User:Dencoolast33/sandbox Tullberg Uprising

Tullberg Uprising
Map of Scania in 1805.
Date 1867-1869 Location Scania, Sweden Result Nobel/Government victory
Belligerents
Tullberg movement	Sweden Scanian nobility
Commanders and leaders
Samuel Tullberg  (POW) Johannes Andersson  (POW) Mätta Mårtensdotter Eskil Larsson  (POW)	Samuel von Troil A. Gyllensvärd Johan Stoltz Jöns Krook
Units involved
	Swedish bailif Swedish police Swedish military: South Scanian infantriregiment Småland grenadierregiment Hussarregiment Karl XV
Strength
500-1500	~169 Soldiers ~12 Auxiliaries Several sheriffs
Casualties and losses
Several arrested Unknown wounded	Several estates damaged Several wounded

The Tullberg uprising was an armed rebellion carried out by the Tullberg movement under Samuel Tullberg over disputes with the nobility over land ownership in the Swedish region of Scania. The farmers of Scania had even since the time when they were a part of the Danish empire, lived on the lands of the nobles and had to pay hefty amounts of rent to the upper class. However, claims by Samuel Tullberg of the nobility's ownership of the farmlands being illegitimate would see the refusal by the Scanians to pay the nobles for residing in their lands. Due to his claims, Samuel Tullberg's house would be raided by the authorities and he would be put into custody after a confrontation with his followers in Trannebygget and Kärrstorp on vague accusations of treason. However, due to outrage from the public and the support of the Lantmanna party, he and the others arrested were allowed to go free. The Tullberg movement would continue their fight long into the future, though, without resorting to violence.

Background

The Swedish farmers of Scania had long been living and working on the farmlands of the local nobility, thus making the upper class entitled to the farmer's rent and services. The economic advantages of the Scanian nobility had often been the cause of local uprisings and revolts as the farmers alleged that their income had been unjustly taken from them by the upper class. However, the farmers had never quite gotten the upper hand as the authorities would often pick the side of the nobility when conflict erupted leading to much bloodshed on the farmer's side. Although the superiority of the nobility over the peasantry is not something exclusive to Scania, the power balance between the two continued to exist long into the 19th century which made it a local phenomenon as farmers in the rest of Sweden did reside on the noble's land.

Formation of the Tullberg movement

Picture of Samuel Tullberg

However, the Scanian farmers did follow the national trend of becoming more educated during the 19th century as numerous schools opened up throughout Scania raising the literacy rate among the farmers making them a more integral part of the Swedish society and economy. The developments in education would change the Scanian farmer's way of fighting the nobility as they could now engage diplomatically leading to a sharp decline in farmers' uprisings in Sweden during the 19th century. Although between 1810 and 1860, the amount of Scanian farmers living under the nobility decreased from 8,189 to 4,848, the rent that the nobles charged drastically went up making the farmers evermore desperate for change. At the beginning of 1867, the lawyer Samuel Tullberg, seeking to de-legitimize the validity of the nobility's claims upon Scanian farmland, read through numerous old documents detailing the ownership of the local land dating back hundreds of years. He concluded that the nobles did not have a strong claim over the farmlands due to the land reforms of 1789 and 1809-10. Samuel Tullberg argued that the lands on which the Scanian farmers resided were kronojord (Crown land) which under Swedish law would allow the tenant of the Kronojord to redeem the land thus making it their own. Although he had misinterpreted the documents and the upper class was in their full right to collect rent from the farmers, the newly founded 'Tullberg movement' (Swedish: Tullbergska rörelsen) would receive 252 new members as a result and Tullberg became a local celebrity. Much to the dismay of the nobility, the rise in membership in the Tullberg movement coincided with the mass refusal of 426 Scanian farmers to pay their rent, and thousands more were now attempting to purchase the farmland for themselves with the Tullberg movement's help.

Legal battle

Throughout 1867, Tullberg provided aid to numerous people attempting to redeem their lands using his experience in law in legal petitions to the governor and other legal entities, however, many of the people trying to redeem their land were not farmers but rather poor and landless. It is estimated that more than half of the members in the Tullberg movement were of the lower-poor class. In the autumn of 1867, the farmers of the Barsebäck requested Samuel Tullberg's aid in a legal struggle against the noble landowners over the lands, though, the case was dismissed in favor of the nobles mirroring the success of the other legal ventures of the Tullberg movement.