| Files: | Description | File size | Format | Browse |
| Fulltext | 0.04 MB | PDF (requires Acrobat Reader) | Previous | Next |
| | |
| Authors: | Emma Hagström Molin: Stockholm University, Sweden |
| Publication title: | War Booty as Identity Markers in 17th Century Sweden Archives and libraries |
| Conference: | Current Issues in European Cultural Studies, June 15–17, Norrköping, Sweden 2011 |
| Publication type: | Abstract and Fulltext |
| Issue: | 062 |
| Article No.: | 031 |
| Abstract: | During the many wars of the 17th century, the Swedish army took a large amount of war booty. Along with the well-known pieces of fine art, it was also customary to capture whole archives and libraries. Taking war booty from the enemy was in accordance with international law at the time, for instance as proclaimed by Hugo Grotius in his classic De jure belli ac pacis (1625). Scholars today claim that the Swedes took booty more systematically and on a larger scale than any other European state at that time, especially when it came to archives and libraries. This paper argues that the books and documents that were taken as booty were not just used practically, as literature, by the Swedes. On a symbolic level the goods were used as identity markers, useful in the making of various identities that could be aristocratic, religious, historical or national. This took place at a time when the Swedish elite strived to reach a European cultural standard, and the paper demonstrates how political culture, objects and an elite European identity were thoroughly linked together.
The examples discussed below are all part of my dissertation project, with the working title Archives and Libraries as Swedish War Booty during the 17th Century. Political culture, material culture and identity. |
| Language: | English |
| Year: | 2011 |
| No. of pages: | 6 |
| Pages: | 287-292 |
| ISBN: | 978-91-7519-993-1 |
| Series: | Linköping Electronic Conference Proceedings |
| ISSN (print): | 1650-3686 |
| ISSN (online): | 1650-3740 |
| File: | http://www.ep.liu.se/ecp/062/031/ecp11062031.pdf |
| Available: | 2011-11-22 |
| Publisher: | Linköping University Electronic Press, Linköpings universitet |
|
| REFERENCE TO THIS PAGE |
Ph.D., Lic. Theses
