Draft:Arboga articles
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The Arboga articles are a statute dated 14 april 1561, where the bounds between the royal and princely powers in the duchies established by king Gustav Vasa are delineated. In his testament the standing of the dukes of the realm was stated very ambiguously, but gave the dukes enough pretext to claim an authority on par with that of the king's. To clear away this threat to the royal authority, Erik XIV convened a riksdag in Arboga in 1561. There, he compelled his brothers, dukes John and Magnus, to sign the articles (the fourth child of Gustav Vasa, the future Charles XI of Sweden, was still only a child).
The document, with support of the royal council and the Estates of the realm, established that the dukes no longer could claim to be autonomous rulers, but became instead subjects of the king. The inhabitants of the duchies were to swear the king an oath of fealty. Levies were to be mustered by the king's constables, and in times of war were to serve under the king's military commanders. The dukes could not enter alliances or negotiate with foreign powers without permission from the king, nor to subject the inhabitants of their duchies to forced labor or taxation. The highest court instance in the duchies would fall to the king, as in the whole of the realm. Only the king had the right to ennoble and grant other privileges. Royal decrees that applied to the whole realm would apply to the duchies as well. Bishops and lawspeakers would be appointed solely by the king.
The dukes retained few other privileges than the right to collect the annual revenues, benefit from the king's share in fines, adjudicate in suits brought by häradshövdingen, and appoint subordinate officials.
The reduction in the ducal power was prompted by the distrust Erik XIV harbored towards his oldest bother, John – from whom he also met the most resistance. When Erik XIV was deposed, these "hard and unsufferable" articles were brought forth as one of the reasons for his deposition, and John could thereafter not require his younger brother, duke Charles, to agree to the articles.
Sources
[edit]- Arboga artiklar i Nordisk familjebok (first edition, 1876)
- Arboga artiklar i Nordisk familjebok (second edition, 1904)