Fifflande fogdar - implementeringen av en ny förvaltningskultur i riksdelen Finland under tidigt 1600-tal

Authors

• Nils Erik Villstrand Åbo Akademi

Keywords:

Administrative history, political culture, abuse of office, anti-corruption strategies

Abstract

The paper examines the activities of the bailiffs in Finland during the early 17th century. The bailiffs played a central role in tax collection and were therefore of vital importance for the maintenance of the central functions of the Swedish government. They were situated between the Crown, which demanded reliability and efficiency, and the subjects that expected a state official to behave impartially. The bailiffs were short-lived in their office, but their assignments gave them many opportunities for corrupt behaviour. My aim is to ascertain to what extent they were guilty of abuse of office and what measures were taken by the crown to minimise this. The source material consists of a state regulatory framework in change and protocols from various hearings. My study indicates that a hearing of abuses of officials involving bailiffs was ineffective. During Gustav II Adolf's reign, the bailiffs were gradually incorporated into a new bureaucratic structure that allowed for more effective internal control, while the Crown also actively tested external control mechanisms.