http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?311886-Useful-pictures-for-17th-century-mods
Just as a reminder, Dr. Ailes is my professor for 17th Century Europe. She wrote a fantastic book that I highly recommend no matter what area of interest you hold. There is some information on housing (included here in this fantastic blog), social history, and military history. However, there is no military stratagem history, just so that you are aware.
The most
interesting point in this book to me was that British men, usually
Scotsmen, joined the Swedish military, they were able to gain land, and many
times titles. Most men that joined were second, third, etc.
and illegitimate sons of nobles. If the men were legitimate and could
prove their linage then they were usually, but not always, ennobled
by the Swedish government. Another perk for fighting for Sweden was land gifts.
“The decisions
regarding who received land donations were strictly controlled by the Swedish
government in order to allow the rulers to maximize their resources and prevent
undesirable interlopers from gaining possession of crown resources. There were,
however, times when the crown set aside the regulations governing the dispersal
of donations to meet the financial demands of the military…. Because the
Swedish crown at times had no other means of compensating military officers and
war financiers, nonnobles received land donations and thus came to possess the
same rights over the land as the nobility. As a noble landowner, the holder of
a donation was free from taxation… this gave them the same privileges as the
native Swedish nobility.”[1]
Dr. Ailes gives
some great examples within her book on this. These lands could be handed down
from father to son. In some cases (as previously mentioned here 17th Century Bridal Land Part 2) wives kept the property. And, as many had
multiple marriages, multiple children inherited.
“The crown’s
willingness to allow three generations of foreign officers who had not been
ennobled to hold land donations is remarkable.”[2]
Of course, other ways of attaining land was by personal
acquisition. Men not only purchased property, they also traded what they had
purchased, or what they had been gifted. This was a very common occurrence for
the British officers in Sweden. And, as time immemorial, estates had been
accumulated by slight of hand, honest or dishonest.
“Within the British community, another means for officers
to obtain larger tracts of land was to lend money to fellow officers and
receive property as security on the loan.”[3]
“Although they had not been naturalized as Swedish
noblemen, as landholders in Sweden they were given the same rights as
native-born, noble landholders and in return were expected to fulfill the same
obligations as other members of the Swedish nobility.”[4]
Unfortunately, after a few
generations, the great Swedish society was not as great. There was no money in
the government, and no lands to grant. So, many of the descendants of the
British immigrants had their land grants revoked. There were, of course,
exceptions.
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