Over the course of the 17th century, a large number of persons connected to institutions of the Landesstaat (the local administration of the nobility) of Livland were descendants of the noble von Mengden family. This made the family under consideration in this article one of the most influential among families of its kind. While historical literature has hitherto focused primarily on the conflicts between Livland’s nobility and Sweden’s central state authorities, the aim of this article is to provide an example of cooperation between the two above-mentioned parties. To this end, we examine the activity of Otto and Engelbrecht, two influential members of the von Mengden family, in the civil service in the 1630s and 1640s. This was the time when the Knighthood of Livland was re-established after a pause of more than 30 years. Thus the results of this study also provide a certain insight into the background of the establishment of Livland’s local self-administration.

Otto von Mengden’s cooperation with the Swedish central authorities was manifested primarily in his work as the captain (in German Rittmeister) of Livland’s noble cavalry troop. By helping to drive out foreign forces that had invaded Livland in 1639 and by serving as commander of a company of the noble cavalry troop defending Livland’s southern border in 1642 and 1643, Otto von Mengden proved to the state magistrates present in Livland that the fulfilment of such important tasks could be entrusted to him personally as well as to the rest of Livland’s nobility. The fact that monetary support for the companies of the noble cavalry troop increased by leaps and bounds since 1638 confirms the fact that the central authorities were more and more willing to cooperate with the local nobility in matters of defence. While Otto von Mengden’s cooperation with Governor General Bengt Oxenstierna was successful, he did not succeed in earning the trust of Queen Christina’s regency government that resided in Stockholm. This prevented Otto von Mengden from realising his more ambitious plans.

Engelbrecht von Mengden, on the other hand, was in well with local state magistrates in Livland as well as with the higher ranking members of the ruling elite of the Swedish state, which cleared the path for him to influential official positions in the civil service. This article examines Engelbrecht von Mengden’s work as Commissar of Livland and Ingria (1638–1643), from which it emerges that among other things, Engelbrecht von Mengden’s mission was to serve as mediator between the state authorities and Livland’s nobility. Additionally, his position enabled him to submit ideas and proposals concerning Livland’s nobility directly to the top-ranking leadership of the Swedish state, which the Commissar of Livland and Ingria indeed repeatedly did in his numerous letters to Lord High Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna.

Thus the activity of Otto and Engelbrecht von Mengden in the 1630s and 1640s demonstrates that in the period under consideration, the local nobility developed into a partner and not (yet) a rival in cooperation with the state authorities in administering Livland. In this light, it is also natural in every respect that the gradual institutionalisation of the Knighthood of Livland and the ever more vigorous rise in prominence of Livland’s nobility in Livland’s social life took place in parallel.