The state conquers a feudal enclave : Ängsö 1690-1710

• In this chapter I analyze the process during which the Swedish early modern state abolished the feudal privileges of the Ängsö estate, situated in central Sweden. The privileges of the lords of Ängsö were very extensive by Swedish standards, and included judicial, clerical and fiscal advantages enjoyed by few, if any, other Swedish aristocrats. When these privileges were challenged by the Crown during the era of Caroline absolutism in the late 1600’s and early 1700’s the power relations changed dramatically on the estate. Even though the king’s officials were vested with great authority, they often needed help from subjects of Ängsö in order to claim the Crown’s rights. In some cases the confrontations were quite violent, as when the lord Sparre tried to evict the parson from the parish church of Ängsö. Nevertheless, his subjects supported their parson. The benefits for the subjects of the “conquest” seem to have been mixed, and many aspects of life on the estate stayed more or less the same.

Subject headings

HUMANIORA  -- Historia och arkeologi -- Historia (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- History and Archaeology -- History (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Territorialisation

feudalism

absolutism

legibility

clergy

peasants

nobility

historia

History

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kap (subject category)