Duchies in Sweden

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Dukes Eugen of Närke, Wilhelm of Södermanland and Carl of West Gothland in their coronets attend the 1905 opening of parliament in the Throne Room of Stockholm Palace.
Duchess Margareta of Scania (Margaret of Connaught) poses in 1905 at Stockholm Palace for a subsequently colored photograph.

Duchies in Sweden have been allotted since the 13th century to powerful Swedes, almost always to Princes of Sweden (only in some of the dynasties) and wives of the latter. From the beginning these duchies were often centers of regional power, where their dukes and duchesses had considerable executive authority of their own, under the central power of their kings or queens regnant. Since the reign of King Gustav III the titles have practically been nominal, with which their bearers only rarely have enjoyed any ducal authority, though often maintaining specially selected leisure residences in their provinces and some limited measure of cultural attachment to them.

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[edit] Today

In Sweden today, Duke (hertig) is considered a royal title, and is only given to members of the Royal House (currently Bernadotte). This modern duchy has always been limited to one of the historical provinces of Sweden, which are no longer governmental entities. Currently, there are four such duchies one of which includes two provinces:

The titles are given for life, though they are not used by monarchs after accession to the throne, but unlike British duchies, for example, they are not hereditary. Wives of dukes are also created duchesses, a policy that now also applies to the husband of a duchess, following the marriage of Crown Princess Victoria to Prince Daniel né Westling (above). The titles have not been conferred on women who became Swedish queens by marrying kings, such as the current Queen Silvia of Sweden.

[edit] History

The first use in Swedish of the title of duke was for Magnus Birgersson, son of Birger jarl. The title "duke" ("hertig", from German "herzog") then replaced the older "jarl"; both of them were translated into the latin "dux".[1]

From the 12th or 13th century and until 1618, in some Swedish royal houses, when a king had more than one son, he gave each or some of them duchies to rule as fiefs. The geography of these duchies could be unclear, as they were not generally within the boundaries of one province and could also be reallotted with territorial changes. Feuds between a king and ducal brothers were common, and ended at times in assassination and fratricide. There were only one non-royal duke, Benedict, Duke of Halland.

After the Kalmar Union period, just before his death in 1560, King Gustav I reinstated the tradition by making his sons John, Magnus and Carl powerful dukes, together ruling much more of the kingdom than their older half-brother Eric, who had a less significant duchy in the southeast. When the last-named became King Eric XIV, the imbalance of power his father had created became destructive. John revolted, dethroned Eric and became king; Magnus was unimportant due to mental health issues, but Carl's duchy of Södermanland prospered as a separate territory for several decades and was a powerful factor in his own aspirations to the throne. The duchy was inherited by his younger son, Carl Philip, who died in 1622 having been the last holder of a semi-autonomous Swedish duchy, which his brother, King Gustav II Adolph, officially abolished in 1618.

During the subsequent rule of Queen Christina of Sweden, however, her cousin and heir Carl Gustav of the Palatinate-Zweibrücken was titled Duke of Eyland (Öland) by the Swedish sovereign herself, but her government refused to acknowledge the title officially.[2]

In 1772, King Gustav III reinstated the courtesy title of Duke for his brothers, which did add to the international prestige and domestic influence of at least one of them. Since then, all Swedish princes have been created dukes of a province at birth, as well as one Great Prince or Grand Duke of Finland (who died in infancy). During the 20th century, because of constitutional restraints, several princes gave up their royal titles for marriages that were not approved by the King (see Bernadotte af Wisborg). Whether or not they then actually lost their ducal titles too has never been formally or legally determined.

For the first time since the 14th century a Princess of Sweden was created duchess in her own right in 1980, when the Act of Succession was changed so that Princess Victoria became Crown Princess and also was created Duchess of West Gothland. Her younger sister Madeleine was the first princess to be created duchess at birth, and also the first to get a double duchy (see above), roughly corresponding with the modern governmental limits of Gävleborg County. Such modern ducal titles are handled by the King personally and unregulated by law, so it remains to be seen which possible future children of the three royal siblings might be given them; the same applies to possible future spouses of Carl Philip and Madeleine.

Now the title holders are mainly known domestically as Crown Princess Victoria, Prince Daniel, Prince Carl Philip, Princess Madeleine and Princess Lilian though their ducal titles often are included in formal communication and royal court usage. In writing to them, it is considered correct to address all of them but the Crown Princess by ducal title. As of 1772, the dukes and duchesses do not reside permanently within their duchies, though they are associated with them to some extent by making occasional visits, seen as beneficial to public relations for the County Administrative Boards and local business.

[edit] List of dukes and duchesses by duchy in Sweden

Professor of art history Jan Svanberg is of the opinion that since Birger Jarl wore a ducal coronet of English and continental European design, he actually was a duke, and that his Latin title of Dux Sueorum should be given as Duke and Regent of Sweden in English.[3] In Sweden and in Swedish then, the meaning of the Latin dux was still interpreted as jarl until Birger's son officially was given the new hertig title, which the Swedes saw, from then on, as the equivalent of duke.[4] Svanberg's opinion would then make duchesses of both of Birger's wives, in English usage. Other writers have attributed this powerful position that Birger attained to his royal marriage to his first consort[5] as well as the outcome of the Battle of Sparrsätra.[6] Since his son, however, was the first to bear the Swedish title of hertig, this list begins, in the chronological aspect, with him.

This list of dukes and duchesses in Sweden excludes minor duchies (individual towns, manors, mines, estates) as well as former lands and provinces such as Finland and Estonia which are no longer in the kingdom. Established English exonyms[7] are used here as the principal names of some of the provinces. Years given are those during which ducal titles incontestably were held, regardless of subsequent status as monarchs or former royalty.

