Modern Sweden Research Articles

Bollspelen i Johannes Schefferus Lappland. Fragment av nordiskt tidigmodernt idrottsliv med utblickar mot Island och de brittiska öarna

Sports historians have argued that the type of ball games commonin the British Isles, which were practiced by two teams andin which the ball was driven with sticks towards predeterminedgoals – i.e., hurling, shinty, bandy and hockey – were never playedin early modern Sweden. By highlighting descriptions of ballgames in Johannes Schefferus’s The History of Lapland (1674), asource previously ignored by sports historians, this article challengessuch a claim. One of the games described by Schefferus hassome similarities with the violent stick-and-ball game known inIcelandic sagas as knattleikr. Even greater similarities (such as thestart of the game with a face-off and the goals consisting of lineson the short edges) emerge when the game is compared with theScottish game of shinty. Thus, pre-modern Scandinavia does notappear to have been as isolated in terms of sports and games ashas been suggested by Swedish sports historians.

Swedish income inequality in 1613

AbstractIn this paper we present the first estimate of the full income distribution in pre‐industrial Sweden (including present‐day Finland). We draw on the schedule and the individual assessments devised by the authorities to distribute the 1613 Älvsborg ransom taxation to estimate income inequality, as well as the income shares of the top quantiles and of various social groups. We find that Sweden was relatively equal compared with other early modern European societies, for two main reasons: first, because the nobility, the clergy, the burghers, and other middle‐rank social groups all held relatively small shares of the total income, and second, because the landless groups were less numerous in Sweden than in other societies. This resulted in a large share of the total income going to the relatively homogeneous group of landed peasants, who made up the majority of the population. Our study thus speaks to the political historiography of early modern Sweden, within which negotiation and collaboration between the landed peasantry and the state has been seen as pivotal to the state formation process.

Voices of the forests. Eviction, control, and the birth of the ‘Parish Lapp’ system in early modern Sweden

ABSTRACT This paper examines the birth of the exploitative sockenlappssystemet (the ‘Parish Lapp’ system) in central Sweden during the early eighteenth century. Based on a foundation of control and eviction instituted in earlier laws, the 1720s saw a forceful rise in royal concern over the existence of nomadic Sámi in central Sweden. His Majesty King Fredrik I specifically expressed fear of damage to the resources of the forests through Sámi hunting, especially bird hunting. The period between 1720 and 1730 saw King Fredrik corresponding with the Royal Council, the county governors, and some groups of Sámi agents. The council sought to evict the Sámi and move them or have them move to the lappmarker. The Sámi agents claimed birth right and asserted that Sámi in central Sweden had no relationship to either the land or the Sámi in the northern part of the realm. This paper uses a historical anthropological perspective, based on a wide set of sources, including historical archaeology, history, and ethnography, in order to paint a bigger picture of the conflicted situation that led to the founding of the unique system of forced indenture: the so-called Parish Lapp system.

Knowing How: Estate Management, Practical Knowledge, and Agency among Aristocratic Women in Early Modern Sweden

Knowing How: Estate Management, Practical Knowledge, and Agency among Aristocratic Women in Early Modern Sweden

ПЕРША ЗНАХІДКА РОДУ ARCTICOCARCINUS SHWEITZER ET AL., 2016 (DECAPODA, BRACHYURA) У ДАНСЬКОМУ ЯРУСІ КРИМУ (УКРАЇНА) ТА ЇЇ ПАЛЕОБІОГЕОГРАФІЧНЕ ЗНАЧЕННЯ

