CHAPTER TWELVE

EASTWARD EXPANSION

By the end of the reign of Magnus Ladulås much of the territory of present-day Finland had become part of the Swedish kingdom. This included the coastal regions of Pohjanmaa (Ostrobothnia), Satakunta, Varsinais-Suomi (‘Finland Proper’) and Uusimaa (Nyland), together with Häme and most of Savo. The Vita Sanct Eric Regis includes an account of a military expedition to Christianise the Finns of (Varsinais-)Suomi, and Erikskrönikan tells of another to Häme, led by Birger Magnusson. These have become known to history as the First and Second Crusades to Finland; although neither source uses the term ‘crusade’, the way in which the expeditions are described makes it appropriate. However, there is now serious doubt about the authenticity of both accounts—both the Christianisation of Finland and its absorption into the Swedish realm have been seen as much longer and more gradual processes. As in the case of Sweden itself, and often on the basis of the work of Swedish scholars, some Finnish scholars have in the past maintained that certain post-conquest insti- tutions retained traces of pre-conquest Finland. Before turning to the nature of the Swedish conquest (if conquest it was) and the changes it wrought, it is therefore necessary to consider the character of Finland before this.

12.1. Finland before Österland

Insofar as they can be considered a part of Finland, the Åland Islands are a special case. During the early Viking Period they became ‘Swedish’ to all intents and purposes. Archaeological finds suggest a strong early influence from Svealand, but closer similarities with Östergötland in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The change in the late Viking Period may be linked to reorientation of svea Viking interests from the east to the west, where they had more to gain serving in the armies of Sven Forkbeard and Knud after the rise of the Rurikid dynasty in Rus. Whereas it was once thought that a eastward expansion 411 break in the continuity of evidence in the eleventh century signified depopulation, this has since been rejected, largely on the grounds that the Romanesque churches built in the twelfth century point to initiative from wealthy bönder.1 There has been some debate about the existence of kungsgårdar on the islands. The patron’s rights of some churches seem to have passed to the crown, and place-names indicate the existence of vakt (warbhold ) rules similar to those of Svealand. The best evidence, however, is the later existence of taxes such as ledungslama and skeppsörtugar. Sjöstrand has assessed the con- tribution of the islands as forty marks per ship, two per treding and one for the whole landskap, a total of seven ships. The ledunglama and butter tax were assessed as markskatter, a parallel to the Svealand markland.2 Given the strategic situation of the islands in the Baltic it is no surprise that there was probably a ship levy. Although Åland later became part of the diocese of Åbo (Finland) it cannot be assumed that practices on Åland were necessarily followed on the mainland, where circumstances were different. Nevertheless, Åland must have acted as an important conduit through which mainland Finland received goods and influences from Sweden, not least Christian belief, which arrived there in the same period as it first took root in mainland Finland, the late eleventh century. An assortment of Finnish regional names occur in late medieval sources; although variations on Suomi, Kalanti, Savo and Kainuu are Finnish names, the regions they represented under Swedish admin- istration cannot be shown to correspond to pre-conquest political or social divisions.3 Kainuu often referred to or included Satakunta and Pohjanmaa (Ostrobothnia). In the Viking and Crusade Periods the finnar or finni of Scandinavian sources usually referred to inhabitants of northern Finland (Lapps or Saami), whereas the finlander of Swedish sources referred to people in the south-west.4 Variations of the name tavester were used for people who lived further inland. The Finnish name that corresponds to Tavastland is Häme, the south-western

1 See Roeck Hansen 1991 and Ringbom 1991 pp. 49–81. 2 Sjöstrand 1994 pp. 550–53. 3 Salo 2003 pp. 13–91, Huurre 1986 pp. 151–54. 4 Gallén 1984 pp. 252–54. For Lapps and Saami (not necessarily synonymous) see Aikio 1984 pp. 82–83, Huurre and Keränen pp. 146–49, 316–23, and Lehtosalo- Hilander and Pirinen 1988 pp. 275–85.