The purpose of this work was to investigate the early medieval view of the Bilical king David through the analysis of ten illuminations found in early medieval manuscripts in which he is depicted playing string instruments. First, a description of medieval manuscripts and king David and string instruments was presented, second, an analysis and a discussion of images as source material and an interpretation of the mythic and symbolic significance that is based on ideas presented by Paul Ricoeurs and Roland Barthes of the ten illuminations followed. The results showed that king David often was portrayed as a musical king, a dancer and a prophet that incarnated wisdom and justice; that king David served as a role-model for the Western regents, and that he was portrayed in an idealised and estethically appealing manner..

Through the ages mankind has developed and tested a cascade of varying weapons ofwar, large and small, and has has striven to push these creations to the limits of theirtime. A grand example of this are the medieval siege engines that have changed shapeseveral times over the centuries. After all this time the eciency of these siege engineswill have reached their peek.

This essay investigates, on the basis of the medieval letters, diplomas, how the medieval monasticism contributed to the maintenance of the Danish society's gender structures. The theoretical starting points for the study are gender and class structures and Marcel Mauss presented gift - giving theory. Finally, a continuous comparison is made with Catharina Andersson's results in her dissertation, in which she examines the social structure in the Swedish medieval society. The primary material in the study is the Danish diplomas. 41 diplomas were found relevant for this study.

This Bachelor paper deals with skeletal diseases like osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. 24 medieval individuals from the block Banken 1 in Visby, Gotland were chosen for an osteological analysis. Osteoporosis affects the bone with low bone mineral density and can lead to possible fractures and Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease. A DEXA reading was done at Dr. Roland Alvarssons Doctorial practice in Visby and the results from the DEXA reading showed that none of the individuals suffered from osteoporosis, but one suffered from osteopenia.

This paper is the result of an osteological study of the skeletal remains uncovered during an archaeological excavation of the medieval cemetery in Norra Nöbbelöv. The purpose of the study is to compare the material from the rural site (Norra Nöbbelöv) with materials excavated from the old medieval graveyards in the city of Lund. The aim is to try and shedsome light on the question of whether there is any difference in the occurrence and frequency of fractures and osteoarthritis in the materials compared. The first section of the paper consists of a short historical background of Norra Nöbbelöv and Lund, a chapter on ethics, general results of the analysis and the methods used. Thissection was co-authored by Ulla Zagal-Mach and Åsa Strandh.

In this paper I have tried to find out the reason the medieval town of Vä was created. I have studied several different areas in witch all, in one way or another, have had an effect on the making of Vä. This areas includes topography, iron production, mill handling, religious effects, royal affliction and also if the name Vä could tell something about Väs history as a religious cult. I have also looked at two other places not far from Vä, the medieval harbour town Åhus and the big village of Fjälkinge. By comparing these three places I tried to find out what Vä had that the other places did not, which made Vä turn in to a town.

This thesis rewievs present day research on the settlement of Östra Aros in central Sweden. The thesis deals with the period from late Iron age to about 1270 AD, when the Swedish archdiocese moved to the already existing early-medieval settlement of Östra Aros, thus becoming the medieval town of Uppsala. The basis of the thesis is the study of a variety of source materials, such as artefact studies, runestones, topography and the prehistoric and early medieval hinterland. The thesis centers on archaeological excavation data and dating of settlement structures, particularly focusing on the settlements establishment. Through a critical review of primarily the written record and the archaeological data, the settlements characteristics and functions are discussed, emphasising when and if the settlement could be described as a town, central- or trading place..

The subject of this master level thesis in historical osteology, is a study of waste management in the medieval town of Lund. The aims of the study is achieved through looking at the taphonomic aspects of bonefragments from the quarter Blekhagen. The study is divided in two separate sections, one that is a litterature study of what is known about waste management, and another one that contains a taphonomic and spatial analysis. Through examination of the taphonomic variables weathering, average weight and trampling and a spatial analysis, I am able to deduce that there are signs of controlled waste management in the material. It is not possible to draw any general conclusions about waste management in the medieval town however.

The purpose of this essay was to find out if it is possible to:? Detect different groups of gender among children in grave materiel and church art and if that was the case, in what way?? What different groups of children can be seen in these two categories?? What does the material say about children's position in society? The time span is from early Christian time to 17-th century and the geographical region is Sweden and Denmark. I got my information from published literature and different pages on the Internet. The conclusions were that gender among children can be detected in both types of material but different groups were not ?visible? to the same degree.

I have in this essay focused on the attitude towards the medieval muslims in swedish textbooks, in the subject of history from the years between 1954 and 2012. I have made an analysis on the discourse in the books and what they says about the muslims who lived before 1500 AD. The theory I have is a Postcolonial one from the authors Edward Said, Ania Loomba and Leela Gandhi. I have also analyzed the rhetorics the authors have used in every textbook. The results I have identified is that the attitude towards the muslims have changed during the years, from a generalizing view that says that the muslims were driven by the religion and that they were different from the Christian European society that existed during the same time.

In February 2005, a collection predominantly containing medieval ballads was found in the library of Växjö. The collectors were mainly George Stephens, originally from Scotland, and Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius, both active in Småland in the nineteenth century. In connection with an intital inventory of the material, Magnus Gustafsson, ethnomusicologist at Smålands Musikarkiv, marked ballads of uncertain origin with a question mark.The purpose of this essay is to investigate 22 of these marked ballads. To be able to compare them with other material we have developed a method to identify differences. By means of the method both the text and the melody are compared and in addition the differences in terms of quality and quantity are assessed.

The aim of this paper is to illuminate and discuss the political and ideological aspects of Early Medieval Nordic music. Due to shortage of sources, this issue has been overlooked until now. Did Early Medieval Nordic music meet the requirements for political and ideological use? In what ways could music potentially be used politically and ideologically? Was music used as a political and ideological tool? This is examined by a contextual analysis combining music history and historical archaeology. The survey consists of a background account, focusing on the potential of music and some requests for political use, and three case studies, where musical reflections of societal tensions is investigated in folk music lyrics, Icelandic sagas and church art.

This essay discusses the development of swords in the southern region of Sweden, Skåne. It attempts to locate the areas in Europe where the swords were first made and, in doing so, trace the communication routes by which people traveled. The essay deals with aperiod of a few hundred years, from the late eighth century to sometime around 1300. In that sense, it is therefore also a time study tracing the cultural changes and developments in Skåne during the era of Christianization. Does the development of swords follow the overall changes in society, from an isolated pagan district to a Catholic European community, or not? In answering this question, eight swords were selected and put under closer observation.

The aim of this paper is to take a critical look at retouching of medieval mural paintings inSweden. This is done by firstly examining the different methods of retouching, including thematerials used. Secondary it tries to answer the question of which intentions have guided theconservator?s decisions dealing with the retouching. The medieval mural paintings in Swedishchurches have three major functions today.

This essay is an analysis of the objects made of bronze found in an excavation Västergarn parish, Gotland, in 2010, conducted by the University of Gotland. The studied material presented in this essay comes from contexts inside, as well as nearby the foundation of a medieval building which purpose is still not certain. The first purpose of this study is to present the bronze-objects found inside and nearby the foundation of house 6, and to see if there are any datable objects. There is also a discussion whether there has been any bronze-crafting in the area. The second purpose is to make a contextual analysis to see if there are any differences between the material found outside and inside of the building, and what conclusions can be made regarding the function and use of the building.