The Paleogene decapod crustaceans of Ukraine are insufficiently studied. This group of arthropods has not attracted much attention of researchers, despite the fact that the remains of decapods are known in the Paleogene sediments of the Dnipro River area, Donetsk Basin, the Crimea and the Ukrainian Carpathians. The article describes the first find of a decapod crustacean of the genus Arcticocarcinus Schweitzer et al, 2016 in Ukraine. The fossil comes from the lower part of the Danian of the Crimea (Ak-kaya Section near the Bila Skelia, Bilogirsk District). The fossil was found in situ in the decapod burrow Thalassinoides Ehrenberg, 1944. Such finds allow us to establish which fossil decapod crustaceans produced burrows Ophiomorpha, Thalassinoides, and Spongeliomorpha. Sediments with crab remains were accumulated in the environment of Skolithos Ichnofacies. This ichnofacies is usually confined to areas of the seabed whose sediments are constantly mixed by waves. There was a cold-water paleobasin on the territory of modern northern Ukraine in the Danian Age. This basin was connected to the Western European paleobasin and the Boreal paleobasin. The southern basin, located in the Carpathians, the Black Sea Depression, and the Crimea, was much warmer and closely connected with the Mediterranean Basin. A representative of the genus Arcticocarcinus was first found outside Sweden. It is very unlikely that the genus Arcticocarcinus Schweitzer et al, 2016 entered modern Sweden from the Crimea or vice versa via the Polish Channel, as the Carpathian flysch basin was obviously a barrier. Apparently, the exchange of fauna took place through the Dnipro-Donetsk Sea and the Pripyat Strait. These basins were part of the so-called "Sea of Arkhangelskyi" (a large sublatitudinal basin that stretched from the spurs of the Caucasus and the Urals to Western Europe). Arcticocarcinus cf. insignis (Segerberg, 1900) expands the paleontological characteristics of the Danian of Crimea and testifies to the free exchange of benthic faunas of North-Western Europe and Crimea.

Gender Issues in Sweden: Socio-Political and Historiographical Aspects

Gender equality in the political, legal, social, economic, and cultural spheres of modern Sweden is highly relevant to society. This issue affects all aspects of the country's life and is one of the most important points for understanding Swedish identity. The most equal opportunities for women and men are primarily manifested at the state and political levels. In the global media space of the last decade, great attention has been paid to the women's hashtag movement #metoo against cases of sexual harassment by men towards women. This phenomenon has had a significant impact on many aspects of life in Sweden. The susceptibility of Swedish society to gender inequality issues has also been influenced by the scientific achievements of humanities research. Scholars have made significant progress in developing gender issues. If the first works on women's topics were empirical studies that described events involving the weaker sex, then, from the second half of the 1970s historians began talking not about gender equality (jämlikhet), but about gender parity (jämställdhet). The emphasis was not on the biological difference between men and women, but on their social inequality. The new interest of scholars in studying the role of the state in different periods of the history of this country became a novelty in gender historiography in Sweden since the 1990s. It is in the field of studying gender issues in the last five decades that Swedish humanities have achieved the greatest success.

Cool Nature

In this essay, an interdisciplinary group of researchers sets out to address the period 1780–1840 in Sweden in a new way, by placing nature at its centre. With the help of ecocritical and transcultural theory, combined with renewed attention to the Swedish fine arts, learned discourses, and practices, we suggest a new approach to these revolutionary decades. The perceived dissonance, the interplay between climatic conditions and cultural template in early modern and modern Sweden, has not been fully addressed in current research, despite the fact that the relationship between humankind and the environment is a central issue in contemporary society and scholarship. Representations of nature situate the nation, they negotiate the relationship between a sensed reality and an ideal, between human and more-than-human beings. We suggest a focus on the unpredictable space created by negotiations of nature in Swedish representations during this crucial period, and, furthermore, on the ways in which this creative space is charged with utopian possibilities in the early Anthropocene. This is the background and the driving force of the planned research project ‘Cool Nature: Utopian Landscapes in Sweden 1780–1840’.

