a safe haven in the shadow of war? – mia korpiola 61 in 1614, I will reinterpret the reasons for its establishment and partly rewrite the story of its coming into being. If one looks at the situation in 1614 when the Court of Appeal was founded, it looks less glorious than in the more traditional mastermind narratives. Contemporaries could not anticipate the rise of Sweden as one of the great powers of Europe during the Thirty Years’ War and the administrative reforms in Sweden in the 1630s when Crown Prince Gustav Adolf became king at the age of sixteen in 1611. He was the young son of the usurper King Charles IX, who had come to power by deposing his nephew Sigismund, King of Sweden and Poland, and who left his son “a blood-spattered throne” (en blodbestänkt thron).142 Some of the heads of those executed many years before for mainly political crimes were still on spikes above the gates of major Swedish towns at the time of the succession of Gustav Adolf, grisly reminders of the consequences of civil wars and failed political balancing acts. At the time, the country was heavily involved in war on three fronts, against Denmark, Poland and Russia. This was a legacy of the foreign policies of Charles IX in which – as has been described – “problems [had stacked] up like cordwood.”144 In 1612, Sweden and Poland negotiated a truce that was finally extended until 1616. In 1613, peace was achieved with Denmark at Knäred, but at an extremely high cost. The Swedes had to payDenmark the hair-raising sum of ten barrels of gold, corresponding to 1 million silver riksdalers, in four instalments as war indemnity by 1619. Until the sum was paid, Denmark kept certain territories, towns, and the fortress of Älvsborg as surety. The money for the war reparation was raised by extraordinary taxes authorized by the Swedish estates, revenues from the copper trade and loans from the Low Countries. However, this so-called ransom of Älvsborg was a major drain on the Swedish economy, and the king had even to melt down his silver plate to mint the necessary silver coins. In fact, it has been claimed that Sweden “was trembling perilously on the verge of bankruptcy.”145 142 Expression of Geijer, Erik Gustaf 1836 p. 11. 143 Ahnlund, Nils 1930 pp. 16-18. 144 Peterson, Gary Dean 2007 p. 112. 145 Roberts, Michael 1953 pp. 122-129. The Background and Establishment of the Hovrätt in 1614
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