Cistercian Monasteries in Medieval Sweden—Foundations and Recruitments, 1143–1420
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religions Article Cistercian Monasteries in Medieval Sweden—Foundations and Recruitments, 1143–1420 Catharina Andersson Department of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, Umeå University, 90187 Umeå, Sweden; [email protected] Abstract: This article presents an overview of the Cistercian monasteries that were founded in Sweden in the 12th and 13th centuries. The first were Alvastra and Nydala, founded in 1143, both male monasteries. However, eventually the nunneries came to outnumber the male monasteries (7/5). The purpose of the article is also to discuss the social background of the monks and nuns who inhabited these monasteries. As for the nuns, previous studies have shown that they initially came from the society’s elite, the royal families, but also other magnates. Gradually, social recruitment broadened, and an increasing number of women from the aristocratic lower levels came to dominate the recruitment. It is also suggested that from the end of the 14th century, the women increasingly came from the burghers. The male monasteries, on the other hand, were not even from the beginning populated by men from the nobles. Their family backgrounds seem rather to be linked to the aristocratic lower layers. This difference between the sexes can most probably be explained by the fact that ideals of monastic life—obedience, equality, poverty and ban on weapons—in a decisive way broke with what in secular life was constructed as an aristocratic masculinity. Keywords: monasticism; aristocracy; medieval Sweden; monasteries; nunneries; nuns; monks; Citation: Andersson, Catharina. Cistercians; donations; gifts; diplomas; charters; gender; masculinity 2021. Cistercian Monasteries in Medieval Sweden—Foundations and Recruitments, 1143–1420. Religions 12: 582. https://doi.org/10.3390/ 1. Introduction rel12080582 In the 1160s, Ingegerd, sister of King Karl Sverkersson, is believed to have entered Academic Editor: Steinunn the prestigious Vreta monastery in the province of Östergötland. Before she entered, her Kristjánsdóttir brother, King Karl, had donated extensive and generous gifts to the convent. Because Ingegerd became the monastery’s prioress, she ultimately found herself in control of the Received: 30 April 2021 donated property. About 150 years later, another woman would be admitted to another of Accepted: 9 July 2021 Sweden’s oldest nunneries. Presumably at a young age, Cristina entered the Vårfruberga Published: 28 July 2021 monastery in the province of Södermanland to take the veil. She was placed in the convent by her father, Botvid, who in connection with the entry also donated property to the Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral convent. Botvid’s gift of land was, however, far more modest than the king’s donations with regard to jurisdictional claims in almost 200 years earlier. Beyond this, we do not know much about either Cristina or her published maps and institutional affil- father. However, in contrast to Ingegerd’s royal background, it is obvious that Cristina and iations. Botvid did not belong to the elite of society (Johansson 1964, p. 75; SDHK n.d., Svenskt Diplomatariums huvudkartotek (The Main Catalog of Diplomatarium Suecanum), 5783). In other words, it was not always the case that the convents were primarily inhabited by the daughters of the most noble elite. Rather, a certain social diversification can be noted Copyright: © 2021 by the author. within its walls. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article discusses who populated the oldest monasteries and nunneries in Sweden. This article is an open access article Based on recent studies as well as existing sources, this study examines the social back- distributed under the terms and ground of the nuns and monks who lived in the monasteries and how these social patterns conditions of the Creative Commons changed over time during the Late Middle Ages through the beginning of the 15th century. Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// In addition, the article investigates whether one can see a difference in this respect between creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ the male and female monastic houses. 4.0/). Religions 2021, 12, 582. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12080582 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions Religions 2021, 12, 582 2 of 18 As the focus is on the Cistercian order, the article also presents an overview of the main founding period—from the time of the first monks’ arrival in the 1140s through the 13th century. As for the nunneries, the convents commonly considered to belong to the order will be included. (In some cases, however, there is some uncertainty as to which order the nunneries in question were initially affiliated). This article suggests that the burgher families came to play an increasing important role as a recruitment base for the nunneries during the Late Middle Ages. The monasteries’ social recruitment base is also discussed from a gender perspective. In recent decades, research