Skådepenningar i enväldets tjänst: Ekonomisk och politisk legitimitet i Gustav III:s kungliga medaljer 1772–1792

Sammanfattning: This bachelor’s thesis in Historical Archaeology concerns how the royal medals of the Swedish King Gustav III (1756-1792) functioned as a means of political propaganda, namely in what ways an official legitimizing narrative was created about the country’s economy and the role of the King herein, through the images and texts of the royal medals. Inspired by Clifford Geertz’ anthropological perspective on authority it views the royal medal as a means of communication and as a branch of a greater “master fiction” that monarchy created around itself. Considering four methodological levels of communication – images, symbolism, text, and intertextuali-ty – the narrative is (re)created using 15 medals on the theme of economy. The study shows several different legitimizing ways with which the narrative was created, some in accordance with previous research, others new. Firstly, one way was a selectivity in topic: Economic failures were, instead of being spun into something positive, simply dismissed as a part of an “official inadvertence”. In other cases, topics carrying propagandistic potential rather than substantial economic value were highlighted and, in some cases, arguably blown out of proportion. Secondly, themes domi-nating the narrative were those of a perception of an economically active regime, an expansive and growing economy, and economic reforms – the latter characterized by a balancing act between mercan-tilist and reformist ideas. Thirdly, the king was in essence portrayed as the agent of the narrative and was attributed with different roles – as the reformist, patron of trade, patron of utility & industry, pro-tector and carer of economy – as well as virtues – care, foresight, responsibility, mercy, generosity and safeguarding morality. Fourthly, in 1/3 cases explicit citations or references to antique roman writers or coins contributed with a possible additional level of political legitimization with the overall antique aesthetics and roman allusions also contributing to legitimize Gustav III and his political power.