English Wikipedia - The Free Encycl...
Download this dictionary
Swedish nobility
The Swedish nobility (Adeln) has historically been a legally and/or socially privileged class in Sweden, and part of the so-called frälse (a derivation from Old Swedish meaning free neck). The archaic term for nobility, frälse, also included the clergy, a classification defined by tax exemptions and representation in the diet. Today, the nobility is very much part of modern Swedish society and do not maintain their former privileges although their family names, titles and coats of arms are still protected. The Swedish nobility consists of both "introduced" and "unintroduced" nobility, where the latter has not been formally "introduced" at the House of Nobility (Riddarhuset). The House of Nobility still maintains a fee for male members over the age of 18 e.g. for keeping of their common buildings in Stockholm.

See more at Wikipedia.org...


© This article uses material from Wikipedia® and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License and under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License