Thesis (doctoral)--Universitetet i Umeå. / Extra t.p. with thesis statement inserted. Summary in English. Includes bibliographical references (p. 126-132).

The classification of late medieval literary cycles according to localised subject matter, such as the 'Matter of France', the 'Matter of Britain' and the 'Matter of Rome', has proven to be an enduring one in modern scholarship. This model has also been applied to Old Norse saga literature, particularly the fornaldarsögur, within which the 'Matter of Hrafnista' and the 'Matter of Gautland' have been identified as prominent examples. The latter cycle consists of Gautreks saga, Hrólfs saga Gautrekssonar and Bósa saga ok Herrauðs, all of whose heroes are descended from and primarily based in Gautland (modern-day Götaland in central-southern Sweden). This cycle has not been explored in any great depth, to the same extent that other 'Matters' have been, and it is therefore the primary focus of this dissertation. The dissertation begins with a brief overview of previous scholarship on the ancient and medieval Götar and Götaland. This subject has long been of interest to scholars, not least because of the common identification of the Götar with the Geatas mentioned in Old English poetry, most notably Beowulf, but the matter is made notoriously problematic by sparse and sometimes unreliable evidence. Following this overview, introduction is made to Michel Foucault's theory of the heterotopia, a spatial framework which has only begun to be applied to Old Norse literature within the last decade. Indeed, this dissertation marks the first time that Foucault's heterotopia has been used as the theoretical framework for an extensive analysis of any Old Norse texts. An important contention of this dissertation is that the depictions of Gautland in Old Norse literature collectively fulfil Foucault's six criteria of the heterotopia, and furthermore that Gautland can productively be considered a literary heterotopia. Accordingly, after establishing the theoretical framework, I explore the main patterns of conceptualisation found in the depictions of Gautland across the main genres of Old Norse literature. The purpose of this survey is to provide context for a closer analysis of the construction of Gautland in the three 'Matter of Gautland' fornaldarsögur. Because these three sagas involve Gautish heroes and, accordingly, feature Gautland as an important space, they inevitably reflect a significant depth of conceptualisation of the region, and the rest of this dissertation employs the heterotopic framework to illuminate the ways in which this conceptualisation is manifested. Each of the three 'Matter of Gautland' sagas is analysed in turn, and certain aspects of the construction of Gautland, which happen to correspond strongly to individual principles of Foucault's heterotopia, are identified as common to all three. All three sagas deploy allusions to prominent traditions associated with Gautland, especially to the celebrated Brávellir and Ragnarr loðbrók legends, the effect of which is to imbue the Gautland of each saga with legendary veracity. All three sagas also construct Gautland within their own system of relational geopolitical space, although these constructions are manifested differently in each saga. Indeed, as well as common aspects, each saga also naturally contains many points of idiosyncratic distinction and nuance in their construction of Gautland as well. Both Gautreks saga and Hrólfs saga are argued to reflect contemporary Icelandic anxieties through structural aspects of their depictions of Gautland, while Gautreks saga and, to a lesser extent, Bósa saga, display a fundamental and significant interest in the geographical landscape of Gautland. In their emphatic correspondence with each individual principle of Foucault's heterotopia, the collective perspectives of the three 'Matter of Gautland' sagas provide unique insight into the medieval Icelandic conceptualisation of Gautland as a literary space.

<p>The written sources concerning the process of christianization in Sweden has for a long time been limited to two main texts, Rimberts vita of St. Ansgarius and Adam of Bremen´s History of the bishops of Hamburg. This is due to a rigid source criticism in the beginning of the 20th century, which put other material – in particular the norse sagas – out of consideration. The last twenty years however, new questions have been raised concerning the christianization, partly because of new archaeological findings, new interpretations of the significance of runic stones and the recent debate about the formation of the Swedish medieval kingdom. The subject has been discussed from many different angles, and with a lot of scholarly effort.</p><p>This text raises the question whether the christianization of Sweden was a peaceful or violent process, and investigates the possibility of answering the question through an analysis of all the relevant written material available and in the light of recent archaeological findings. There are several methodological problems pertaining to written material from the early middle ages which are raised and discussed. The sources are initially presented from a critical viewpoint, and then the material is analyzed with a matrix construed from the categories Wortmission, Tatmission, and Schwertmission, each with subdivisions drawn from the texts. The author contends that the source material conclusively supports that the christianization was a violent process and also a fairly rapid one.</p>

The written sources concerning the process of christianization in Sweden has for a long time been limited to two main texts, Rimberts vita of St. Ansgarius and Adam of Bremen´s History of the bishops of Hamburg. This is due to a rigid source criticism in the beginning of the 20th century, which put other material – in particular the norse sagas – out of consideration. The last twenty years however, new questions have been raised concerning the christianization, partly because of new archaeological findings, new interpretations of the significance of runic stones and the recent debate about the formation of the Swedish medieval kingdom. The subject has been discussed from many different angles, and with a lot of scholarly effort. This text raises the question whether the christianization of Sweden was a peaceful or violent process, and investigates the possibility of answering the question through an analysis of all the relevant written material available and in the light of recent archaeological findings. There are several methodological problems pertaining to written material from the early middle ages which are raised and discussed. The sources are initially presented from a critical viewpoint, and then the material is analyzed with a matrix construed from the categories Wortmission, Tatmission, and Schwertmission, each with subdivisions drawn from the texts. The author contends that the source material conclusively supports that the christianization was a violent process and also a fairly rapid one.

The cult of the saints was a widespread and important element of medieval European society. It is also an area of history where historians’ explanations of events are usually very different from those of the historical actors studied. This thesis is an attempt to find some common ground between them. It examines the interactions between commoners and the non-canonised saint NilsHermansson, bishop of Linköping, in early fifteenth-century Swedish miracle tales. The thesis argues that the cult of the saint functioned as his social network. It further argues that in this network the dead saint functioned as a social actor, that is as someone who acted in society for purposes of his own and who had different relationships to different people. These premises haveproven very fruitful for the understanding of the development, structure and function of the cult, and of what the cult meant to people who took part in it. The bishop’s network included the canons of Linköping, the fellow departed saint Bridget, and many people who were connected to the bishop by patron-client relationships. Viewing the departed saint as a social actor sheds light on the varied and prudent ways in which medieval Swedish commoners interacted with him. The study indicates that the making of vows to the saint may have been regulated by custom in a way thatwas related to the Country Law then in force. There was a remarkable degree of continuity between the social network of the living bishop and his cult after death.