has clearly shown that gender is a fundamental factor in how societies are organised as it is evident that gender also reflects a power relationship between the sexes. In her classic article, “Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis” (1986), Joan W Scott emphasises that gender is one of the main fields through which power is expressed. There are also other fields, but gender “seems to have been a persistent and recurrent way of enabling the signification of power in the West” (Scott 1986, pp. 1067–70, quotation p. 1069). The Swedish historian Yvonne Hirdman further suggests that the relations between the sexes follow two basic logics: the separation of the sexes (i.e., different spheres) and the norm that the male is superior. The stronger the distinction between the sexes (i.e., what is generally considered “female” and “male”), including their tasks and spheres, the stronger the primacy of the male norm (Hirdman 1988). In medieval Sweden, social organisation as well as power relations were clearly linked to gender. This is, not the least, evinced by the legal male supremacy—all women, except for widows, were formally under male guardianship. In addition, women did not have access to public offices. As for the ecclesiastical and monastic world, the separation of the sexes and the hierarchies of power based on gender were also evident as men were the exclusive holders of ecclesiastical offices. This was not called in question by the monastic organisation, despite the seemingly more egalitarian world that monastic life offered. In addition, monasteries kept women and men strictly limited by the formal enclosure, physically separated from the outside world, including the opposite sex. Although an abbess supervised her convent and probably had some influence in the secular world, she too was subordinated to various male authorities such as a bishop or abbot from a nearby male monastery. In addition, unlike an abbot, an abbess did not have the authority to inaugurate new nuns or to perform the sacraments in her convent such as lead the service or receive confession. It can also be assumed that the work the nuns performed in the monastery, at least in part, reflected the chores performed by women outside the monastery. For exam- ple, the nuns in Vadstena abbey, the mother house of the Bridgettine order, largely de- voted themselves to sewing and textile care (although this was not their only occupation) (Rajamaa 1992, pp. 148–59). However, the traditional division of labour, or the subordina- tion of the abbess vis-à-vis other ecclesiastical offices, was not the only way in which the monasteries maintained traditional gender structures. Later in the article, it will be argued that the gender structures of the surrounding secular society (i.e., the expected way of life for women and men) were also reflected in the aristocratic group’s motives and reasons for placing—or not placing—a child or other relative in a convent. 2. Monasteries and Kings during Social Transformation In the 12th century, the Cistercian order was established in Sweden. Only one monastery, Vreta Abbey, initially Benedictine, is known before the arrival of the Cistercians. During the 12th century and the first half of the 13th century, twelve Cistercian monasteries were founded. In 1143, the two oldest male monasteries, Alvastra and Nydala, were established. A third male monastery, Varnhem, was established around 1150 (perhaps earlier), and by the 1160s, two more monasteries for men had been established, Julita (later Säby) and Roma, the latter on the island of Gotland. Nunneries were also established at a rapid rate. As will be seen below, the early history of Vreta Abbey is unclear. From the 1160s, however, it is usually considered to be Cistercian, and was at the time one of the Religions 2021, 12, 582 3 of 18 country’s most prestigious nunneries. Several nunneries followed. In most cases, the exact year each nunnery was established cannot be determined, but the majority were founded in the second half of the 12th century (although some would move to other areas in the 13th century). Nunneries were established in Askeby, Gudhem, Byarym (later Sko), Fogdö (later Vårfruberga), and Riseberga. No later than 1248, the last of the Cistercian nunneries, Solberga monastery, was founded, similarly to Roma, on the island of Gotland. The 12th century, when the first monasteries were founded in Sweden, can also be described as a time of missions. Although the first known missionary, Ansgar, visited Birka, a Viking-era village, in the early 9th century and Viking seafarers temporarily professed the new faith in the 10th century, it was not until the 11th and 12th centuries that ecclesiastical organisations established themselves in what was to become Sweden. The first churches were founded in the 1000s and 1100s; however, in Varnhem, not far from the monastery, excavations have recently shown that a wooden church existed at the end of the 10th century (Vretemark et al. 2020). These churches were often built by private individuals, but the initiatives also came from the monarchy as well as church authorities or through collective peasant initiatives.