the svea court of appeal in the early modern period 96 The uncontrollable military troops proved only one evil. Michael Roberts has characterized domestic affairs in Sweden in 1611 – 1617 as a “breakdown of law and justice,” a situation largely caused by the wars that indeed continued even later during the seventeenth century.273 The crown officials were another problem. Who was to watch the watchmen? As has been claimed, “[t]he King’s own servants […] were themselves among the chief culprits” from the local bailiffs up to castellans and governors.274 Indeed, Count Per Brahe went as far as to claim in 1640 that no bailiff was honest and there was “no Italian villainy” (Italienskt skalkstycke) that they would not have committed.275 But, as has recently been suggested by Mats Hallenberg, “[t]he king required aggressive men to enforce a state monopoly of violence, but he also needed to control his unruly servants to preserve the legitimacy of the regime” during the Swedish state-building process.276 The complaints of the peasantry concerning unlawful exactions of hospitality and transport (otilbörlig skiutzning och gästning), including bed, board, fodder and horses, of all and sundry travellers, were and had been repeated regularly for centuries. In addition to the financial burden, the peasants suffered from acts of violence and breaches of the peace of the home in the hands of abusers of the norms. As a result of such lawless actions on top of the suffocating financial burden exacted by the crown, peasant farms risked being abandoned, which further diminished the income of the crown. Administrative and disciplinary measures had occasionally to be taken to pacify the people, and at the Diet of Örebro in 1614, for example, the Estates admitted that the complaints of the peasantry regarding such unjust and unlawful exactions were truthful (af sanferdigh orsak).277 “But as long as there were vacancies to be filled in the quest for empire, even the most notorious malefactor could be given a second chance” by the crown. Noblemen and their servants also used humiliation and violence towards peasants as a rational part of their local strategies.278 As the crown sorely needed noblemen and officials for its governance, almost 273 Roberts, Michael 1953 pp. 112-115. 274 Roberts, Michael 1953 p. 113. 275 Odhner, C.T. 1865 p. 384. 276 Hallenberg, Mats 2013 p. 145; Koskinen, Ulla 2011 pp. 265-273. 277 E.g., Decision of the Diet of Örebro, 5 Feb. 1614, inSvenska riksdagsakter, 1. serien, 2:1, ed. Ahnlund, pp. 464-465. On statutes regarding such complaints, see Kotkas, Toomas 2013 pp. 51-52, 115-116. 278 Hallenberg, Mats 2013, p. 145; Koskinen, Ulla 2011 pp. 265-273.
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