This is an Open Access journal distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Children as readers before children’s literature

Children’s literature as such is quite a recent phenomenon. In Britain, the first steps towards publishing literature for children took place in the 1740s, with a similar development occurring in France forty years later, in the 1780s. In Sweden and Finland some catechisms were written for children during the 18^th century, but they can be placed in the same category as James Janeway’s Token for children (1672) or John Bunyan’s Book for boys and girls (1686), in that they were not children’s books in the modern sense despite their titles. The first primer with more interesting stories for children, not only catechisms, was printed in Finland in 1795. It was written in Swedish by Archbishop Jacob Tengström for his own children. This little booklet became popular in Finland because of its modern approach to teaching reading, although it was only translated into Finnish in the 19^th century, and even then, in the eastern (Savo) dialect. This kind of teaching had already been defended at the end of the 17^th century by John Locke in England.¹

Before that, there were, however, schoolbooks and guidebooks on the correct behaviour expected of children. Many of the latter were written for middle class families, or the nobility. One of the best-known guidebooks from the early modern period was De civilitate morum puerilium by Erasmus, written for Henry, the 11-year-old prince of Burgundy, in 1530. It gives instructions on how a boy should conduct himself in the company of adults in different situations and places. The book was soon translated into many languages and taken into general use everywhere. However, in this process it lost its original purpose of educating the sons of aristocrats and the nobility.²

Although there was no literature written particularly for children before the 18^th century, children had nevertheless read texts from ancient times. Traditionally, literacy has been more common among the upper classes than among the lower classes, but reading skills have usually been highly valued in families with literate parents, regardless of class. As children’s literature was scarce or non-existent, in the beginning children simply had to read books intended for adults. Sometimes these texts or parts of them were too difficult for children to understand; similarly, some of the first children’s books were also written in quite a complicated way and were thus unsuitable for children. Moreover, even the publishing of children’s literature failed to prevent children from reading adults’ books, if permitted by their parents. Sometimes children were just so interested in some adults’ books that they wanted to read just them. There are different reasons for reading and they are not always, if ever easy to analyse.³

Research questions and theoretical background

In this article I shall research Finnish upper-class children, their reading habits and attitudes towards reading as well as their motivation to read. I am also considering the concept of reading in different occasions. The timeframe is the early modern period, from the 17^th to the 18^th century, when Finland was still an eastern part of the Swedish realm. At that time, there was not yet any proper children’s literature available for children in Finland, though the situation was a little better in the Swedish provinces. The upper class was mostly Swedish-speaking or at least acquainted with the Swedish language. Reading skills were expected not only from adults, but from children of all social classes as well, already on the grounds of reformatory principles.

In their self-determination theory, Richard Ryan and Edward L. Deci wrote about the human motivation and factors impacted on it. They found that all human beings have three fundamental psychological needs. If these needs will be satisfied, the individual is motivated. These needs are competence, autonomy and relationship.

Autonomy means that an individual is self-regulated. (S)he can make decisions according to her/his life and work. Competence denotes confidence in one’s own abilities and the belief that one can manage with the tasks presented before them. Thirdly, an individual needs to be in a relationship with other people. Fulfilling these needs provides people with motivation, which can be internal or external. Examples of external motivation can come in the form of rewards promised for doing something. Internal motivation is fueled by internal goals or hopes. Sometimes, internal motivation can be awaked through external motivation.⁴

Motivation is quite a modern term. In the early modern period, people were not talking about motivation and no teacher or parent would likely attempt to “motivate” their students or children. The table of duties in the catechism ordered the specific tasks for all the estates of the realm. According to it and the catechism as well, children were supposed to be obedient to their parents and teachers, were they “motivated” to it or not, because this was ordered by God. There were of course things people did because they wanted to and things they did because they had to do. In both cases they might have been motivated, but for different reasons. From the late 17^th century, the role of children began to change. Making things more interesting to children might inspire them to study with pleasure, said English philosopher John Locke. A child could learn the alphabet, for example, with the means of play.⁵ This can already be seen as a way of motivation, and although Locke did not still use the term, the concept of motivation became more important.

