Intelligence Networks in Sweden 1521–1592

The overarching purpose of the project is to contribute with new knowledge about intelligence organizations in early modern Europe. The specific aim is to study the intelligence networks in sixteenth-century Sweden.

The study examines the role of intelligence in Sweden during the early Vasas – the organizing of spy networks, the identities of organizers and agents, the different types of intelligence obtained and the geographic extent of the networks.

The study also makes a comparison with the Swedish organization and parallel organizations in England, Spain and Venice. The study puts a great emphasis on the role of non-state actors.

It argues that the intelligence organization developed in response to the demands of foreign policy and was central to the Swedish state-building process.

The study further applies a transnational approach and integrates diplomatic and military perspectives and the sociology of knowledge and well as prosopography and network analysis. This is a three-year study, conducted by a single principal investigator.

It is performed through a contextual analysis of sources in Stockholm, Copenhagen, Lübeck and Tallinn, and an international comparative analysis of other cases from published studies. There are very few studies of intelligence in early modern Sweden.

The project will provide the first comprehensive and comparative study of intelligence networks in sixteenth century Sweden.