The Role of the Royal Chancellery in Making Dynastic Marriages in Early Vasa Times

This paper aims to reveal how the Swedish Royal Chancellery worked in the field of dynastic politics in the 16th century. The Chancellery was a modern institution in newly independent Sweden. It appeared under the ruling of Gustav Vasa and adopted experience from neighbour countries. The research is mainly based on the content of the Registratur, a collection of copies of the most important official documents. According to them, the arrangement of royal weddings was a complicated task requiring a huge number of orders, invitations, and special contracts. Within the years the Chancellery created a specific set of documents for this kind of events. However, there was no certain algorithm for their production. The Chancellery itself was an important link between the Crown, the treasury, and different Swedish provinces during the preparation period. Meanwhile, it dealt with diplomatic aspects of marriages. The research demonstrates that studying of dynastic marriages through the focus of government machinery can contribute to many aspects of history of an Early Modern state.