How do the three psychological basic needs linked with motivation intersect in the reading of early modern Finnish noble children? Did they feel themselves competent, autonomous and related with others when reading; were they motivated to read? If they were, what helped them in this process? And if they were not, why not? Which factors made it difficult for them to find pleasure in reading? Was their motivation, if there was any, internal or external?

The interest on reading can be motivated from different aspects. Silja Juopperi has found five different reasons to read in her research on meaning and change in adults’ reading experiences from the modern time. They were passion to read, reading as a tool for finding information, reading in secret or forbidden books, escapist reading, and reading for pleasure. Julia Harju, who studied reading among teenagers in the 2000s, found four of them in her material. Only reading in secret was missing.⁶ Very likely all the five aspects could be found in the reading habits of early modern time, even reading in secret, because at that time there were many forbidden religious or political books on the market despite censorship. This research would find out, if these aspects were present even in children’s activity and reading experiences, and if additional aspects can be found.

I shall approach all these questions using case studies of three different families. The first are the Gyldenstolpe, a 17^th century noble family from Turku, the capital of Finland, at that time an eastern part of the Swedish realm. The second is the family of Archbishop Mennander from 18^th century Turku, and the third one is the noble family of Munsterhjelm from 18^th century Elimäki. They all had children whose reading habits and attitudes are in some extent familiar to us through the letters and diaries they wrote.

Sources on children’s reading motivation and previous research

There are various documents which tell us about children as readers, some of them written by the children themselves, and some by their parents, teachers or tutors. The number and genre of the sources vary from one country to another. In Sweden and Finland there are, e.g., much more sources about children’s reading skills than letters or diaries⁷ written by the children themselves. Different sources provide a different picture of children as readers.

Some researchers, for instance M. O. Grenby, have focused on the reliability of children’s ego-documents, i.e., letters or diaries. Children’s texts were seldom written in a totally neutral environment. Both parents and tutors controlled children’s writing by advising them in writing and even read their texts giving feedback. The idea was not only to converse or keep in touch, but also to improve the child’s thinking and literal expression. Children might also have written more positively about their reading if they wanted to please their parents. In addition, in the early modern era, letter-writing was quite strictly regulated. All this makes it difficult to estimate the inner meaning of reading for children or their attitudes towards reading and books.⁸ When we are studying children’s motivation to read, the texts written by themselves are naturally our primary sources despite the questions of their reliability.

The reading motivation of early modern time has not been the popular research target in Finland. Almost all the research has been focused on the reading motivation in the modern time. There are not many sources on reading from the early modern period either. The most reading research has been done on reading skills and learning to read, which can be study with the help of registers kept by parish priests. From the 19^th century onwards there are other sources more available.

The most remarkable researcher of reading motivation is Ilkka Mäkinen, who wrote his dissertation⁹ in 1997 on desire to read in Finland from the end of the 18^th century to the last half of the 19^th century. His focus was on the German “Leselust/Lesewut” and its effects in 19^th century Finland. He later authored several articles devoted to the field, for example Love of Reading meets PISA Assessments: Historical Insights in the Discourse on Reading Motivation (2018) and Diffusion of the Discourse on the Love of Reading in Europe from the 18^th to the 20^th Centuries (2019), both published in Knygotyra. In these articles, he studied the “love of reading” as a discursive phenomenon in the literature published in several parts of Europe with the help of Google Books.¹⁰

Three case studies

Family Gyldenstolpe. Because the mode of letter-writing was regulated, male children in particular, at least in Finland, often wrote to their parents and other relatives about their studies and their reading. From the age of seven to fourteen, noble boys were usually taught at home. They studied theology, history, geography, philosophy and Latin of course, because these subjects were necessary if they were to study at the University.

