In the Great Reduction of 1680, by which the ancient landed nobility lost its power base, the

Swedish Crown The krona (; plural: ''kronor''; sign: kr; code: SEK) is the currency of Sweden. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use for the krona; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it but, especi ...

confiscated lands earlier granted to the nobility. ''Reductions'' () in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

and its

dominions A dominion was any of several largely self-governing countries of the British Empire, once known collectively as the ''British Commonwealth of Nations''. Progressing from colonies, their degrees of colonial self-governance increased (and, in ...

were the return to the crown of

fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

s that had been granted to the

Swedish nobility The Swedish nobility (, or , ) has historically been a legally or socially privileged Social class, class in Sweden, and part of the so-called ''frälse'' (a derivation from Old Swedish meaning ''free neck''). The archaic term for nobility, ''fr ...

. Several reductions are recorded, from the 13th century until this final one of 1680.

Background

The reductions were fought for by gentry, tradesmen, state servants, and peasantry alike, partly as a way to curb the power of the great aristocratic families and partly as a way to make the state solvent and able to pay its debts. One such reduction, () under

Charles X Gustav of Sweden Charles X Gustav, also Carl X Gustav (; 8 November 1622 – 13 February 1660), was King of Sweden from 1654 until his death. He was the son of John Casimir, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg and Catherine of Sweden. After his father's ...

in 1655, intended at restoring a quarter of "donations" made after 1632. However, the outbreak of the

Second Northern War The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of ...

prevented its realisation. Only after

Charles XI Charles XI or Carl (; ) was King of Sweden from 1660 until his death, in a period of Swedish history known as the Swedish Empire (1611–1721). He was the only son of King Charles X Gustav of Sweden and Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp. ...

's entry into maturity in 1672, it began to be implemented effectively. It would soon become obvious that it was not enough to bring public finances into balance.

Results

It is not known exactly how much the Swedish Crown profited from the reductions. The reductions carried out during the reign of Charles XI seem to have resulted in 1,950,000 '' daler silvermynt'' in annual rent of which 700,000 were from Sweden and Finland, the core of the

Swedish Empire The Swedish Empire or the Great Power era () was the period in Swedish history spanning much of the 17th and early 18th centuries during which Sweden became a European great power that exercised territorial control over much of the Baltic regi ...

. The

in the eastern Baltic and northern Germany yielded approximately 1,150,000 ''daler silvermynt'', of which 550,000 came from

Livonia Livonia, known in earlier records as Livland, is a historical region on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It is named after the Livonians, who lived on the shores of present-day Latvia. By the end of the 13th century, the name was extende ...

alone.

Swedish Crown

Financially, the reduction during the reign of Charles XI resulted in a significant increase of the assets of the Swedish Crown. To a high degree, it contributed to the development of the strong and meticulous organization of the realm's finances and government. The reduction also improved the situation of the landowning peasant's estate, especially since many of the recovered fiefs were sold to peasants during the reign of

Charles XII Charles XII, sometimes Carl XII () or Carolus Rex (17 June 1682 – 30 November 1718 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.), was King of Sweden from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch line of the House of ...

. Sometimes the reduction is claimed to have saved the independence of the peasant estate, but this claim is not substantiated.

Nobility

The reduction had an enormous effect on the economy and status of the nobility in Sweden. Since the fiefs that were reduced might have changed owners over the course of many generations, the reduction resulted not only in the loss of the fiefdoms but the cancellation of inheritances from times past, purchases, exchanges, etc. This caused a general insecurity with regards to ownership and

creditworthiness Credit risk is the chance that a borrower does not repay a loan or fulfill a loan obligation. For lenders the risk includes late or lost interest and principal sum, principal payment, leading to disrupted Cash flow, cash flows and increased Colle ...

among the noble families. Politically, the reduction meant a complete change in the status of the aristocracy. The old land-owning nobility, which through its land ownership had asserted a certain independence even against royal power, lost its power base and was replaced by a rather dependent nobility serving the state in a bureaucratic capacity. The differences between the estates persisted, however, as did the privileges; among these, land still owned by the nobility was taxed at lower rates than land owned by the peasantry.

The foreign dominions

The reductions had major consequences in the Swedish foreign dominions. They affected both Swedes who had received fiefdoms and represented in the

Swedish riksdag The Riksdag ( , ; also or , ) is the parliament and the supreme decision-making body of the Kingdom of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral parliament with 349 members (), elected proportionally and serving, since 1994, f ...

and native landowners in the dominions. The Swedish Crown demanded fiefdoms in the

Baltic provinces The Baltic Governorates, originally the Ostsee Governorates, was a collective name for the administrative units of the Russian Empire set up in the territories of Swedish Estonia, Swedish Livonia (1721) and, afterwards, of the Duchy of Courlan ...

that had been given before Swedish

suzerainty A suzerain (, from Old French "above" + "supreme, chief") is a person, state (polity)">state or polity who has supremacy and dominant influence over the foreign policy">polity.html" ;"title="state (polity)">state or polity">state (polity)">st ...

. Some local nobles claimed that the Swedish Crown thereby ignored the local laws in the dominions. Especially in Livonia, an old

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

state in which all land since the establishment of the

Teutonic Order The Teutonic Order is a religious order (Catholic), Catholic religious institution founded as a military order (religious society), military society in Acre, Israel, Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Sa ...

had been in the hands of the nobility, the demands had profound consequences.

Serf Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed du ...

s on the reduced fiefdoms were now transferred to the Swedish Crown, which caused dissatisfaction among members of the

Baltic German Baltic Germans ( or , later ) are Germans, ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950), their resettlement in 1945 after the end ...

nobility and led, in particular, to Livonian nobleman,

Johann Patkul Johann Reinhold Patkul (27 July 1660 – 10 October 1707) was a Livonian nobleman, politician and agitator of Baltic German extraction. Born as a subject to the Swedish Crown, he protested against the manner of King Charles XI of Sweden's ...

(1660–1707) conspiring with

Peter the Great Peter I (, ; – ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of Russia, Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned j ...

(1672-1725) of

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and

Augustus the Strong Augustus II the Strong (12 May 1670 – 1 February 1733), was Elector of Saxony from 1694 as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1697 to 1706 and from 1709 until his death in 1733. He belonged to the Albertine branch of the ...

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

(1670–1733), to start the

Great Northern War In the Great Northern War (1700–1721) a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the ant ...

against Sweden.

References

Sources

*
1558–1710. Estonia under Swedish rule

* * {{ugglan Swedish Empire . 1680s in Sweden Early modern history of Sweden 1680 in politics