Pengar för gemene man? : Det medeltida myntbruket i Finland

• Main Author: Ehrnsten, Frida
• Other Authors: Klackenberg, Henrik, University of Helsinki, Faculty of Arts, Doctoral Programme in History and Cultural Heritage, Helsingin yliopisto, humanistinen tiedekunta, Historian ja kulttuuriperinnön tohtoriohjelma, Helsingfors universitet, humanistiska fakulteten, Doktorandprogrammet i historia och kulturarv, Lavento, Mika, Talvio, Tuukka
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: Swedish
• Published: Helsingin yliopisto 2019
• Subjects: Arkeologi; karelia*
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10138/305667

In this thesis, the use of coins in the eastern part of the medieval Swedish realm c. 1200–1560 is studied. The main questions are how coins spread in time and space, what kind of coins circulated and how the ordinary people apprehended the coins. This is analysed through a study of the monetarization process. This process involved a state-controlled currency in the form of minted metal eventually gaining ground in the public economy. This was a gradual change, the use of coins varied in different settings and throughout the whole medieval period the monetary circulation was part of a heterogenous economical system. The thesis deals with the area of modern-day Finland and the former Finnish territory of Karelia. Hand in hand with the expansion of the Swedish realm towards the east a new way of evaluating the world was introduced. The coins reflect changes in the medieval politics, economy and social order. They represented the new power and on a concrete level the coins functioned as a common denominator between the ordinary people and the authorities, formed by the church and the crown. The monetary circulation was also influenced by the trade on the Baltic sea and an international economy based on comparable currencies. This study rests upon both written and archaeological source material. The written documents mostly concern taxation, commerce and trade in land among the higher levels of society. In the material one can find large sums of money and foreign coins of high denominations. The coins in the archaeological find material on the other hand represent the coin use by the common people and the individuals at grass roots-level. The primary use of coins as means of payment was not multifaceted, but in secondary contexts they could get new meanings. For the ordinary man the coins were an instrument, through which one’s place in society was paid for in taxes. Through the trade the coins could be changed to products and as offerings coins were used when asking for absolution from the church. The analysis of ...