Michael Wexionius-Gyldenstolpe (1609–1670) was nominated a professor of Jurisprudence in Turku Academy in 1647 and from 1657 worked as a judge in the Turku Court of Appeal until his death. He had twelve children; nine of them reached maturity. The children had a family tutor, who took care of their studies. Language skills and naturally Latin were seen as very important in the family as well as writing letters: exchanging letters in Latin, on the one hand, between the siblings and on the other hand between them and the father. Even the youngest children wrote to their father and elder brothers in Latin while the latter were away from home due to work, study or war.¹¹

In these letters, the formality of style is combined with childish thoughts and expressions. In some letters little boys describe their progress in reading and studying. For example, the six-year-old Carl Gyldenstolpe wrote to his elder brother Nils asking to get him a little horse. In return, he promised to study di­ligently, which would turn out to be a benefit also for his brother. Soon he could write a letter to thank his brother, who had donated a horse to him and even confirmed the donation with a signed letter. This made Carl to promise to study even more diligently. Getting the desired horse had influenced his eagerness to study. Internal motivation is usually considered better than external, but sometimes external motivation can have an effect on developing internal motivation.¹² While there were not yet many books intended for children, studying must have been hard for a little boy. The elder brother has probably noticed that already from his own experience. Being rewarded by an elder brother seemed to be a good way to encourage the little brother to study.

In a few years, Carl had really progressed in his studies. At about eight or nine years old, in 1666, he told Nils about his studies again. He had already finished the Orbis pictus by Johann Amos Comenius, a pictorial bilingual (Swedish-Latin) book, which was usually studied at the lowest levels in school. It taught Latin to children using metalanguage(s), which has in this case probably been Swedish. He had also read the discussions by Helvicius. Carl referenced on Christophorus Helvicius’ book Familiaria colloquia, which was a Latin textbook, a selection of colloquies by Erasmus, Vives, Schotten and Cordier and published in Turku in 1668 by Johannes Gezelius the Elder’s printing press. This dialogue-formed textbook taught not only reading but also speaking in Latin. Besides these Carl had learnt some grammar and mathematics. A couple of weeks ago Carl had already started to read Sleidanus’s historical work and Cicero’s letters. Comparing these with letters written by the other brothers present in the collection, this seems to be the ordinary order in the studies in this family.¹³

Two months after this, Carl wrote to Nils about the death of their brother, 26-year-old Gabriel. The language he used points out his knowing the rhetorical tradition of funeral poems and sermons.¹⁴ The ideas of sorrow, longing for one’s lost relative, and calmness of the mind in the face of death have been expressed in a way very rare for an eight-year-old boy. He has maybe read texts of this kind from printed sermons and poems, or from some manual for letter-writing. On the other hand, imitation was also a recommendable way to learn letter-writing.¹⁵ We do not know, if he had been motivated to read any funeral texts, or if the death of brother has motivated him to read them, but sooner or later the learnt passages have come to use. This example shows how children have been able to use adults’ literature in expressing their own feelings and conso­ling others. They have probably also realized the meaning of the sentences to some extent on the emotional level.

Being six, Carl’s younger brother Gustaf cited a text in Latin to his elder brother Nils about crossing over water and bridges, boats and ferries. The text has been copied from Comenius’ Orbis pictus. He wrote that he had read Comenius in the morning and Helvicius in the afternoon. His studies were going well, in contrast to his cousin Olof’s, who was still learning to spell, as Gustaf exultantly reported on his letter. Gustaf was the youngest of Michael Gyldenstolpe’s children.¹⁶ There is also no wonder that being better at reading than his cousin gave him pleasure. It has surely brought him a feeling of competence, which is an important part in motivation.

According to his letters to Nils, Gustaf continued to study diligently. In March 1667, the seven- or eight-year-old reported having finished Orbis pictus and read it again, reaching the chapter about a clock. He did not yet finish Helvicius Colloquia, but he had reached the chapter about the travels. He did not find all of the books interesting. He had received a book of Psalmes as a New Year’s gift from his father but he exchanged it with his elder sister for something else – there was no notice of what he had gotten in return.¹⁷

In 1667 Gustav wrote to Nils about their family tutor, Magnus Brynolphi Echman, who had defended his dissertation while professor Enevaldus Svenonius had acted as a preeses. The dissertation was a part of Svenonius’ dogmatic work Babylon magna ruens. Their tutor had given a copy of the dissertation to the elder brothers Samuel and Carl. The dissertation was dedicated to Michael Gyldenstolpe as well as to his two eldest sons who still were alive, Nils and Daniel.¹⁸ The whole event seems to have been exciting for Gustav. He does not express disappointment for not getting his own copy of the dissertation. On the other hand, he was only seven or eight and Carl was already a couple of years older. The gift from the tutor had probably motivated Carl, but he does not write about it to his brother.

