w. 50

12 December 2016, Monday (posting 10:30 a.m. Tuesday -- may make some further additions/changes)

A first set of slides has been uploaded on Vklass.


ENGLISH
We've been focusing on abbreviations that you can use when writing your notes.

Here is a table of abbreviations you can think about incorporating into your notes:

Brief summary of material we've gone through regarding Swedish history:
(See also slides in pdf files on Vklass)

1 - Gustav Eriksson coming to power in Sweden, and taking Sweden out of the Kalmar Union. Sweden is now independent. As a result of the warring against Christian II, large debts are created.

 Sweden by the end of Gustav I's reign:

-Sweden united
-Sw. centrally governed
-Sw. has own foreign policy
-Sw. has own military force
-Sw. has substantial degree of self-subsistence
-Sw. has stable transfer of power
-Sw. is still independent

I noted that all of these are still true today with the possible exception of the high degree of self-sufficiency. And, indeed, three days after I said this to you, the Swedish news came with this report. Here's the webpage with the story from P1.

2 - Gustav I (today known best as Gustav Vasa) introduces the Reformation to Sweden, changing the state religion from Roman Catholic to Lutheran.

3 - GV centralizes power in Sweden, in large part through his ability to weaken the power that regional leaders had, and by creating a tax and administration system that was centrally governed.

4 - Succession of the throne: In 1544, GV, with the help of the Riksdag, introduces a new law establishing transfer of power to the monarch's eldest son, and then following by age and sex, the other children of the monarch. Sweden becomes a hereditary kingdom (arvsrike), which contributes to a more stable transfer of power.

Here's a link to the Swedish Royal Court's webpage with information about the laws of succession.

And here is the Riksdag's page on the Swedish Constitution. It explains things such as the lack of freedom of religion for the monarch, and that the government must give consent to prince and princesses of the royal house before they can marry -- otherwise they risk forfeiting the right to the throne.

5 - Expansion of territory/loss of territory.
We discussed various issues that can be associated with the addition of territory -- including economic issues (taxes, trades, resources as well as defense). We will connect back to the point that Swedes are "out and about" when in connection to intellectural development. One thing I want you to see is that by reflecting on issues (e.g., what does it matter if Sweden has control over Skåne and Bohuslän) you can come up with different ideas. You might not always have the historical information to back up an idea, but you have something that can then be tested, discussed, analyzed.

Here's a website where you can see the change of territory over time -- different maps than what I have put in the pdf of slides: Time Maps

Here are maps of Sweden from the webpage:

6. Literacy: We discussed how the switch from Catholicism to Lutheranism can be connected to an increase in literacy. We will contine and discuss how this high rate of literacy can be connected to intellectual development, political change, and industrialism in Sweden.

Gustav Vasa Bible:

7. Change in political power over time. I am planning on discussing this on Friday.

w. 49

Monday, 5 December 2016

I handed back the papers, along with comments.

One of the things I noted was the importance of avoiding opinion. Even though opinion is not allowed in history writing, it is still possible to present a point of view through logic and to then support that view with evidence. For example, here is an opinion:

It is wrong for women not to be able to have control of their own bodies.

 Here is an argument that can then be supported with specific information:

Women who are denied access to birth control are in many cases prevented from being able to decide if and when they want to bear children. And unplanned pregnancies can result in women being forced to abandon their education, it can create economic hardships, and it can interfere with the ability to get and keep a job or to develop a career.

The second example is in line with the opinion, but it uses logic based in evidence (which would then need to be provided further in the text to support these statements). 

SWEDISH HISTORY

We started with Swedish history. I can provide you with the slides I showed in class. If you missed class, you want to get notes and ask questions about what isn't clear. I will wait until after Friday's lessons before I put up the slides on Vklass.