THE MIDDLE AGES AND A PIECE OF FINNISH HISTORY
THE FINNISH CITY OF THE MIDDLE AGES
The oldest traces of settlement in this part of the world originate from the so-called "pre-ceramic" period of approximately 9000 years ago, and they have been found in the eastern part of Southwest Finland, Askola in Uusimaa and Kannas in Karelia. With the increase in land elevation following the Ice Age, the region of habitation expanded; more inhabitant, mainly from the east and southeast, transferred their place of residence here. The most ancient dwellers practised hunting and fishing, and they are believed to have belonged to the ancestral Finnish peoples. Permanent settlement was established circa 1000 A.D., mainly within the southwest river valleys and the lake areas of Häme. Swedish habitation underwent transition to Åland by 500 A.D., having also originated on the coast of the Finnish mainland during the 1200-1300 period. It is from this inheritance that the present Swedish settlement in the provinces of Uusimaa, Turku and Pori, as well as on the sea-coast proper tothe province of Vaasa, was born. During the prehistoric period, i.e-before the 1100`s-Finland´s population was generally in touch with both Slavic and Germanic cultural circles. The Byzantine heritage, Orthodox religion and Slavic culture all streched from the east via Novgorod towards Finland The Vikings extended their reach along their eastern route to the shores of the Gulf of Finland and sought both martial and commercial encounters with the Finns. In their wake came the procelytizers, who offered the Roman Catholic faith and western culture to these "pagans".
A tomb from the splendour of the late Iron Age,
Kirkonmäki (Church Hill), Kaarina.
TPM/Henrik Asplund.
THE ARRIVAL OF CHRISTIANITY
THE FINNISH CITY OF THE MIDDLE AGES
About the year 1150, according to a certain chronicle, a ledung party led by King Erik and accompanied by Bishob Henry, an Englishman, sailed from the direction of Sweden towards the coast. Erik´s purpose was to expand his empire and collect taxes in order to strengthen his monarchy. Henrik´s assignment, on the other hand, was to convert the "heathen" Finns to the Christian faith. Neither evidently had an easy task before them, but for the bishop the journey proved fateful indeed. On the ice of Lake Köyliö, Lalli, a Finnish peasant, literally cut the clergyman`s earthly journey short - with an axe. With this, Bishop Henry became the national saint of the Finns.
A bishopric was established in the vanquished Finnish territory (now Southwest Finland). At the outset, it was situated in Nousiainen, but it was transferred during the 1220`s to the mouth of the Aura River, on which basis Turku developed as a site for commerce and commercial centre of Sweden´s eastern region. During the period the area was subject to Swedish rule. The castle and residence of the Bishop were originally located on the Koroinen Peninsula(Koroisten niemi), to which merchant ships which had come from the sea also sailed. As the land elevation gradually increased, the river lowered, and the Bishop`s dwelling place and church had to be relocated closer to the sea. The church was moved to it`s present location following the mid-point of the 13th century. It was consecrated on 17 June 1300, in honour of the Virgin Mary and St Henry. One of the more renowned bishops of the Middle Ages was Thomas, who was obliged to stabilize both his spiritual and political supremacy in Finland. He converted and subjucated the Church of Häme as well as organized, in 1240, the ill-fated expredition against Novgorod. The first convent, a Dominican cloister consecrated to St Olavi, was established in Turku in 1249.
The Church spread its influence wherever habitation had taken root, founded congregation and had temples erected. The Roman Catholic Church carried out its proselytizing efforts as well as promulgated western culture, both of which became more troublesome and slower the farther Southwest Finland extended and its settlement thinned out.
An engraving depicting the First Crusade, Bishop
Henry'scenotaph, Church of Nousiainen.
TPM/Martti Puhakka.
Bishop Henry is baptising finnish people
at the Kupittaa Fountain.
A painting in the Cathetral of Turku. TOP-Center/O.Weilin
The Bishopric of Finland was established during the
1230's on the koroinen Peninsula (Koroisten niemi) near the present site of Turku.