The introduction of the turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) in early modern Sweden – historical and zooarchaeological evidence of husbandry and consumption

SUMMARY In this paper we describe how and why turkeys were introduced to Sweden during the 16th century, and how the bird spread to different social groups in the 17th century. We present data from unpublished financial records and provide a compilation of all archaeological findings of turkeys from the geographical area of present-day Sweden. The results show that turkeys, first imported by Duke Karl of Sweden in the 1580s, had spread to the Swedish nobility by the 1610s. During the first decades of turkey husbandry in Sweden, turkeys were items of conspicuous consumption, used to show off during elite dinners and as gifts to peers and subsequently also to subordinates. During the 17th century, the bird was adopted by the urban upper middle class. Early modern Swedish turkeys were small, and likely less affected by selective breeding when compared to modern heritage-breed turkeys.

Experiencing the dis/abled body in Early Modern Sweden: an exploration of perspectives

Experiencing the dis/abled body in Early Modern Sweden: an exploration of perspectives

Sweden, Inc.: Temporal Sovereignty of the Realm and People from the Middle Ages to Modernity

Sweden, Inc.: Temporal Sovereignty of the Realm and People from the Middle Ages to Modernity

GENDER EQUALITY MECHANISMS IN FINLAND AND SWEDEN

The publication is devoted to the analysis of the legal policy of gender equality in Finland and Sweden. Thechoice of countries is not accidental, since these states show impressive results in the effective developmentand implementation of legal policies in the field of gender equality.The authors show that in Finland the minimization and leveling of gender asymmetry is supported by thenational quota system. This approach is aimed at comprehensively ensuring a gender-neutral configurationof social practices. Such a humanistic trajectory of the policy of gender equality finds consolidation at thelevel of special legislation. It has been established that the positive experience of dealing with discriminatory factors is characteristicof modern Sweden. The very concept and term “discrimination” is clearly formulated and defined at the levelof regulatory regulation. The Swedish legislator also specifies the manifestations and forms of discriminatoryactions. The legal system of this state is replete with acts and all kinds of documents that are designed toprovide equal opportunities for representatives of each sex.

Protection of Taxpayers' Rights Legal Guarantees

The Constitution is the main source of tax law; the constitutional norms define the basis of the financial-legal policy of the state, including the regulation of tax policy. Taxes are the important means of implementing financial and legal policy by the state. The fulfillment of the obligation by individuals and legal entities to pay the taxes established by the Constitution ensures the formation of the budget of all levels in the state. That is why this constitutional obligation has a special, public-legal significance, which is conditioned by the public-legal nature of the state government. The taxpayer must fulfill the obligation imposed on him to pay taxes; otherwise the rights of other persons will be violated, as well as the interests of the state, which will be reflected in the delay in the performance of the functions and tasks imposed by law. The ombudsman institution is very old, but in a modern sense Sweden was first who formed it in the early nineteenth century. According to the Tax Code of Georgia, the tax ombudsman supervises the protection of the rights and legitimate interests of taxpayers on the territory of Georgia, reveals the facts of their violation, and promotes the restoration of violated rights. The tax ombudsman reviews the applications and complaints of individuals related to the facts of violation of the rights of taxpayers by the tax and other state bodies. The main purpose of the Institute of Tax Secrets is to protect the rights and legitimate interests of taxpayers, who are obliged to submit to the tax authority’s information on the correct, timely and complete payment of taxes. The main purpose of tax amnesty is to increase government revenues. It offers disobedient taxpayers the opportunity to return hidden taxes to the budget on the condition that they do not face sanctions and fines. "Amnesty" means "forgiveness" to some extent. Amnesty reduces or abolishes tax or criminal sanctions for non-payment of taxes. Amnesty is very important in Georgia, as the Tax Code in force from 1996 to 2004 provided for 22 types of taxes. Consequently, the tax burden on the taxpayer was enormous. They tried to hide the tax to save their own business. But the main reason for this was the wrong tax policy pursued by the state. Added to this was the corruption that had taken the form of state racketeering. Therefore, the subsequent amnesties were the means of correcting the mistakes made by the state in previous years. Keywords: Constitution, tax, law, code, ombudsman, tax agent, court.

