A paper discussing the Swedish state and the basis for its so called Age of Greatness during the 17th - early 18th Century. With focus on the rapid mobilization and modernization of what was in fact a Military State. The Town of Jönköping serves as a fine illustration for this process with its strategic fortress and planned fortified city, protecting vital stores for the Army and two Royal Chartered factories. This paper was presented at the EAA Conference in Plzen, Czech Republic, on September 6th, 2013.

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EAA 2013 - Pilzen
Archaeological Perspectives on the Thirty Years' War
(session 2013.09.06)
Far Behind the Front.
The Ambitions and Shortcomings of an Aspiring
Military State in the 17th Century.
The ascent of Sweden as a major military power in Northern Europe in the 17th
century is forever connected to the Thirty Years War. The story of King
Gustavus Adolphus, “the Lion of the North” and battles like Breitenfeld, Lech,
Lützen and Nördlingen became public property and something generation after
generation of Swedish schoolchildren had to read about in the 19th
and 20th
century. Very little mention of the devastation and the suffering caused by this,
the European Civil War of the Early Modern Period, seeped through in these
tall tales of heroism and bravery on the battlefield. The so called Age of
Greatness, the century between the reign of Gustavus Adolphus and the
collapse of the Military State in the Great Nordic War, was treated like a kind of
success story. And the maps in our class room and history books became
brighter with the new territories constantly added to the Realm…
Fortunately this simplified and nationalistic view belongs to the past. A far
more diversified and balanced narrative has taken its place in the post WW II-
years. And battlefield – or shall we say – conflict archaeology has proved to be
an important agent in this process. Excavations on the actual scenes of the
events have provided important details hitherto unknown. And by doing so
archaeology has widened our understanding for both military actions and their
effects on the local populations that happened to find themselves in the path
of war.
But during my brief moment in the spotlight I will try to describe a far more
prosaic development. I will deliberately keep away from the front, from the
battles and the dubious heroes of the Swedish Army in Germany. Instead, my
focus will be on the development of a Swedish 17th
century town that we know

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quite well from three decades of archaeological excavations… My aim is to use
this site as something of a metaphor, a somewhat oversimplified illustration of
Sweden during the Age of Greatness. It exemplifies both the visions for the
future, held by the Absolutist State and the consequences these often
unrealistic plans had for ordinary people. In this case study the inherent
weakness of the new empire becomes evident. It also provides a background to
the mobilization of local resources and the logistics that made the Swedish war
effort between 1627 and 1648 possible!
1. Let’s begin here. With a propaganda picture of Jönköping, made in 1690.
What we see is a fairly large town – from a Swedish point of view –
dominated by its huge fortress and the new church. Between them,
amidst all the squat wooden houses, is the Göta Hovrätt Court of Appeal.
Although quite exaggerated, this picture is correct in stressing the
importance of the military, the administration and the protestant church
in the 17th
century town.
To summarize the background - Jönköping belongs to a group of
Scandinavian towns that were relocated and provided with a new town
plan during the 17th century. The aim was to modernize and fortify
strategically important cities of the Realm, but lack of funding prevented
the fulfillment of many of these projects. The visions of King and Council
were at times too far removed from the somewhat harsh realities of a
poorly developed country on the fringes of Europe. Even so, these
undertakings in the 17th
century were on a scale rarely seen in this part
of the world before.
2. The emergence of Sweden as a major power in Northern Europe can be
traced back to the dissolution of the Scandinavian Union of the late
Middle Ages. Although unstable and weak, the union of Denmark,
Norway, Sweden and Finland had existed for more than a century. In its
place two national-states, Denmark and Sweden, started to compete for
the control of the region. The former had been the dominating one since
the days of state formation, but the Sweden of the Vasa dynasty was an
ambitious upstart of a kingdom. And they had the iron production areas
in the Bergslagen province plus the invaluable copper mines of Falun to
add strength to the economy. It is worth noticing that the Swedish
copper played a role similar to what the silver from Potosí did for the
Spanish Empire. The struggle for control of the lucrative Baltic trade led

