In the wake of a heightened interest in the Swedish Middle Ages, the need for knowledge has increased as well. The Swedish Middle Ages was an era when the country truly began to grow closer to the European sphere of culture. The forces behind this transformation are largely to be sought among the social elite, the budding aristocracy of Sweden. The process of becoming “Europeans” brought with it great changes to Sweden, not the least in terms of the political arena. What was it that was so sought after by the Swedish aristocracy? What ideals and values lay behind the feudally inspired system of government and the chivalric code of conduct among the elite? In a general sense, the object of this investigation has been to try to understand and explore the ideological underpinnings of the new system of government and the new social order. In order to achieve this, I have used the Swedish chivalric chronicle known as Erikskrönikan as the source material for the investigation. It is believed to have been a propaganda piece for the Swedish aristocracy of the early 1300 hundreds and is, as such, a phenomenal source for researching the ideals and values of the Swedish aristocracy of that time. Thus, the purpose of this essay has been to investigate ideological underpinnings of the Swedish power elite of the first half of the 14th century by analysing their idealized self image and conception of society, as they appear in Erikskrönikan’s depiction of duke Erik and a few other key characters. Included in this is also an ambition to contextualize the results of the investigation by attempting to reconstruct the ideology for which Erikskrönikan is an expression. The intention has been to contribute a new perspective to the already extant research concerning the understanding of the new type of society brought forth in medieval Sweden.  The theoretical premise of this investigation has been a functional understanding of the concept of ideology. In this essay ideology is regarded as a system of ideas which expresses a given groups world views and norms, which reflects the social conditions of the group, and which is a declaration of that group’s interests and aspirations. The methodological basis has been a qualitative analysis of the text, where the depiction of selected characters from the text has been the main object of investigation. The focus has been on identifying which characteristics are portrayed as ideal and which are portrayed as are anti ideal within the text. On an analytical level this investigation has included the use of the concepts “manifest ideology” and “latent ideology” as tools of analysis. In this way it has been possible to uncover the ideals and values of the aristocracy, as expressed in Erikskrönikan, both in terms of what is articulated explicitly and what is implied. In terms of results this investigation has rendered them in abundance. Among the most revealing and relevant findings are: the emphasis put on the vassal system, the chivalrous virtues and the staunch declaration about the superiority of elective kingship. These are all examples of recurring themes which are communicated with a clear didactic intent. Furthermore, I have also been able to show that the code of chivalry was not considered a varnish to cover the blemishes of an imperfect society, but a way of relating to reality and to the surrounding world. The tangible functions of the code of chivalry in society can be understood as having been of two kinds: on the one hand, the code of chivalry was a way of reigning in and channelling the destructive potential of the use of violence; and on the other hand, the code of chivalry was a way for the aristocracy, indeed the Swedish chivalry, to communicate and reaffirm their social standing, both internally and externally.

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This essay aims to examine the expressions of love in classical Persian poetry and the European, medieval courtly love. The main focus is to analyze the Persian divine love using a selection of poems from Jalal al-din Rumis Vassflöjtens sång and Fakhr al-din Araqis Gnistornas bok, both translated and commented by Ashk Dahlén. The method used for this study is to analyze the Persian divine love with the perspective of the courtly love using the questions how the love in the poems are expressed and how it relates to the rules of courtly love. The knowledge behind the Persian poetry is mostly provided by Ashk Dahlén, Bo Utas and Simon Sorgenfrei with Kärleken begär att detta tal skall fram. The divine love is in the analysis compared with different expressions of medieval courtly love throughout the century supported by Anders Cullheds chapter about courtly love in Tidens guld: essayer om kanon, liv, poesi and Carin Franzéns Jag gav honom inte min kärlek: Om hövisk kärlek som kvinnlig strategi. I do a comparative analysis between the Persian poetry and different examples from the courtly love highlighting mostly the similarities but also some important differences. It also examines the use of eros and agape with the help of Anders Johanssons Kärleksförklaring: Subjektiveringens dialektik for a more in depth analyze. In conclusion, I found that there are a lot of similarities in the expression of both worldly and divine contexts but that it is built on different foundations. The essay ends by discussing the predominant similarities and why it might be similar but also problematizes and highlights a few differences like the use of eros and agape and the use of motives. The intention of this essay is to open up for further research regarding the subject and examine why it is possible to find such similarities at the same historical time but in two different parts of the world. / Denna uppsats ämnar jämföra kärleksuttrycket i klassisk persisk poesi med den europeiska, medeltida höviska kärleken. Syftet med denna uppsats är att utifrån ett höviskt kärleksperspektiv analysera hur kärleken kommer till uttryck hos två namn inom den klassiska persiska poesin, Jalal al-din Rumi och Fakhr al-din Araqi. Den gudomliga kärleken har analyserats med hjälp av Rumis samling Vassflöjtens sång och Araqis Gnistornas bok, båda översatta och kommenterade av Ashk Dahlén. Metoden för denna uppsats är att analysera den persiska poesin med hjälp av den höviska kärleken som ett verktyg. Detta kommer att göras med hjälp av frågorna hur kärleken i poesin tar sig uttryck och hur den förhåller sig till den höviska kärleksmodellen. Vetskapen om den persiska poesin tillhandahålls av bland annat Ashk Dahlén, Bo Utas och Simon Sorgenfrei med antologin Kärleken begär att detta tal skall fram. Den gudomliga kärleken jämförs i analysen med olika uttryck av höviska kärlek genom århundradet med hjälp av Anders Cullheds kapitel om hövisk kärlek i Tidens guld: essay om kanon, liv, poesi och Carin Franzéns Jag gav honom inte min kärlek: Om hövisk kärlek som kvinnlig strategi. Jag gör en komparativ analys mellan den persiska poesin och diverse exempel från den höviska kärleken och framhäver framförallt dess likheter men också en del större olikheter. Uppsatsen undersöker också användningen av eros och agape med hjälp av Anders Johanssons Kärleksförklaring: Subjektiveringens dialektik för en djupare analys. Sammanfattningsvis visar analysen en rad likheter i uttrycket inom både värdsliga och andliga sammanhang men också att dessa likheter grundar sig på olika utgångspunkter. Uppsatsen avslutas med att diskutera de övervägande likheterna och varför dessa går att finna men problematiserar och framhäver även de olikheter som går att finna som användadet av eros och agape samt användningen av motiv. Intentionen med denna uppsats är att öppna upp för mer forskning inom området och att undersöka varför det är möjligt att finna dessa likheter under samma tidsperiod i olika delar av världen.