There are some letters even from the daughters of Michael Gyldenstolpe. They wrote in Swedish, and in the letters that are preserved focused on the matters of health rather than studying. It seems likely that the opinion of their father, Michael Gyldenstolpe, was that the girls did not need to study so much or write so well. For girls, having knowledge of domestic tasks and concentrating on social life was usually more important than literary skills, which boys needed for their future careers.¹⁹ So poorly written are father Gyldenstolpe’s daughters’ letters that their literal expression would probably have been restricted to the most commonly used phrases.

The letters written by the little Gyldenstolpe brothers speak only about their studies. From the aspects of reading mentioned by Silja Juopperi, only information-seeking reading became evident. This is natural, while textbooks were not forbidden and not for pleasure, but learning. Still Orbis pictus by Comenius, with its illustrations and simple texts, might have been more interesting for little children than many other textbooks from the 17^th century. This conclusion gets support from the fact that both Carl and Gustav cite or describe more content from the Orbis pictus than from any other textbooks they read. So, it must have awakened at least some interest for its readers. Comenius was known as a quite modern pedagogue who was able to write from the perspective of children in his texts.²⁰

From the point of motivation and psychological basic needs, competence and relatedness have been satisfied in their reading. The happiness of succee­ding and being capable is seen in the letters. Children studied together and they had possibility to talk about their studies and progress even with their brothers, who supported them and gave them good and encouraging responses. The autonomy aspect is not very strong. It was the father and the family tutor who had told them what to read, and the brothers had to adhere to this schedule. Motivation could have been better in this sense, but the pupils’ active role of this kind was not possible in the 17^th century world. We do not know if the sons were permitted, for example, to decide at least the timing of their studying, which would have given some feeling of autonomy. Anyhow, they seem to have got satisfaction from studying and learning. The motivation was mostly external, but probably the little gifts have raised it towards internal motivation. This has worked better in the case of Carl, who got a horse from Brother Nils and a copy of dissertation from the family tutor. These gifts were welcomed by him. Giving a gift did not go as well with Gustav, the book of Psalmes that he had received from his father he exchanged with his sister. Maybe their elder brothers and the family tutor had a better understanding about the little boys’ inner life than the professor himself, though Carl and Gustav were the youngest children of Michael Gyldenstolpe.

Family Mennander. An example of a well-educated boy from the 18^th century is the son of Carl Fredrik Mennander, future Archbishop of Uppsala. His son, whose name was also Carl Fredrik (1748–1803), lost his mother when he was only one year old. The younger Carl Fredrik lived near Turku and was raised by his father and grandparents: the professor of eloquence in Turku Academy Henrik Hassel and his wife Catharina Meurman, who died when the grandson, Carl Fredrik was 12 years old. Carl Fredrik’s father, Archbishop Mennander, had to travel a lot because of his work, and during these trips the father and son enjoyed a lively correspondence, which continued into the son’s adulthood. Both were very interested in books – the father had a huge library, as did the son when growing up. For this reason, their correspondence dealt very much with books and studying.²¹

Archbishop Mennander had already enrolled his son at the Academy of Turku in 1754 while he was the rector there. The child was then just six years old. Mennander had also hired a private tutor for the son at home. Carl Fredrik studied most subjects and books belonging to a normal trivial school, but probably according to an older school schedule from the year 1693. He wrote about his studies and kept his father informed of them with the help of letters, which he began writing each month at the age of seven.²²

In the first years, he mostly wrote about the books he had read. At the age seven, he studied Colloqvia (probably Helvicius’ Familiaria colloquia, which the Gyldenstolpe brothers also learnt from, or Colloquia familiaria by Erasmus of Rotterdam) and Cato’s Disticha moralia, which he had received from his father. At the end of the year 1755, he had already finished the Colloquia and made progress with Cato until the second book. He had also studied the geography of many European countries.²³