Scale model, Castle of Turku, Middle Ages exhibit.
TPM/Pekka Kujanpää
TEMPORAL DOMINION
THE FINNISH CITY OF THE MIDDLE AGES
The strengthening and expansion of Swedish dominion continued as part of the proselytization work and the attempts to consolidate the Church`s own structure of power. The first Swedish military bases appear to have been the ancient castles most predominant in Finland and Häme. Construction work on the castle of Turku was presumably initiated during the 1280`s. Earl Birger made his second expedition of conquest, termed a "crusade", to Häme during the mid-1200´s. The ancient castle of Hakoinen was initially equipped to act as the Castle of Häme until, at the close of the century, the building of a new castle to serve as a base for Swedish supremacy was begun. The third crusade, under the leadership of Tyrgils,Son of Knuut, made its way to Karelia in 1293, and the effect of this expedition was to give rise to the castle of Vyborg. Sweden endeavoured to spread its dominion further, into the region of Novgorod. At the outset of the 1300`s there were, indeed, continuous wars, expeditios of plunder and borderskirmishes, in respect to which the parties strove to either expand of defend their own areas of favour and authoritative domain. This phase directly affected Turku in 1318, at which point Russian forces incinerated the town. The Castle of Turku was, however, saved from destruction. In the peace of the Pähkinä Island (Pähkinäsaari) of 1323, the border of Sweden and Novgorod was defined as that which ran from the Isthmus of Karelia to the Gulf of Bothnia. Even so, Finnish settlement expanded to the east and the north, thus contravening the frontier. In 1475, the Castle of Olavi was erectec in the vicinity of the border, and the Peace of Täyssinä (1595) pushed the boundary further to the east setting Finnish Lapland under Sweden`s authoritative domain. It was the Peace of Stolbova (1617) that extended the dominion of Sweden farthest east.
The congregations subject to the Bishopric of Turku were founded in parishes, which formed the traditional local communities. The administration of the crown rested on these same local administrative units. On the foundation of these old regions,"castle-provinces" were born, functioning as bailiwicks and through which Finland, Häme and Karelia were to be ruled. Porvoo was initially the centre for Uusimaa until the Castle of Raasepori was raised at the time the 1200`s were waning. During the next century, a combined parish and bailiwick authory were established in Ostrobothnia, which was governed directly from Korsholma.
Turku and Finland (Southwest Finland at the time) made up the centre of power for the area referred to as "land to the east," with the Castle of Turku as its epicentral base. According to what the first recorded documents disclose, teh first Lord of the castle was Karl, Son of Gustavus, during the 1280’s. he was the Prefect of Finland, praefectus Finlandiae. In 1362, Finland’s position as a part of the Swedish realm took on heightened status when the representative of the region participated, for the first time, in the monarchical elections. Concurrent with the time of Albrekt Mecklenburg during the later part of the 1300’s, Bo Grip, Son of Jon, gradually brought Finland as a whole under his own jurisdiction. The castle-based administration of the "land to the east" was consolidated and the position of this territory was, from the perspective of power politics, clearly raised. Jeppe Djänkn, Son of Abraham, was the first Finn to assume the wardenship of the Castle of Turku, this occuring during the period of Bo, son of Jon.
Union monarch Erik of Pomerania visited Finland twice. He developed the administration of this "land to the east" by establishing the Land Court of Turku (1470), which had its home in the Castle of Turku. The land area was divided into two "lagman" (counsellor of law) districts, and the local administration was developed through the formulation of administrative parishes and jurisdictional districts. Erik also renewed taxation and granted the right to stamp privative money, silver öre and six-penny coins, in Turku.
The intral diputes within the Union of Kalmar gave rise to the supersedure of Erik of Pomerania. The power struggle Denmark and Sweden were locked in, which was also going on with the Hanseatic towns, periodly lifted Turku to a significant political position, with each side using land as a source of regional strength. This occured during the period of Karl, Son of Knuut and Sten Sture the Elder. Finland was a particular object of attention for Sture. This is indicated by the fact that he sojourned in this country a total of 6 times. The particulr imporence of this territory also recieved emphasis of during the 1490’s due to the wars fought against Russia. At the time, the heaviest stresses were endured by the Castele of Vyborg and its castle-province. Turku, on its part, suffered severe losses in, e.g., 1590, when the Danes sacked the town.
