the svea court of appeal in the early modern period 192 triated and never allowed to return to Sweden again. This was a shameful penalty for anybody in seventeenth-century Sweden, and it was an especially disgraceful as well as rare punishment for a nobleman.544 A more frequent type of crime involving noblemen was assault. An assault, which could have led to diplomatic complications, was settled by the Court of Appeal in October 1690. On the bridge to the island of Långholmen in Stockholm, three young noblemen had got into a fight with Count Anton Johann von Nostitz-Rieneck (1652 –1736), who was the Bohemian ambassador in Sweden at the time. But Bohemia never laid claim to compensation in the trial.545 Not even a nobleman could treat people entirely as he liked in the early modern period. In the parish of Tuna, Lars Fleming (1621 – 1699) was a nobleman with a bad reputation. He was known for tormenting the local peasants in every possible way. Among other things, Fleming used to lock the farmers up in order to prevent them from going to church on Sundays and, before signing contracts with the local farmers, he got the them so drunk that they did not know what they were agreeing to. Fleming had also abused an old widow, held elderly farmers in custody and forced their sons to sit on a “wooden horse” (a kind of torture instrument). In 1650, the farmers had had enough and sued Fleming. The Svea Court of Appeal found Fleming guilty of abusing his farmers, and sentenced him to pay a substantial fine to the church in Tuna. Furthermore, the farmers did not have to pay taxes to Fleming for the current year as recompense.546 The Fleming case attracted attention and outrage at the Diet of Stockholm the same year. The Estate of the peasantry repeated what had happen in Tuna for the Estate of the clergy, and begged the clergy to condemn the kind of serfdom and miserable treatment that the farmers in Tuna had been exposed to. The verdict did not have any effect on Fleming’s future career however. He was one of Queen Christina’s favorites and kept his position at the royal court. Just a few years after the trial, Fleming was appointed provincial governor (Sw. landshövding) of Stockholm.547 544 Judgement on 24 December 1690 (RA, SHA, B II a:61). 545 Judgement on 11 October 1690 (RA, SHA, B II a:61). 546 Judgement on 13 September 1650 (RA, SHA, B II a:22). 547 Åberg, Alf 1964-1966 p. 152.
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