Anna Nilsson Hammar is Researcher in History at Lund University. She is the author and editor of several books and articles on the history of knowledge, early modern history, and everyday life, among them Servants as Creditors: Navigating the Moral Economy of an Early Modern Aristocratic Household (2022).

Svante Norrhem is Associate Professor of History at Lund University. He is the author of several books and articles on early modern gender history, diplomacy, and servants, among them Knowing How: Estate Management, Practical Knowledge, and Agency Among Aristocratic Women in Early Modern Sweden (2023).

Introduction 1 The De la Gardie sphere in context: Workplaces, palaces, and estates 2 Negotiating worth: Petitions, back pay, and benefits 3 Cogs in the wheel: Bureaucracy, administration, and the organization of knowledge 4 Know your place: Rules, resistance, and the materiality of hierarchies 5 For future betterment: Learning, expertise, and the art of planning 6 The mobility of servants: Networks and knowledge 7 Life in an early modern knowledge community: Concluding remarks