Carl Fredrik’s studies included works by many Latin authors, books on geography, geometry and the history of the Bible, the New Testament, probably in Greek, as well as a catechism. Thus, although his studies were diverse, religion was clearly not forgotten. At the age 12 and 13, the subjects Carl Fredrik stu­died were already very broad, ranging from trigonometry, history, logics, theo­logy to more rhetoric and more complicated Latin texts.²⁴

Comparing with the Gyldenstolpe brothers from the previous century, Carl Fredrik’s studying seems to be lonelier, as he was studying almost always alone or with his tutor. He was not so interested in other children of his age either, but preferably socialized with the adults. The letters were neither as formal as Gyldenstolpe letters. They have been written for a long time in Swedish. Only in 1760, when Carl Fredrik was almost 12 years old, he wrote his first Latin letter. After that experiment, his letter writing continued in Swedish again. At that time, he reported on studying in Greek and French, for example Telemaque. After that, he occasionally wrote in Latin and French.²⁵

Carl Fredrik made good progress, but the days did not contain only studying, and there were longer free periods as well. The studying was not at all concerned with starting a new textbook when the previous one was finished, but also included plenty of repetition, reading the same books again and again. Repetitive reading was typical for the reading habits of early modern time. It changed little by little during the 18^th century towards reading new materials, when the number of available books increased. ²⁶ In the case of textbooks, repetitive reading continued even further and in some cases, these reading me­thods are prevalent still today.

Carl Fredrik reported diligently about the read books but did not express his emotions on reading. They are also difficult to read between the lines. Even when his beloved grandmother died in 1760, he reported the news to his father quite calmly and in a matter-of-fact way. The funeral traditions were known to him, as were also for the Gyldenstolpe brothers, and he wrote to his grandmother a sorrow poem with the help of his tutor Johan Bilmark. His grandfather had promised to take it to print.²⁷ It is unsure if the poem has been printed, but any copies of it are not extant.

Father reminded Carl Fredrik about the importance of studying and Christian life, but he also supported his son’s studies both with little gifts and encouraging words. For the practical reasons, they spent most of their time separated and therefore he sent even more things to his son, from clothes and fruits to a horse. The gifts have likely worked as an external motivator. It is known that in adulthood, Carl Fredrik was very interested in books and, like his father, had amassed a remarkable library. At that time, father had to remind him to save money also for living, not only for books.²⁸ So, regular reading in childhood and as a young man has given him a firm basis for book-loving and reading motivation even in the adulthood.

In terms of psychological basic needs, competence was mostly present. Carl Fredrik seems to have had good self-confidence, and father’s encouraging words in the letters have supported it. Though his father and the family tutor instructed him what to read, it is obvious that Carl Fredrik had more autonomy in his reading than the Gyldenstolpe brothers in the 17^th century. There are references of creativity connected with the results of reading. One of them was the agreement that Carl Fredrik and Fredrik Steenman (son of professor Grels Steenman and tutored by Johan Bilmark as well)²⁹ had made to talk only in Latin, and if they did not, they had to pay a little fine for any minor error. In trivial school, it was forbidden to speak any other language except Latin and boys imitated this practice. Also, the idea of writing the funeral poem to his grandmother shows creativity and inspiration. Activity of this kind was su­pported by father, tutor, and grandfather, which probably made the feeling of autonomy still stronger.

The need to be related with other people was the weakest point in the case of Carl Fredrik Mennander. According to the letters, he met mostly his tutor and grandparents. Some company he got from Fredrik, with whom he studied some time together under the tutor Johan Bilmark. Bilmark was a very influential person in Carl Fredrik’s life, because he took care of him in many ways when his father was away and grandmother had died.³⁰

Young Mennander mostly read looking for information, which is typical for studying. There were still other aspects of reading, too. He had read Telemaque in his early teens, which was a popular French fiction book in the 18^th century. He just mentioned it without further describing his emotions or intentions, but the reading of Telemaque could be seen as a reading for pleasure, not only for studying. Carl Fredrik had a free entrance to his father’s massive library and there were no notes in letters that any of the books would have been forbidden from him. So, there was no question of secret reading.

