Uppkomlingarna : kanslitjänstemännen i 1600-talets Sverige och Europa

Sammanfattning: Civil servants with close access to monarchs have often been seen as influential advisers. A specific group of civil servants were the Royal Secretaries in Sweden and Spain, and the Secretaries of State in England and France. They all held offices which gave them close and continuous access to their masters.In all the above-mentioned countries these civil servants were recruited from among groups divergent from the political, social and economic elite. This discrepancy in social status was most apparent in Sweden and Spain. In Spain this led to a political conflict between secretaries and the aristocracy, which in turn led to the marginalization of the secretaries; in Sweden a similar political conflict remained unresolved throughout the century.In England and France the old establishment was able to enclose both the administration and its members. In Sweden the aristocracy failed to integrate this new office-holding nobility, thus laying the foundations for the strengthening of a homogeneous group which politically was strongly supportive of the monarchs.In France, England and Sweden the secretaries could use their offices to influence political decisions. This became a problem in Sweden since the Royal Secretaries within their own group were well-integrated by family and friendship connections. By supporting the monarchs, they themselves gained support and towards the end of the century these socially inferior civil servants had grown in importance and formed a politically important group alongside the established nobility.