slottslän

{{Short description|Administrative unit in Sweden from late 13th century to 1634}}

A slottslän ({{langx|fi|linnalääni}}) was a type of secularThe church had its own administrative system. administrative division throughout the Kingdom of Sweden from late 13th century to 1634. The administrative center was a castle. Slottslän were divided into municipalities and administrators. The term slottslän can be translated as "castle fief". Although the word "län" literally means fief, in Sweden it is translated as "county" and in Finland as "province".

There existed multiple different types of slottslän, there existed pantlän, which could be assigned to a lord as compensation for a loan to the crown, until a repayment was done. There also existed kronolän, which were managed by an advocatus, if the advocatus was a military commander, would be referred to as a "hövitsman", which was a capitaneus, they were ordered to deliver and report surplus profit to the crown, however sometimes a fixed sum was to be delivered annually, where the advocatus got to retain some profit. There also existed län which were granted to noblemen for their services to the King.{{Cite book |title=Nationalencyklopedin Multimedia 2000 plus |publisher=Höganäs: Bra böcker |year=2000 |isbn=91-7133-745-8 |language=Swedish}}

Slottsläns were established by Birger Jarl to replace the lething system in the latter-half of the 13th century.[https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/History_of_Swedish_Counties History of Swedish Counties] Retrieved 18 September 2013. [https://web.archive.org/web/20160307081846/https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/History_of_Swedish_Counties Archived] Slottsläns were disbanded in 1634 following Axel Oxenstierna's land reform and replaced with provinces.[http://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Swedish_Civil_Jurisdictions_for_Family_History_Research Swedish Civil Jurisdictions for Family History Research] Retrieved 18 September 2013. [https://web.archive.org/web/20160317023332/https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Swedish_Civil_Jurisdictions_for_Family_History_Research Archived]