Copyright © Hans Högman 2017-07-25
Briefly the Swedish Military
Allotment System
The Establishment of a Standing Force of
Infantry Soldiers
The Late Allotment System (Swedish: Yngre
Indelningsverket) - the old system of organizing and
financing the Swedish armed forces between 1682
and 1901- was introduced during the reign of King
Karl XI. The aim was to establish a standing army.
The decision was taken on 27 October 1682 by the
Parliament of 1682.
Among other things, a permanent standing force
of infantry soldiers was to be established which
could be quickly mobilized in case of war, and with
the farmers of Sweden responsible for the
recruitment and maintenance of the soldiers.
The system was called "rotering" and was based on
rotar (wards) with rote farmers (homesteads) where
each rote (group of farmers) was to maintain and
support one soldier for the regiment in the
province.
An infantry regiment had 1,200 soldiers, so each
regiment, therefore, needed 1,200 rotar, i.e. groups
of farmers.
It is “rote” in the singular but “rotar” in the plural.
The simplest thing would have been to hire
soldiers, pay them with cash salaries and station
them in garrisons in the cities of the nation.
However, state finances did not allow this after the
many wars of the 17th century.
Instead, a system was devised whereby the
farmers had to bear the cost of maintaining the
soldiers. This was without any compensation, no
tax relief, etc. The farmers accepted this anyway
because the system contained both a carrot and a
stick.
The carrot was that the peasants were forever
exempted from being conscripted into military
service which was the case in the 1600s; they were
spared the dreaded drafts. This older system was
called “Utskrivningar in Swedish and was involuntary
conscription.
The stick was that if they failed to recruit and
maintain soldiers, they had to enter military service
themselves.
The rote would also provide “their” soldier with a
croft (cottage) and a parcel of farmland.
Rotar
It was a great expense to maintain a soldier with a
croft (cottage), uniform, etc. and therefore the
peasants were grouped into so-called rotar and
the peasants in the same rote would jointly recruit
and maintain a soldier for the regiment in the
province.
The key figure was 2 mantal, i.e. the farms within a
rote must together reach a total of 2 mantal.
Mantal was a taxation unit of land. Each farm was
assigned a mantal value on which the farmer paid
his taxes. A farm unit of a greater mantal value
produced a greater yield than a farm with a smaller
mantal.
So, how many farms there were per rote depended
on the respective farm’s yield.
On average there were 2 - 4 farms per rote.
So, the rote system was based on the division of
each province into 1,200 rotar per regiment with 2 -
4 farmers per rote. Each rote was responsible for one
soldier.
The largest farm in the rote was called Stamrote
(Main rote farm). The other farms in the rote were
called Hjälprotar (auxiliary or support rote farms).
The farmer of the stamrote was called the master
of the rote (rotemästare). The soldier croft was
usually located on the land of the owner of the
stamrote.
The auxiliary farmers paid a certain annual fee
called planpenningar to the farmer on whose
property the soldier croft was located as
compensation.
Exemptions
Not all peasants were obliged to stand as rote farmers.
Above all, it was tenant farmers on government
land (Kronobönder) and independent farmers who
owned their land (Skattebönder) that was the
backbone of the rote system.
Tenant farmers on land owned by the nobility
(Frälsebönder) were exempted.
The type of tenant farms known as “torp” in
Swedish (crofts) were so small agricultural units
that they had no set mantal values and therefore
was exempted from participating in the allotment
system as rote farmers.
Rote numbers
Each rote was numbered, i.e. was assigned a rote
number. An infantry regiment with 1,200 soldiers,
thus had 1,200 rotar, with rote numbers from 1 to
1,200. This series was within the regiment. There
was a second series too, within the company,
usually numbered from 1 to 150.
Each soldier was assigned a soldier number and
the soldier number the soldier carried was the
rote number. For example, a soldier at rote 110
carried the soldier number 110.
If a soldier was transferred from one rote to
another, the soldier then was assigned a new
soldier number, the number of the new rote. For
example, if a soldier was transferred from rote 110
to rote 56, he then was assigned the new soldier
number 56.
