Mellan krona och marknad : Utländska och svenska entreprenörer inom svensk järnhantering ca 1580—1700

Sammanfattning: The aim of this thesis has been to explain the change that Swedish industry went through in the 17th century. My theory is that the change was connected with the transition from feudal relations of production to a system of capitalistic appropriation founded on precapitalist production. This form of capitalism is here defined as merchant-capitalism. My thesis points out the merchant-entrepreneur in the 16th and 17th centuries as the actor, who brought the change to countries away from the areas where accumulation of capital began.Opening up a connection between the market and the production, the merchant- entrepreneur was able to invest merchant-capital from the international market into the production and through economic force change the process of production to fit the growing markets. In this context I claim the merchant-entrepreneur to be the prime mover in changing both economic and social relations. It was merchant-entrepreneurs from the Low Countries who first brought economic and social change into iron industry in Sweden at the beginning of the 17th century.My research is founded on a comparison of merchant-entrepreneurs in the Low Countries and in Sweden. I also compare the proprietors of the Swedish ironworks, regarding to their relation to the international market and their access to merchant-capital as a condition for running their ironworks. I lay down that the differences of financial positions between the Swedish ironmasters in the second half of the 17th century depended on their relationship to the international market.