Conference article

During the many wars of the 17^th century; the Swedish army took a large amount of war booty. Along with the well-known pieces of fine art; it was also customary to capture whole archives and libraries. Taking war booty from the enemy was in accordance with international law at the time; for instance as proclaimed by Hugo Grotius in his classic De jure belli ac pacis (1625). Scholars today claim that the Swedes took booty more systematically and on a larger scale than any other European state at that time; especially when it came to archives and libraries. This paper argues that the books and documents that were taken as booty were not just used practically; as literature; by the Swedes. On a symbolic level the goods were used as identity markers; useful in the making of various identities that could be aristocratic; religious; historical or national. This took place at a time when the Swedish elite strived to reach a European cultural standard; and the paper demonstrates how political culture; objects and an elite European identity were thoroughly linked together.

The examples discussed below are all part of my dissertation project; with the working title Archives and Libraries as Swedish War Booty during the 17^th Century. Political culture; material culture and identity.

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