Charles XI and Swedish Absolutism, 1660–1697

An account of absolute rule and reform in Sweden under King Charles XI, 1660–1697, first published in 1998.

A. F. Upton (Author)

9780521024488, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 9 March 2006

312 pages, 2 b/w illus. 1 map
22.9 x 15.3 x 1.9 cm, 0.47 kg

"Anthony F. Upton's book builds on a thorough familiarity both with the archival material in Sweden and with the languages necessary for its use...this book, in its detailed account of one of the most extraordinary examples, provides ample evidence that no generalized model does justice to the many alternative routes to state formation." Journal of Modern History

The reading public outside Sweden knows little of that country's history, beyond the dramatic and short-lived era in the seventeenth century when Sweden under Gustavus Adolphus became a major European power by her intervention in the Thirty Years War. In the last decades of the seventeenth century another Swedish king, Charles XI, launched a less dramatic but remarkable bid to stabilize and secure Sweden's position as a major power in northern Europe and as master of the Baltic Sea. This project, which is almost unknown to students of history outside Sweden, involved a comprehensive overhaul of the government and institutions of the kingdom, on the basis of establishing Sweden as a model of absolute monarchy. This 1998 book gives an account of what was achieved under the absolutist direction of a distinctly unglamorous, but pious and conscientious ruler.

1. Introduction: the historical background to Sweden's seventeenth-century crisis
2. The formative years: regency and war, 1660–79
3. The defining of the absolute monarchy
4. The financial reconstruction
5. The indelningswerk and the rebuilding of the armed forces
6. The search for external security, 1679–86
7. The consolidation of the absolutist system
8. Completing the superstructure
9. The royal government at work
10. The external territories under absolutism
11. The maturing of Charles XI's foreign policies
12. The last years of the reign
13. The absolutism of Charles XI
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], European history [HBJD]