suum cuique tribuere – elsa trolle önnerfors 169 as between the king and the aristocracy, but in the case of Sweden, the king’s position in the Middle Ages was weak and the nobility gradually gained power. From the end of the sixteenth century, the noblemen had the sole right to all senior positions in the civil and military service and could thereby exercise their influence over the central administration.455 The status and privileges of the nobility were established in several royal ordinances and statutory laws at the beginning of the seventeenth century. One of the most important legal documents for the nobility, the Ordinance for the House of the Nobility (Sw. Riddarhusordningen), was promulgated in 1626. The ordinance regulated the legal status and activities of the nobility as well as the legal protection for noble names and their coats of arms. It also enhanced the political importance of the nobility, organized the Estate as acorporate body and established who was considered to be a nobleman.456 The principle of birth was formally recognized as the basis of the Swedish nobility. The privileges were held by hereditary right and a nobleman could pass on the noble name and privileges to his descendants. The status of nobility could also be achieved by royal patent or, in the case of foreign nobility living in Sweden, by the naturalization offered by the king: A royal letter of ennoblement was the first step, but to be regarded as a fully recognized member of the Swedish nobility, a family had to be formally introduced and officially registered at the House of the Nobility in Stockholm. The nobility as a corporation used this introduction to confirm the status of the family in question as Swedishnobility.458 This led to 455 von Konow, Jan 2005, pp. 34-35 and 88-89. 456 The 1626 Ordinance for the House of the Nobility, printed inSveriges Riddarhus: Ridderskapet och adeln och dess Riddarhus pp. 527-532. The term “House of the Nobility” also refers to a seventeenth-century building, situated in the Old Town in Stockholm, maintained by the nobility as a corporation (Sw. Riddarhuset). The building was, and still is, a permanent meeting place for the Swedish nobility. 457 The 1626 Ordinance for the House of the Nobility, paragraph 9, printed inSveriges Riddarhus: Ridderskapet och adeln och dess Riddarhus p. 528. 458 The 1626 Ordinance for the House of the Nobility, paragraph 7 and 8, printed inSveriges Riddarhus: Ridderskapet och adeln och dess Riddarhus p. 528. “A true nobleman is born to a Swedish or Finnish noble father or a foreign nobleman who has settled in the realm and married a Swedish noblewoman. A true nobleman is also a commoner who has received nobility and a coat of arms from the king, as well as a foreign nobleman who has been naturalized by the king.”457
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