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Finland THE ERA OF SWEDISH RULE, c. 1150-1809
Unavailable
Figure 3. Finland to 1617
Source: Based on information from Eino Jutikkala and Kauka Pirinen,
A History of Finland, New York, 1962, 23.
During the Viking Age (c. A.D. 800-1050), Swedish
Vikings
came into contact with the Finns in the course of their
expeditions eastward, which were aimed at establishing,
via
Russia, trade ties with the Arab world, although they
built no
permanent settlements in Finland. The Finns' name for the
Swedes,
Rus, was derived from the Finnish word for Sweden, Ruotsi,
and is
believed to be the origin of the name Russia.
Swedish influence in Finland grew at approximately the
close
of the Viking Age, when the Swedes were converted to
Christianity
by the Roman Catholic Church and soon afterward began
missionary
activities in Finland. Most Finns were converted to the
Roman
Catholic Church about the mid-twelfth century, during the
wave of
crusades that began in 1095. A quasi-historical legend
maintains
that in 1157 a crusade was led against the polytheistic
Finns by
the Swedish King Erik IX and the English monk Henry, who
had been
appointed archbishop of Uppsala. According to tradition,
Henry
was martyred in Finland and was subsequently recognized as
the
country's patron saint. The success of the crusade was
supposed
to have given Sweden and Latin Christianity a solid
foothold in
Finland. There is no evidence of the crusade and Henry's
role in
it, however, and there are indications that Christian
communities
existed in Finland at an earlier date.
Meanwhile, the Russians, partly on religious grounds,
also
sought control of Finland. They had been converted to
Eastern
Orthodox Christianity and subsequently tried to convert
the Finns
to this religion. Finnic peoples in eastern Karelia were
converted to Orthodoxy and were thereby drawn into a
different
religious and cultural orbit from Swedish-ruled, Roman
Catholic
Finns in the west.
About 1240, Rome sanctioned two crusades in an effort
to push
the frontier of Latin Christianity eastward. Swedish
crusaders
first invaded Russia along the northern shore of the Gulf
of
Finland, but they were halted in 1240 on the banks of the
Neva
River by Prince Alexander of Novgorod, who thereby earned
the
name Alexander Nevsky ("of the Neva"). The second crusade,
spearheaded by the Teutonic Knights, followed the southern
shore
of the Gulf of Finland and was defeated by Alexander
Nevsky in
1242 on the ice of Lake Peipus. The Swedes initiated a
final
attempt to wrest eastern Karelia from the Russians in
1293, but
the thirty years of war that followed failed to dislodge
the
Russians from the region. The Peace of Pahkinasaari
(Swedish,
Nöteborg) in 1323, which ended this war, established the
border
between Finland and Russia that was maintained for nearly
three
hundred years
(see
fig. 3).
Sweden consolidated its control over Finland gradually,
in a
process that was facilitated by the introduction of
Swedish
settlers along the southern and the western coasts of
Finland.
The settlers, most of whom remained in the coastal region,
became
a ruling class within Finland, and Finland was politically
integrated into the Swedish realm.
Data as of December 1988
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