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the court of appeal as legal transfer – heikki pihlajamäki 253 When he died in 1628, the Count’s Austrian widowMagdalena von Thurn (born von Hardeck) began administering his assets – the court included – in the name of their under-aged son. She was ferociously also against a royal land court in the area. In 1631, Governor-General Johan Skytte served her with an injunction not to hinder the establishment of a royal land court in the Pernau District.701 Whether allodial goods of free noblemen were included under the comital jurisdiction remained a bone of contention practically until the dissolution of the patrimonial courts in 1681. The negative attitude of the Livonian Knighthood in particular persisted.702 According to Meurling, Oxenstierna was not at first interested in including noblemen in his jurisdiction. His attitude changed however and, according to Liljedahl, the royal letter of privilege seems to have extended his jurisdiction to everyone living within his enfeoffment.703 The interpretation is supported by the fact that by 1638 the royal Land Court of Wenden – previously in charge of those areas in the WendenKreis not belonging to Oxenstierna’s court – is no longer mentioned in the accounts of the Baltic provinces,704 suggesting that the royal court had fallen out of business. Whether the cases of noblemen now belonged to Oxenstierna’s court or the surrounding royal courts is not quite clear. De facto the latter was probably the case at least until 1640, when a royal edict ordered that the cases arising from the lands of the free noblemen should not be taken to the private court of the count. Besides, it was ordered that the decisions of the private court would have to be sent to the Dorpat Court of Appeal for approval in order to be implemented. In 1649, the royal edict of King Gustaf Adolf was rescinded, and Queen Christina now ordered that all the cases from the noble lands situated within the country should also be under the count’s jurisdiction. This was in line with the royal policy of seeking support from the high nobility in order to build up a strong central power. In Oxenstierna’s lands the situation had beende facto the same even without a specific statute regulating the matter. Such a statute regarding the private court in Wenden as well was finally issued in 1655.705 701 Margareta von Thurn, the mother of the Count of Pernau, Liljedahl, Ragnar 1933 pp. 45, 284-285. 702 Meurling, Anna Christina 1967 pp. 90-91. 703 Liljedahl, Ragnar 1933 p. 285; cf. Meurling, Anna Christina 1967 p. 88. 704 Meurling, Anna Christina 1967 p. 88. 705 Meurling, Anna Christina 1967 pp. 91-94.

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