Meet the Middle Ages
BackThe Church
The church was the most important building of the parish. People would come there once a week, to meet and to hear the latest news. The medieval churches of Tjust were rather small and mostly built of wood. However, there were some stone churches. It Törnsfall the stone church from the Middle Ages still remains. It was probably built around the year 1200. There one can experience a medieval service.
The church in town was of course built of stone. In Västervik, the church of both Old and New Västervik was dedicated to St. Gertrud.
In Edsbruk, one can see the ruins of the medieval parish church of Ed. The church was originally built in the 12th century. Additions have been made several times during the following centuries. The reason why this church has been so well built and still has a number of exquisite medieval objects in it, is probably that the owner of the manor at Vinäs had an interest in this church.
You can also see ruins of medieval churches in Blackstad and Ukna.
The peasants of Tjust would probably have met black-friars from the monastery in Kalmar. The friars came in pairs to preach in the country-side. They were called black-friars because they wore black habits. They would preach inside the church or out of doors, but they also brought news from Kalmar and from the rest of the world. The friars would tell about new kinds of food, new spices and new ways to farm the land. They also helped the peasants to write important documents, such as deeds or wills.