Präst, stånd och stat : Kung och kyrka i förhandling 1642-1686

Sammanfattning: This dissertation is the result of a study of power relations between the crown and the church in Sweden during the 17th century. The study is focused on the Swedish Parliament and how the Estate of the Clergy responded to royal pretensions. The Swedish Clerical Estate is viewed as essential for the Swedish state formation process.The argument in the study is inspired by theories suggesting that state building and state formation were outcomes of a bargaining process between rulers and local power holders. The perspective presented by the historian Jan Glete is of great importance. He defines the early modern state as a complex organization providing protection and violence control. He emphasizes that the power of the state and the state’s character were dependent upon how the state could assert power. In order to do this, the rulers bartered with their subjects using protection as a commodity while in return the subjects paid required taxes. This bargaining process is interpreted as interactive. The rulers linked various local interests to the state and in doing so gained control of the society and the use of violence.The Swedish Clerical Estate played an important role in this process. Due in part to this fact, the clergy differed from the other subjects of the realm such as the nobility or the peasants. The clergy did not own any sizeable amount of property and did not exert any economical influence. Instead the Clerical Estate negotiated using their ideological, cultural and political resources. These commodities became essential in how the king organized the state. In exchange for royal protection, the clergy were given the task of supporting and explaining the crown’s economical and military needs. By doing so, the Clerical Estate legitimated the royal power in the parliament and in the society as a whole. At the same time, this negotiation signified a definition of the role of the clergyman within the state. Though the Clerical Estate sometimes tried to reject royal claims, it was the king who decided the conditions of negotiation. The parliament as a political field was created by the king and for the king. From a political point of view, religion and a theological framework became of great importance and were adopted by the crown in order to exploit resources. Taking this into consideration, the 17th century Swedish state seems to be more effective than other European early modern states.