The Essence and Content of the Principle of Gender Equality in the Texts of Normative Legal Acts of the Scandinavian Countries

The article is devoted to the study of the category of "gender equality" in the system of some normative legal acts of the Scandinavian countries. The purpose of the work is to show the effectiveness of legal regulation and ensuring the principle of gender equality in the legal policy of this group of states. Guided by the hermeneutic methodology, the authors came to the conclusion that the positive experience of dealing with discriminatory factors is characteristic of modern Sweden. The very concept and term "discrimination" is clearly formulated and defined at the level of regulatory regulation. The Swedish legislator also specifies the manifestations and forms of discriminatory actions.
 The publication shows that in Norway one has to observe the concept of establishing specialized government structures. The Norwegian Ministry of Children and Family Affairs includes a special department for gender equality. All this objectively contributes to the effective construction and promotion of true equality for both sexes.
 It was established that acting in accordance with other Scandinavian countries, the Danish legislator adopted a special law “On gender equality”. The content of the concept of gender equality, as follows from the text of this document, includes the principle of equal social integration, and is inextricably linked with the concept of equal influence of men and women and their equal opportunities in all spheres of society
 It is also emphasized that the content and essence of the principle of gender equality in the legislation of Norway, Sweden and Denmark is directly related to such categories as "women's rights", "prohibition of discrimination", "equal social integration" and "equality of men and women".

The First Russian Interpreters in Early Modern Sweden

The article reconstructs lives of several Russian-language interpreters acting in Sweden during the reign of Gustav I Vasa (1523–1560) on the basis of Swedish and Russian archival sources. The socio-professional group of Russian-language interpreters (ryssetolkar) has been well known in Sweden since late 16th century, and its best times (mainly in the 17th century) are thoroughly studied by the Finnish historian Kari Tarkiainen. The authors suggest that the origins of this group should be sought in late 1530s — early 1540s, and that the Hanseatic environment might have played a part in this process at its earliest stage because the first interpreters known to us by names, Albrecht Tolck and Larens van Värnen, seem to have been of German origin, although we know very little of them. Three other ryssetolkar — Michel Andersson, Hans Larsson Skalm, and especially Bertil Jöransson (Jörensson, Göransson) — ar somewhat better known. The authors conclude that close connections to Finland, especially to the castle of Viborg (Fin. Viipuri, Rus. Vyborg), were typical of the members of this socio-professional group at the very initial phase already. In addition, the sources of the period in question show that prospective interpreters could go to Russia to study Russian and that they sometimes were bound by family ties. The two latter features were not so prominent in the first half of the 16th century, but they would become very typical of the ryssetolkar community later on.

Building on Foreign Expertise. Military and Agricultural Experts and the Eastward Expansion of Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Sweden

In the second half of the sixteenth and the first half of the seventeenth century, the Kingdom of Sweden was almost constantly engaged in armed conflicts with neighbouring kingdoms. Both offensive and defensive wars were characteristic of the Swedish foreign policy from 1550s to 1650s. The same period witnessed the emergence of the Swedish Empire because, due to these conflicts, Sweden was able to acquire new domains in the Baltic region and to expand its territories in both east and south. These geopolitical realities pushed all Vasa kings into multiple projects aiming to rationalise Sweden’s army and its military strategy as well as to develop the acquired areas in various ways. Our article presents two development project examples of this emerging empire (1) Scottish officers (the Swedish Crown acknowledged the military expertise of Scottish troops as well as their officers and tried to harness this experience for Sweden), and (2) the planned modernisation of Ingria through German and Dutch colonisation and agricultural development. The article examines the needs and expertise expectations that the Swedish Crown directed towards these foreign groups. The emergence of Sweden as a European empire did not occur in a geopolitical vacuum. International contacts and the influx of European expertise into Sweden were important factors in the building of the Swedish dominion in the Baltic region. By focusing on these foreign expert groups, one operating in the military world and the other in the agricultural sphere, this article illustrates the functions and roles that the Swedish Crown expected foreign experts to have on the eastern frontier of early modern Sweden.

