Military levying rolls are records of men who could be called in for military service. The danish word 'lægd' comes from the Danish word merging, and has since the early 1600s been used as the name for the number of farms that work collectively to provide at least one soldier. Because rural militia was created in 1701, the country was divided into 'lægder' consisting of 20 acres. Each 'lægd' would basically have to make one soldier available.

In 1788 the country was divided in 1656 'lægder'. In the province, each 'lægd' most often equivalent to one parish. From 1843 the urban area was made identical to the towns. 'lægder' got their own numbers within each county. Conscripts were now based on the number of people within one 'lægd'.

In 1869 6 conscription districts was introduced and in 1920 was 7th was added (Sønderjylland).

Read more about military levying rolls at the National Archives web pages (in danish):