
The last person to receive a charter of nobility was the explorer Sven Hedin who received his in 1902, more than a hundred years ago. And this will most likely be the last Swede ever. In 1974 the new constitution proclaimed that no person can be granted nobility nor receive the orders of the state. The house of nobility lost their last privileges and political influences in 2003 and is today considered an exclusive society for nobles. As was stated in the previous post the first known heraldic achievements in Sweden is dated 1219 and depicts the arms of the two brothers Sigtrygg and Lars Bengtsson of the Boberg family. The seal shows two identical arms and the Latin text in the document reefers to them as “Dominus” and although they are not related to the royal family they definitely belong to the aristocracy. Some thirty years after these arms appears, there are a dozen other that are known to us today. They belong to one king, a couple of chief judges, one Jarl (from where the English title Earl originates) and one constable. The main part of the aristocracy during this period came from the southwestern parts of Sweden, close to Denmark and Norway. They were probably the main source of influence as well as other ideas of the Middle Ages during this period.

As the higher nobility adopted their own coats of arms there are only the members of the lower noble class that were granted charters including arms. The first known charter depicting a coat of arms are dated 1420. We also know that several of the older low nobilities changed their arms during the 15th century. Civic arms are known since 1247 for the city arms of Kalmar. Soon after we can find arms for the cities of Stockholm, Skara and Örebro in numerous documents
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