The Bishop of Turku bore consirerable political authority during the Middle Ages. This is revealed, for instance, by the fact that clergymen of this rank built their own defensive and residential castle in Kuusisto, within the general environs of Turku. As of 1385 and then throughout the Middle Ages, only Finnish-born men were chosen for the post of Bishop. Of these, it is worth mentioning Magnus II Tavast, Maunu Särkilahti and last bishop of the Roman Catholic period, Arvid Kurki, who drowned on a journey to Sweden in 1522. A system of exemption of land dues to the Crown also evolved during the 1300’s and 1400’s, represented by the Flemmings, Horns, Kukis and Tavasts. During the latter part of the following century, finland’s nobility drove, in the disputes regarding the Swedish seat of power, a political time line which ultimately led to collision.
Old "öres" minted in Turku at the outset of
the 1400's.
TPM/Martti Puhakka.
The "Ejby" chalice, stolen from the Cathetral
of Turku by the Danes, 1509.
Cathetral of Turku, museum collection.
TPM/P. O. Welin.
The Cathetral of Turku was formally consecrated in 1300.
for nign on 700 years, it has been a centre of faith for the Finland of boht Roman
Catholicism and Evangelical Lutherism.
TPM/Martti Puhakka.
THE FINNISH CITY OF THE MIDDLE AGES
In Finland, the first signs of urbanization are noticeable in the two pre-urban epochs of the Viking period and the Middle Ages, at which junctures the influence of both Birka and Sigtuna brought about, in Finland, the socalled "age of ancient cities," at which time permanent residance existed in these seats of commerce and the population actively practised both domestic and foreign trade. Finland’s more important pre-urban centres were Kokemäki’s Teljä and Hahlo, Nousiainen’s Kurkela and Halikko’s Rikala. It is also possible to add the following ancient market sites, beyond Turku, to the list: Lieto’s Sauvala and Ristinpelto as well as Kaarina’s Ristinmäki and Koroinen. The roots of contemporary urban culture extend most clearly to the beginning of the Middle Ages: the end of the 1200’s and the outset of the 1300’s.
Turku developed into a city at the close of the 1200`s and was, for a very long period after that, Finland`s administrative as well as ecclesiastical centre. It was also a significant cultural nucleus and, beginning with the commencement of the Middle Ages, it exerted influence on important officials, clergymen, businessmen and teachers, through whose means cultural liaisons were created and new cultural stimuli were derived. During the next century, Ulvila (Pori), Porvoo and Vyborg were born, the final-mentioned not having actually received city-related privileges till 1403. Naantali came into being in 1443 as a result of the Birgittine nunnery founded there, and Rauma, too,basically came to life at the same time (also 1443). During the Middle Ages, German merchants represented the majority on the city councils and, in actual fact, ran the cities of Finland.
Finland's historical regions as interpreted by Ilmar
Talve
"Suurtori", Turku's old market place. It made
up, together with its immediate surroundings, the administrative and commercial centre of
the city during the Middle Ages.
TPM/Martti Puhakka.
Scale model: Turku City
- student work
THE FINNISH CITY OF THE MIDDLE AGES
THE REFORMATION AND MIKAEL AGRICOLA
The period of Gustavus Vasa and his son is frequently referred to as the Reformation, due to the revolution which occurred in thought and reasoning and the collapse of the Church with which it concurred. The severance, already in the 1520`s, of official ties with the papal seat in Rome acted as a signicant turning-point. Reinforcement of the state and community life was furthered, on its part, by the cancellation of Church ownership in favour to that of the State. The ecclesiastical precept concerned was based on the promulgation of "God`s Holy Word" and the Gospel, "pure and unadulterated." In accordance with the preceptions of Luther, clergymen yearned for a vital renewal of Christian life. Individualism as well as the principle of Christian freedom resulted in the Reformation producing literature in the language of the common people. The first reform-minded bishop of this radical phase in the history of our country was Martti Skytte who, having become Bishop of Turku in 1528, cautiously attempted to further the dissemination of Lutheranism in his diocese. The best means to do so was to send the young to Wittemberg, the cradle of biblical humanism. Those who wished to go did indeed appear-amongst them, Mikael Agricola.
