Working and unmarried women could have a life which married women had not. Instead of marriage, they built their social and family life on friendship. They lived with each other, payed rent together, discussed domestic issues such as cleaning and household labour. They also talked about love, and passion, and how to find a friend to share their life with. This particular group of unmarried women did not solely arrange friendship out of practical purposes but also of emotional and social bonds. This study focuses on the teacher Maja Beskow in Umeå and her diaries and correspondence with and about her friends from the year 1896 to 1923. What did they say about friendship? What aspects of life could be found within the friendships?

The dissertation focuses on the microhistorical analysis of the last years of the life of Hugo Vavrečka (1880-1952), technician, journalist, economist, diplomat and sales director of the Baťa company. The theoretical and methodological part elaborates on the epistemological differences between biographical and microhistorical research, after which attention is paid especially to the possibilities of microhistorical research in the field of contemporary history. The methodology of clues (Carlo Ginzburg) and the researcher's own positionality follow, while the sources used are presented. The interpretative part briefly summarizes the basic outlines of Hugo Vavrečka's life before 1944, after which the main research focus is put on his actions from autumn 1944 to his death in August 1952. Thesis analyses Vavrečka's post-war life, his own attitude to the personal and socio- political situation, to its changes, trying to name the approaches and individual motivations or beliefs with which he chose them. Last but not least, the work also focuses on the broader context of his family and friends, as well as on at least partially exposing the steps of his post-war opponents, who largely led him into this uneasy situation.

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The excavation of the Sanctuary of Poseidon at Kalaureia in 1894 marks the beginning of Swedish archaeological fieldwork in Greece. During a couple of hot summer months, two philologists from Uppsala University, Sam Wide (1861-1918) and Lennart Kjellberg (1857-1936), worked in the sanctuary together with the architect Sven Kristenson (1858-1937), the Greek foreman Pankalos and around twenty local workmen. In 1997, the Swedish Institute at Athens began new excavations at the sanctuary. This thesis examines the beginnings of Swedish fieldwork in Greece. Within the framework of a cultural history of archaeology, inspired by archaeological ethnography and the New Cultural History, it explores how archaeology functioned as a cultural practice in the late nineteenth century. A micro-historical methodology makes use of a wide array of different source material connected to the excavation of 1894, its prelude and aftermath. The thesis takes the theoretical position that the premises for archaeological knowledge production are outcomes of contemporary power structures and cultural politics. Through an analysis of how the archaeologists constructed their self-images through a set of idealized stereotypes of bourgeois masculinity, academic politics of belonging is highlighted. The politics of belonging existed also on a national level, where the Swedish archaeologists entered into a competition with other foreign actors to claim heritage sites in Greece. The idealization of classical Greece as a birthplace of Western values, in combination with contemporary colonial and racist cultural frameworks in Europe, created particular gazes through which the modern country was appropriated and judged. These factors all shaped the practices through which archaeological knowledge was created at Kalaureia. Some excavations tend to have extensive afterlives through the production of histories of archaeology. Therefore, this thesis also explores the representations of the 1894 excavation in the historiography of Swedish classical archaeology. It highlights the strategies by which the excavation at Kalaureia has served to legitimize further Swedish engagements in Greek archaeology, and explores the way in which historiography shapes our professional identities.

Pierre de L'Estoile (1546-1611) kept an extraordinary diary and collection in Paris during the Wars of Religion, recording everything from high-political scandals to low-life criminality during this crucial turning point in early modern history. The first extensive study of L'Estoile in any language, this thesis demonstrates how he negotiated and commemorated the conflicts that divided France as he engaged creatively with the rumours, ephemeral prints, poems, pictures, and books that he assembled in his diary and cabinet. It argues that the story of his life and times is the history of the civil wars in the making. While historians and literary scholars depend on L’Estoile’s diaries as an essential source of information, citing him as a mere passive observer, this thesis instead explores his subjectivity and interprets a wide range of hitherto unseen or neglected manuscript evidence that situates him in the Parisian society of royal office-holders and demonstrates his significance in the republic of letters. It follows a microhistorical approach to L'Estoile and his world in order to challenge established interpretations of his sources as evidence of a widespread mentality of eschatological anxiety in sixteenth-century France, instead focusing on L’Estoile’s personal responses to pieces in his collection. In this way, it critiques a common trend in cultural history to roam freely among ‘collective representations’ and argues for the importance of a precise analysis of social context, materiality, and individual subjectivity in reception studies.

