Instrument of Government (1634)
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The Instrument of Government ( sv, regeringsform) of 1634 was a document describing the form and operation of the
Swedish government The Government of the Kingdom of Sweden ( sv, Konungariket Sveriges regering) is the national cabinet of Sweden, and the country's executive authority. The Government consists of the Prime Ministerappointed and dismissed by the Speaker of the R ...
, retrospectively regarded as the country's first
constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...
, although it was not intended to function as such.Regeringsformen
''
Nordisk Familjebok ''Nordisk familjebok'' (, "Nordic Family Book") is a Swedish encyclopedia that was published in print from between 1876 and 1993, and that is now fully available in digital form via Project Runeberg at Linköping University. Despite their consi ...
'' (1915), p.1207
It was composed by the Lord High Chancellor,
Axel Oxenstierna Axel Gustafsson Oxenstierna af Södermöre (; 1583–1654), Count of Södermöre, was a Swedish statesman. He became a member of the Swedish Privy Council in 1609 and served as Lord High Chancellor of Sweden from 1612 until his death. He was a c ...
, and was adopted by the Riksdag of the Estates (Swedish Parliament) on 29 July 1634. It was rendered
void Void may refer to: Science, engineering, and technology * Void (astronomy), the spaces between galaxy filaments that contain no galaxies * Void (composites), a pore that remains unoccupied in a composite material * Void, synonym for vacuum, a s ...
when the Riksdag repudiated it in 1680.Åberg (1994), p. 111


Background

After King Gustav II Adolf was killed at the
Battle of Lützen (1632) The Battle of Lützen, fought on 16 November 1632, is considered one of the most important battles of the Thirty Years War. A combined Swedish Empire, Swedish-German army led by Gustavus Adolphus narrowly defeated an Habsburg monarchy, Imperial ...
, the Swedish crown passed to his daughter, Christina. However, she was only five years old at the time, and so power was exercised in her name by the
Council of the Realm The Council of the Realm ( es, Consejo del Reino) was a corporate organ of Francoist Spain, created by the Law of Succession to the Headship of the State of 1947. Within the institutional complex created to hierarchize the regime of Francisco Fran ...
. As the dominant figure on the Council was the Lord High Chancellor,
Axel Oxenstierna Axel Gustafsson Oxenstierna af Södermöre (; 1583–1654), Count of Södermöre, was a Swedish statesman. He became a member of the Swedish Privy Council in 1609 and served as Lord High Chancellor of Sweden from 1612 until his death. He was a c ...
, he therefore became the effective
regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...
of Sweden. However, he was at the time out of the country, having been accompanying King Gustav on his campaigns in Germany, and he chose to remain in
Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...
to direct military operations rather than returning to Sweden. Indeed, he did not come back to Sweden until 1636, and it was during this period of absence that he composed the Instrument of Government. Oxenstierna's primary purpose in drawing up the 1634 Instrument was not to effect a major change in Sweden's
form of government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
(as would be the case with the later Instruments of Government promulgated in
1719 Events January–March * January 8 – Carolean Death March begins: A catastrophic retreat by a largely-Finnish Swedish- Carolean army under the command of Carl Gustaf Armfeldt across the Tydal mountains in a blizzard kills around 3,7 ...
,
1772 Events January–March * January 10 – Shah Alam II, the Mughal Emperor of India, makes a triumphant return to Delhi 15 years after having been forced to flee. * January 17 – Johann Friedrich Struensee and Queen Carolin ...
and
1809 Events January–March * January 5 – The Treaty of the Dardanelles, between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Ottoman Empire, is concluded. * January 10 – Peninsular War – French Marshal Jean ...
), but rather to describe its existing structures and norms, and to clarify the division of responsibilities among different royal officials, in order to ensure that the regency government functioned smoothly in his absence.


Description

The Instrument of Government was the first attempt to systematically describe and regulate the structures of Swedish government and administration, as well as the
judiciary The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...
and the
armed forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
. It also instituted a number of reforms, such as decreeing that the number of members of the Council of the Realm, hitherto an ''ad hoc'' gathering of the king's advisors, was to be fixed at twenty-five (Article #5). It furthermore established that the Council was to be headed by the five Great Officers of the Realm; one of these was Oxenstierna himself (as Lord High Chancellor), while two others were kinsmen of his, namely his brother
Gabriel Gustafsson Oxenstierna Baron Gabriel Gustafsson Oxenstierna (15 June 1587 – 27 November 1640) was a Swedish statesman. Born either in Tyresö, Sweden, or in Reval (modern Tallinn, Estonia), he was the son of Privy Councillor Gustaf Gabrielsson Oxenstierna and Ba ...
(as Lord High Steward) and their cousin
Gabriel Bengtsson Oxenstierna Gabriel Bengtsson Oxenstierna af Korsholm och Wasa, 1st Count of Korsholma and Vaasa, Finnish: ''Gabriel Pentinpoika Oxenstierna'', (18 March 1586 at Lindholmen Castle, Västergötland – 12 December 1656 at Edsberg Manor, Sollentuna) was a ...
(as
Lord High Treasurer The post of Lord High Treasurer or Lord Treasurer was an English government position and has been a British government position since the Acts of Union of 1707. A holder of the post would be the third-highest-ranked Great Officer of State in ...
). One of the Instrument's most important reforms, and certainly the one that has had the most pervasive effect upon Swedish life since 1634, was the introduction of a system of counties ( sv, län) to replace the traditional provinces (Article #23). The counties have been rejigged several times in the centuries since, but remain the primary units of
local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...
in Sweden to this day. The Instrument largely ignored the role of
the crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...
in its description of the operation of the Swedish government, and indeed reassigned many functions which were usually discharged by the king to the Great Officers of the Realm instead. As Sven Nilsson says in his biography of Oxenstierna: Obviously, this reflects in part the fact that the
underage In law, a minor is someone under a certain age, usually the age of majority, which demarcates an underage individual from legal adulthood. The age of majority depends upon jurisdiction and application, but it is commonly 18. ''Minor'' may also ...
Queen Christina was incapable of taking an active role in government at the time the Instrument was written. However, it was intended from the beginning that the Instrument would apply not just during Christina’s minority but also after she came of age, and indeed during the reigns of subsequent monarchs. Oxenstierna stated as much in a letter of 5 December 1632, in which he described one purpose of the new document as being to ensure that “a wise king could be properly understood, and a foolish king not immediately deposed”, ''en klok konung kunde väl förestås, och en fåvitsk konung icke strax kastat omkull.'' i.e. that it would enable royal officials to prevent a wayward monarch from taking unwise actions that might provoke
revolt Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority. A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...
.


