Alvastra kloster under medeltiden : en studie av artefakter och arkitektur från Otto Frödins utgrävning

In 1143, the first Cistercian abbey in Sweden was founded in the parish f Vastra Tollstad in Ostergotland. Alvastra abbey enjoyed royal favour and maintained wide-spread connections with the nobility. The abbey and its architecture has mainly been studied from a perspective concentrated on the early history of the order, resulting in a limited understanding of how material culture was involved in processes of change within the abbey. Alvastra abbey was extensively excavated during the first half of the 20th century, but this material has not been analysed from an archaeological perspective. The author uses material culture to study change within the abbey and to contextualise its architecture within the wider framework of social and religious change in Late Medieval Ostergotland.