Riksdag of the Estates
The
Riksdag of the Estates, or
Ståndsriksdagen, was the name used for the Estates of the
Swedish realm, or
Rikets ständer, when they were assembled. Until its dissolution in
1866 the institution was the highest authority in
Sweden next to the
Swedish monarch. It was a
Diet made up of the Four
Estates, which historically were the lines of division in Swedish society:
*
Nobility*
Clergy*
Burgher*
PeasantsThe meeting at
Arboga in
1435 was usually considered to be the first Riksdag, but there is no indication that the fourth estate, the peasants, had been represented there.
*The first meeting is likely the one that took place at
Uppsala in
1436 after the death of rebel leader
Engelbrekt.
*At the Riksdag in
1517 regent
Sten Sture the Younger and the
Privy Council pushed for the decision to depose
archbishop Gustav Trolle, which started a chain of events that led to the
Stockholm Bloodbath and eventually the dissolution of the
Kalmar Union.
*At
Söderköping in
1595,
Duke Charles was elected regent over Sweden instead of King
Sigismund, who was a
Catholic and the monarch of both Sweden and the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
*In
1612 the meeting decided to give the nobility the privilege and right to hold all higher offices of government, after successful lobbying by
Axel Oxenstierna.
*The first open conflict between the different estates happened in
1650.
*At the Riksdag in
1680 a large scale
reduction (a return of lands to the Crown earlier granted to the nobility) was decided.
*At the sessions in
1634,
1719,
1720,
1772 and
1809 new constitutional
instruments of government were adopted.
|
Representatives of the four estates on a commemorative coin (left). |
In 1866 all the Estates voted in favor of dissolution and at the same time to found a new assembly,
The Swedish Riksdag or
Sveriges Riksdag. Out of the four estates, the corporation of the
Swedish nobility, the
House of Knights (
Riddarhuset) remains as a quasi-official representation of the nobility. The modern
Centre Party which grew out of the Swedish
farmers' movement, sitting in the Parliament still today, could be construed as a modern representation with a traditional bond to the Estate of the Peasants.
The
Instrument of Government from
1809 divided the powers of Government between the
Bernadotte Monarch and the Riksdag of the Estates, and after 1866 with the new
Riksdag. In 1809 Sweden ceded
Finland to
Russia. Finland became a
Grand Duchy under the
Russian Tsar, but the political institutions were kept practically intact. The
Diet of Finland which was the successor to the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates in Finland, was dissolved in
1905.
*
History of Sweden*
History of Finland*
History of the Riksdag*
Riksdagsmusiken
