Riksdag of the Estates
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Riksdag of the Estates (
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 in 1435 is usually considered to be the first Riksdag, but there is no indication that the fourth estate, the farmers, were represented there.[citation needed]
- The actual first meeting is likely the one that took place at Uppsala in 1436 after the death of the rebel leader Engelbrekt.
- At the Riksdag in 1517, regent Sten Sture the Younger and the Privy Council deposed archbishop Gustav Trolle.
- At Catholicism.
- At Västerås in 1544, an order of royal succession was adopted, abolishing elective monarchy in Sweden.
- At Arboga in 1561, the term Riksdag was used for the first time.[1]
- At Catholic and the king of both Sweden and Poland.
- In 1612 the Riksdag gave the nobility the privilege and right to hold all higher offices of government, after successful lobbying by the Gustavus Adolphus).
- The first open conflict between the different estates happened in 1650, when the three lower estates attacked the nobility's privileges. Queen Charles Gustavas 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 after his Revolution of 1772 introduced a new Instrument of Government.
- 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 constitutionthat 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
Riksdag in Finland
Following the
: Riddarhuset) carries on the tradition of the Estate of Nobility, but no new families have been ennobled since 1906.See also
- History of Sweden
- History of Finland
- History of the Riksdag
- Riksdagsmusiken
Literature
- Stig Hadenius, The Riksdag in Focus: Swedish History in a Parliamentary Perspective, Coronet Books Incorporated, 1997. [ISBN missing]
References
- SELIBR 10478413.