Örja- ingenmansland Storgård eller inte i byn utanför Landskrona?

Sammanfattning: This thesis is focusing on the church village of Örja just outside of Landskrona in the western part of Scania in Sweden. In Örja there are several prehistoric sites from the Neolithic and to the late Viking Age. Örja which has its foundation in the early Middle Ages still exists today. The thesis focuses on the 9-15th century. By using interdisciplinarity and a comparative method the aim is to investigate who were the owners of the land in the village as well as to trace larger manors during the Viking Age and the Middle Ages. The thesis also looks at when the first church was built and by whom. At farm 11 the oldest manor was built probably during the 8th or 9th century. During the late Viking Age and Early Middle Ages a wooden church was built by the local elite from the manor. The church was placed at the land of the manor and a churchyard was made. The local elite moved from Örja and erected a main manor somewhere else. But a smaller manor was instead built at farms 1 and 9 to and was controlled by a steward to keep control of the other farms the local elite owned in Örja. The manor was later donated to Bosjö monastery. Overall the church and the “frälse”were the biggest landowners in the village during the Middle Ages.