In the shadow of the family – lineage and personality in Late Medieval Scandinavia

The purpose of the present is to perform a study of stone tablets with coat of arms and memorial texts in late medieval buildings in Scandinavia, in order to study how people manifested themselves and their families. When, how and where do tablets like this turn up, what groups in society lies behind their appearance, and why are they made, are some questions that will be discussed.

The castle Glimmingehus in southeastern Scania is a well-known place. When entering the building from the courtyard the visitor can study a beautiful stone tablet above the entrance which states that the castle was started to be built by Jens Holgersen (Ulfstand) in 1499. The tablet also tells us about Jens’ wife Margareta, and his late wife Holmgerd, and the coat of arms of the three persons are shown. Glimmingehus is thus not only a memorial of the Middle Ages and its castles and knights, but also of a single individual and his family and their lineage.

The purpose of the present project is to perform a study of stone tablets with coat of arms and memorial texts in late medieval buildings in Scandinavia, in order to analyze how people used material culture to manifest themselves and their families. When, how and where do tablets like this turn up, what groups in society lies behind their appearance, and why are they made, are some questions that will be discussed. The overall purpose is however to study in what way this type of material culture reflects a change in how personality, agency, family and lineage is perceived and performed, as well as the relationships between different gender in the time period in question, the late Middle Ages and early renaissance, c. 1400-1600.