A servant mistaken for a count. Travelling state borders and social boundaries in Justus van Effen’s travel letters from Sweden, 1719-1726

Abstract

In July 1719, Justus van Effen travelled to Sweden. The secretary joined his employer, a German prince, on a journey from Amsterdam to Stockholm, hoping that they both could get positions at the Swedish court. Van Effen’s later-published epistolary journal shows how the servant, in the trail of his highborn employer, could travel the boundaries of status as well as the borders of state. The author fashioned a self by approaching high-ranking circles while distancing himself from groups with a lower social standing. This article argues that the servant could both confirm social hierarchy and, at the same time, exploit its porosity abroad.