The Swedish melitia system

At first possies were raised when needed. As the Peerage genesised they also established professional troops. In exchange of tax-exemption the King could use their troops. Even though the King could force the farmers to recruit soldiers, he was depending on the nobility for warfare. Gustav Eriksson Vasa (Swedish King 1521-1560) therefore introduced a vague system of national troops, attractive to the Swedish farmers.

After the reign of ten monarchs since Vasa, the militia-system was formalized by Karl XI (1672-1697), by promising the farmers not being forced to recrute more than 1 200 soldiers (a regiment) in each province. The Swedish army was then organized so that each soldier was provided by a "rote". The "rote" was a group of homesteads that had to provide a soldier with equipment, some of his food and the housing for "their" soldier. Each rote was assigned to a Company (150 soldiers), part of a Batallion, part of a Regiment. The farmer-soldiers thereby became part of every-day life.
At the King's advice some farmers allowed the soldier the use of a croft - although not so comon in Jamtland. The Jamt's croft should have been smaller (20 square meters) than in Sweden, with a stove and a bench stuck to the wall. The cattle-house (3,0 meters x 3,5 meters) would have a wooden floor, two pens and a barn as big as the cattle-house. From the land belonging to the croft the soldier should provide himself and his family at times of peace - some farmers however helped the soldier plough, sow and harvest. At wartime the farmers of the "rote" had an obligation to support the soldiers family.