This study looks at the roles and functions of heraldry in two parish churches in medieval Sweden. The study does this by hermeneutically relating the extant heraldic inventories of the churches to their historical contexts, specifically the view of the church as a multidimensional space and the understanding of the church as part of a constructed social landscape. Furthermore, the study aims to determine the relationship between heraldic art in churches and the legal relationship between that church and the armiger. These legal relationships include that of a bishop to his canon collegiate, the king to the church, and the patronus to his church. Lastly the study also attempts to determine the extent of the liturgical role of heraldry in these two churches by relating the extant heraldic inventories of the churches to the local liturgy of the early 16th century. The results show that heraldry has been used to legitimise power and give a sense of continuity in the transfer of power over the churches. The heraldry has also been found to express piety by allowing the armiger to be heraldically present within the chancel and in liturgical connection to the Eucharist. The study makes no explicit link between any form of heraldry in the church and any particular legal relationship to said church, but maintains that the award of patronage over a church and of having heraldic presence in a church both stem from donations to the church and its works. The study links the liturgical role of heraldry in the burial rite of a knight with St. Briget of Sweden’s view of the knights shield as a symbol for their vow to protect the church and her ideals. The subsequent tradition of mounting a deceased knight’s shield in the church is then interpreted as a continual sign of that vow and of the knight’s continued heraldic presence withing the parish. The presence of arma Christi within the extant heraldic inventories can be interpreted as a manifestation of the ideals of the church, while other coats of arms are subservient to that of the Christ. Arma Christi furthermore serve to legitimise heraldic presence as mystical presence in a way similar to liturgical icons.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-526634 |
| Date | January 2023 |
| Creators | Särnqvist, Zakharias |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Kyrkohistoria och missionshistoria |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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