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to war – like the Seven Years War, described as “the first modern conflict
in Scandinavia” and the Kalmar War, the latter a complete disaster
beginning the reign of Gustavus Adolphus.
3. Jönköping was a border town; but unfortified during most of the Middle
Ages and well into the 16th
century. In the following century ambitious
plans were made for turning the town into a modern city fortress. It was
to be the central link in a chain meant to close the southern border of
the realm to Danish attacks. And the impressive fortifications gave
shelter to the army supplies and strategic manufacturing. A town for
modern times indeed!
But why Jönköping? A quick look at the map says it all. This was one on
the most important junctions in southern Sweden. Roads from east to
west met roads coming up from the coast and the Danish counties of
Scania and Halland. And the vast lake Vättern could provide 130 km of
sailing, straight into the Swedish heartland, with a fine sheltered harbor
where the town grew up.
4. The development of Jönköping castle provides a fine illustration to the
changing fortunes of the city. Originally a Franciscan friary, it was taken
over by the Crown after the dissolution of the religious houses in Sweden
during the Reformation. After a local rebellion in the 1540s the buildings
were transformed into a royal castle and fortified. It was burnt in 1567
during the Seven Years War and left as a ruin until 1595 when an
ambitious plan for modernization and enlargement was begun. At the
time of the Thirty Years War the fortress in Jönköping was one of the
largest of its kind in Sweden, covering some 10 hectares.
5. The Danish siege and fire of 1612 reduced the medieval town of
Jönköping, situated on dry ground west of the castle, to ashes. Now the
King and his council acted rapidly. A decision was taken that the town
should be re-built on the new site, called “Sanden”. The citizens
complained and protested eloquently, but to no avail. The word of
Gustavus Adolphus stood firm. The laying out of new plots started in
1614.
During the first years a number of drafts for the new town were made.
Some features re-occur like the canals, the inner harbor and the circle of
large fortifications, surrounding and protecting the city centre. What we

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see is the plans for a modern city fortress in the Dutch fashion, were the
castle and town should interact in the defense and create an
impregnable unity.
6. Unfortunately parts of the new plots given away were actually beneath
the water of Lake Munksjön. Or situated in a bog called the Morass. Here
the peat was found beneath landfill and house remains during the
excavations six years ago. The weight of material put on top had
compressed the peat, causing more landfill, compressing more etc etc.
No wonder that severe floods were reoccurring in the first century of the
new towns life…
7. If we now turn to the logistics, excavations from the 1980s onwards have
shown the scope of the undertaking. An estimated 20 000 wagon loads
of soil had to be transported into the site of the new town during the
first 10 years just to build up enough ground for the first houses to be
constructed upon.
But more than soil was needed – huge amounts of timber and stone
were also carried in. For these transports peasants from the surrounding
districts were called upon by the Crown. Even the soldiers from the local
garrison were ordered to take part in this work – at least for the areas
staked out for the royal manufactures.
8. The landfill had an interesting story to tell. These “clean” strata of sand
were first identified in the Royal Chartered Arms factory site in 2004.
What we see in the picture is sand – the original beach, covered by
debris from the building of wooden structures nearby. But on top of that
is more than 50 cm of sand, taken from a site where the archeobotanical
evidence tells us of ruderal plants from a dry, built up environment. This
was the foundation for the oldest workshops and living quarters in the
factory area – the floor planks from a simple barrack, built in the early
1620s, can be seen resting on the sand.
9. Let’s now have a look at the monuments of the Absolutist State – the
grand and costly buildings of the 17th
century. It’s worth noticing the
Swedish Coats of Arms right above the main entrance to Christine Church
– named in honor of the daughter of the founder of the new Jönköping.
It’s also telling that a stone church was not of the highest priority.
Instead the new Court of Appeal was. The symbol of a reformed judicial

