Copyright © Hans Högman 2017-07-25
Introduction
The Allotment System was a system of organizing
and financing the Swedish armed forces in earlier
times.
Spend enough time tracing your Swedish ancestors
and it's likely you will eventually discover someone
who served in Sweden’s armed forces, i.e. been a
soldier in an infantry regiment, horseman in a
cavalry regiment, artilleryman in an artillery
regiment or a seaman in the Navy. The soldier
might have been an allotted soldier or an enlisted
soldier. An allotted soldier was a soldier serving
within the Allotment System, i.e. in an alloted unit.
The purpose of this article is to explain how the
allotment system worked.
Sweden has had two different periods which have
been called the allotment system:
1.
The Early Allotment System 1540s - 1682
2.
The Late Allotment System 1682 - 1901
Prior to the Allotment System the Swedish armed
forces used a system of conscription (Swedish:
utskrivning) with involuntary soldiers drafted at
times of wars together with enlisted mercenaries.
When the conscripted soldiers was disbanded after
the wars it was still too expensive to keep the
mercenaries. So, at peace times there were only
enlisted soldiers serving in garrisons at the nation’s
fortresses and in larger cities.
The Early Allotment System (Äldre
indelningsverket)
The Early Allotment System was established during
the Rule of King Gustav Vasa, i.e. mid-1500s. After
the Liberation War (1521 - 1523) King Gustav began
building an army manned by foot-soldiers through
conscription (utskrivning) and cavalrymen through a
system called rusttjänst.
At the parliamentary session in Arboga in 1536 it
was decreed that cavalry units was to be
established in the different provinces of Sweden. In
the parliamentary session in Västerås in 1544 a
corresponding decreed was taken about infantry
units in the Swedish provinces. The cavary units
was called “fanor” and the infantry units was called
“fänikor”.
The foot-soldiers was enrolled through involuntary
conscription (utskrivning). The cavalrymen was
enrolled through a voluntary system called
“rusttjänst”. The “rusttjänst “was upheld by
farmers (freeholders) who provided a cavalryman
with a horse to the cavalry unit of the province. The
holder of the rustjänst (the freeholder) was in
return exempted from taxes. However, it was
common that the freeholder himself was the
cavalryman, i.e. the freeholder enrolled himself as
the cavalryman of his “rusthåll”.
The navy sailors (båtsmän) provided in a similar
manner as the foot-soldiers.
During the Rule of King Gustav II Adolf (1611 -
1632) the Swedish armed forces was modernized
both tactically and organizationally. The different
military units was reorganized into modern
regiments in 1623 and at least one regiment was
stationed in each province. These regiments were
therefore known as provincial regiments
(landskapsregementen). This reorganization of the
armed forces was later adopted in the Swedish
Constitution Act of 1634. According to the 1634
Constitution Act, 20 infantry regiments (13 in real
Sweden and 7 in Finland) and 8 cavalry regiments (5
in real Sweden and 3 in Finland) was to be
established. Note: Finland was a part of Sweden
until 1809.
The Late Allotment System (Yngre
indelningsverket)
Infantry - Rotering
In the beginning of the 1680s King Karl XI
reorganized the Swedish armed forces. The new
Military Act was passed in the Parliament on
October 27, 1682 and the new military system was
called Indelningsverket or in English the Allotment
System.
The Allotment System meant that standing army
was to be established in Sweden and Finland. This
new allotment system known as The Late
Allotment System or just The Allotment System
was based on the former allotment system, the so-
called Early Allotment System. Contracts was drawn
up with the Crown and the farmers (freeholders) in
each province. The freeholders (farmers) undertook
the responsibility to maintain a soldier for the
infantry regiment of the province. It was
mandatory for the freeholders to participate in the
Allotment System.
Each infantry regiment numbered 1,200 soldiers
which means that the farmers of a province were
obliged to raise and maintain 1,200 soldiers for the
regiment.
To maintain a soldier for the regiment was costly
and an extra burden to the farmers. To reduce the
burden for individual farmers, each parish (socken)
of the provinces was divided into districts
(allotments) called “rote” and each rote consisted
of 2 - 4 farmers. Thereby the costs was shared
equally between the farmers of a rote.
So, it was the duty of each “rote” to provide and
maintain one soldier for the regiment(s) of the
province.
It is rote in singular and rotar in plural.
So, it took 1,200 rotar to raise 1,200 soldiers for an
infantry regiment. Each rote was to maintain a
soldier including equipment such as uniform etc.
and a soldier croft (soldattorp) for the soldier to
live in when he wasn’t serving in the regiment. Croft
is a British English term for a small homestead, i.e.
cottage. The soldier croft also included some
farmland. The soldiers’ wage system was in other
words based on the subsistence economy
principals.
Why did the farmers (freeholders) agree to take on this
extra cost to maintain soldiers for the arm?
Well, the Early Allotment System was based on
involuntary conscription and not only farmhands
was drafted but also farmers, farmer’s son etc. This
early system was disliked by all parts including the
Crown but especially by the farmers.
In the new Allotment System the rote farmers was
exempted from conscription as long as they
provided and maintained soldiers for the army. So,
the farmers (freeholders) accepted the extra cost to
avoid involuntary military service.
