Allotment system

The reason for this development of the term is that a large part of the allotment system was used to support det ständiga knektehållet.

At the same time, land tax exemption (frälse) was given to those who equipped horsemen for cavalry service, according to the Decree of Alsnö.

The impressment of the foot soldiers was called utskrivning (literally "writing out"), and was based on a grouping, called a rote (similar to an English "file" or "ward"; in the eastern parts of the Swedish realm, this became the Finnish ruotu), of ten men from an estate or a few farms, fit for military service and between the ages of 15 and 40.

One randomly chosen man from each rote was forced to serve in the province's or county's regiment in case of war.

This grouping was known as a rusthåll (literally "arm household"), a bigger farm or estate (practically a peasant manor) that could support a horseman with his horse and equipment in exchange for tax exemption.

This option resembled the medieval origin of knighthood but no longer carried the Swedish noble status with it, as the cavalryman was not permanently stationed in war, but was allowed to remain home at peacetime.

First, any of the ten men in each rote could be picked to serve in case of war, which made it hard for the generals to estimate the knowledge and level of practice their soldiers would have.

As with the infantry, the farms in coastal areas were organized into rotar, which would each provide a croft (båtmanstorp) for a navy volunteer.

There were several problems with this system, relating to the fact that a large proportion of the seamen did not live anywhere near the largest naval ports of Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Karlskrona.

Many seamen had their crofts along the coast of Norrland and Finland, and thus had several hundred kilometres to travel when called into service.

Even the latter method of transport, however, took a long time, and soon the state began to provide tools and materials, excepting the actual timber, to the rote so that the farmers could build a large rowing/sailing boat called a lodja.

Each rote in the new allotment system had the responsibility to recruit a soldier for the army, provide his croft with a patch of land, a cow, a few chickens and few pigs or sheep so he could support a family, pay him his salary, and supply him with necessities such as hay and seed.

The soldier lived at his croft for large parts of his life, mostly working at the farms that supported his household, and went away to a few training camps a year, honing his tactics and skills with his regiment.

[3] Many soldiers served in the army for more than 30 years, as there was no service time stated in the contract; instead, being discharged required a reason, such as old age, injury, sickness, or the commission of a crime.

From the 1680s (army) and early 18th century (navy), all soldiers in a given company were required to have a unique name, to make it easier to give specific orders.

The names could be taken from a trait, such as the surname Stolt ("Proud") or from military terms, such as Svärd ("Sword"), but were often related to the rote.

They did not, however, receive a salary from the state, but were instead paid by the rotar around the province, as part of the rote members' tax payments, and by farmers who worked the land belonging to the officer's farm.

The officers' homes were loans, rather than outright gifts, and their size and quality was proportionate to the occupants' military rank.

A condition for the system to work was the reductions carried through by the state, expropriating land and farms from the nobles, which were then provided to the officers.

Other armies had stopped using pikemen in the late 17th century, solely relying on the bayonet of the musketeer to protect against cavalry attacks.

At an even closer range, the musketeers in the front would fire their only salvo, and immediately after that, break into the enemy lines—musketeers using their swords, and pikemen using their pikes.

[6] This tactic would often result in a fleeing enemy force, which probably stood terrified when their opponent's companies were not stopped by continuous musket fire, but kept marching on towards them in sinister silence.

Charles XI's new allotment system did not have to see use in the first 20 years of its existence, which was also the longest time of peace Sweden had seen since its independence.

[8] The new system was put to the test for the first time in 1700, when Sweden, under the reign of Charles XII, was attacked by a coalition of its neighbours Russia, Denmark-Norway and Saxony-Poland in the Great Northern War.

After these successful blows to the coalition, Charles XII had the opportunity to sign a peace with the remaining opponent, Russia.

The total population did not grow during the 21 years of the war; it was even reduced, according to some sources, as the massive losses outnumbered overall births.

From that time, regiments began to be garrisoned in towns instead of being spread all over the province with a training ground as the only common meeting place.