On December 15, Phd candidate André Ahrling from Mid-Sweden University will present his project on the image of poverty.
“What is poverty? Modern man does not have a coherent view of poverty and neither did Medieval man. Poverty, both for the medieval and modern man, is more than just an aspect of the social world; it is also a symbol, colored by different ideological, religious, ethical and emotional perspectives. But medieval man, in contrast to modern man, viewed poverty as a natural part of the social world they inhabited, as a natural force that could not be eradicated. Nonetheless, medieval man could claim that poverty was an expression of the evils of the world, as an effect of sin, or as the opposite, a holy state which liberated man from the slavery of worldly possession. Furthermore, a poor person could be viewed as “true” pauper or a “false” pauper. The true pauper was a victim of fate that had made them unable to work, and for these wretched souls one should show love and compassion. The false pauper however, able of body and thus fully capable of work, was scorned as a diseased soul, afflicted by the sinful state of idleness.
The borders between these different perceptions constantly shifted with the flow of time and the changing world of the Middle Ages. The friar, the monk, the wage laborer, the beggar, and the infirm represented all in their different form poverty, but in different ways.
My study aims to capture a part of this flow of representations, to penetrate the vernacular sermons of the Scandinavian preachers. These sermons, with their function as medium for the spread of ideals and ideas from the centers of the Christians world out to the peripheries, and as such, functioning as instruments of propaganda for the populace, are the sources form which I will draw these representations. In these frozen moments of time I aim to find how poverty was represented. Which means that I will search for, common attributes, characteristics and other points of similarity, as well as, and equally important, differences and silences, between the different conceptions of poverty concerning different social groups, mentioned in the sermons and in their exempla.”
The seminar will start at 16.00, Swedish time. Send an e-mail to maths.bertell@miun.se to participate.
ndinavian context, and that there was still a paan opposition around the year 1100. During the recent decades, the opinion among many scholars seems to have changed. The conversion is now often assumed to have taken place already around the year 1000, as in Norway, Denmark and Iceland. Our case study is the story of Blot-Sven and his pagan rebellion at the end of the 11th century. In our presentation we will discss the Old Norse and Old Swedish sources for the late stage of the Christianization process, and we will discuss their possible dependence of each other. Moreover, we review whether the archaeological material from Svealand, reflecting pagan and Christian practices, is consistent with the existence of viable pagan resistance still by the end of the 11th century. We will also contextualize the story of Blot-Sven and the Christianization of Sweden by comparing them to foreign, contemporary, pagan reactions against Christianization in the Baltic Sea area and Central Europe in the 11th century.”
“The Viking Age was a time of transition between an older societal structure and an established medieval state. This transition implied a change in the very fabric of society where power over people gradually transferred into territorial rule with a centrally administered organization. One of the more decisive new features of the era was the establishing of ports of trade. The archaeological material from these sites presents a society formed by long-distance interactions and the cultural, religious etc contacts that this provided. With the gradual introduction of a new religion, Christianity, the Viking Age was also a period of religious statements where people seem to have chosen sides in an on-going religious power-struggle. The structural changes and new cultural and religious influences are reflected in the diversified burial customs. The predominant cremation burials with mound super structures and other marking features were complemented by inhumations of various sorts and sizes. In this seminar we will, through an archaeological perspective, deconstruct two different graves, situated in different parts of present day. The graves are both linked to ports of trade, they contain women with influence in society that upheld contact with far reaching trade networks. At the same time they represent two different lives, with diverse approaches to both life and death. The aim is to present how archaeological theory and method can contribute to the discussion on religious expressions, practice and belonging during the period of religious conversion.” The seminars are held in a program called Adobe Connect, which allows you to show PowerPoint slides, texts and other things that would be expected at a ’normal’ seminar. To participate in a seminar you need a computer, a microphone and head phones (or a headset). You might also want to use a webcam. To join, send me an e-mail (