Mikael Agricola was born circa 1510, in Pernaja´s Torsby. His schooling began in Vyborg, where he was also brought in touch with humanism. It was also in Vyaborg that he gave ear, for the first time, to the ideals of the Reformation which had come from the wide area south of the Gulf of Finland. In working as a scribe for Bishop Martti Skyette during the years 1528-1536, Agricola was privileged to hear, close at hand, two of the first Finnish interpreters of the Reformation, Pietari Särkilahti (d.1529) and Martti Skyette himself.In peforming the tasks of scribe, Agricola was allowed the opportunity to familiarize himself with the works and declarations of Luther. On the basis of his knowledge, he initiated the rendering of the Bible into finnish language, for the continuation of which he was sent on to Whittenberg. In addition to his translation work, Agricola studied the theological thought of Luther while he was in Germany. Upon his return to Finland, he became Principal of the School of Turku as well as Chapter Clerk. Prior to the publication of his biblicaltexts, Agricola regarded it as necesary to publish the first Finnish-language "ABC" to support the position andinitial study of finnish. This primary book of language, which appeared in print in 1543, also included the Catechism. Rocouskirja Bibliasta (Bible Prayer Book) appeard the next year for the benefit of the clergy. from the perspective of finnish literatureand the renewal of worship, the most important work was the New Testament in Finnish, published in 1548. The foundations for his rendering were not only the Vulgata in Latin but also Luther´s German work and Swedish translations thereof. Agricola´s greatest aspiration-a finnish -language version of the entire Bible-was not, however, realized untill 1642, eighty- five years after his death.
Mikael Agricola became both Bishop of Turku and the first
architect of Finnish literature.
Cathetral of Turku, museum collection.
TPM/Martti Puhakka.
"The Madonna of Lieto." Church scupture was an
integral element of the Roman Catholic houses of worship during Finland's Catholic period.
TPM/Martti Puhakka.
THE FINNISH CITY OF THE MIDDLE AGES
THE REFORMATION AND MIKAEL AGRICOLA
GUSTAVUS VASA
Upon achieving victory over Christian II and his supporters, Gustavus Vasa became king in 1523. As his first duty, he subdued the power of the Church and transferred its ownership of propety to the Crown. The justification for this act was provided by reformist faith; the resolution to do so obligated by the need to reduce the sizeable debt incurred during the Union struggle against the Hanseatic league. He took the same action against the Church in Finland as he had in Sweden. Almost as if he wished to make the intenions perfectly clear to the Church of Finland, he had the fortress which symbolized the earthly might of the Church, the bishops’ Castle of Kuusisto destroyed. His second substantial task was to withdraw from Lübeck supervision. Success in both ventures created the prerequisites for the establishment of a completely new system of state as well as the renewal of its administration.
Gustavus Vasa visited Finland twice: first in 1530 and the next during the years 1555 to 1556. On both occasions he undertook review of Finnish Administration, applying himself with severity to administrative officials. He had a report made, in connection with his final journey, on the condition of the administration in the land. A catalogue of wrongdoings was compiled, and this led to the cancellation of some land-rights in addition to some formal positions. The most comprehensive reforms were exacted in the fields of administration and taxation. The king suspended, by degrees, the "service" provinces, based on the model of the middle ages and established "account" provinces, wich were directly liable to the central administration, instead. For the purpose of taxation, for the 1530’s onwards tax catalogues were compiled on the basis of which taxation – sharply tightened – was levied. Not all of the monarch’s measures succeeded: as the century ended Helsinki, established in order to offset Tallinn, was seen as failing to develop in the manner antipated. Turku remained the most important place of commerce for Finland until the close of 1500’s, at which point Vyborg assumed first position.
