Personal Agency at the Swedish Age of Greatness 1560-1720 provides fresh insights into the state-building process in Sweden. During this transitional period, many far-reaching administrative reforms were carried out, and the Swedish state developed into a prime example of the ‘power-state’.

In early modern studies, agency has long remained in the shadow of the study of structures and institutions. State building in Sweden was a more diversified and personalized process than has previously been assumed. Numerous individuals were also important actors in the process, and that development itself was not straightforward progression at the macro-level but was intertwined with lower-level actors.

Internationally, the case of early modern Sweden is noteworthy because the state building process transformed a locally dispersed and sparsely populated area into a strongly centralized absolute monarchy and European empire at the beginning of the 17th century. Personal Agency at the Swedish Age of Greatness 1560–1720 provides fresh insights into the state-building process in Sweden during the transitional period 1550–1650. During those years, many far-reaching administrative reforms were carried out, and the Swedish state developed into a prime example of the early modern ‘power-state’.
The contributors approach Sweden’s rise to greatness from the point of view of personal agency. In early modern studies, agency has long remained in the shadow of the study of structures and institutions. This novel approach enables us to expose the difficulties, setbacks and false steps that the administration had to deal with.
The emphasis on individuals highlights the realities of 16th and 17th-century politics. State building was a more diversified and personalized process than has previously been assumed. In the case of Sweden, it has traditionally been presented as an ongoing evolution directed by the ruler and his closest counselors or institutions. Numerous individuals were also crucially important actors in the process, and thatdevelopment itself was not straightforward progression at the macro-level but was intertwined with lower-level actors.