| Summary: | This study examines four suits of armour that belonged to two Swedish kings, one protestant and one catholic, during the renaissance. The study tries to determine if it is possible to extract the religious identity of these kings based upon the decorations or other connotations of the suits of armour. Since the two kings, Erik the XIV:th and John the III, where half brothers and they succeeded each other, the suits of armour are closley matched in time and style. The study also examines the grave effigy of one of the kings, John the III of Sweden, to examine if there is a connection between crossed legs on effigys and the perception of religion during the period. The study is conducted through a archeological and historiological method and uses a combination theory of Smarts seven dimensions and the pictoral turn. The main question of the study is: - What does it take to track religious bias through armour? The subsequent questions are: - Is it possible to find the religious identity in the suits of armour? - Was the Gothicism movement a religious movement? - The effigy of John the III was sculpted in a style popular in the eleventh century, created in the 16:th century and placed in the 18:th century. What conclusions can be drawn from this while also tracking the discourse of effigys in the same time expance. The study concludes that if the identity of the owner of a suit of armour is known, the symbols that adorne the suit can be interpreted fairly well. It also conludes that the gothic movement in Sweden where an extremely aggressive catholic movement. Finally it concludes that the creation and placement of the tomb in Uppsala cathedral closely follows the different discourses about the meaning of crossed legs on effigys in Europe and that the makers most likely gave the position a devout religious connotation.
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