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Aristocratic Government
The system of government which was obtained between 1536-1660 is generally known as aristocratic government.
It was a constitutional form of government in that the king was formally elected by the estates of the realm, in practice by the nobles in the Rigsråd, which, however, always elected the king’s oldest son.
The king, in turn, had to sign a constitutional charter which divided the power between the Crown and the Rigsråd.
The latter was a council made up of a dozen members of the high nobility who also took the most important government posts. Policies were written by the king and the Rigsråd; the rest of the population had no say in government matters.
The population could only be deprived of all political control because government finances were based on Crown revenue, which meant that the government did not generally impose any direct taxes on the people.
In principle, the government was self-financing through the Crown lands, which made up approximately half of the cultivated land in the country, the Sound Tolls and a number of other, minor, sources of income.
This system worked adequately until the beginning of the 17th century.
Under normal circumstances, the activities of the state were not very costly, being generally limited to maintaining law and order and to ensuring the privileges of the estates.
In addition, the administration had to ensure that the necessary funding existed to finance its foreign policy, which included the army and the navy.
These were only activated in times of war and crisis, however. The many wars that were fought during the 17th century therefore put the system under great pressure.
The traditional sources of revenue proved unable to finance the many military campaigns, and the usual revenue increasingly had to be supplemented by direct taxation.
This put the Rigsråd into a very awkward position indeed. The members of the nobility were, according to the privileges they had been accorded, exempt from taxation.
This meant that the burden of taxation fell solely on those groups who were least able to meet the demands. After the unsuccessful German War (the Kaiser War) 1625-1629 the frustration felt by the lower classes became obvious.
Their anger was directed at the Rigsråd which was accused of looking after their own interests rather than those of the State.
The growing financial crisis cast doubt on the credibility of the Rigsråd, and it finally collapsed in 1660-1661 when the country’s political system changed.
Knud J.V. Jespersen, Gyldendal Leksikon
