On the Use of Natural Law Samuel von Pufendorf as Royal Swedish State Historian By Assistant Professor PhD. Lars Niléhn, Lund University During the Renaissance it became a tradition for princes and states to employ historiographers. Denmark had one since the middle of the 16th century. In Sweden the writing of official history took two different paths. Commissions to write on certain subjects were temporarily given to different authors, and official historians were also appointed. All this happened later in Sweden than in other countries, which corresponds well with Sweden’s later development and its late but accelerating Integration into Europe. Not surprisingly, the first to be given a formal appointment as State Historian was a foreigner, one of several to hold the office. This was the Dutch humanist, Daniel Heinsius of Leyden. Apparently he did not publish or even write any works as a result of his Swedish commission. There may be some doubt as to the title by which this state servant should be called in English. The termordinarily used is court historian, in German Hofhistoriograf. This may fit well, as the formal letters of appointment for a long time mention our historian or historiographiis regius. During the 18th century the term explicitly used was historiographus regni (state historian). Earlier these two terms seem to have been interchangeable. Nevertheless, a certain difference existed. Samuel Pufendorf, however, was the first whose letter of appointment expressly stated historiographus regni.^ It must also be said that the court and the administration of Sweden were by and large separate bodies from the time Gustavus Adolphus became king in 1611.“ The official historian had a specified position in the bureau- ^ Bo Bennich-Björkman, Författaren i ämbetet, Uppsala 1970. p 213. ^ Nils Eden, Den svenska centralregeringens utveckling till kollegial organisation 1602—1634, Uppsala 1902. p 337.
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