Servants of liquidation: The clerical staff at the First Debt Office in Sweden, c. 1719–1730

Abstract

The extensive use of white collar workers, such as bookkeepers and clerks, played a crucial role in the formation of modern states during the early modern period. This article focuses on the formation of a Debt Office in Sweden, which was opened in 1719 in order to administer the liquidation of the debt accrued during the previous royal regime. By utilizing the available expertise that had been working on the debt market, it was relatively easy for the new parliamentary rule to found the office. The office became part of the credit system when it interacted with various creditors. The clerical staff helped the market to function by providing intermediation, but their role became increasingly contentious. By examining the clerical staff, we learn how the authorities tried to build a trustworthy institution. The case thereby offers another perspective on credible commitment than research which concentrates on formal political institutions.

Keywords:

• Sweden
• white collar work
• intermediation
• government debt
• credible commitment

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 For an overview of the Debt Office, see Åmark (1961, pp. 675–708).

2 E.g. Swedish National Archives, Stockholm (SNA), Sekreta utskottets protokoll 1719, vol. R2384, 5 Mar. and 8 Apr.

3 For an overview of this process, se Åmark (1961), pp. 675–708.

4 On the French system of liquidation, see Neal (2000, p. 132) and Velde (2008, pp. 151–164).

5 SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Huvudarkivet, Inkomna skrivelser från ständerna, sekreta utskottet och kontorsdeputationen 1719–1733, vol. 142.

6 E.g. SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Kammarkontoret, Renskrivna huvudböcker, vol. 395, Huvudbok 1719–1722; Regional Archives in Uppsala, Länsstyrelsen i Västmanlands län, Landskansliet I, Huvudböcker över medel under Riksens ständers kontors disposition, vol. 1, 1719–1720.

7 E.g. SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Huvudarkivet, Renskrivna protokoll, vol. 1, 1719–1720, 13 Jul., 26 Aug., 16 Dec. 1720.

8 SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Huvudarkivet, Renskrivna protokoll, vol. 1, 1719–1720, 19 Aug. 1719 and 26 Aug. 1720.

9 SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Huvudarkivet, Renskrivna protokoll, vol. 1, 1719–1720, 16 Dec. 1720.

10 SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Huvudarkivet, Renskrivna protokoll, vol. 5, 1724, 6 and 11 Feb.

11 SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Huvudarkivet, Renskrivna protokoll, vol. 1, 1719–1720, 26 Aug. 1720.

12 SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Kammarkontoret, Renskrivna huvudböcker, vol. 395, Huvudbok 1719–1722.

13 SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Huvudarkivet, Renskrivna protokoll, vol. 1, 1719–1720, 22 Jun. 1719; SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Huvudarkivet, Renskrivna protokoll, vol. 2, 1721, 28 Feb., 10 Jun.

14 SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Huvudarkivet, Renskrivna protokoll, vol. 1, 1719–1720, 22 Jun. and 23 Sep. 1719, 16 Dec. 1720.

15 SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Huvudarkivet, Renskrivna protokoll, vol. 1, 1719–1720, 13 and 29 Jul. 1720; SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Huvudarkivet, Renskrivna protokoll, vol. 2, 1721, 19 Dec.

16 SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Huvudarkivet, Renskrivna protokoll, vol. 1, 1719 – 1720, 26 Aug. and 14 Sep. 1720.

17 SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Huvudarkivet, Renskrivna protokoll, vol. 1, 1719–1720, 19 Jan. 1720; SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Huvudarkivet, Renskrivna protokoll, vol. 3, 1722, 27 Feb.

18 SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Huvudarkivet, Renskrivna protokoll, vol. 2, 1721, 10 Jun.

19 SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Huvudarkivet, Renskrivna protokoll, vol. 2, 1721, 22 Dec.

20 SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Huvudarkivet, Renskrivna protokoll, vol. 2, 1721, 19 Dec.

21 SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Huvudarkivet, Renskrivna protokoll, vol. 2, 1721, 8 and 18 Feb.

22 SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Huvudarkivet, Renskrivna protokoll, vol. 2, 1721, 28 Feb. and 11 Mar.

