Imperial Council (Sweden)

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The Imperial Council ( Swedish riksråd ) was one of Sweden's most important political institutions between around 1220 and 1789 .

In the 1220s, a councilor was mentioned for the first time as the guardian of the underage King Erik Eriksson . It was not until 1280 that the Imperial Council established itself as a political institution that saw itself as an intermediary between king and people. However, the Imperial Council, which was recruited from the high nobility until around 1680 (until the Reformation , the bishops were also members of the Imperial Council), often pursued the interests of the aristocracy . The relationship with the royal power was complicated. On the one hand, many kings tried to limit the power of the Imperial Council, on the other hand, almost all kings of this time came from the noble families represented in the Imperial Council.

In the state reforms at the beginning of the 17th century, the Imperial Council developed more and more into a state organ, while the mediating role between people and king was called into question, especially through the establishment of the Estates' Congress under Gustav II Adolf , and finally denied by the Estates in 1680. Subsequently, the Imperial Council took over the function of a government under the reign of King Charles XI. and his successor Karl XII. The members of the Reichsrat were no longer recruited from the high nobility, but from the newly created civil service, whose social origins were quite heterogeneous.

With the beginning of the so-called freedom period in Sweden in 1720, the Imperial Council was initially upgraded. The new constitution stipulated that the king was bound by the decisions of the Imperial Council. However, the Reichsrat soon came under the control of the Estates Parliament, which among other things could appoint the members of the Reichsrat and prevent the Reichsrat from exercising its activities through a special procedure.

The successful coup of King Gustav III. and the introduction of an absolutist state order weakened the position of the Reichsrat vis-à-vis the king, who was finally authorized in the Unification and Security Act of 1789 to determine the number of Reichsrat members himself. Gustav III reduced their number to zero, with which the Reichsrat ceased to exist.

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