The major freeholder of a rote was called stamrote
or huvudrote. The other freeholders of the rote
were called hjälprotar. One of the freeholders of a
rote was appointed (by themselves) rotemästare
(Master of the rote). Normally this was the
freeholder on who’s land the soldiers croft was
located. He was the freeholder in charge of the rote
and had the responsibility to make sure that the
soldier received the wage and the payments in kind
the soldier had the right to from the farmers of the
rote.
This system of keeping infantry soldiers for an
infantry regiment was called “Det ständiga
knekthållet” and the principle was called
“Rotering”.
Navy
The navy seamen (Båtsmän) were provided in a
similar manner as the infantry soldiers, i.e. through
rotering.
Cavalry - Rusthåll
The horsemen for the cavalry was raised and
maintained in a different manner than the foot-
solders soldiers of the infantry. The cavalry system
was called “Rusthåll”. To keep and maintain a
horseman including a horse for the cavalry was
voluntary.
The freeholder in a cavalry "rusthåll" had a personal
contract with the Crown stating that he took on the
responsibility to provide a cavalryman, horse and
uniform for the cavalry regiment of the province.
The contract was a voluntary agreement between
the Crown and the freeholder. The holder of a
rusthåll was called “Rusthållare”. The rusthållare
was exempted from paying taxes (and exempted
from the mandatory infantry rotering) as long as he
provided a cavalryman.
Normally there was only one freeholder in a
"rusthåll". However, the holder of the rusthåll could
have an extra freeholder to help him cover the
expenses. Such a subsidiary freeholder in a rusthåll
was called "augument".
Like the infantry soldiers, the cavalrymen were
provided with a croft (ryttartorp) and land to farm. A
cavalryman was called a "ryttare".
In the Early Allotment System it was common that
the "rusthållare" and the cavalryman was the same
person. This was not allowed in the Late Allotment
System.
Officers - Indelning
Each officer and NCO of the alloted regiments
received an official military residence in the
countryside as a fringe benefit related to the their
employment as military officers.
The company officer’s residences were located in
the same area as the soldier crofts of the soldiers in
respective company. The residence was not a
personal property of the officers and when an
officer was discharged from the regiment he had to
leave the residence.
These residences had been withdrawn from the
nobility during the second half of the 1600s in the
so-called Reduction or the Conflict of the Estates.
The system of providing officers and their
residences was called “Indelning”. Instead of
freeholders paying tax to the Crown and then the
Crown paid salaries to the officers, the officers
received a residence and salaries paid from locally
collected taxes of the rote farmers.
The higher rank the better residence and salaries
paid from more rote farmers’ taxes. The
freeholders who contributed to an officer’s salary
was called “fördelshemman”.
Read more about the Allotment System and the
life of the alloted soldiers by clicking on the
navigation bar below:
The Allotment System -
Sweden (1)
Source References - The
Allotment System
•
1. Kungliga Södermanlands regemente under
350 år ,1977
•
2. Karoliner, Alf Åberg, Göte Göransson, 1976
•
3. Soldater och soldattorp i Dunkers socken
Evert Wahlberg, 1989
•
4. Soldatnamn vid det indelta Södermanlands
regemente, Evert Wahlberg, 1990
•
5. Svenska knektar, indelta soldater, ryttare och
båtsmän i krig och fred, Lars Ericson, 1997
•
6. Veterinärväsende och krigsmanskassa,
Landstinget Sörmland, 1988
•
7. Historisk roman: Narva, Björn Holm, 1997
•
8. Många blev borta av upplänningarna, Sivert
Svärling, 1994
•
9. Båtsmän, ryttare och soldater, sid 99+, Agneta
Guillemot, 1988
•
10. Järvsö indelta kompani och Kramstalägret,
Olle Olsson-Brink, 1988
•
11. Kungar och krigare, tre essäer om Karl X
Gustav, Karl XI och Karl XII, Anders Florén,
Stellan Dahlgren, Jan Lindegren, 1992
•
12. Närkingar i krig och fred. Närkes
militärhistoria, del I. Stiftelsen Nerekies
regementen 1989
•
13. Från Brunkeberg till Nordanvind, 500 år med
svenskt infanteri, Bertil Nelsson, 1993
•
14. Försvarets civilförvaltning 1634 – 1865,
Försvarets civilförvaltning, 1994
•
15. Arméns förband, skolor och staber, Björn
Holmberg, 1993
•
16. Kungl. Artilleriet, Karl XI:s och Karl XII:s tid.
Redaktör Hans Ulfhielm, 1993
•
17. Soldater och soldattorp i Fogdö socken, Evert
Wahlberg, 1999
•
18. Den Karolinska Arméns uniformer under
Stora Nordiska Kriget, Lars-Eric Höglund, 1995
•
19. Skånska kriget 1675 - 79, fanor och
uniformer, Lars-Eric Höglund, 1999
•
20. Hästen i det karolinska rytteriet, Henry
Waxberg, 1973
•
21. Stora Nordiska Kriget 1700 - 1721, Fanor och
uniformer, Lars-Eric Höglund, Åke Sälläs, 2000
•
22. Kungl. Södermanlands regementes historia
1771 – 1915, Karl K:sson Leijonhufvud, 1915
