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widows and children of officers fallen in the wars.
Christina especially had a very warm heart for her soldiers.
If the widows appealed to her for the remission of certain
Crown rents, payable by them in consequence of the
so-called “ Norrköping Beslut.”1 (Norrköping Act), they
seldom appealed to a deaf ear. The children often
received free education.2 Even to the common soldier
she stretched out a helping hand. No entry in the old
documents more frequently meets our eyes than “for en
fattige soldat,” for a poor soldier; uför en gammal
soldat att bekomma 6 Thaler,” for an old soldier to
receive 6 Thalers, or “ för en soldate-ankia,” for a soldier’s
widow, so much. These latter gifts often took the form
of an annual tax of corn or flour imposed on certain hides
of land.
It is pleasant to be able to state this of a queen who
has not found great favour in the eyes of the historians.
Her successors too continued in the path of liberality.
We shall adduce one instance. Donations had been given
in the usual form of farm-rents to Major Henry Primrose,
both in 1645 and 1651. After his death, on the petition
of his widow, the following reply was sent: “ That she
should be permitted to sell these rents to any other
freeman, either to pay her husband’s funeral with, or his
outstanding debts” (1673).3
Among donations in a wider sense of the word must
also be counted the patents of nobility which were bestowed
1 See about it in the Supplement.
2 The son of Alexander Cunnigham received 150 Thaler for six years
for his studies.
3 Kammer-Ark. Such cases of utter poverty of Scottish officers
are often met with. Col. Patrick Kinnemund, for example, applies for
assistance, he and his five sisters having been left in great distress after his
father’s death. Here also the funeral-expenses had to be paid by the
Government (Riks A. Registr., 16th Dec. 1661).
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