Hans Järta
1774-1847.
Civil servant, politician, author.
Hans Järta (originally Baron Hans Hierta) became a student in Uppsala at the age of 13, an official in the Cabinet for Foreign Correspondence at the age of 18, and a secretary in the Judicial Audit Department four years later.
At the age of eighteen, Järta was hanging out with the men in the conspiracy against King Gustav III. Järta was at the masquerade ball in 1792 when the shot against Gustav III was fired. Afterwards, Järta gave some misleading information about the shooting, but there is only circumstantial evidence as to whether he was involved in the actual assassination plan. Nor was he ever accused of involvement in the murder.
Järta renounced both his nobility and his parliamentary position at the Riksdag in 1800 in protest against Gustav IV Adolf and the monarchical autocracy and took the name Järta (the family name was Hierta).
Järta was one of the men behind the 1809 coup d'état and, after the king's abdication, was one of the leaders in the Riksdag that year. He was secretary to the Constitutional Committee during the drafting of the 1809 Constitution.
Järta was also governor of Kopparbergs län 1812-1822, a member of the Swedish Academy in 1819 and moved to Uppsala in 1825 where he worked as a writer. In Uppsala, Järta held a literary salon, which competed with Malla Silfverstolpe's salon.
Järta later became head of the National Archives from 1837-1844.
The tall gravestone that adorns the cemetery refers to his son of the same name, who died as a young student in 1825.
Burial site: 0112-0588
Image description: Hans Järta. Photo: From Emil Hildebrand, History of Sweden up to the twentieth century, vol 9 (1910) / Wikimedia Commons. [The image is cropped]
Click here for an uncropped image
