ABSTRACT

This chapter addresses how Swedish noble families conjured up an aristocratic identity. Early modern aristocratic and princely families built up what could be called a dynastic memory. This dynastic memory would be both a memory of what the dynasty had experienced and also a way for a dynasty to develop its own identity. To have any form of dynastic memory in the form of a remembered past was in itself a claim to legitimacy. Thus it was paramount for early modern dynasties to either have or create a dynastic memory. The chapter also explores how both Brahes and De la Gardies aimed to compete not with Swedish nobility but with German princes. They wanted to distance themselves both from the lower nobility and from the ever increasing new nobility in Sweden. The obvious point of reference was German princely houses, as can be seen in the ambitious marriages contracted.