Swedish crusades

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As Swedish Crusades , the Swedish is expansion policy for Finland referred. These crusades were carried out by Swedes with the aim of conquering Finland. These ventures also had the purpose of pushing back the supremacy of the Novgorod Republic in the Baltic Sea region .

First Swedish Crusade

Erik IX. and Bishop Heinrich von Uppsala on the way to Finland (late medieval depiction from Uppland )

The First Swedish Crusade allegedly took place in the 1150s , and its historicity is widely questioned in historical studies. With the campaign, Sweden is said to have conquered Finland and converted the pagan Finns to Christianity .

The crusade is the later canonized King Erik IX. attributed to Sweden. Bishop Heinrich von Uppsala is said to have accompanied the king on this train to set up a church organization in Finland. After his violent death, he was canonized as a martyr .

It is possible that the first Swedish crusade was actually a dispute between Sweden and the Novgorod Republic . But it is also suspected that it is simply a back projection of the Second Crusade in order to bring the Swedish king, who has become a national saint, in connection with it.

This first Swedish crusade led to the establishment of the city of Turku (Åbo) in 1157 , but the Swedish conquerors did not get beyond the coast of " actual Finland ", and the Christianization of the Finns also suffered with the murder of Bishop Heinrich von Uppsala in 1160 a setback.

Second Swedish Crusade

The Second Swedish Crusade probably took place in the years 1249 - 1250 instead. Here, too, the historical background is not fully known, at least before there had been a Finnish uprising in 1237. This crusade was led by Birger Jarl .

Several castles in Finland are said to have been founded as part of this crusade. They include: Häme Castle ( Tavastehus ), Hakoinen Castle ( Janakkala ) and Turku Castle ( Åbo ). The Swedish kings of the Folkung people wanted to strengthen their rule over Finland, whose coastal region became an integral part of Sweden.

The Christianization of Finland was formally completed with the foundation of the Turku Cathedral Chapter in 1276.

Third Swedish Crusade

The Third Swedish Crusade was a Swedish military expedition to Karelia in 1293 under the leadership of Torgils Knutsson , which was ruled by the Novgorod Republic. As part of the expedition was Castle Vyborg ( Vyborg ) built and West Karelia remained until the Treaty of Nystad in 1721 under Swedish rule.

The border between the two powers and thus the eastern border of Finland was first established in the Treaty of Nöteborg in 1323 . It was also understood as a landscape border after 1721 and again functioned as its eastern border after the establishment of the Russian Grand Duchy of Finland . It was not until 1944 that this border was moved west.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Elias Härö: The Hämeenlinna Castle, p. 6

See also

literature

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