ners dying without descendants in the
realm, and through other sources. Some of the kings, therefore, devised
the scheme of enlisting the influential aristocracy in their service by
granting them fiefs in the crown estates, with right to all the crown
incomes from the fief. This plan was eagerly caught at by the
aristocrats, and before long nearly all the influential people in the
realm were in the service of the king. Thus the position of royal
courtier, which had formerly been a mark of servitude, was now counted
an honor, the courtiers being now commonly known as magnates. About the
year 1200 castles were first erected on some of the crown estates, and
the magnates who held these castles as fiefs were not slow to take
advantage of their power. Being already the most influential men in
their provinces, and generally the county or provincial magistrates,
they gradually usurped the right to govern the surrounding territory,
not as magistrates of the people, but as grantees of the crown estates.
Since these fiefs were not hereditary, the rights usurped by the holders
of them passed, on the death of the grantees, to the crown, and in 1276
we find a king granting not only one of his royal castles, but also
right of administration over the surrounding land. Thus, by continual
enlargement of the royal fiefs, the authority of the provincial
assemblies, and even of the county assemblies, was practically
destroyed. Still, these assemblies continued to exist, and in them the
poor landowners claimed the same rights as the more influential
magnates. The magnates, as such, possessed no privileges, and were only
powerful because of their wealth, which enabled them to become courtiers
or warriors of the king. In 1280, however, a law was passed exempting
all mounted courtiers from crown taxation. This law was the foundation
of the nobility of Sweden. It divided the old landowners, formerly all
equal, into two distinct classes,--the knights, who were the mounted
warriors of the king; and the poorer landowners, on whom, together with
the class of tenants, was cast the whole burden of taxation. With the
progress of time, exemption from crown taxation was extended to the sons
of knights unless, on reaching manhood, they failed to serve the king
with horse. The knights were thus a privileged and hereditary class.
Those of the old magnates who did not become knights were known as
armigers, or armor-clad foot-soldiers. The armigers also became