Despite the frantic protests of the Caps party, a project for the invasion of Russian Finland was rushed through the premature Riksdag of 1740. The European complications consequent upon the almost simultaneous deaths of Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor and Empress Anne of Russia seemed to favour the Hats' adventurous schemes. The first blunder of the Hats was the hasty and ill-advised war with Russia. France, naturally, hailed with satisfaction the rise of a faction which was content to be her armour bearer in the north and the golden streams which flowed from Versailles to Stockholm during the next two generations were the political life-blood of the Hat party. They aimed at restoring Sweden to her former position as a great power. To them, prosperity without glory was a worthless possession. But the politicians who had ousted Horn thought differently. Chancery President, Count Arvid Horn had clearly perceived this and his cautious neutrality was, therefore, the soundest statesmanship.
When Sweden descended to a position of a second-rate power the alliance with the French became too costly a luxury. The policy of the Hats party was a return to the traditional alliance between France and Sweden. During the parliamentary recess, however, the executive remained in the hands of the Privy Council, which was responsible to the Riksdag alone. It prepared all bills for the Riksdag, created and deposed all ministries, controlled the foreign policy of the nation, and claimed and often exercised the right of superseding the ordinary courts of justice. This famous body, which consisted of 50 nobles, 25 priests, 25 burgesses, and, very exceptionally, 25 peasants, possessed during the session of the Riksdag not only the supreme executive but also the supreme judicial and legislative functions. The lantmarskalk, or speaker of the House of Nobles, presided when the estates met in congress and also, by virtue of his office, in the secret committee. Įach estate was ruled by its talman, or speaker, who was now elected at the beginning of each Diet, but the archbishop was, ex officio, the talman of the clergy. No measure could now become law until it had obtained the assent of at least three of the four estates. The conflicting interests of these four independent assemblies, who sat and deliberated apart and with their mutual jealousies, made the work of legislation exceptionally difficult. All power was vested in the people as represented by the Riksdag, consisting, as before, of four distinct estates: nobles, priests, burgesses and peasants.
Age of Liberty Įarly in 1720 Charles XII's sister, Ulrika Eleonora, who had been elected queen of Sweden immediately after his death, was permitted to abdicate in favour of her husband Frederick the prince of Hesse, who was elected king 1720 under the title of Frederick I of Sweden and Sweden was, at the same time, converted into the most limited of monarchies. Sweden also received an indemnity of two million Riksdaler and a solemn undertaking of non-interference in her domestic affairs. Finland west of Viborg and north of Käkisalmi was restored to Sweden. By the Treaty of Nystad Sweden ceded to Russia Ingria and Estonia, Livonia, the Finnish province of Kexholm and Viborg Castle. By the Treaty of Frederiksborg on 3 July 1720 peace was also signed between Denmark and Sweden, Denmark returning Rügen, Further Pomerania as far as the Peene, and Wismar to Sweden, in exchange for an indemnity of 600,000 Riksdaler, while Sweden would pay the Sound tolls and give up her protectorate over Holstein-Gottorp. Northern Swedish Pomerania with Rügen which had come under Danish rule during the war, was retained by Sweden. At the beginning of 1719, peace overtures were made to Britain, Hanover, Prussia and Denmark.īy the Treaties of Stockholm on 20 February 1719 and 1 February 1720 Hanover obtained the Duchies of Bremen and Verden for herself and Southern Swedish Pomerania with Stettin for her confederate Brandenburg-Prussia. In a siege of Fredrikstens Castle in 1718, Charles was killed, after which most hostilities in the west ended. After initial successes, Sweden's army was eventually reduced while the list of enemies grew. The states which Sweden's expansion into a great power had primarily been at the expense of, Denmark and Russia, formed a coalition with Saxony two years later to partition Sweden. Following the death of Charles XI of Sweden, his young son Charles XII became king, and in 1697, only 15 years old, was proclaimed of age and took over the rule from the provisional government.
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