Kenth Hansen

In my doctoral thesis I studied the aristocratic presence in cities; its importance and role in an urban context and its interaction with other social groups in the city. The study was focused on cities in the Scanian counties during the Middle Ages, specifically Lund, Malmö, Ystad and Halmstad.

The starting point of the study is the medieval society structure, where the four estates - the aristocracy, the clergy, the bourgeoisie and the peasants - are considered having clear boundaries, not just socially and politically, but also spatially.

The aim of the study can be described in three levels. At the basic level specific knowledge of the aristocracy’s actual presence in cities at different times - the scope, the formation and the reasons for their presence – was gained. At the next level, the main level of the project, the study elucidated the aristocracy’s involvement in the material, social, economic and political structures of urban society. Finally, the perception of the dividing lines between various social groups as being static and explicit during the medieval and early modern period was problematized, aiming to provide a nuanced, and perhaps altered, description of the past class society.

The project resulted in the thesis Medeltida stadsaristokrati. Världsligt frälse i de skånska landskapens städer.