Reception

The Instrument of Government was endorsed by the Riksdag of the Estates in July 1634 and subsequently applied across Sweden, although technically it did not have legal force as it was never formally confirmed by either Queen Christina or her successor King Charles X Gustav. Indeed, the latter strongly resented the restrictions it imposed upon his role in the government, and he used the Swedish defeat in the
Dano-Swedish War (1658-1660) Dano-Swedish War may refer to one of multiple wars which took place between the Kingdom of Sweden and the Kingdom of Denmark (from 1450 in personal union with the Kingdom of Norway) up to 1814: List of wars Legendary wars between Denmark a ...
to argue that the current arrangement was inadequate. He therefore proposed to the 1660 session of the Riksdag that the Instrument be rewritten to give him greater freedom of action, but his efforts came to naught due to his sudden death in February of that year.Regeringsformen
''
Nordisk Familjebok ''Nordisk familjebok'' (, "Nordic Family Book") is a Swedish encyclopedia that was published in print from between 1876 and 1993, and that is now fully available in digital form via Project Runeberg at Linköping University. Despite their consi ...
'' (1915), p.1208
The Instrument thus remained in force ''
de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...
'' down to 1680, when Charles Gustav’s son
Charles XI Charles XI or Carl ( sv, Karl XI; ) 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- ...
used the poor Swedish performance in another conflict, the Scanian War (1675-9), to revive his father’s argument that the only way to ensure the security of the Swedish Empire was by centralising power in the person of the monarch. The Riksdag was convinced, declaring on 1680 that the king "was not to be bound by any instrument of government, only by the laws of Sweden", thereby rendering the Instrument of Government
void Void may refer to: Science, engineering, and technology * Void (astronomy), the spaces between galaxy filaments that contain no galaxies * Void (composites), a pore that remains unoccupied in a composite material * Void, synonym for vacuum, a s ...
and establishing an
absolute monarchy Absolute monarchy (or Absolutism as a doctrine) is a form of monarchy in which the monarch rules in their own right or power. In an absolute monarchy, the king or queen is by no means limited and has absolute power, though a limited constitut ...
in Sweden for the first time. Despite the introduction of absolutism, Charles XI continued to implicitly accept many of the limits on royal power laid out in the Instrument of Government. His son and successor Charles XII was less sensitive, especially toward the end of his reign, when the strains imposed by the
Great Northern War The Great Northern War (1700–1721) was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swedi ...
led him to rule in an increasingly high-handed and autocratic fashion. His arbitrary interference in the business of government and his refusal to take advice from his officials led to mounting frustration with the absolutist system, and after the king's death in 1718 it was overthrown and replaced by a
constitutional monarchy A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies dif ...
. The document drawn up to articulate the new system was inspired by the 1634 Instrument of Government, and was given the same title (see
Instrument of Government (1719) The 1719 Instrument of Government ( sv, regeringsform) adopted on 21 February 1719 by the Riksdag of the Estates (Swedish parliament), was the constitution of the Kingdom of Sweden from 1719 to 1720. Although only in force for a few months, it ha ...
), although it differed from its predecessor in that it was explicitly intended to function as a
constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...
.


See also

*
Axel Oxenstierna Axel Gustafsson Oxenstierna af Södermöre (; 1583–1654), Count of Södermöre, was a Swedish statesman. He became a member of the Swedish Privy Council in 1609 and served as Lord High Chancellor of Sweden from 1612 until his death. He was a c ...
* Charles XI of Sweden *
Instrument of Government (1719) The 1719 Instrument of Government ( sv, regeringsform) adopted on 21 February 1719 by the Riksdag of the Estates (Swedish parliament), was the constitution of the Kingdom of Sweden from 1719 to 1720. Although only in force for a few months, it ha ...


Notes


Sources

*


External links


Text of the 1634 Instrument of Government
{{Constitution of Europe Constitution of Sweden 1634 in law 1634 in Sweden 1634 in politics