Pehr Herman Rosén Von Rosenstein
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Pehr Herman Rosén von Rosenstein (May 7, 1763 – September 22, 1799) was a Swedish military officer and colonial administrator who served as governor of
Saint Barthélemy Saint Barthélemy, officially the Collectivité territoriale de Saint-Barthélemy, also known as St. Barts (English) or St. Barth (French), is an overseas collectivity of France in the Caribbean. The island lies about southeast of the island ...
from 1787 to 1790, the only Swedish colony at the time.


Biography

Rosenstein was born as the fifth child of and his wife Anna Margareta. He and his siblings adopted the aristocratic surname of their maternal grandfather,
Nils Rosén von Rosenstein Nils Rosén von Rosenstein (11 February 1706 – 16 July 1773) was a Swedish physician. He is considered the founder of modern pediatrics, while his work ''The diseases of children, and their remedies'' is considered to be "the first modern textb ...
. His siblings included Carl von Rosenstein,
archbishop of Uppsala The Archbishop of Uppsala (spelled Upsala until the early 20th century) has been the primate of Sweden in an unbroken succession since 1164, first during the Catholic era, and from the 1530s and onward under the Lutheran church. Historical ove ...
, and rear admiral
Måns von Rosenstein Magnus (Måns) Rosén von Rosenstein ''né'' Aurivillius (9 March 1755 – 14 November 1801) was a Swedish Navy rear admiral. After having served in the Fleet of the Army, Rosenstein joined the Royal Navy in the American Revolutionary War agains ...
. He joined the military at an early age and was commissioned as an ensign in the
Västerbotten Regiment The Västerbotten Regiment (), designations I 19, I XIX, I 20 and I 20/Fo 61, was a Swedish Army infantry regiment that traced its origins back to the 16th century. The regiment's soldiers were originally recruited from the province of Västerbott ...
in 1779. He was later promoted to lieutenant in the regiment. He was part of the first Swedish expedition to Saint Barthélemy, arriving there aboard the frigate ''Sprengporten'' in 1785. The island had been ceded to Sweden by France in 1784 in exchange for trading rights in
Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...
. He came to serve as ''aide-de-camp'' to governor Rajalin. Among his tasks were measuring the land and the habitations on the island. He was appointed vice-commandant of the colony when Rajalin left the island on a leave of absence in April 1787, and was later made governor after Rajalin was appointed governor of
Gotland Gotland (; ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a Provinces of Sweden, province/Counties of Sweden, county (Swedish län), Municipalities of Sweden, municipality, a ...
, in the
Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...
, later that same year.


Governor of Saint Barthélemy

As governor, Rosenstein introduced the ''Code Noir'', or ''Svarta lagen'', a statute that outlined policies and regulations concerning the slaves and the free coloured population of the colony on 30 July 1787. The inhabitants were classified into three categories: whites, black slaves, and free coloureds. The statute also included penalties for both slaves and free coloureds who violated its regulations. It was based on the previous French
Code Noir The (, ''Black code'') was a decree passed by King Louis XIV, Louis XIV of France in 1685 defining the conditions of Slavery in France, slavery in the French colonial empire and served as the code for slavery conduct in the French colonies ...
and had been translated to English by his predecessor Rajalin. This statute included giving slave owners the right to punish their slaves with a maximum of 29 strokes with a cane and the death penalty was to be imposed on any slave who assaulted their master. He argued that this statute was a necessity to prevent slave owners from mistreating their slaves and to avoid slave rebellions. Rosenstein also was a supporter of the
Atlantic slave trade The Atlantic slave trade or transatlantic slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of Slavery in Africa, enslaved African people to the Americas. European slave ships regularly used the triangular trade route and its Middle Pass ...
, which he regarded as the most important enterprise in the West Indies. Rosenstein also built up a local militia, which was divided into two companies: the Leeward Company and the Windward Company. During the
Russo-Swedish War (1788–1790) The Russo-Swedish War of 1788–1790 was fought between Gustavian era, Sweden and Russian Empire, Russia from June 1788 to August 1790. The war was ended by the Treaty of Värälä on 14 August 1790 and took place concomitantly with both the A ...
, there were fears that the Russians might attempt to conquer the island and all possible landing beaches were closely monitored. During his tenure as governor, the first Swedish church on the island was built and named
Sophia Magdalena Sophia Magdalena of Denmark (; ; 3 July 1746 – 21 August 1813) was Queen of Sweden from 1771 to 1792 as the wife of King Gustav III. Born into the House of Oldenburg, the royal family of Denmark-Norway, Sophia Magdalena was the first daughter ...
after the Swedish queen. It was inaugurated in 1787 and located on what is today known as Rue Adrien Questel. The church hosted both Protestant and Catholic ceremonies. Rosenstein returned to Sweden in 1790 and was stationed in
Karlskrona Karlskrona (, , ) is a locality and the seat of Karlskrona Municipality, Blekinge County, Sweden with a population of 66,675 in 2018. It is also the capital of Blekinge County. Karlskrona is known as Sweden's only baroque city and is host to ...
before being relocated to Ostrobothnia in 1795. Upon returning to Sweden, he was promoted to major and awarded the
Order of the Sword The Royal Order of the Sword (officially: ''Royal Order of the Sword''; Swedish: ''Kungliga Svärdsorden'') is a Swedish order of chivalry and military decoration created by King Frederick I of Sweden on 23 February 1748, together with the Or ...
. He fathered a daughter, Anna Lovisa Ulrica, with his mulatto slave Jenny Brozette, both of whom were later granted their freedom. When he departed from the island, he left behind a substantial sum of money and a plot of land in Gustavia, which Jenny acquired. She was recorded in the 1796 census as the head of a household consisting of 11 individuals, including six slaves. He never married and died in 1799, whereupon his estate was declared bankrupt.


See also

*
Swedish slave trade The Swedish slave trade mainly occurred in the early history of Sweden when the trade of '' thralls'' (Old Norse: ''þræll'') was one of the pillars of the Norse economy from the 9th to the 11th century, and ended with the widespread adoption ...


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rosén von Rosenstein, Pehr Herman 1763 births 1799 deaths 18th-century Swedish military personnel Swedish slave owners Swedish colonial governors of Saint Barthélémy Gustavian era people People from Uppsala