So, the soldier number wasn’t a unique number
assigned to a specific soldier during his entire
service time.
Each rote also had a rote name and it was usually
the name of the main farm of the rote (stamrote
farm).
Recruitment
When a soldier died or was discharged from the
regiment, the rote had to recruit another soldier for
the rote to fill the vacancy within three months.
The recruitment of new soldiers was usually done
through special recruitment meetings
(rekryteringsmöten) arranged by the regiment. The
regiment would of course accept the candidates
presented by the rote.
A soldier's contract was drawn up between the
rote and the soldier, which had to be approved at
the recruitment meeting. The contract regulated
how much the farmers in the rote would pay the
soldier in wages, payment in kind, etc.
Vacancies on any of the rotar in a parish were
announced as a notice from the pulpit of the
parish church by the parish minister. Prospective
young men could then apply for the vacant position
as a soldier on the rote that had a vacancy. When
newspapers became common in the 19th century,
vacancies on the rotar were also advertised in local
newspapers.
If the candidate the rote presented at the
recruitment meeting was accepted by the regiment,
he became a recruit. However, the recruit didn’t
become a soldier until he was approved at the next
upcoming general muster. Each regiment held a
general muster meeting about every third year.
The soldier croft was a fringe benefit going with the
job and when the soldier resigned or retired, he
and his family had to vacate the soldier croft
within 3 months because now his successor as the
new soldier on the rote would move in.
If a soldier was above the age of 50 when he retired
and had served in the army between 25 to 30 years
with honor he was granted a small pension from
the crown (gratial).
Soldier Names
When a soldier was accepted as a recruit, he was
assigned a soldier name by the captain of the
company. Among people in the countryside, the
patronymic system ruled with so-called father
names. The variation of patronymics wasn’t that
great and there were many people with the same
patronymics. At the end of the 17th century the
Army and later the Navy, therefore, began giving
soldiers special surnames, so-called soldier names.
To avoid confusion about which soldier was to react
when an officer gave an order to a specific soldier,
each soldier within a company was to have a
unique name, at least that was the idea.
So, within a company, each soldier would have a
unique soldier name. However, within the regiment,
there could very well be several soldiers with the
same soldier name as long as they served in
different companies.
Note, that soldier names were names going with the
job as a soldier. The soldier still had his patronymic
name but were using his soldier name as long as he
served as a soldier. A soldier’s children weren’t
using their father’s soldier name but patronymics.
So, the soldier names weren’t family names being
inherited by the children. When a soldier was
discharged or retired, he went back to his
patronymic name.
If a soldier, for example, was transferred to another
company, and his present soldier name was already
taken in the new company he very well might have
to change his soldier name.
However, during the second half of the 19th century
it became common also for country people to
adopt family names. This also applied to soldiers.
So, when a soldier then was discharged or retired,
he would keep his soldier name and adopt it as a
family name, a surname also inherited by the
children.
Many soldier names had a typical military touch
such as Attack, Lance, Shield, Sword, etc.
However, most soldier names can be derived to the
name of the rote farm, usually the main rote farm’s
name. For example, if the name of the rote was
Sundby, the soldiers of this rote may have used
soldier names such as Sundin, Sundberg,
Sundqvist, etc.
Note that there could very well be several of
consecutive solders of a specific rote wearing the
same soldier name. These soldiers were seldom
relatives, just happen to wear the same soldier
name.
Other Subsystems Within the Allotment
System
The Navy allotment system with the keeping of
the seamen known as “båtsmän” in Swedish were
conducted in a similar way as the army´s infantry
soldiers.
The infantry system was called “Det ständiga
knekthållet” while the navy system was called
“Båtsmanshållet”. The cavalry system was called
“Rusthåll” and was organized in a different way than
the infantry system. It was based on voluntary
participation by the farmers and was based on
reimbursement through tax reduction.
More information is at The late Allotment System
The Allotment System -
Sweden (7)
