Nyckelord
political history
taxation
riksdag
Sweden
Finland
eighteenth century
nineteenth century
Abstract
Peasant influence, price scale deputies and the four-estate system: 18th and 19th century political history in an agrarian perspective
The present analysis of the Swedish system of price scale deputies of the four Estates (markegångsdeputerade) sheds light on the fluctuating political influence of the Estate of Peasants as well as on other changes in the four-estate system. In 1731, during the so-called Age of Liberty, the Diet (riksdag) decided that the official market price scales (markegångstaxor) should be determined by the county at annual meetings between the county governor and deputies from the four Estates: nobility, clergy, burghers and peasants. The market price scales were important because they formed the basis for calculating how in-kind taxes and other contributions to the Crown would be valued in money.
The rules governing the activities of price scale deputies were subsequently changed quite frequently, sometimes to the tax-paying peasants’ advantage and sometimes to their disadvantage. Notable successes in the 1730s and 1740s were followed by setbacks, especially in the early 19th century during the absolutist rule of Gustav IV Adolf.
The significance of the price scale deputies is illustrated by the fact that they were protected in the constitution of 1809, established after the deposition of Gustav IV Adolf and remaining in force until 1974. Both in 1731 and 1809, the four Estates agreed to limit the powers of the county governors in setting the market price scales. However, the governor retained an important role as chairman of the price scale deputies.
The practical significance of the price scale deputies diminished towards the end of the 19th century. The four-estate Diet was abolished in 1866 and shortly after, in 1869, the new bicameral parliament permanently fixed inkind contributions to the Crown in monetary value, something that the peasantry had striven for since 1723. In certain contexts, however, the market price scales system was still applied and price scale deputies remained in existence until 1982, although appointed in a different way than during the Estates’ period.
As for further studies, a closer examination of the work of the price scale deputies would enhance our understanding of the peasantry’s influence at the regional level and the roles of the four Estates in the political system of the 18th and 19th centuries.