One aspect of reading that did not appear in Silja Juopperi’s distinction but was important in Carl Fredrik Fredenheim’s life was meditative reading. Father exhorted him in his letters to study the Bible and devotional literature and at least to some extent he did. Reading religious literature was not only meant for learning or studying but seen as a means to enrich one’s spiritual life.

Family Munsterhjelm. Although there were tutors in the house, the noble girls did not necessarily receive the same standard of education as their brothers, which we already know about in the case of the Gyldenstolpe family. At the turn of the 19^th century, 14-year-old Jacobina Charlotta Munsterhjelm (1786–1842) from Elimäki, daughter of Lieutenant Anders Gustav Munsterhjelm, regularly exchanged letters with a family friend a little older than her, Ottiliana Adlercreutz from Porvoo, eastern Uusimaa (Nyland). She even kept a diary. Her handwriting was still quite poor, and her younger sister by four years was not yet able to write at all. Jacobina was the second youngest of nine siblings. Brother Otto was only two years older than her. Jacobina has probably received a better education than her little sister by following what her brothers were studying. In her diary, Jacobina wrote about her reading. She did not mention any other textbooks but Möller’s Catechism, which she read.³¹

Nevertheless, in the 18^th century, new genres like fiction and travelogues became popular in private middle- and upper-class libraries, and this was reflected in Jacobina’s reading habits. Families of military officers, like Jacobina’s family, were among the first groups starting the new kind of social life with interest in fiction. It was typical to read together one after another in a little group, and this was practiced in the Munsterhjelms family several times as well, according to Jacobina’s diary. She read privately only the Catechism and Melusina, a romantic story about a mythological princess. She had lent the booklet from Anna Catharina Alm, who was the daughter of wallpaper painter Johan Alm from Pohjanmaa (Ostrobothnia). All the other readings have taken place in common events at home. In June 1799, Jacobina talked about her aunt having read aloud Samuel Richardson’s Clarissa. It had not yet been translated into Swedish. Her aunt has probably read the book in German, as her family were originally Baltic Germans. In January 1800, Mademoiselle Alm read the book called Ladies (Fruarna) and in February 1800, Jacobina’s elder sister Anna read Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe for Jacobina. In April, Jacobina in turn read Robinson to her little sister Beata and in May, it was Jacobina’s turn to read to her aunt. She read newspapers and a travelogue written by Count Hård. In October, cousin Otto read to others two books, one of them about the Biblical death of Abel.³²

These novels were not children’s books, nor were all of the listeners children, because the reading situation was probably open to everybody. Jacobina’s Sister Anna was thirteen years older and Anna Alm 22 years older than Jacobina. Aunt Jakobina was one year older than Jacobina’s mother. They were also all adults. English novels like Clarissa or Robinson Crusoe were considered morally good and educational, so they were deemed suitable for reading for young girls. Concentrating on fiction is very understandable, as studies have shown that if people are able to choose their reading, they choose exciting and sensational texts. English literature was already quite easy to acquire in Finnish cities at the end of the 18^th century, especially in Swedish translations. The books Jacobina mentioned were typical for middle- and upper-class girls who had received a modest education.³³

Jacobina’s reading can be categorized in two groups: meditative (Catechism and sermons) and pleasant reading (fiction). Still, one aspect can be found that was not mentioned before. Jacobina read to pass the time. She mentioned in May 1800 reading to her aunt while she could not go to their (probably girls’ common) room, because her sisters had something going on there. She did not express her emotions on reading, so we do not know if any passion for reading was present as well. Anyway, the notes on reading are quite considered and according to the diary, the reading events took place no more than once a month. This all references to the supposition that her reading was more for pleasure than for passion. For secret reading there was no need, as the most read books were meant for adults and were read together with them.

