Reduction (Sweden)

In the reductions in Sweden, (Swedish: Reduktion) fiefs that had been granted to the Swedish nobility were returned to the Crown.

The first reduction (Swedish: Fjärdepartsräfsten) under Charles X Gustav of Sweden in 1655 restored a quarter of "donations" made after 1632. In the Great Reduction of 1680 under Charles XI of Sweden the Crown recaptured lands earlier granted to the nobility. The Reduction had been fought for by gentry, tradesmen, state servants and peasantry alike, partly as a way to curb the power of the great aristocratic families, and partly as a way to make the state solvent and able to pay its debts.

Through the Reduction, the great aristocratic families lost their power in Sweden and were replaced as pillars of the State by bureaucrats of middle-class origin.

See also

• Counties and baronies in Finland

Sources

• Per Nyström: Ekonomisk frihet och rätt i svensk historia, in I folkets tjänst, artiklar i urval. Stockholm 1983.

References

• 1558–1710. Estonia under Swedish rule
• Reduktion Nordisk familjebok (Swedish)
• Reduktion (Swedish)