Rutger Macklean (28 July 1742 – 14 January 1816) also Rutger Macklier II was a Swedish jurist, military officer, politician and land owner. He was a driving figure in the introduction of Swedish agricultural land reforms (''

Enskiftet Enskiftet was an agricultural land reform in Sweden–Finland in 1803-1807. Its purpose was to replace the scattered farmland in village communities to connected lands for each farm. This was in fact a continuation of the previous land reform '' st ...

'') which made possible large-scale farming with its

economy of scale In microeconomics, economies of scale are the cost advantages that enterprises obtain due to their scale of operation, and are typically measured by the amount of output produced per unit of time. A decrease in cost per unit of output enables a ...

Biography

Macklean was born on 28 July 1742 at Ström Manor,

Hjärtum Hjärtum is a locality situated in Lilla Edet Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 367 inhabitants in 2010. It is situated on the western side of the Göta älv The Göta älv (; "River of (the) Geats") is a river that drains l ...

parish,

Bohuslän Bohuslän (; da, Bohuslen; no, Båhuslen) is a Swedish province in Götaland, on the northernmost part of the country's west coast. It is bordered by Dalsland to the northeast, Västergötland to the southeast, the Skagerrak arm of the North Sea ...

to Baron

Rutger Macklier Friherre Rutger Maclean I (1688–1748) or Rutger Macklean I was an officer of Charles XII of Sweden who participated in Battle of Holowczyn, Battle of Poltava and Battle of Tobolsk in the Great Northern War. Biography He was the son of David ...

(1688–1748) and Vilhelmina Eleonora Coyet (1719–1778). He became a student at

Lund University , motto = Ad utrumque , mottoeng = Prepared for both , established = , type = Public research university , budget = SEK 9 billion Jönköping Jönköping (, ) is a city in southern Sweden with 112,766 inhabitants (2022). Jönköping is situated on the southern shore of Sweden's second largest lake, Vättern, in the province of Småland. The city is the seat of Jönköping Municipali ...

. He became a sergeant in the Holstein regiment in 1763, in 1770 quartermaster and a cornet, and in 1771 a lieutenant in the Jämtland cavalry company and in 1776 the captain of the Kalmar regiment and a commander in the Uppvidinge company. In 1782, Macklean was an army

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in the forces of the

Swedish Army The Swedish Army ( sv, svenska armén) is the land force of the Swedish Armed Forces. History Svea Life Guards dates back to the year 1521, when the men of Dalarna chose 16 young able men as body guards for the insurgent nobleman Gustav Vas ...

. His brother, Baron Gustaf Macklean (1744–1804) was also a senior military officer. In 1782, he inherited

Svaneholm Castle Svaneholm Castle ( sv, Svaneholms slott) is located on the shore of Lake Svaneholmssjön in Skurup Municipality, Scania, Sweden. It has been used as a filming location including for the TV series ''Wallander''. History During the Middle Ages t ...

and its estate of 8500 acres from his mother’s family. In accordance with feudal procedures of tenant land-right inheritance the manor had been divided, in the course of its existence, into hundreds of narrow strip allotments. Some 40 tenant farmers live in four villages on the manor. Each tenant had the right to farm 60 to 70 strips of land, but only two thirds of a tenant's strips were usually close enough to his village that he had time to farm them; his farther strips went unused. Agriculture on the approximately 7,000 acres was poorly managed, productivity was very low and the subordinate farmers mostly indebted. Macklean, Rutger; staty av Axel Ebbe

Macklean had his land surveyed and divided into 75 farms. A new cottage and barn were built on each farm and roads were built to connect each farm. A tenant farmer moved into the new farmhouse and they found they could raise more crops on half as much land. He introduced new agricultural implements and taught the farmers to grow crops with higher yields. Despite strong resistance from the tenant farmers and considerable financial difficulties, he basically implemented his plans in a few years. Macklean's land redistribution procedures were introduced into law in

Scania Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conte ...

in 1802, and land reform legislation (''Laga skiftet'') for all of Sweden followed in 1827. In 1812, Macklean was elected to the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special ...

and became an honorary member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry The Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry ( sv, Kungliga Skogs- och Lantbruksakademien), formerly the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture (''Kungl. Lantbruksakademien''), founded in 1813 at the initiative of Crown Prince Charles XIV of ...

. He died at Svaneholm Castle in 1816. He is buried in

Skurup Church Skurup Church ( sv, Skurups kyrka) is a church in Skurup, Scania, Sweden. History and architecture The oldest parts of Skurup Church are the chancel, the apse and parts of the tower, built during the 12th century. A new tower was built in the 14th ...

Family surname and origin

The family surname was originally spelled "Mackleir". In 1783, one year after Rutger Mackleir inherited

in Skåne from his uncle Gustaf Julius Coyet (1717–1782), the name was changed to "Mackeleir" and so remained until Mackeleir and his brother were ennobled, when it became "Macklier" again. During the

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

pre-romantic era it was changed again, to "Macklean". Sources conflict as to whether the Mackleirs were descended from Hector Og Maclean of Scotland or were from Holland.

Ancestors

References

External links

Enskifte
Nationalencyklopedin
Laga skifte
Nationalencyklopedin {{DEFAULTSORT:Makeleer, Rutger 1742 births 1816 deaths Lund University alumni People from Bohuslän 19th-century Swedish landowners 18th-century Swedish landowners Swedish military officers Swedish nobility Swedish landlords Swedish jurists Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Swedish people of Scottish descent

Rutger Rutger is a male given name common in the Netherlands, and a cognate of the first name Roger. People *Ruotger (died 931), archbishop of Trier * (c.975–1050), First Duke of Cleves * (died 1075), Second Duke of Cleves *Rutger von Ascheberg (1621� ...

Swedish people of Dutch descent

Biography

Family surname and origin

Ancestors

See also

References

Related reading

External links