A project long in the works has finally been completed. (of course, I spotted an error within minutes of writing that)
Hundreds of Sweden, ca. 1800
Before the modern municipal system was introduced, the main administrative unit between parish and county level in Sweden was the hundred. Originally, the Götaland provinces were divided into
härader, which each had its own local thing with a chieftain (
häradshövding) who normally represented the most prominent family in the hundred but was sometimes subject to competitive election at the thing, while Svealand had
hundare, which also served a judicial function but were mainly units of military service, each contributing one hundred men to the
ledung, and had things chaired by one of two
hundare-judges appointed by the King. Over time, the two types of unit merged together, taking the
härad name and the title of
häradshövding for the chief judge, but operating more like the old
hundare.
On the peripheries of Svealand, units with different names persisted, though their functions were no different from those of the
härader in practice. On the coast of Uppland, the largest and richest Svealand province, was Roslagen, a region dominated by maritime trade and plundering expeditions who didn't contribute men to the
ledung, but rather ships. As such, they were never divided into
hundare, but rather
skeppslag, and this name carried on into the 20th century.
Similarly, the northwest periphery of Svealand lay the traditional mining districts of Bergslagen, which operated under special laws following the German pattern. A
bergslag was originally a corporation of farmers who collectively held the right to operate mines in a particular area, but over time it came to refer to the area as a whole, and the reforms of Axel Oxenstierna in the 17th century brought mining under the control of
Bergskollegiet (the College of Mountains) in Stockholm, leaving the
bergslag as hundreds with a different name.
(Karlskoga is a special case - it was consistently referred to as
Karlskoga bergslags härad, taking both styles)
What united all three forms of hundred were extreme administrative inertia. Their boundaries stayed exactly the same until the 1870s, and even then the only changes made were to bring parishes formerly divided under a single hundred. Substantive changes wouldn't happen until the great judicial reform of 1971. They weren't really needed either - Swedish peasants pre-19th century were famously sedentary, few ever leaving their home
parishes let alone hundreds, and their populations remained stable (if grossly unequal) through the centuries.
The main task of the hundreds was local administration of justice - the
häradsting morphed into local courts, and law enforcement was handled by a
kronolänsman assisted by four
fjärdingsmän ("farthing-men") in each hundred. Some of the bigger hundreds were divided into
tingslag, which had a court each, and most
häradshövdingar served groups of hundreds called
domsagor. The law stipulated that fines should be split three ways between the crown, the plaintiff and the hundred, with the hundred's third again divided between the hundred as a legal person, the tribunal of lay judges and the
häradshövding. This made the position of
häradshövding lucrative, and attracted a lot of noblemen who used the title as a cash cow and never even visited their hundreds. Several different reforms tried to reduce this risk, with limited success, but by 1800 the nobility's right of precedence to
häradshövding positions had at least been abolished.
So what did the hundreds themselves do with their ninth of fine income? Well, part of it went to maintaining the courts themselves, but the 1734 legal code also charged hundreds with maintaining public roads and guesthouses, as well as the hundred-commons (
häradsallmänningar) and fisheries that had been their responsibility since time immemorial. More closely connected to the courts were also the hundred gaols and archives. Most of these functions were transferred either to the state (acting through the county administrative boards) or the municipal councils in the 1862 reform, and when an 1891 law created special road districts, the last non-judicial function of the hundreds went away.
For reasons that escape me, the hundred system was never implemented north of Dalälven. Well, there was one hundred in Dalarna (Folkare, which may have been part of Västmanland in medieval times), but with that exception, all of Dalarna and Norrland was divided directly into
domsagor and
tingslag, of which the former often encompassed entire provinces, while the latter was usually only a couple of parishes, being small enough that parties in court cases should be able to get to the thing and back in a day. Ideally - obviously this was not the case in the far north. The
domsagor and
tingslag were less autonomous than hundreds, with all administrative functions carried out by appointed officials. Each
domsaga had a judge who rode circuit between the different
tingslag, and other tasks normally handled at hundred level were carried out by the parish meetings (AFAIK).
When I say "all of Norrland" that's a bit of a lie. There were also the
lappmarker, which covered areas far enough north that agriculture wasn't possible. These areas were dominated by Sami people (hence the name) and had absolutely no semblance of local government. The
lappmarker were taxed, but could not vote, their inhabitants were tightly controlled by crown officials, and in the 19th century, efforts would be undertaken to forcibly Swedify them. That was all in the future in 1800, but suffice it to say life in the
lappmarker was unfun.
In Finland, the
härad name
was used, even though only Finland Proper had any real history of medieval Swedish administrative units by that name. Its five hundreds (six with Åland) were also the only ones that behaved anything like hundreds in southern Sweden - the others all resembled Northern
domsagor more closely, and their boundaries changed frequently. A major boundary reform was undertaken in 1775, when the new counties of Vasa and Kymmenegård were created, and the Russians would change the boundaries again in the 1840s. Again, reasons for this naming choice escape me.
EDIT: Two more errors spotted and corrected. Never say anything's completed, folks.