著者

佐保 吉一

出版者

北海道東海大学

雑誌

北海道東海大学紀要. 人文社会科学系 (ISSN:09162089)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.11, pp.39-54, 1998

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The prurpose of this paper is to examine the policies taken during the early Danish Absolute Monarchy (1661-1671) against the nobility by using the historical sources, such as the Coronation Charter of 1648,the Patent of the nobility of 1661,The Royal Law (1665), and the Patent of the new nobility (Count and Baron, 1671). In 1660 the hereditary monarchy was established in Denmark after the strong struggle among the nobility and a few months later the absolute monarchy was peacefully introduced. Soon King Frederik III began to carry his policies against the old Danish nobility to reduce their power. First, he dissolved the council of the realm, and then he issued the Patent of June 24,1661 and reduced the rights of the nobility. Moreover The Royal Law of 1665 did not make any straight reference to the nobility, but as a whole it stressed and secured the King's absolute power. In addition the nobility lost their important privilege, the exemption of their tax on their estates. In the reign of Christian V (king : 1670-1699), two important laws were announced on the same day, May 25,1671. The first one is the Patent of the Count and the Baron, which introduced a new class of the nobility. The point is that their elevation was dependent on not their birth status, but the size of the land they owned. This measure brought equal opportunity to become new nobility and urged the social mobility later on. The other one is the decree on Ranks, which clearly sought to build a new loyal class of officials. The upper ranks were mostly consisted of members of royal family and major officers of the state. Also the new Dannebrog Order was created in 1671 to widen the authority of the King. With these three measurements we can see the mutual aim ; to create a different system of hierarchy and put those who are in favor of the absolute King into this new system. And the highest person in this system is of course, the King himself. As seen above, after the introduction of the absolute monarchy, the first two absolute Kings, Frederik III and Christian V tried to oppress the power of the old nobility ; by issuing the Patent of the nobility, introducing the new system of nobility (Count and Baron) , and composing the Royal Law. Therefore the rights of the old nobility were much more restricted than before. And the nobility even had a land tax imposed on their estates, which never was the case before 1660. The nobility lost first of all their political power in the central government and gradually could not maintain their social and economic privileges. But strangely cnough they never took a strong measure of revolt against the absolute monarchy.