Riksdag of the Estates (; informally ) was the name used for
the Estates
The Estates, also known as the States (, , , Hungarian: Rendek), was the assembly of the representatives of the estates of the realm, the divisions of society in feudal times, called together for purposes of deliberation, legislation or taxatio ...
of
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 ...
when they were assembled. Until its dissolution in 1866, the institution was the highest authority in Sweden next to the
King
King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...
. It was a
Diet
Diet may refer to:
Food
* Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group
* Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake
** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...
made up of the
Four Estates, which historically were the lines of division in Swedish society:
*
Nobility
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. T ...
*
Clergy
Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...
*
Burghers
*
Peasant
A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasan ...
s
The inclusion of a fourth estate, ''Bondeståndet'', is a peculiarity of the Swedish realm, with few parallels in Europe. The English word ''peasant'' is however an inexact translation, as it did not include the entire peasantry, as it is usually defined in an English context. It did not include unlanded or semi-landed groups such as crofters, lodgers and seasonal labourers and of the three categories of Swedish ''bönder'', that is peasants, it included only two. Those were the ''skattebönder'' ("tax peasants"), yeomen who owned their own land and were taxed, as well as the ''kronobönder'' ("Crown farmers" or "farmers of the Crown"), who farmed land owned by the Crown. The third group, the ''frälsebönder'' ("farmers of the nobility/gentry"), who farmed land owned by the nobility, were not represented, as they were considered to be represented by their landowners.
Important assemblies
The meeting at
Arboga
Arboga () is a urban areas of Sweden, locality and the seat of Arboga Municipality in Västmanland County, Sweden with 10,989 inhabitants in 2020.
Overview
The city of Arboga is known to have existed as a town since the 13th century but the are ...
in 1435 is usually considered to be the first Riksdag, but there is no indication that the fourth estate, the farmers, were represented there.
* The actual first meeting is likely the one that took place at
Uppsala
Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019.
Loc ...
in 1436 after the death of the rebel leader
Engelbrekt.
* At the Riksdag in 1517, regent
Sten Sture the Younger
Sten Sture the Younger () (1493 – 3 February 1520), was a Swedish nobleman who served as the regent of Sweden, during the era of the Kalmar Union.
Biography
Sture was born in 1493, as the son of Svante Nilsson (regent of Sweden) and Iliana G ...
and the
Privy Council deposed
archbishop
In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...
Gustav Trolle.
* At
Västerås
Västerås () is a city in central Sweden on the shore of Mälaren, Lake Mälaren in the province of Västmanland, west of Stockholm. The city had a population of 127,799 at the end of 2019, out of the municipal total of 158,653, over 100,000 mo ...
in 1527
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...
was adopted as the new state religion instead of
Catholicism
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
.
* At Västerås in 1544, an order of royal succession was adopted, abolishing
elective monarchy
An elective monarchy is a monarchy ruled by a monarch who is elected, in contrast to a hereditary monarchy in which the office is automatically passed down as a family inheritance. The manner of election, the nature of candidate qualifications, ...
in Sweden.
* At
Arboga
Arboga () is a urban areas of Sweden, locality and the seat of Arboga Municipality in Västmanland County, Sweden with 10,989 inhabitants in 2020.
Overview
The city of Arboga is known to have existed as a town since the 13th century but the are ...
in 1561, the term ''Riksdag'' was used for the first time.
* At
Söderköping
Söderköping is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Söderköping Municipality, Östergötland County, Sweden with 6,992 inhabitants in 2010. Söderköping is, despite its small population, for historical reasons normally still refe ...
in 1595,
duke Charles was elected regent of Sweden instead of king
Sigismund Sigismund (variants: Sigmund, Siegmund) is a German proper name, meaning "protection through victory", from Old High German ''sigu'' "victory" + ''munt'' "hand, protection". Tacitus latinises it ''Segimundus''. There appears to be an older form of ...
, who was a
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
and the king of both Sweden and
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
.
* In 1612 the Riksdag gave the nobility the privilege and right to hold all higher offices of government, after successful lobbying by the
Lord High Chancellor of Sweden
The Lord High Chancellor () was a prominent and influential office in Sweden, from 1538 until 1799, excluding periods when the office was out of use. The office holder was a member of the Privy Council. From 1634, the Lord High Chancellor was on ...
Axel Oxenstierna
Axel Gustafsson Oxenstierna (; 1583–1654) was a Swedish statesman and Count of Södermöre. 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 confidant of ...
as a reward to this estate in return for their pledge to loyally support the King (
Gustavus Adolphus
Gustavus Adolphus (9 December N.S 19 December">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 19 December15946 November Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 16 November] 1632), also known in English as ...
).
* The first open conflict between the different estates happened in 1650, when the three lower estates attacked the nobility's privileges. Queen
Christina, Queen of Sweden, Christina used the conflict to overcome opposition to her having named her cousin
Charles Gustav as her heir. When she abdicated in 1654, he succeeded her as Charles X Gustav.
* At the Riksdag in 1680 a large scale
reduction (a return of lands to the Crown earlier granted to the nobility) was enacted, and Sweden became an
absolute monarchy. The King's absolute power was confirmed when the Riksdag of the Estates in 1693 officially proclaimed that the king was the sole ruler of Sweden.
* In 1719, the Riksdag elected
Ulrika Eleonora as heir in place of her older sister's son, and Ulrika Eleonora accepted a new constitution restoring the powers of the Riksdag.
