State Parliament of Porvoo
The Landtag of Porvoo ( Finnish Porvoon maapäivät or unhistorical Porvoon valtiopäivät , Swedish Borgå lantdag ) was an assembly of estates that founded the Grand Duchy of Finland in 1809 and was the legal successor to the Swedish Estates Parliament in Finland .
During the Russo-Swedish War , Finland , which had previously belonged to Sweden, was occupied by Russia. At the suggestion of General Sprengtporten, Tsar Alexander I had the representatives of the four estates (nobility, clergy, citizens and peasants) come together in Porvoo to proclaim themselves as Grand Duke of the new autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland .
The state parliament met from March 25 to July 19, 1809. It consisted of 75 representatives of the nobility, whose Lantmarskalk ( land marshal , chairman) Count Robert Wilhelm de Geer , 8 of the clergy with chairman Jakob Tengström , Archbishop of Turku , 20 representatives the bourgeoisie, whose chairman was the merchant Kristian Trapp from Turku, as well as 30 representatives of the peasant class, who were led by Pehr Klockars from Nykarleby . Most of the representatives of the nobility were officers who had quit their service in the Swedish military in the 1780s and 1790s.
Alexander had convened the parliament to pacify Finland by guaranteeing the estates their old rights and promising prospects for a better future. He took his oath to the throne on March 29th. Alexander gave his address in French and it was translated into Swedish. He announced to the representatives in the state parliament that the assembly was a turning point in their political existence, "cette réunion fera époque dans votre existance politique". In return, the estates took the oath of their subjects and recognized Alexander as Grand Duke.
The Tsar guaranteed Finland its rights under the Swedish Constitution of 1772 , in particular the Evangelical Lutheran religion. Finland also stuck to the Gregorian calendar , which was introduced in Sweden in 1753. The so-called Old Finland , which became Russian in the Peace of Nystad (1721) and in the Peace of Åbo (1743) , became part of the Grand Duchy of Finland in 1812 as Viipuri (Province) .
The state parliament had asked to be convened again after the end of the war, but this did not happen. The peace with Sweden was made on September 17, 1809, but the state parliament was not convened again until June 1863 by Alexander II , Alexander I's nephew.
To commemorate the state parliament, Finland issued a 2-euro commemorative coin in 2009 , which shows the facade of Porvoo Cathedral .
Web links
- Porvoon valtiopäivät 1809 Page of the Finnish Parliament on the Landtag of Porvoo
- Closing speech of Tsar Alexander I on Wikisource (Swedish translation, the speech was given in French)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Members of the estates from 1809, Building a Nation, accessed October 24, 2017
- ↑ Robert Wilhelm De Geer on riksarkivet.se, accessed October 31, 2017
- ↑ From a Despised French Word to a Dominant Concept, Pasi Ihalainen in Writing Political History Today , pp. 71/72, Campus Verlag 2013
- ↑ Chronology of the Introduction of the Gregorian Calendar , Calendar Lexicon, accessed November 19, 2017