The genre of biography is, by nature, imprecise and limited. Real lives are lived synchronously and diversely; they do not divide spontaneously into chapters, subjects or themes. All biographers construct stories, in the process forcing the disordered complexity of an actual life into a neat literary form. This doctoral submission comprises a book length creative work, Poisoned: The Trials of Mary Dean, and a reflective written component on that creative work, Writing Fictionalised Biography. Poisoned is a biography of Mary Dean, who, although repeatedly poisoned by her husband at the end of the nineteenth century, did not die. This biography, presented in the form of a first-person memoir, is based closely on historical evidence and is supported with discursive notes and a select bibliography. The reflective written component, Writing Fictionalised Biography, outlines the process and challenges of writing a biography when the source material available is inadequate and unreliable. In writing Poisoned my genre solution has been fictionalised biography - biography which is historically diligent while utilising fictional writing strategies and incorporating fictional passages. This written component reflectively discusses how I arrived at that solution. It includes discussion of the sources I utilised in writing Poisoned, including the limitations of trial transcripts and other court records as biographical evidence; useful precursors to the form; the process wherein I located both a form for my fictionalised biography and a voice for my biographical subject; possible models I considered; how I distinguished established fact from speculative supposition in the text; as well as some of the ambivalences and ethical concerns such a narrative process implies.

Den här magisteruppsatsen förenar de tre områdena Svenska kyrkans ekonomiska historia, svensk lönebildningshistoria och Martin Heidegger. Jag hävdar inledningsvis att prästerskapets löner är den bästa utgångspunkten för en ekonomisk-historiker som vill ta sig an Svenska kyrkan, och konstaterar mot bakgrund av tidigare forskning om lönebildning på den svenska arbetsmarknaden att lönebegreppet i bristande utsträckning har bearbetats på den mikrohistoriska nivå jag väljer att kalla ”den mänskliga tillvarons nivå”. För att angripa denna nivå definierar jag lönebegreppet utifrån Martin Heideggers teori om människan och hennes möjligheter i den vardagliga världen. Med grund i Heideggers Vara och tid analyserar jag löneutbetalningarna i kontanter till kyrkoherden i Björklinge församling 1910-1932, samt prästgården som var knuten till tjänsten. Resultaten visar att Heideggers ontologi kan vara fruktbar att använda, men att tillämpbarheten vid empiriska studier ännu är begränsad, och att fortsatt teoretiskt arbete är nödvändigt. / This Master's thesis combines three fields of study, namely the economic history of the Church of Sweden, the Swedish history of wage development, and Martin Heidegger. Initially, I suggest that the wages of the clergy is the best starting point for an economic historian wishing to approach the study of the Church of Sweden. I conclude with regards to previous research on the subject of wage development on the Swedish labor market, that the term ”wage” has been dealt with to an unsatisfying degree on the microhistorical level I have opted to call ”the level of the human condition”. To approach this level I define the term ”wage” based on Martin Heidegger's theory about the human being and her possibilities in the everyday world. Starting out with Heidegger's Being and Time, I analyze the payment of cash wages to the vicar of Björklinge parish 1910-1932, as well as the parsonage tied to that position. The results show that the use of Heidegger's ontology can prove fruitful, though its applicability in matters of empirical studies is yet limited, and that continued theoretical work is needed.

