the svea court of appeal in the early modern period 88 also appears in the register of the first session of the Court of Appeal, although it had already been discussed at Örebro earlier that year. The peasant miners (Bärgzmän) of North and South Björk were summoned to the Court as the matter had not been resolved at Örebro because of the absence of Petter von Beningen.242 Some representatives of South Björk appeared in Stockholm and the court was able to pronounce a verdict on the matter even if some aspects of the accusations against von Beningen remained unresolved because of his continued absence. The court sent orders on the execution of the verdict to local officials and also insisted on having continued speedy and thorough investigations carried out, but locally, so that von Beningen was protected by a royal safe-conduct and could answer the allegations made against him. The miners were not to protect the ring-leaders of the riot (störste ophofuet äre till thet buller) unless they each wished to pay 120-mark fines.243 In connection with the same revolt, the local official (Länzmannen) of South Björk was fined thirty dalers – probably also for some neglect or misconduct.244 The pacification of Dalarna was naturally very important for the sake of the copper mined there, the major Swedish export product. Copper mining was crucial for raising money for the crown’s finances in general, and for collecting money for the ransoming of Älvsborg in particular. The government meant to use its copper resources as collateral in order to get credit and raise money from the Low Countries. This is why the Dutch diplomats received 100skeppund of copper245 “as a sample of the products of the land” (som prov på landets produkter) as one of the gifts from the King.246 The timely delivery of copper shipments was paramount and popular disturbances in the copper-mining region of Dalarna could potentially have disastrous consequences for the solvency of the Crown. Popular complaints and grievances in this historically inflammable region were taken seriously by the crown. Even in 1588, King JohnIII had abolished the crown’s copper monopoly in part as a means to 242 RA, SHA, B I a:1, 31 May 1614, fols. 6v-7r. 244 RA, SHA, D VIII a:1. 245 It is uncertain how many kilograms a skeppund of copper was, as it varied in time and depending on the produce measured. However, a very rough estimate would range from 136 to 194.5 kilograms. 246 “Anthonis Goeteeris’ journal över den holländska beskickningens resa till de svenskryska fredsunderhandlingarna i Diderina 1615–1616,”En holländsk beskicknings resor, ed. and trans. Hildebrand (1917), p. 174.
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