In terms of basic psychological needs, relatedness was surely satisfied in Jacobina’s reading. She discussed about several common reading events. She was also able to read. Her reading skills were probably better than her writing skills, while she did not express any uncertainty about her reading as she did about her writing. So, also the need for competence was satisfied. But we do not know how autonomous she was in her reading. Studying Catechism was compulsory for everybody, because knowing Christianity and reading skills were conditions for attending the Eucharist and acquiring a permission to marry according to Church law (1686). She could likely decide by herself when and where to learn her Catechism. There is no information on where family members got the other books from and who decided what to purchase. Otherwise, the reading events have presumably been quite free, so there has probably been autonomy enough also for Jacobina.

Jacobina’s reading and life as a child and young lady were totally different when compared to her contemporary Carl Fredrik Fredenheim, although both belonged to the upper class. When Carl Fredrik enjoyed himself reading his textbooks alone and learning Latin as well as other useful subjects, Jacobina constantly socialized and lived surrounded by a large family, took care of her domestic duties, studied Christianity (as Carl Fredrik did), and read moral fiction.

Conclusion

The examples above are individual cases, so it is not possible to make any advanced conclusions from them. Still, the comparison of the cases highlights some important features. All the children were reading only textbooks and adults’ literature, though some children’s literature already existed in the 18^th century and was available to the upper classes. Not even catechisms were intended for children, though there already were children’s catechisms available. Boys had to concentrate mostly on textbooks and Latin, whereas girls were allowed to read fiction at the end of the 18^th century if their literary skills were kept necessary at all.

All the children in these cases seem to have been motivated to read. In terms of basic psychological needs, autonomy was the most limited during the 17^th century and emerged step-by-step towards the end of the 18^th century. The emergence of autonomy reflected the change in the role of children during the 18^th century. Relatedness was dependent on circumstances in the family. If the family had lively social life, it would reflect in the reading habits of family members. Carl Fredrik Mennander studied mostly by himself, but he probably had not suffered from loneliness, so this did not affect his motivation. All the children belonged to the upper class, so they were literate and studied diligently. Therefore, they felt competence. The relatives exhorted them in studying, which still increased their self-confidence. The motivation was mostly external at the beginning, but it gradually influenced internal motivation in some cases. The little material rewards have been for help in this progress.

The motivation aspects of reading differed depending on the reading material and possibilities. Studying textbooks was for learning and for seeking information, reading the Bible and religious literature was mostly meditative reading, but also learning in the case of Catechisms. Reading fiction was for pleasure or passing the time. In these cases, no secret reading material was present. Neither any reading was passionate although recreative.

According to these cases, upper class girls were freer to read than boys. Comparing with boys, they received less education, but at the same time there were minor requirements for their progress in the literate field. If the domestic duties permitted, they would be able to use their free time for reading. Boys had to concentrate on thinking about their future career.

The expressions of emotions considering reading are very limited in all these cases. Even the young people were very moderate in their expressions. This makes it difficult to find out the inner thoughts of the readers. One reason for this might be the control of letters by parents or tutors as well as strictly ordered regulations considering letter-writing in the early modern period.

The self-determination theory by Ryan and Deci has appropriately suited the study of reading motivation with the help of historical sources. The basic human psychological needs behind well-being and motivation have been permanent during the centuries, though the early modern people did not express themselves in similar terms and conceptions as modern people. Naturally, some ways of thinking and behaving are tied to historical periods. Therefore, for example, the autonomy of children’s doings was more limited, and the children were more controlled than nowadays, and it was possibly affected even in their experience of autonomy. On the other hand, they were used to the limited autonomy and maybe did not suffer it in the same way as modern children would do.

Unprinted sources

1. Uppsala universitets bibliotek – UUB

2. Gyldenstolpiska familjens brefväxling – Nordin 470:133

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5. SVENONIUS, Enevaldus & ECHMAN, Magnus Brynolphi. Disputatio theologica, eaq[ue] elenctica iterúm continuata, de interpretatione S. scripturae: Dei o. m. auxilio; ut et venerandae facult. theol. suffragio, in Regiâ Academiâ Aboënsi proponenda [et] examinanda, praeside dn. Enevaldo Svenonio, q. G. a. s. s. theol. doct. prof. & ecclesiae Aboënsis pastore. Respondente Magno Brynolphi, Echmanno, Smol. In audit. max. ad diem [ ] Mart. anno hrisogonias 1667. Aboae, [1667].

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