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system was built 10 years before work on the church started. The
congregation had to endure for another decade or two in its barnlike
little timber church. After all, Jönköping was a project for the strong
State and its administration!
10.The foundation of two Royal Chartered factories in 1620 was of crucial
importance for the coming war effort. The manufacturing of firearms in
Jönköping was a craft based upon a long local tradition, transformed into
a kind of early industry. It became a high tech world characterized by
rapid development and an early example of division of labor.
By centralizing strategic production the flow of vital supplies for the
armed forces was secured. Theoretically. In reality most of the local
gunsmiths choose to stay in their farms, spread all over the region. And
the authorities had to give in. What mattered was the production of
guns, not the organization of that production.
11.The other Royal Chartered Factory in Jönköping was quite another story
altogether. Here a group of local businessmen were asked to start a large
scale production of textiles, mainly cloth for the army and navy. Know-
how was brought in from abroad by hiring skilled craftsmen in Germany.
They established an enclave in the central part of town, called the
German Meadow. There they were settled; being a group favored by the
State, well paid and able to uphold a more modern, continental urban
lifestyle than their Swedish neighbors. We know of tensions from written
sources, and the archaeological material indicates such problems too.
As for the production it started with unrealistic goals and the local raw
material, the wool, was of low quality. Furthermore it proved difficult to
engage male Swedish workers in the production of textiles. After less
than 30 years the manufacturing ended.
12.As the years went by work on the Grand Design of a New Jönköping
slowly came to a halt. About half the area planned for the city was
actually used in the 17th
and early 18th
centuries. And although the town
was seen as of the greatest importance to the defense of Sweden, there
were never enough resources to start building the ring of fortifications in
earnest. Instead one generation of simple toll fences followed another.
And as only the northern half of the system of canals was dug, the

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ditches and the inner harbor filled with stagnant water… But at least the
monumental space in the form of a square had been added.
13. Finally – let’s have a look at the Jönköping castle, its development and
find some clues to a troubled building history provided by archaeology.
In the early 17th
century the castle was enlarged into an artillery fortress
with corner bastions, casemated curtain walls and a large bailey; a work
led by the Dutch master builder Hans Fleming.
14. Recent excavations in the SE-corner of the fortress have revealed
surprising differences in the quality of the walls. The west and north
flank of the bastion varied considerably in thickness and where one
would have expected solid walls, they turned out to be hollow and filled
with debris. This was an example of a surprisingly shoddy workmanship;
something that would have endangered the safety of the castle in case of
a siege.
Furthermore, the bastion Carolus was built on insufficient foundations
and had in fact been in danger of a collapse almost since day 1. Fleming
himself asked the King in 1617 if the bastion could be torn down, as
serious cracks in the masonry had been noticed.
15. Even the mortar in the walls still standing tells the same story about the
varying quality. In some parts the lime mortar is an almost perfect
mixture, while in other sections such as the makeshift wall from 1612,
the adhesiveness must have been low indeed.
16. To sum it up – if the excavated parts of these 17th
century fortifications
are representative for the quality of all defensive structures surrounding
the castle, then the central link in the chain of fortresses was indeed
weak. Modern plans and a highly qualified master builder like Fleming
could do little if the surveys left out important facts, if the funding was
insufficient and the work force was untrained or unsuitable for the task.
17. And to a large extent this is the story of the new city of Jönköping.
Although it was undeniably of greatest importance to the Crown, the
resources to finish the task of building the fortress town were never
present. The Visions may have been grand enough, but the harsh
realities were that other projects – such as Gothenburg and Kalmar – had
a higher priority. It is also worth noticing the ambivalence shown by the

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Government towards this project when decisions were changed or
reversed. So…
The city fortifications stayed on the drawing table
Only about half of the area originally intended for the new town
was actually used
The castle might have looked impressive enough, but had a
number of concealed weaknesses.
The Royal Chartered Factory meant to modernize textile
production in Sweden became a failure.
An economy based on war production was vulnerable. Peaceful
times always meant recession – so what was probably the worst
crisis ever in the history of the Jönköping came in 1721 when the
Age of Greatness ended. But the Westphalian peace treaty of
1648 had also created a notable recession in Jönköping, among
other things leading to the shutdown of the Royal Chartered
textile factory.
To sum it up – Jönköping may be seen as an almost perfect illustration of the
Sweden that took part in the Thirty Years War. It was indeed a country with
quite limited resources. But whose leaders aspired on playing a major part in
European politics. And where the visions and plans made for the future
development sometimes reminds us of the Soviet five year plans of the 1930s.
Same disregard for the realities, for the actual costs and for the human
suffering the implementation of these plans would bring forth.
But it was also the beginning of an effective administration, of reforms in the
judicial and economic system that can be easily traced today. And despite the
fact that Swedish armies took part in laying waste large tracts of the Continent
it was also a time of international contacts that effectively made Sweden an
integrated part of Europe.