Elin Andersson – författare

THIS VOLUME CONTAINS a broad review of recent scholarship on Saint Birgitca and the Birgittine Order. The twenty-three papers were originally presented at the third international Birgitca conference at Darcington Hall, Devon, in July 2015. The conference celebrated the sexcentenary of the foundation of Syon Abbey, and eleven of the twentythree papers focus on the English Birgittine house. The remarkable story of Syon's continuous existence prompted the conference's broader theme of continuity and change in the Birgitcine Order. Over the centuries, the order has seen many changes: periods of growth and decline, expansion and retrenchment, patronage and persecution. Are there any constants, something intangibly, indefinably Birgittine? Is Birgittine identity about adherence to an essence or ideal, or something chat is worked out in practice? The interdisciplinary conference gathered scholars specializing in various fields, including Archaeology, Art History, Literature, Musicology, and Philology. Edited by Elin Andersson, Claes Gejrot, E. A. Jones and Mia Akestam. The volume is a collection of 23 papers. For information on the authors, see the inside cover Aap.

The Birgittine monastery Syon Abbey was established in England in 1415. This was a time of expansion of the Birgittine order, and the work to develop a common legislation had started. The 1420s was a turbulent decade when the pope temporarily banned the Birgittine practice of having both a female and a male community living close together, albeit strictly separated from each other. Another difficult matter concerned the authority of the two heads - the abbess and the confessor general - and the role of the Birgittine brothers: were they to be seen as monks, living in their own monastery, or as assistants to the sisters? The English Birgittines quite soon asserted their own conception of the Birgittine Rule, but still sought the advice of Vadstena, their mother house, when it came to certain important matters. The present work contains editions of two Latin texts dealing with matters discussed by the two monasteries: Responsiones, a collection of answers to 175 questions on the Rule and Collacio, a text not unlike a sermon and reflecting similar topics. The first part of the Responsiones consists of answers to letters sent from Syon to Vadstena; the second part deals with matters discussed in Vadstena in 1427, when two English brothers visited the Swedish monastery. The Collacio was probably written by Syon's protector, the Benedictine abbot John Whethamstede, and exhorts the Birgittines to unite and to seek the original intentions of the foundress, Saint Birgitta. The Introduction discusses the background of the texts edited in the present work, focussing on central Birgittine texts, the relations between Syon Abbey and Vadstena and the contents of the Responsiones and the Collacio.

Birgittine Circles. People and Saints in the Medieval World is the proceedings of the Fourth International Birgitta Conference held in Stockholm and Vadstena in 2021. The concept of “circles” is applied to Birgittine networks, the importance of individuals, places, and objects associated with the Birgittine Order, as well as to ideas, physical objects, travels, and exchange between different orders. The ten contributions collected in this volume reflect the interdisciplinary research on Birgitta’s influence on late medieval culture and the Birgittine Order. Some studies focus on material sources from Vadstena, emphasizing the social significance and value of objects and material culture, whereas other studies focus on literary sources and the reception of Birgitta and her Revelationes. The spread of the Birgittine Order and Birgittine spirituality linked to objects and texts is explored in places as widely separated as southern Europe and northern Sweden.