Historisk tidskrift 126:4 • 2006
Innehåll (Contents) 2006:4
Uppsatser (Articles)
Kyrkan, kvinnorna och hierarkiernas dynamik
Annika Sandén
Fulltext (pdf)
Summary
The Church, women and the dynamics of hierarchies
This article analyses the interface between ecclesiastical
norms and popular traditions in the early seventeenth century,
with a special focus on the reciprocity of the early modern
social ideology. Because women were under coverture, court
records give the impression that women were largely passive
in the public sphere. This may well be a simplified description
of women’s everyday social interactions in the early modern
period, however. Most likely, women created diversified social
hierarchies between themselves by means of social activities
and on arenas that were parallel to or even outside male spheres.
Based on ecclesiastical sources, this article interprets the
church as a social arena for women. Women appear to have used
ecclesiastical ceremonies for their own purposes. This raises
questions about the way in which women defined themselves in
relation to men, and how they defined themselves as women among
themselves and against ecclesiastical authorities. It also
raises questions about the way in which superior and inferior
early modern groups created and maintained their power and
spheres of action.
Ecclesiastical ceremonies were used by women
to manifest adherence to a network. Marriage, baptism and communion
were instruments that manifested the honour and status of women
in the local community and the ceremonies of the church had
the power to improve a woman’s social position. Women therefore
filled these ceremonies with a symbolic content, thereby recreating
the norm of the married mother as a woman of honour.
Keywords
early modern, women, church room, ceremonies, social arena,
norms, social capital, Sweden
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