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Korsbröder mellan himmel och rike : identitetsuttryck och självbild i den svenska johanniterordens sigill, 1285–1527
No full textThe Order of the Knights Hospitaller was one of the richest monastic orders in medieval Scandinavia. Despite this, scholarly interest in the Swedish branch has been comparatively small, and the study of the commanderies in Eskilstuna and Kronobäck have largely been limited to political and economic aspects. This paper attempts to remedy this by exploring the self-image of the Swedish Hospitallers through cataloguing and analysing the use of imagery on the preserved seals foundon charters signed by members of the order. This is done by approaching the material in the context of the divine connection between identity and iconographyon personal seals during the Middle Ages. Consequently, by studying changes and continuities in the use of symbolism on monastic seals, trends in the cultural andpolitical self-image of the commanderies can be understood and analysed. The study shows that there were major shifts in the Swedish Hospitallers’ self-image from the 13th and 14th to the 15th centuries. During the latter period, the theological seals came to depict a broader range of hagiographical rather than biblical scenes, in addition to becoming more individualised through the use of personal saints. This coincided with the order becoming embroiled in local conflicts in the Kalmar Union and indicates a process whereby the identity of the Swedish commanderies became aligned with the developing local identities present in the kingdom of Sweden rather than the universalist ideals of the military order
Vad är det Háv hänger på i Hávamál?
No full textBased on an introductory account of the shortcomings of a purely archaeological endeavour to understand the cultural history of the 1st millennium CE, this casestudy begins with an interpretation of the Old Norse word meiðr. This is followed up by a short comparative analysis of the function of the oe words beam and ródin the Dream of the Rood. Thus, having been inspired by Old Norse and Old English texts, the next step is an analysis of two archaeological excavations in which several constructions seem to qualify as a meiðr in the everyday sense of the word. Essentially, the word means ’drying rack’ and as a construction it consists of two vertical poles with crutches, which support a horizontal rod that joins them together. On this rod more or less anything may hang – even Háv during his rite of passage merging with Oðinn
Stratigraphy : Vol. 2 Part 3: The later part of the Birka Period ; Part. 4: The finds
No full textThe Birka excavation has played a major part in the development of excavation techniques, digital documentation, and stratigraphic analysis. The two volumes on stratigraphy, of which this is the last, demonstrate the need for careful excavation techniques and well-executed field documentation when fndings are subsequently revised and analysed to enlarge our knowledge of life in the past. The work has already generated several dissertations and articles by people who worked on the project. With the stratigraphy now completed, many chronological questions about the Viking Age finds will be given new fuel. Ever since the time of Stolpe and Montelius, the Birka finds have always played a major role in periodization. The lack of an absolute timescale, however, has been troubling. The new Birka stratigraphy will provide important evidence on this issue. A large part of this is due to the finds of moulds, which make it possible to determine which artefact variants were produced in the bronze caster’s workshop in the earlier parts of the layer sequence. Birka is not just a matter of the emergence of towns and urban life. The interaction between the town and its hinterland is at least as important. We can now obtain a better view of Birka in relation to its immediate surroundings in the Mälaren area, to the larger Bothnian resource area, and to international contacts with Western Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean
Fornsigtuna : aktuella forskningsresultat
No full textVår uppsats ”Nya aspekter på Fornsigtunas medeltid” i Fornvännen (Edberg & Heimer 2019) avslutades med ett löfte om att återkomma med besked om fortsatt forskning om Signhildsbergs herrgårds äldre byggnadsfaser och dess eventuella medeltida föregångare. Detta gör vi nu i form av detta meddelande som också kort sammanfattar flera andra intressanta resultat med anknytning till Fornsigtuna. För en bakgrund till projektet och dess frågeställningar hänvisas till nämnda text.
