A slottslän () was a type of secularThe church had its own administrative system. administrative division throughout the Kingdom of Sweden from late 13th century to 1634. The administrative center was a

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

. Slottslän were divided into

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

and administrators. The term ''slottslän'' can be translated as "castle fief". Although the word " län" literally means

fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

, in Sweden it is translated as "

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

" and in Finland as "

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

". There existed multiple different types of slottslän, there existed ''pantlän'', which could be assigned to a lord as compensation for a loan to the crown, until a repayment was done. There also existed ''kronolän'', which were managed by an

advocatus An , sometimes simply advocate, (German, ), or (French, ), was a type of medieval office holder, particularly important in the Holy Roman Empire, who was delegated some of the powers and functions of a major feudal lord, or for an institutio ...

, if the advocatus was a military commander, would be referred to as a "''hövitsman''", which was a capitaneus, they were ordered to deliver and report surplus profit to the crown, however sometimes a fixed sum was to be delivered annually, where the advocatus got to retain some profit. There also existed ''län'' which were granted to noblemen for their services to the King. Slottsläns were established by Birger Jarl to replace the lething system in the latter-half of the 13th century. Slottsläns were disbanded in 1634 following Axel Oxenstierna's land reform and replaced with

provinces A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...

.Swedish Civil Jurisdictions for Family History Research
Retrieved 18 September 2013
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Slottsläns in Sweden

Slottsläns in Finland

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slottslan Types of administrative division Former administrative divisions of Sweden Former subdivisions of Finland