2023

Rönnqvist, Miriam; Villstrand; Nils Erik

This chapter investigates the first two diplomatic residents between Denmark and Sweden in the first half of the 1620s. The two countries fought for dominance over the Baltic Sea, with Denmark’s leading role increasingly challenged by Sweden under Gustav Adolf. Both governments were interested in insider information about their opponents, especially their weaknesses, such as political unrest and revolt. In this respect, the main function of the residents was not representation or cultivation of friendship but gathering information and spying on the enemy. Peder Galt worked in Stockholm as a resident for the Danish crown. In contrast, the Swedish government did not send its resident Anders Svensson to the Danish capital but to the city of Elsinore, as toll commissioner for the Sound, which played a decisive geostrategic role. Both residents were primarily tasked with acquiring relevant military information, and both sides also tried to build up a network of informants to obtain secret information. Interestingly, both governments commented on and criticized the dispatches of their diplomatic guests, thus making it clear that they were able to intercept the letters before letting them through to the actual addressees, that is, the hostile neighboring court. The chapter analyzes the informational policies and conflicts that resulted from them and discusses how the two diplomatic residents characterized their host societies.