23 On Kontributionsränteriet, see Lindeberg (1941, pp. 76–94) and Karlsson (1994, pp. 125–130, 170–180).

24 SNA, 1714 och följande års Kontributionsränteri, Expensräkenskaper 1715–1718. See also SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Huvudarkivet, Renskrivna protokoll, vol. 1, 1719–1720, 5 Jul. 1720.

25 SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Huvudarkivet, Renskrivna protokoll, vol. 1, 1719–1720, 22 Jun. 1719.

26 Murphy (2010, p. 152) shows how there was a shortage of experienced clerical staff in London in the 1690s.

27 SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Huvudarkivet, Tjänstemäns eder 1719–1762, vol. 248.

28 On oaths, see Nauman (2017).

29 SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Huvudarkivet, Renskrivna protokoll, vol. 1, 1719–1720, 22 Jun. and 23 Sep. 1719.

30 SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Huvudarkivet, Renskrivna protokoll, vol. 1, 1719–1720, 23 May 1720.

31 SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Huvudarkivet, Renskrivna protokoll, vol. 1, 1719–1720, 26 Aug. and 14 Sep. 1720.

32 SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Huvudarkivet, Renskrivna protokoll, vol. 4, 1723, 20 Jun., 24 Jul. and 18 Sep. See also Odén (1902, s. 125) and Stavenow (1922, p. 73).

33 Gaunt (1975, p. 31). See also Murphy (2010, p. 152) for a similar argument about the English situation.

34 On apprenticeship, see De Munck et al. (2007) and Prak and Wallis (2020).

35 On the role of intermediation in early financial markets, see Van Bochove (2013, pp. 252–271).

36 SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Kammarkontoret, Licentmemorialböcker, vol. 454, 1720.

37 SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Huvudarkivet, Renskrivna protokoll, vol. 2, 1721, 22 and 27 Sep. Cf. Runefelt (2005), pp. 86–97.

38 SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Huvudarkivet, Renskrivna protokoll, vol. 5, 1724, 10 Mar.

39 SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Kammarkontoret, Licentmemorialböcker, vol. 458, 1724.

40 SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Huvudarkivet, Renskrivna protokoll, vol. 10, 1729, 26 Mar. SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Kammarkontoret, Licentmemorialböcker, vol. 464, 1729.

41 SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Huvudarkivet, Renskrivna protokoll, vol. 5, 1724, 17 Mar.

42 SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Huvudarkivet, Renskrivna protokoll, vol. 9, 1728, 27 Feb., 5 Mar., 12 Mar., 19 Mar., 30 Apr., 21 May, 5 Sep., 22 Oct.

43 SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Huvudarkivet, Renskrivna protokoll, vol. 5, 1724, 30 Sep. The division between morally superior creditors and self-interested speculators is similar to the division between useful and harmful merchants in Runefelt (2005, pp. 86–97).

44 SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Huvudarkivet, Renskrivna protokoll, vol. 5, 1724, 30 Sep.

45 SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Huvudarkivet, Renskrivna protokoll, vol. 5, 1724, 13 Oct and 20 Oct.

46 SNA, Riksens ständers kontor, Huvudarkivet, Renskrivna protokoll, vol. 5, 1724, 13 Oct.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by Handelsbanken’s Research Foundations under grant P18-0160.

Notes on contributors

Patrik Winton

Patrik Winton is a senior lecturer in history at Örebro University with a particular interest in global history, state formation, political economy and financial development in Europe during the early modern period. Winton’s research has primarily focussed on politics and on how the ties between the Scandinavian states and the growing credit markets affected society during the eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Winton finished his doctoral thesis at Uppsala University in 2006. The thesis focussed on political organisation in Sweden during the Age of Liberty (1719–1772). Since then he has, among other things, edited an anthology on political culture in Scandinavia during the age of revolution together with Michael Bregnsbo, Pasi Ihalainen and Karin Sennefelt, and published a number of articles on war finance in the Danish and Swedish realms and on the relationships between the Swedish state and the international capital markets in the period 1760–1830. Other contributions have focussed on the expansion of credit markets in the Swedish realm during the eighteenth century.