Ordinance of Alsnö

The Ordinance of Alsnö or Statute of Alsnö (Swedish: Alsnö stadga) was an act by king Magnus Ladulås of Sweden, issued at Alsnö hus in 1279,^[1] giving exemption from land taxation to those nobles who committed to produce a heavy cavalryman to the king's service:

Because it is proper that those who support us with advice and help should have more honor we give to our men and those of our brother Bengt, and all their stewards and peasants and all on their estates, freedom from royal taxes (and penalties), so also all the archbishop's men and all the bishop's men. It is our will also that all the men who serve with war-horses, that they have the same privileges, whomever they serve.^[2]

This established the frälse, the tax-exempt secular nobility in Sweden. Another, perhaps less pivotal but more widely known, article of this act reformed the peasants' obligation to accommodate traveling nobles, a privilege that was at the time abused to the point of gatecrashing. As Magnus was acclaimed for "protecting the persons and goods of the common people and thus was nicknamed Magnus Ladulås (Magnus Barn-lock)"^[3]

References[edit]

^ Ljungqvist, Fredrik C. (2022). Quantitative Approaches to Swedish Law. Cambridge Scholars Publisher. ISBN 978-1527580565. "It is at the same time somewhat surprising that the noble heavy cavalry is not mentioned, or regulated, in the provincial laws originating after the 1280s as it was regulated in The Ordinance of Alsnö from 1279, Diplomatarium Suecanum, no 799 (SDHK no. 1122). The most commonly accepted dating of the Ordinance of Alsnö is 1279, although 1280 has also been suggested by some scholars including Jan Liedgen, "Alsnö stadgas spräk och datering," Rättshistoriska studier 11 (1985), 103-117." pg. 117
^ Sweden, the Nation’s History by Franklin D. Scott pg. 57
^ Sweden, the Nation's history by Franklin Daniel Scott

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[1] Ljungqvist, Fredrik C. (2022). Quantitative Approaches to Swedish Law. Cambridge Scholars Publisher. ISBN 978-1527580565. "It is at the same time somewhat surprising that the noble heavy cavalry is not mentioned, or regulated, in the provincial laws originating after the 1280s as it was regulated in The Ordinance of Alsnö from 1279, Diplomatarium Suecanum, no 799 (SDHK no. 1122). The most commonly accepted dating of the Ordinance of Alsnö is 1279, although 1280 has also been suggested by some scholars including Jan Liedgen, "Alsnö stadgas spräk och datering," Rättshistoriska studier 11 (1985), 103-117." pg. 117

[2] Sweden, the Nation’s History by Franklin D. Scott pg. 57

[3] Sweden, the Nation's history by Franklin Daniel Scott

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