Medeltiden i sagorna : åtta ungdomsböckers framställning av medeltiden

• Main Author: Roskvist, Hélen
• Format: Others
• Language: Swedish
• Published: Uppsala universitet, Historiska institutionen 2014
• Subjects: use of history; the Middle Age; novels; historiebruk; medeltiden; romaner
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-225754

The Middle Age Period in Eight Juvenile Novels. This study investigates how the Middle Age is presented in literature for youths. I have taking four questions into consideration: How are the different groups or class in the Middle Age society are presented in terms of their housing, clothing, work assignments and leisure activities? What work assignments, leisure activities did children had and their relationship to adults? How was the religious life of monks, nuns and of the people in general? How are the people in the Middle Age described? The study focuses on youth literature written by Swedish authors. Eight books were read and compared. The results of this study shows that there were four kinds of housing during the Middle Age period: housing in cities or villages, housing on the country side and farms, housing in fortresses and housing in monasteries. The difference between housing conditions of the rich and the poor is that the rich could afford bigger houses, fancier building materials and interial details. Most of the garments were worn by both men and women in all the society classes. The biggest difference in the people´s clothing was the one between the rich and poor. The clothes of the rich were made in the fancier materials silk and velvet. Their clothes also had more ornaments. The work assignment between women in the different society groups differs less than the work assignments between men in the different society groups. Children most often took over their parents work. The leisure activities for children were about the same between the society groups. The relation between adults and children was strainous and the children were totally submissive to the adults. The religious life of the people consisted of actions done daily, weekly, annually and once in a life time. There were also actions that were done once in a while. Monks and nuns religious life was different from the rest of the people. They dedicated their lives to prayer and singing for God, and also to assist their fellowmen. The most common description of the people in the Middle Age period is that they did and thought things that were typical for that time period in question and that can seem strange for today`s readers.