[edit] Dalecarlia also known as Dalarna

[edit] Dalsland also known as Dalia

  • Prince Eric (1310-1318 – see Swealand 1284-1310)
    • Princess Ingiburga, his wife and widow (1312-1326 – see Swealand 1318-1321)
  • Prince Magnus (1560-1595 – see East Gothland)

[edit] East Gothland also known as Östergötland

[edit] Eyland

  • See Öland.

[edit] Gästrikland also known as Gestricland

  • Princess Madeleine (from 1982 - see Hälsingland)

[edit] Gotland also known as Gothland

[edit] Halland also known as Hallandia

  • Prince Eric, Duke of North Hallandia (1310-1318 – see Swealand 1284-1310)
    • Princess Ingiburga, his wife and widow, Duchess of North Hallandia (1312-1341 – see Swealand 1318-21)
  • Lord Canute Porse, her second husband, Duke of South Hallandia (1327–1330)
    • Duchess Ingiburga (above), his wife and widow, now also Duchess of South Hallandia (1327-1341 – see Swealand 1318-1321)
  • Lord Canute Canuteson Porse, their son (1330-1350 with his brother and mother)
  • Lord Hacon Canuteson Porse, their son (1330-1350 with his brother and mother)
  • Duchess Ingiburga (above) in her own right (1341-1353 – see Swealand 1318-1321)
  • Lord Benedict Algotson (1353–1356)
  • Duchess Ingiburga (above) in her own right again (1356-1361 – see Swealand 1318-1321)
  • Prince Bertil (1912–1997)

[edit] Hälsingland also known as Helsingia

[edit] Jämtland also known as Iemptia

[edit] Närke also known as Nericia

  • Prince Carl (as of 1560; King from 1604 – see Södermanland)
    • Princess Maria, his first wife (1579-1589 – see Södermanland)
    • Princess Christina, his second wife and widow (as of 1592; Queen from 1604 – see Södermanland)
  • Prince Carl Philip (1607-1618 – see Södermanland)
  • Prince Eugen (1865–1947)

[edit] Östergötland

  • See East Gothland.

[edit] Öland also known as Eyland[8]

  • Prince Waldemar (1310-1318 – also Uppland)
  • Prince Eric, their son (1318 to about 1328 with his mother)
  • Crown Prince Eric (as of 1557; King from 1560 – see Småland)
  • Crown Prince Carl Gustav (1650-1654 as per sovereign)

[edit] Scania also known as Skåne

[edit] Småland also known as Small Lands and the Smallands[9]

[edit] Södermanland also known as Southmanland[10] and Sudermania

[edit] Stegeborg

  • Prince John Casimir, widower of Princess Catherine (1651–1652)
  • Adolph John, their son (1652-1689)
    • Elizabeth Beatrice Brahe, Duchess of Stegeborg 1652-1653, as Adolph John's first consort
    • Elsa Elizabeth Brahe, Duchess of Stegeborg 1662-1689, as Adolph John's second consort

[edit] Swealand also known as Svealand

  • Prince Magnus (as of 1252; King from 1275 – also Södermanland)
  • Prince Eric (1275 – also Småland)
  • Prince Eric (1302-1310 – also Dalsland, North Halland, Södermanland, Värmland and West Gothland)
  • Duchess Ingiburga, his widow in her own right (1318-1321 – also Halland and as Eric’s wife and widow Dalsland, Värmland and West Gothland)

[edit] Uppland also known as Upland

  • Prince Waldemar (1310-1318 - see Öland)
    • Princess Ingiburga, his wife (1312-1318 – see Öland)
  • Prince Gustav (1827–1852)
  • Prince Sigvard (1907-1934 only as per royal court)

[edit] Värmland also known as Vermelandia and Wermelandia

  • Prince Eric (1310-1318 – see Swealand 1284-1310)
    • Princess Ingiburga, his wife and widow (1312-1326 – see Swealand 1318-1321)
  • Prince Carl (as of 1560; King from1604 – see Södermanland)
    • Princess Maria, his first wife (1579-1589 – see Södermanland)
    • Princess Christina, his second wife and widow (as of 1592; Queen from 1604 – see Södermanland)
  • Prince Carl Philip (1607-1618 – see Södermanland)
  • Prince Carl Adolph (1798)
  • Prince Gustaf (as of 1858; King from 1907)
  • Prince Carl Philip (from 1979)

[edit] Västerbotten

See West Bothnia.

[edit] Västergötland

See West Gothland.

[edit] Västmanland also known as Westmania

  • Crown Prince Gustav Adolph (1610-1611 – see Södermanland)
  • Prince Erik (1889–1918)

[edit] West Bothnia also known as Västerbotten

[edit] West Gothland also known as Västergötland

[edit] Westmania

  • See Västmanland.

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Nationalencyklopedin: Hertig
  2. ^ Paul Meijer Granqvist in Carl X Gustaf “den förste pfalzaren”, Askerbergs, Stockholm, 1910 p. 56
  3. ^ Prof. Jan Svanberg in Furstebilder från folkungatid ISBN 91-85885-52-9 pp. 97 & 104-106
  4. ^ Prof. Jan Svanberg in Furstebilder från folkungatid ISBN 91-85885-52-9 p. 97
  5. ^ Schück in Sveriges konungar och drottningar genom tiderna, Svensk Litteratur, Stockholm, 1952, p. 147
  6. ^ Lagerqvist in Sverige och dess regenter under 1000 år ISBN 91-0-075-007-7 p. 71
  7. ^ Eric Linklater in The Life of Charles XII pp. 53-54 & throughout
  8. ^ William Morris Endeavor as here
  9. ^ William Morris Endeavor as here
  10. ^ William Morris Endeavor as here

[edit] References

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