Gustaf, Baron Bonde

Gustaf, Baron Bonde (born Feb. 4, 1620, Esplunda, Swed.—died May 25, 1667, Hamburg [Germany]) was a statesman and one of the regents ruling Sweden during the minority of the Swedish king Charles XI, whose fiscal policies foreshadowed the king’s later key reforms.

After becoming governor of the province of Södermanland (1648) and a privy councillor (1653), Bonde was chosen lord treasurer and a member of the regency council (1660). He reduced state expenditures and presented a plan to make Sweden independent of foreign subsidies by pursuing a policy of peace, economic development, and repossession of royal lands.

Bonde’s budget of 1662, which embodied these principles, later served as a guide to Charles XI. But the majority of the regency council preferred the ambitious financial and foreign policies of the chancellor Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie and helped him sabotage Bonde’s economic programs. After the collapse of the public finances during Sweden’s wasteful war with Bremen (1655), Bonde withdrew from further political disputes.