In the reductions in Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

, fiefs that had been granted to the Swedish nobility

Swedish nobility

The Swedish nobility were historically a legally and/or socially privileged class in Sweden, part of the so-called frälse . Today, the nobility is still very much a part of Swedish society but they do not maintain many of their former privileges...

 were returned to the Crown

Swedish Crown

The so-called Swedish Crown, also known as the "Purchased Crown", was a part of the Polish Crown Jewels.- History :The crown was made for King Sigismund II Augustus...

.

The first reduction under Charles X Gustav of Sweden

Charles X Gustav of Sweden

Charles X Gustav also Carl Gustav, was King of Sweden from 1654 until his death. He was the son of John Casimir, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg and Catherine of Sweden. After his father's death he also succeeded him as Pfalzgraf. He was married to Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp, who...

 in 1655 restored a quarter of "donations" made after 1632. In the Great Reduction of 1680 under Charles XI of Sweden

Charles XI of Sweden

Charles XI also Carl, was King of Sweden from 1660 until his death, in a period in Swedish history known as the Swedish empire ....

the Crown recaptured lands earlier granted the nobility. The Reduction had been fought for by gentry, tradesmen, state servants and peasantry alike, partly as a way to curb the power of the great aristocratic families, partly as a way to make the state solvent and able to pay its debts.

Through the Reduction, the great aristocratic families lost their power in Sweden and were substituted by bureaucrats of middle-class origins as pillars of the State.

Sources

• Per Nyström: Ekonomisk frihet och rätt i svensk historia, in I folkets tjänst, artiklar i urval. Stockholm 1983.