Administering Empire. Business Diplomacy in Early Modern Sweden: The Cases of Abraham Cabiljau and the Gothenburg Company

The article illustrates the importance of business diplomacy practised by free agents, who navigated and negotiated between northern European empires for widespread commercial, legal and administrative developments. Abraham Cabiljau’s career is an example from the early modern Swedish empire, which stands on the threshold of a new era. In the Swedish empire, Cabiljau was involved in several different sectors, from military recruitment to the development of state accounting and administration of international trade. He represents the Swedish empire’s vast economic relationships with international merchant networks operating in a broad spectrum of military and commercial arenas. The Swedish empire was economically dependent on the financial resources of the merchants in Amsterdam, and economic prosperity was not the sole contribution of these merchants. The education, knowledge and connections provided by Cabiljau greatly enhanced the administration and organisation of Sweden’s international trade by importing a new legal mindset and organisational culture. In return, northern mining resources and Baltic commerce were alluring for Dutch merchants. We argue that the modelling of international organisations was an essential part of Swedish economic development. However, the first Swedish trading companies remained an experimental attempt to transplant the Dutch East India Company (VOC) model to Sweden. Individuals like Cabiljau represent key actors who ignited, taught and promoted commercial law development in Sweden, on which international commerce was later built upon, with long-lasting impacts.

From Disputation Hall to High Office: Swedish Students’ Legal Dissertations at German and Dutch Universities in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

Abstract Swedish students commonly studied abroad, especially during the seventeenth century. This was true also for those studying law. This article examines the legal dissertations that Swedish students defended during their visits to foreign universities in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The universities of Greifswald and Leiden produced the most dissertations with Swedish respondents. After discussing the practice of written dissertations and Swedes as respondents more generally, the dissertations of some Swedish students are examined in more detail. This analysis showed that many Swedes probably wrote the dissertations themselves, or at least actively participated, as references to Swedish law were common. By reflecting these dissertations with developments in early modern Sweden, the article provides new insight into the educational level of the slowly emerging Swedish legal profession of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It shows how dissertations defended abroad were a good way to highlight one’s expertise in a country like Sweden, which was still in dire need of legal professionals.

Schooling and State Formation in Early Modern Sweden by Bengt Sandin

Schooling and State Formation in Early Modern Sweden by Bengt Sandin

Managing legal pluralism: the negotiations on the re-acquisition of crown land in the Livonian Diet (1681) as a matter of securitisation and imperial integration

The emergence of empires during the early modern period led to a shift of territorial borders and social as well as economic and political boundaries. This is also true for early modern Sweden and especially for Livonia, being one of the eastern border provinces of the Swedish empire. The plans for withdrawing alienated possessions of the Swedish Crown there, i.e. a reduktion, make this particularly clear. This article examines the discussion of the year 1681 between the Swedish Crown and the Livonian knighthood and nobility in the Livonian Diet on the retake of crown lands as an example of how early modern empires dealt with legal pluralism. Combining the concepts of securitisation and integration will show that these deliberations should be understood less as a struggle for or against re-acquisitions of crown lands than as negotiations about Swedish rule in Livonia, and its normative foundations and functions, and thus about the Swedish empire.

Narrative Ethics, Media and the Morality of the Ecological Modern: The Case of Sweden

The Scottish philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre in his groundbreaking analysis of contemporary ethics, After Virtue: A Study of Moral Theory, asserted that modernity was devoid of a unified moral system. This observation has been noted by, among others, the ecophilosopher Arran Gare as a means of dealing with approaches to contemporary crisis. By characterizing debates about the future as reflexively constructed articulations of modernity, this paper briefly considers how such a perspective is useful when attempting to communicate questions of development under contemporary conditions. Using qualitative examples from modern Sweden taken from a larger corpus of research to speculate on the potential for normative conceptual change, it uses the self-styled enlightened polity as a case study to discuss how environmental knowledge is instrumentalized in self-consciously modern contexts. MacIntyre’s insight thus provides a view into the relationship between discourse and practice which recognizes the situated nature of environmental argumentation over uniform green epistemologies.