Mauritz Bäärnhielm The Nobility appropriated to themselves more and more privileges e.g. milltary and civil higher offices. Inside the nobility the peerage formed as early as the Middle Ages a small but mighty group. The members of the Council of the Realm were mostly peers. (In the Catholic time also bishops were often peers.) A formal sanction of the peerage as a special class occured at the coronation av King Erik XIVin 1561 when he made three counts and nine barons. The rules for votinginside the Nobilitywere not very democratic. Every kin (ätt) had one vote. (The same system today.) The Nobility was divided into three classes. The classes voted separately. Every class had one vote, so two classes formed the decision. The peerage, though it was inferior in number, formed two classes and the rest of the Nobility formed one. So it is clear that the peerage dominated the Nobility and in praxis often the whole Parliament. The division in classes was abolished in 1719. 326 2. Establishing of the House. The Founding Fathers Gustavus Adolphus became King in 1611. The century that followed is in Swedish history called the Era of Great Power or the Age of Greatness. The kings (and one queen) were all young when they ascended the throne and they also died (or resigned) relatively young. Duringthese 100 years there were two long periods of regency. The regencies were strongly dominated by the peerage. And when there was not a regency the king as commander-in-chief was often “beyond the sea”, so the kings had to delegate much of the power to the Council, where the members were all peers.You can see this house as a visible expression of the power of the Nobility. The house was built in the middle of the 17th century. The original plans embraced a much bigger house. It was built in the political, economic and social center of the capital. The first architect was French, the second German, the third Dutch and the fourth and last French-Swedish. At the Parliament’s meetings it was not only a right but also an obligation for the Nobility to attend. Every kin had to send its head to the meeting. There is an example that more than 1000 were present (1755-56). During the reigns of the Vasa kings (1521-1654) there had been a great import of foreign officers and other specialists to the Realm. Many of themwere also noblemen or laid claimto be. The Swedish tradition was: 1) Only the king could appoint a nobleman and 2) A nobleman’s male descendents were all noblemen.^ Gustavus Adolphus and his first chancellor. Count Axel Oxenstierna, found it necessary to make order in the existing “nobility chaos”. So in 1626 the king Peter Englund^ Det hotade huset, 1989, p. 12. ^ Boethius, ibid. p. 55. — In families raised to nobilitv after 1809 onlv the head is a nobleman.
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