Wikipedia goes over how the the Four Estates (Clergy, Nobility, Burgers, & Farmers) were organized, but not how members of each chamber were chosen. Did all noblemen get to attend their chamber like the British House of Lords? What about the other 2 chambers? I’m not sure about the Clergy, but I assume the other 2 chambers were elected somehow? What was the franchise? How were the elections conducted?
I don’t know specifically about Sweden, but since the question hasn’t been addressed by others I’m going to give it a WAG. Estate-based assemblies were quite common all over Europe, and while the details of their composition differed, the general principles were often very similar. In the case of estates that were made up of a small number of persons, such as higher nobility, it was often common that indeed every single person belonging to that estate would be allowed to attend. In the case of the clergy, it was often mixed in the sense that higher clergymen such as bishops had a seat in their own right whereas local subdivisions of the church, such as cathedral chapters, would send representatives elected by that division. And for the burghers and farmers, elections would be held at the local level whereby each town or rural district would constitute a constituency, though usually not with universal male suffrage but rather based on income or property qualifications. I’m sorry I can’t be more specific about Sweden, but that’s the general pattern that estates in most European countries followed (and which formed the historical origin, as you note, of the Houses of Lords and of Commons in England).
The Swedish Wikipedia is unsurprisingly more informative. I’ll attempt to summarize (my native Norwegian and Swedish being quite similar languages):
- For the noblemen: It varied, but for all important decisions every noble family sent their “oldest and most respected” member
- Clergy: Bishops and Superintendents
- Burgers: The mayor and most senior Councillor (or another respected citizen) from every city, smaller cities sent just one; very small (or remote) cities would pair up. The mayor of Stockholm usually functioned as the speaker for this group.
- Farmers: Every hundred sent one representative, sometimes two hundreds in the same county would just send one in order to save money. They then selected a speaker amongst themselves.
Thank you. Browsing the Swedish Wikipedia (w/ Google Translate) slipped my mind. 