<p>The purpose of this essay is to look upon the gender structure in Sweden, during the late Middle Ages. Mainly I focus on how the church viewed men and women, since the material of my research, the miracle stories of three saints, was found credible and was written down by churchmen. The saints, whose miracles I have studied, are Birgitta Birgersdotter and Katarina Ulfsdotter of Vadstena and Niklas Hermansson of Linköping. These miracles have earlier been studied by the historian Anders Fröjmark, who has noticed that there are fewer heeled women than men figuring in the miracles. Because of this, Fröjmark draws the conclusion that women were less able to leave their homes and travel as pilgrims to the holy sites of the saints. I, on the other hand, argue that the pilgrim journey was a religious act that both sexes could take equal part in. There are for example plenty of cases in the miracle stories were women have traveled for long distances alone, or with their cured children. The reasons why females are underrepresented could instead be that men seemed more reliable in the eyes of the churchmen. Another reason to the lower representation of women is that men, during the late middle ages, seem to have been far more likely to be the target of accidents and violent assaults.This research also shows that women, being regarded as less reliable, seldom were accepted as witnesses to the miracles. Nuns were however an exception and there is reason to believe that also widows were seen as more reliable than other women. Females who were present during a “birth miracle” were also allowed to witness.</p>

The purpose of this essay is to look upon the gender structure in Sweden, during the late Middle Ages. Mainly I focus on how the church viewed men and women, since the material of my research, the miracle stories of three saints, was found credible and was written down by churchmen. The saints, whose miracles I have studied, are Birgitta Birgersdotter and Katarina Ulfsdotter of Vadstena and Niklas Hermansson of Linköping. These miracles have earlier been studied by the historian Anders Fröjmark, who has noticed that there are fewer heeled women than men figuring in the miracles. Because of this, Fröjmark draws the conclusion that women were less able to leave their homes and travel as pilgrims to the holy sites of the saints. I, on the other hand, argue that the pilgrim journey was a religious act that both sexes could take equal part in. There are for example plenty of cases in the miracle stories were women have traveled for long distances alone, or with their cured children. The reasons why females are underrepresented could instead be that men seemed more reliable in the eyes of the churchmen. Another reason to the lower representation of women is that men, during the late middle ages, seem to have been far more likely to be the target of accidents and violent assaults.This research also shows that women, being regarded as less reliable, seldom were accepted as witnesses to the miracles. Nuns were however an exception and there is reason to believe that also widows were seen as more reliable than other women. Females who were present during a “birth miracle” were also allowed to witness.

This work studies the introduction of three new cults of saints in the Linköping Bishopric during the Late Middle Ages. Two of them were based at Vadstena Convent: the Holy Bridgel (Birgitta, d. 1373) cult which had its beginning in 1374 and the cult of Katarina Ulfsdotter (d. 1381), which started during the 1410's. The third, the cult of Bishop Nils Hermansson (d. 1391), which originated at the latest in I40l. was associaled w ith the cathedral in Linköping. The introduction of a saint's cult may be relaled to the need of many people in medieval society for healing and protection. The tales about the saint's posthumous miracles played a key role in the introductory phase of the cults. In the dissertation such tales are used as the foundation for the analysis of the varied geographic and social patterns of distnbution of the three cults. The cult of the Holy Bridget was as much an intemational as a Swedish cult. The other cults studied were two of manv attempts to ride on the wave created by the successes of the Bridget cult. They may furthermore be regarded a response to various types of crises which the sponsoring institutions experienced. / Den 29 juni 1374 anlände ett skepp till Söderköpings hamn. Ombord fanns kvarlevorna efter den heliga Birgitta, vilka nu av dottern Katarina efter moderns önskemål skulle föras till Vadstena. När resföljet anlände till Sverige strömmade människor till från alla håll. De var redan klara över att i kistan låg relikema efter ett helgon. Ryktet om Birgittas förmåga att med sina förböner hjälpa sjuka och olycksdrabbåde människor var ett centralt inslag i den helgonkult som byggdes upp kring henne. Birgittakultens exempel lockade till efterföljd. Under det kommande århundradet etablerades ett pärlband av nya helgonkulter i Linköpings stift, däribland kulterna av Birgittas dotter Katarina (1381) och av biskop Nils Hermansson (1391). Denna doktorsavhandling fokuserar intresset på dessa helgonkulter i deras lanseringsskede. Den identifierar de grupper och institutioner som var särskilt aktiva i detta skede, och diskuterar de behov i dåtidens samhälle som gjorde att befolkningens breda lager tog till sig de nya helgonen. / <p>Doktoravhandlingen framlagd vid Uppsala universitet 1992</p>