The bachelor thesis is devoted to the description and evaluation of population changes in the South Bohemian village of Čimelice between 1890 and 1921. These changes have been described on the basis of a set of four population censuses which were taken during the above-mentioned period. The first aim of the thesis is to describe the village population from the point of view of historical demography and to compare it with general development in the Czech lands. The second aim of the thesis is to survey the population, divided according to their occupation or, more precisely, according to their socioeconomic status, through the microhistorical approach. Subsequently, the thesis examines the influence of the First World War on the population of Čimelice in terms of the fallen and of the men serving in the Czechoslovak Legion. In the last chapter of the thesis, the main aspects of the changes in the rural population in the perspective of the examined village have been summarised, and the possibilities for further scientific research have been mentioned.

Mots clés : catholicisme social, entreprises, microhistoire, municipalité, mutualité, prévoyance & protection sociale, régulation, savoirs et savoir-faire, sociétés de secours mutuelsCette thèse traite des formes de régulation sociale mises en œuvre par les acteurs grenoblois au XIXe siècle et au cours de la première moitié du XXe siècle. Pour les élites, qui participent plus ou moins activement à leur élaboration en fonction du contexte sociopolitique, ces formes doivent assurer la « paix sociale ». Ces dernières s’adressent en priorité aux populations qu’ils jugent à risque : les gens de métiers au XIXe siècle, puis les populations ouvrières qualifiées de l’industrie au cours de la première moitié du XXe siècle. La spécificité de cette recherche réside dans sa démarche microhistorique. Elle s’attache, d’une part, à l’étude des individus et des acteurs collectifs qui conçoivent et administrent les organismes de régulation, à leurs parcours, savoirs et savoir-faire. Elle porte également son attention aux acteurs qui bénéficient de ces organismes, à leurs itinéraires et stratégies de protection.Ce travail montre que la régulation sociale se désencastre de ses milieux d’application à la fin du XIXe siècle. Ce désencastrement est physique et social. Au tournant des XIXe et XXe siècles, le savoir et le savoir-faire des catégories populaires sont disqualifiés au profit de l’objectivation du social, celle-ci étant jugée plus à même de régler la question sociale. Cette objectivation, conduite par les nouvelles élites républicaines, est réalisée en dehors des terrains d’application des politiques de régulation sociale. Dès le début du XXe siècle, les catégories populaires ne participent plus que marginalement à l’administration du social. / ...

With Gods help? A qualitative study of Carolean's perceptions about the Great Northern War and Charles XII The purpose of this thesis is to investigate what perceptions Charles XII’s Caroleans had about him, the Great Northern War and how these perceptions changed during the war. There is also an underlying ambition to show how these perceptions differ. The underlying issues for the thesis are thus: - What perceptions/opinions describes the Caroleans of Charles XII as a person and leader? - What perceptions are described about the war as a whole? - In what way do perceptions concerning loyalty and hopes change during the war?   The theoretical point of departure of the thesis is briefly the fatalistic beliefs and image of the King as the elect of God. A majority of the Swedish army was characterized by this approach and based their experiences and values on it to varying degrees.      The methodology in which the essay's research is based on are threefold and consists of narrative diary analysis, microhistory and mentality history.      The study is based on a source material composed of six diaries from six of Karl XII’s Caroleans with varying positions. Based on analyzes of these diaries, each individual’s experiences and perceptions have been distinguished and reported.      The conclusion of this result is that all of the mentioned Caroleans hulded a great respect for the king and saw him to varying degrees as a role model and the election of God. As the result shows they did not hold him personally responsible for the end of the war, likely due to the fatalistic beliefs that’s already mentioned.      Perceptions of the war in whole occur to some extent but not to the extent expected. From this point of view, the chosen Caroleans were fairly value-free. During the war, one can clearly see that perceptions and hopes changed. This change is strictly linked to the Swedes pros and cons in the war.