Swedish government in Pomerania

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The Swedish government in Pomerania was the supreme administrative authority in Swedish Pomerania . Already provisionally set up during the Thirty Years' War , it existed from 1648 to 1815, legitimized by the Peace of Westphalia. The seat of government was initially Stettin , from 1713 Stralsund .

history

While Swedish troops had occupied the Duchy of Pomerania in the Thirty Years War , Bogislaw XIV died out in 1637, the ruling family of the Griffin . According to the regimental constitution of 1634 , the “princely Pomeranian councils left behind” ruled the country. However, in the conflict between Sweden and the Electorate of Brandenburg, this interim government had to resign as politically incapable of acting in 1638. Sweden then took over the administration of the country. Field Marshal Johan Banér was appointed Governor General. He oversaw Axel Lillie as governor of Pomerania and Johan Lilliehöök for Pomerania . The governor general was assisted by assistant councils and the governors were each supported by councilors of state.

The Pomeranian estates not involved in the government rejected the Swedish proposals on November 12, 1640 at a joint parliament in Stettin . The Stockholm government then issued a form of regiment in which the form of government was laid down. Court courts and consistories were set up in Stettin and Wolgast . The contribution system was reorganized and the country was divided into districts. In the ports, sea duties, the licenses, were levied. The ducal offices were directly subordinate to the Swedish government. The estates objected to the further expansion of the Swedish government in Pomerania, which was pushed by Johan Axelsson Oxenstierna , Alexander Erskein and Johan Lillieström . The influence of the estates, however, was further curtailed; state parliaments were only allowed to hold them with the approval of the governor-general.

With the Peace of Westphalia, the Duchy of Pomerania was divided between Brandenburg and Sweden , thereby legitimizing the Swedish government in Pomerania. The estates conducted lengthy negotiations with the Swedish government in order to regain their rights and privileges guaranteed in ducal times. With the regimental form of 1663 , which was essentially based on the regimental constitution of 1634, they finally succeeded in enforcing a large part of their demands. Since the greater part of Western Pomerania had come to Brandenburg, the Wolgast and Szczecin State Councils were merged into one government in Szczecin. During the Great Northern War , the seat of government was moved to Stralsund in 1713 .

The Swedish King Gustav IV Adolf dissolved the Pomeranian government in 1806. After the conquest of Swedish Pomerania by Napoleonic troops in 1807, they installed a Provisional Executive and Administrative Commission as a government. In 1810 the Swedish government was re-established. With the transfer of Swedish Pomerania to Prussia , the activities of the Swedish government in Stralsund ended. Some of the civil servants were transferred to the Prussian civil service in the newly formed Stralsund district .

Composition and responsibility

The sovereign was the Swedish king, who was represented by the governor general as governor. This had to be a Swedish Imperial Council and was also military commander in chief, head of civil administration and chancellor of the University of Greifswald . His deputy was the president of the court . The Swedish king reserved the right to appoint a lieutenant governor instead of the court president. The government continued to include the chancellor and two councilors. In important matters, the district administrators had to be consulted as representatives of the estates. A feudal secretary, two secretaries, an archivist and a registrar as well as copyists and registry lists also worked for the government .

The castle captain was responsible for chamber and domain affairs. His office was revoked in 1684 and the supervision of the domains and castles was transferred to one of the government councils. The newly established chamber took over the financial management as the sovereign authority. It was directed by the governor general and a state commissioner who was later designated as chief chamberlain . The chamber was directly subordinate to the Swedish Imperial Chamber College and the State Office. Therefore, the account books were kept in Swedish , while German was the usual official language.

The task of the Swedish government was to enforce the decisions of the king, the Swedish parliament and the state parliaments. The Swedish king reserved foreign affairs, granting privileges, exemptions from laws and orders, pardons and the appointment of civil servants. The government was in charge of the church, the school system and the judiciary. She exercised police power to maintain public order . Furthermore, the regulation of coins, measures and weights belonged to their tasks. She also had to supply the military units stationed in Swedish Pomerania.

See also

literature

  • Hans Branig : History of Pomerania. Part 1. From the development of the modern state to the loss of state independence 1300–1648. Publications of the Historical Commission for Pomerania, Series V, Volume 22 / I. Böhlau Verlag, Cologne and Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-412-07189-7 , pp. 193-196.
  • Hans Branig : History of Pomerania. Part 2. From 1648 to the end of the 18th century. Publications of the Historical Commission for Pomerania, Series V, Volume 22 / II. Böhlau Verlag, Cologne and Vienna 2000, ISBN 3-412-09796-9 , pp. 9-10.
  • Norbert Buske : Pomerania - territorial state and part of Prussia. An overview of the political development . Helms, Schwerin 1997, ISBN 3-931185-07-9 , pp. 49-50.
  • Reinhart Berger : Legal history of the Swedish rule in Western Pomerania. Konrad Triltsch, Würzburg 1936, pp. 3-6.
  • Martin Wehrmann : History of Pomerania. Volume II: Up to the Present. 2nd Edition. Verlag Friedrich Andreas Perthes, Gotha 1919–21. (Reprint: Augsburg 1992, ISBN 3-89350-112-6 ), pp. 141-146 and 172-175.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c General Directorate of the State Archives of Poland (ed.), Radoslaw Gazinski, Pawel Gut, Maciej Szukala: State Archives Stettin - Guide through the holdings up to 1945. In: Writings of the Federal Institute for Culture and History of Germans in Eastern Europe. Vol. 24, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2004, ISBN 978-3-486-57641-2 , pp. 60-61. ( Google books )