slandering the king and his councillors – per nilsén 203 559 For an overview of the development of crimen læsæ maiestatis in Swedish legislation including the Penal Code of 1864 see Winroth, A.O. 1889 pp. 316–336, esp. pp. 330–332, 334–336; cf. Katajala, Kimmo 1999 and Korpiola, Mia 2005. n 1632, kingGustav II Adolf died on the battlefield of Lützen. His I daughter Christina (r. 1632 – 1654) was only five years old and, during her minority, Sweden was governed by the most prominent members of the aristocratic Council of the Realm. These occurrences were not left unremarked in the country. Two years later, in 1634, Herbolt the Bullet Caster said that “we now do not have any superiors to complain to” and more, “that no justice is done.” According the witness Christopher Anderson, Herbolt had added that “no justice will be done if we do not do it ourselves.” Herbolt’s outspoken views on state affairs and their consequences for law and order were considered to constitute a criminal offence. My object is to describe and discuss the legal regulation(s) and judicial practice in cases concerning slander of the King or his councillors, a crime belonging to the groupcrimen læsæ maiestatis.559 The investigation will be focused on the period 1614 – 1700, a time characterized by growing professionalization and regulation, even if the major law reform initiated in 1686 did not bear fruit until 1734/1736. The judicial practice of the courts of appeal became a leading source of law instead. By studying cases related to slander of the King, I hope to be able to illustrate not only how the Svea Court of Appeal – mostly in close cooperation with the monarch – interpreted older legislation but also how the not always humble and willing subjects expressed criticism of and irritation at the authorities in Lutheran seventeenth-century Sweden. The important role of judicial practice made surveys of precedents and related material necessary and one such collection, compiled in the last decades of the seventeenth century, is my source for this study. Introduction
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