Björn Nordgren, BA (Hons) (Warwick), MA (Bristol)

Contact Details
ben5@st-andrews.ac.uk

 Research Interests

My main research interests relate to Sweden’s Seventeenth Century, more specifically Sweden’s society during and participation in the Thirty Years War.

Thesis Title: The Second ‘Swedish’ Phase of the Thirty Years War: 1635-1648.
Supervisor: Professor Steve Murdoch

This thesis examines the period of Sweden’s Thirty Years War after the defeat at Nördlingen and the subsequent Peace of Prague. The conflict, and Sweden’s participation in it has attracted the attention of historians of several different nationalities, but these remain either general histories or are isolated to the fleeting intervention of Gustav II Adolf (1630-1632), leaving the final years of Sweden’s war without comprehensive coverage. As a consequence, the Treaty of Westphalia and its terms are often celebrated without much appreciation of the means by which it was reached. Furthermore, it has always been surmised as natural that Sweden was subordinate to the French in this period, something that does not stand up to intense scrutiny. Therefore, through exploration of the rich archival sources available in Sweden, as well as the various printed sources including the extensive diplomatic correspondence of Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna, this period will be explored in greater detail than has hitherto been done. This will not only encompass the military and diplomatic aspects, which are naturally essential to a project such as this, but also the societal effects on Sweden, in order to create an accurate portrait of the country and the challenges faced during the ‘Second Swedish Phase’ of the Thirty Years war.

Principal Academic Papers

  • 'The Second Swedish Phase of the Thirty Years War (1635-1648): Themes and Problems' Institute of Scottish Historical Study Reading Weekend (March 2012)
  • 'The Second Swedish Phase of the Thirty Years War (1635-1648) Nordic Research Network, (Edinburgh, February 2012)
  • ‘The Forgotten Third: The Swedish Regiments at the Battle of Wittstock’ Battlefield and mass grave – a range of interdisciplinary analyses of places of violence (Brandenburgisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologisches Landesmuseum, Brandenburg, November 2011).

 Other