Gustavuc Vasa reformed both the administration of the
land and its ecclesiastical life.
TPM/Martti Puhakka.
THE FINNISH CITY OF THE MIDDLE AGES
THE REFORMATION AND MIKAEL AGRICOLA
DUKE JOHAN OF FINLAND
The general issue which brought Gustavus Vasa on a second journey to Finland concerned the hostilities which had broken out with Russia during the mid-part of the century. The King arrived in Turku in order to take charge of military operations directly, but he also travelled elsewhere in southern Finland. He was accompanied by his son, Johan, whom he appointed Duke of Finland on 27 June 1556. It was only the southwest provinces that belonged to the Duchy, but Johan was also made Governor of Finland as a whole. Ostrobothnia was not yet, administratively speaking, part of Finland; rather, it was ruled uninterruptedly till the end of the 1500's directly from Sweden. Gustavus Vasa's two other sons, Karl and Magnus, were awarded with duchies in Sweden; so the Finnish duchy was by no means a unique outpouring of mercy. These actions were nevertheless indicative of foreign policy manoeuvring, as the monarch wished to specifially demonstrate his personal position in power to Russia's Ivan the Terrible, who viewed the King as occupying the same level of authority as the Governor of Novgorod.
Johan established a Court at the Castle of Turku, for which he took on the required staff of servants and summoned together, for his oft-repeated banquets, the nobles from the nearby vicinity as well as members of the city's wealthier bourgeoisie. During his time there, extensive repairs and renovations, conforming to the spirit of the Renaissance, were undertaken on the Castle. In the north wing of the main building a new storey was constructed which took on the form of two halls for the King and Queen, respectively. The two floors were linked by means of dual tower staitcases. The rooms were connected by doors leading from one to the other. Construction continued after Johan's passing till the end of the century, at which point the Castle had obtained its present scope.
The Swedish maid of honour, Karin, Daughter of Johan, found favour in young Johan's eye and bore him four children. In 1562, however, Johan wedded the sister of the King of Poland, Catherine Jagellonica. Karin was then obliged to move, along with the family hers, to a residence awarded to her, the Manor of Vääksy in Kangasala.
The Castle of Turku subsequently took on the life of the Renaissance in even greater resplendence than previously. The halls were decorated with tapestries and objects d"art, and sumptuos feasts followed each other. This, the Castle"s golden age, was not long-lived. After the death of Gustavus Vasa, disputes arose between Erik XIV, who had assumed the throne in1560, and Johan, due to Johan's independent foreign policy and suspicions on the part of the King. The monarch issued the command to invade the Castle of Turku in the summer of 1563, and only nine months after Catherine"s arrival, the Duke and Duchess were escorted in captivity to Sweden. At the same time, the Castle of Turku was duly relieved of its fine fittings and furnishings.
In 1568, Erik XIV was compelled to give up his throne (for reasons well-documented elsewhere). he was transferred as a prisoner, two years later, to the Castle of Turku. he was required to remain here for thirteen months in the company of Karin, daughter of Magnus, who had been crowned as Queen. When erik met his death in 1577, Karin and her children received, as a gift, the Manor of Liuksiala in Kangasala, where she spent the final years of her life.
The coat of arms of the Finnish Duchy, 16th century.
TPM/Martti Puhakka.
Catherine Jagellonica
Photo TOP-Center
Renaissance life at the Castle of Turku during the period
of Johan and Catherine Jagelloniga.
Scale model, main exhibition, Castle of Turku.
Authors: Osmo Rinta-Tassi, Ph.D.
Juhani Kostet, Ph.D.
Marita Söderström, M.A.
Seija Väärä, M.A.
Photos: TPM/Martti Puhakka, Henrik Asplund, Pekka Kujanpää, P.O. Welin
TOP-center
English translation:
INTEReNGLISH/Paul W. Harrison, TESL
On Permission of The Turku Provincial Museum TPM