Petitions and legitimate engagement with power in absolutist Denmark 1660-1800

Munck, T. (2018) Petitions and legitimate engagement with power in absolutist Denmark 1660-1800. Parliaments, Estates and Representation, 38(3), pp. 378-391. (doi: 10.1080/02606755.2018.1532654)

Abstract

Petitioning was universal across early modern Europe, but worked differently within distinct polities. Denmark-Norway became, after 1660, an absolute hereditary dual monarchy, with no further meetings of the Estates, and no other formal representative structures. The crown, however, did fully acknowledge the right to petition, confirming the mechanism and the legal basis for doing so in the full law code of 1683, Danske Lov. Petitions from all levels of society were processed in the central bureaucracy, and those processed through the Chancellery (Danske Kancelli) can be analysed systematically. However, a number of petitions were handled separately in the Exchequer (Rentekammer) or through the legal system. This article discusses the different types of petitions to the Danish crown, and analyses some examples that illustrate not merely the complicated negotiation of power within an absolute monarchy, but also the kind of language and cultural conventions necessary for the system to work.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Munck, Professor Thomas
• Authors: Munck, T.
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Humanities > History
• Journal Name: Parliaments, Estates and Representation
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• ISSN: 0260-6755
• ISSN (Online): 1947-248X
• Published Online: 15 October 2018
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2018 International Commission for the History of Representative and Parliamentary Institutions/Commission Internationale pour l’Histoire des Assemblées d’États
• First Published: First published in Parliaments, Estates and Representation 38(3): 378-391
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy