"Tågvirket är ankommet. Carl har influensa." Caroline Mannerskantz som godsförvaltare och husfru på Värnanäs 1847-83

Abstract

Countess Caroline Mannerskantz as Estate Manager at Värnanäs 1847–1893 In literature, both scientific, memoirs and biographies, the aristocratic women of the 19th century have been described as persons of graciousness and goodness. Her every-days were filled with horse-riding, painting, needle-work and garden-parties and her main issue was to take care of a large family, with many children. This picture has lately been questioned. By analysing the correspondence between the Countess Caroline Anckarsvärd and her husband, the politician Count Carl Axel Mannerskantz, 1847–1883, I can show that Caroline’s role in the administration of the large estate Värnanäs’, Småland, was active and extensive. She decided upon a lot of questions concerning bank-affairs, invoicing, salaries, industrial matters and she was also very interested in politics. As time went on, and Carl Axel spent more time in Stockholm and the Parliament, Caroline Mannerskantz in reality became the real head of the estate. The role of the aristocratic women in the agricultural society of the 19th century is to my mind underestimated.