The Royal Seminary becomes the first public…

The Royal Seminary becomes the first public institution of higher academic learning open to women in Sweden.

The Royal Seminary is founded after the so-called Hertha debate over women's rights prompted by Fredrika Bremer's 1856 novel Hertha.

At this time, Swedish women (unless widowed or divorced) are considered incompetent wards of their husbands, fathers, or brothers under the Civil Code of 1734 and can only be granted legal majority by a personal petition to the Crown.

The novel had argued against this and supported female admission to institutions of higher education.

It is ultimately successful on both counts.

The Swedish Parliament had permitted women to petition their local courthouses instead of the king in 1858 and will finally grant legal majority to all women over the age of twenty-five in 1863.

The call for entry to higher education is answered first by Stockholm's 1859 Learning Course for Women (Lärokursen för fruntimmer).

Subsidized by influential men, the Learning Course provides free lectures and private recitations for elective classes covering religion, natural science, mathematics, history, grammar, literature, French, personal hygiene, and drawing.

When this proves hugely popular, it is expanded into a full normal school.

The Royal Seminary for the Training of Female Teachers (Kongl. Seminariet för bildande af lärarinnor) is inaugurated on October 1, 1861 and is likewise free.

In addition to the subjects provided by its predecessor, it offers courses in German, English, geography, natural philosophy, and pedagogy.

The first head of the institution i Hilda Elfving, the governess of the royal princess Louise.