the svea court of appeal in the early modern period 94 They were accused of various types of misconduct, ranging from negligence to defrauding both the people and king by deceitfully using oversized weights and measures for the local in natura payments. The former bailiff had to compensate the injured parties, the King, servants of the castle and the people of Åland, and pay a forty-mark fine for larceny.265 The governor of the Castle of Kastelholm, Jören von Wulfzdorff, had neglected to see to it that he and his scribes submitted their annual accounts to the Treasury for which they were fined and required to confirm their account books by their oaths. Wulfzdorff had also slandered the Councillors of the Treasury. As for his other malpractices both in Stockholm and Åland, he had to compensate the damages made to the crown. However, as both Olof Gustavsson and Wulfzdorff referred to the evidence of the local people, the Court resolved to have the case investigated locally in Åland by commissioners sent there.266 In an unusually long letter to the Åland inhabitants, the Court of Appeal resorted to pacifying exhortations of patience until the return of the King to Sweden from the Russian war: “Therefore, we hope that you dear good men have patience until His Royal Majesty gives a gracious order thereon [=the local reordering of the tax burden] that we with pleasure help to execute immediately after His Royal Majesty’s –God grant – happy return home.”267 As parallel and supplementary measures to the establishment of the Court of Appeal, King Gustav II Adolf set up special commissions to investigate the grievances of the provinces: for Norrland in 1614, parts of Finland in 1616 and Kexholm in 1618. Some Keepers of royal castles (ståthållare) also received special instructions in 1615 and 1616. Nevertheless, despite the good intentions, few permanent results were achieved. “[T]he government was short of money, short of staff, and overburdened with work; and though its commissions brought much lawlessness to light, and 265 RA, SHA, A I a 1:1, fols. 188v-194v, 194v-199v, 206r-207v; Summary of the cases of the second law term, fol. 225v. 266 RA, SHA, A I a 1:1, fols. 159v-171v, 171v-173v, Summary of the cases of the second law term, fols. 223v, 225r. 267 RA, SHA, A Ia 1:1, Court of Appeal to the people of all Åland, 1Nov. 1614, fols. 61r-63r: “Försee oss förthenskuldh, att i käre godhe Män hafue så lenge tolamodh till des H. K. M:tt den nådige förordningh derom görandes warde wij wele gerne der till beforderlige wara, att sådant medh dett förste efter H. K. M:tz (:Gudh gifuer:) lykelige hemkompst hijt öfuer igen, skal blifue i wärket stältt.” It is doubtful that this letter was ever sent: “[MARG:] Gick inthz Vth.” But it is later repeated in the volume without such remarks.
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