Anna-Stina Hägglund’s research

I am a historian with a focus on religiosity and culture of remembrance in late medieval society (the period 1300–1500). The geographical focus of my research lies in the Baltic Sea region, with particular emphasis on the Nordic countries and the historic duchy of Pomerania. My research primarily revolves around lived religion, the cult of saints, and pious donations. In my currently ongoing research, I study testamentary donations in order to investigate the spiritual networks in medieval Sweden, as well as how testators prepared for death by creating personal bonds with religious institutions through gifts.

In my research, I have also taken an interest in how Vadstena and other Birgittine convents remembered their benefactors, for example through manuscripts containing devotional material used by the nuns. My doctoral thesis focused on the establishment of the Birgittine Order around the Baltic Sea during the fifteenth century.

Since 2024, I have also been serving as chair of the Society for Medieval Studies in Finland, Glossa ry.

Research interests

• lived religion
• testaments and donations
• monastic orders in the Middle Ages
• Catholics in sixteenth-century Sweden

For more on current publications visit the research portal for Åbo Akademi University, AboCRIS