* In 1771–1772, when
Gustav III
Gustav III (29 March 1792), also called ''Gustavus III'', was King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was the eldest son of King Adolf Frederick and Queen Louisa Ulrika of Sweden.
Gustav was a vocal opponent of what he saw ...
after his
Revolution of 1772 introduced a new
Instrument of Government
The Instrument of Government was the first constitution of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland and was also the first codified and written constitution in England. It was drafted by Major-General John Lambert in 1653.
Anteced ...
.
* In 1789, the Riksdag accepted an addition to the instrument of government from 1772. This new law, the
Union and Security Act, abolished most noble privileges and commoners, regardless of rank, could hold virtually any office Sweden.
* In 1809, the Riksdag elected
Charles XIII
Charles XIII or Carl XIII (; 7 October 1748 – 5 February 1818) was King of Sweden from 1809 and King of Norway from 1814 to his death. He was the second son (and younger brother to King Gustav III) of King Adolf Frederick of Sweden and Louisa ...
king after his nephew
Gustav IV Adolf
Gustav IV Adolf or Gustav IV Adolph (1 November 1778 – 7 February 1837) was King of Sweden from 1792 until he was deposed in a coup in 1809. He was also the last Swedish monarch to be the ruler of Finland.
The occupation of Finland in 180 ...
had been deposed, and after the new king had accepted a new
constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed.
When these pri ...
that ended Sweden's second Autocracy (1789–1809).
* At the sessions in 1634, 1719, 1720, 1772 and 1809 new constitutions were adopted.
Replaced by the new Riksdag
The
constitution of 1809 divided the powers of government between the monarch and the Riksdag of the Estates, and after 1866 between the monarch and the new
Riksdag
The Riksdag ( , ; also or , ) is the parliament and the parliamentary sovereignty, supreme decision-making body of the Kingdom of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral parliament with 349 members (), elected proportional rep ...
. In 1866 all the Estates voted in favor of dissolution and at the same time to constitute a new assembly,
''Sveriges Riksdag''. The four former estates were abolished. The
House of Nobility () remained as a quasi-official representation of 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 ...
until 2003. Although the Nobility remains as a legal entity it is no longer an entity of public law but merely a private association. All Noble privileges have been abolished. However, a number of entailed properties () remain to be commuted (that is, turned into limited liability companies). The modern
Centre Party, which grew out of the Swedish farmers' movement, could be construed as a modern representation with a traditional bond to the Estate of the Farmers.
Riksdag in Finland
Following the
Finnish War
The Finnish War (; ; ) was fought between the Gustavian era, Kingdom of Sweden and the Russian Empire from 21 February 1808 to 17 September 1809 as part of the Napoleonic Wars. As a result of the war, the eastern third of Sweden was established a ...
in 1809, Sweden ceded its eastmost provinces to the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
. Comprising much of present-day Finland, these became a
Grand Duchy
A grand duchy is a country or territory whose official head of state or ruler is a monarch bearing the title of grand duke or grand duchess.
Prior to the early 1800s, the only Grand duchy in Europe was located in what is now Italy: Tuscany ( ...
under the
Emperor
The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...
, but the political institutions were kept practically intact. The Finnish estates
assembled in 1809 at Porvoo to confirm the change in their allegiance. This
Diet of Finland
The Diet of Finland (Finnish language, Finnish ''Suomen maapäivät'', later ''valtiopäivät''; Swedish language, Swedish ''Finlands Lantdagar''), was the Diet (assembly), legislative assembly of the Grand Duchy of Finland from 1809 to 1906 ...
followed the forms of the Swedish Riksdag, being the legislative body of the new autonomous region. However, during the reigns of
Alexander I Alexander I may refer to:
* Alexander I of Macedon, king of Macedon from 495 to 454 BC
* Alexander I of Epirus (370–331 BC), king of Epirus
* Alexander I Theopator Euergetes, surnamed Balas, ruler of the Seleucid Empire 150-145 BC
* Pope Alex ...
and
Nicholas I it was not assembled and no new legislation was enacted. The diet was next assembled by tsar
Alexander II in 1863, due to the need to modernize the laws. After this the Diet met regularly until 1905, when it passed an act forming a new unicameral parliament. That assembly has been Finland's legislative body since then. The
Finnish House of Nobility (; ) carries on the tradition of the Estate of Nobility, but no new families have been ennobled since 1906.
See also
*
History of Sweden
The history of Sweden can be traced back to the melting of the Northern polar ice cap. From as early as 12000 BC, humans have inhabited this area. Throughout the Stone Age, between 8000 BC and 6000 BC, early inhabitants used sto ...
*
History of Finland
The history of Finland began around 9000 BC during the end of the last glacial period. Stone Age cultures were Kunda, Comb Ceramic, Corded Ware, Kiukainen, and . The Finnish Bronze Age started in approximately 1500 BC and the Iron Age star ...
*
History of the Riksdag
The Riksdag is the national legislature of Sweden. However, when it was founded in 1866 Sweden did not have a Parliamentarism, parliamentary system of government.
The national legislatures of Riigikogu, Estonia and Parliament of Finland, Finland ...
*
Riksdagsmusiken
Literature
* Stig Hadenius, ''The Riksdag in Focus: Swedish History in a Parliamentary Perspective'', Coronet Books Incorporated, 1997.
References
{{Reflist
Riksdag
Historical legislatures
15th-century establishments in Sweden
Political history of Sweden
1866 disestablishments in Sweden