Kvenland

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This article is about ancient Kvens and Kvenland. For contemporary ethnic group in Norway, see Kvens.

Kvenland (Cwenland, Kænlandi etc in sources) is an ancient name for an area in Fennoscandia. Kvenland is only known from a Norwegian account from the 9th century and from Icelandic sources written in the 12th and 13th centuries. As a name for a country, Kvenland seems to have been out of ordinary usage already at the beginning of the second millennium.

Location of ancient Kvenland is highly disputed. Existing sources can be interpreted in several ways, and no definite interpretation exists. Origin of the name Kven is also not clear.

Old English Orosius

A Norwegian adventurer and traveler Ottar had come to England around 890 CE. King Alfred of England had his stories written down and included in his publication "The Old English Orosius", the history of the world. Ottar's story contains the first and only contemporary reference to Kvenland that has survived: ^[1]

"He said that the Norwegians' (Norðmanna) land was very long and very narrow. -- Wild moors lie towards the east and up along towards the cultivated land. Sami people (Finnas) live on the moors. -- Then Sweden (Sweoland) is along the land to the south, on the other side of the moors, as far as the land to the north; and Kvenland (Cwena land) along the land to the north. The Kvens (Qwenas) harry the Norwegians across the moor, sometimes the Norwegians them. And there are very many fresh water lakes beyond the moors; and the Kvens carry their ships overland into the moors, whence they harry the Norwegians, they have very small and very light ships."

A possible interpretation of Ottar's description of Nordic countries. Borders roughly follow the 9th century populations.

Like emphasized in the text itself, Ottar's account is an oral statement written down, not a scientific publication. Kvenland part is very short, just three sentences. Information on Kvens seems to be second-hand, since, unlike in his earlier stories, Ottar does not emphasize his personal involvement in any way. Ottar's rather confusing way of placing Kvenland makes it difficult to give any accurate location for it.

Kvenland can be interpreted to have existed along northern part of either Norway or Sweden. Sources closest to Ottar's time call the land along the northern part of Norway "Finnmark".^[2] Even if Ottar does not give any name for the area where Sami people lived, he gives a lengthy description of their lives along the northern Norway without mentioning Kvens.^[3] He does not give any sufficient reason to assume that Kvens and Sami people lived on the same area or had any other close contact with each other. It would also be awkward to assume that after having already told about the situation in the northern Norway and having moved to south to tell about Sweden, Ottar would have jumped back to north and locate earlier unmentioned Kvenland next to it. Furthermore, moors are not mentioned when Kvenland is placed, and later in Orosius Kvenland is located relative to Sweden.

Possible interpretation of people and countries positioned in Orosius. Note that all directions have been moved 45 degrees clockwise to correct the potential shift in the Viking compass.

The most suitable land for Kvenland along the northern part of Sweden is the southwestern part of Finland, the center of Finland's Viking Age population (see map).

Ottar's words about lakes and Kvens' boats have traditionally been interpreted so that the lakes were in Norway or at least very close to it. However, it must be noted that the lakes are said to be beyond the moor, far in the wilderness from Ottar's point of view. The most probable place in the 9th century Fennoscandian wilderness with "very many fresh water lakes" is the lake district in today's central and eastern Finland and northwest Russia. Carefully read, the lakes are not related to Kvens' attacks against Norwegians.

Kvens are briefly referred to elsewhere in the Orosius as well.^[4] Kven Sea, probably the same as the Gulf of Finland, is mentioned as the northern border for the ancient Germany. Also Kvenland is mentioned again:

"The Swedes (Sweons) have to the south the arm of the sea called Ost, and to the north, over the wastes, is Kvenland (Cwenland), to the northwest are the Sami people (Scridefinnas), and the Norwegians (Northmen) are to the west."

It is widely assumed that viking compass had a 45 degree rotation of cardinal points.^[5] If the list is corrected with that in mind, Norwegians are said to be northwest of Sweden and Sami people to the north. Both of these are correct after the rotation (see map), confirming the need for it. To the northeast of Sweden is then Kvenland, which would place it to the southwestern part of present-day Finland. Text's "over the wastes" does not fit with this assumption, but it must be kept in mind that the scribes had lost the entire Baltic Sea from that neighborhood.

As there is no "Finland" mentioned anywhere in Orosius, there are good reasons to assume that "Kvenland" was Ottar's word for Finland of his time.

Hversu Noregr byggdist and Orkneyinga saga

The more legendary of the two sagas mentioning Kvenland exists in two very different versions. They are known as Hversu Noregr byggdist ^[6] and Orkneyinga saga ^[7]. Orkeyinga is written around 1200 CE by an unknown Icelandic author. Hversu is only known to have survived in one single copy in Icelandic Flateyjarbók from 1387 CE, but may have been written earlier. Orkneyinga makes a bold claim that Norwegian rulers were descendants of the king Fornjót that "reigned over Gotland, which we now know as Finland and Kvenland". Hversu is more modest and only states that a descendant of Fornjót "ruled over Gothland, Kvenland (Kænlandi), and Finland". Distance in time and place had clearly generated confusion in Baltic geography among Icelandic writers or the texts have deteriorated when they have been manually copied over and over again. Whether Finland and Kvenland were separate or synonyms, remains open.

Fornjót ("Ancient Giant") and his closest followers are purely mythological figures that are mentioned in other sagas as well, however without any reference to Kvenland. This might indicate that the writer copied them to the saga from other contexts. Noteworthy is also that Fornjót's great-grandson Old Snow is briefly mentioned in Ynglingasaga in relation to Finland only. ^[8]

In spite of the frame being legendary, Orkneyinga contains an at least somewhat realistic description of Nór traveling from Kvenland to Norway, attacking areas around present-day Trondheim and lake district in the south, conquering the country and uniting it under his rule. Based on saga's internal chronologies, this would have happened around the 6th or 7th century CE, but the dating is very insecure. Location of Kvenland/Finland/Gotland is given rather exactly:

"-- to the east of the gulf that lies across from the White Sea (Gandvík); we call that the Gulf of Bothnia (Helsingjabotn)."^[9]

Nordic geography is again only partially valid, since Gulf of Bothnia is not connected to the White Sea. If the events really recall anything that happened early on during the first millennium, the archaeologically verifiable Iron Age locations that best match this description are areas in northwestern Varsinais-Suomi and Satakunta, as well as southern Pohjanmaa^[10]. It must be noted, however, that the entire Iron Age Finnish permanent habitation fits within this context as well, since the saga does not say that Kvenland was on the coast, but just east of the Gulf.

A possible location of Kvenland and Nór's route to the fjord of Trondheim. Note that Kvenland can be placed elsewhere east of Gulf of Bothnia as well. The selected location on the map is the one with most archaeological finds.

This is how Nór started his journey to Norway:

"But Nor, his brother, waited until snow lay on the moors so he could travel on snow-shoes. He went out from Kvenland and skirted the Gulf, and came to that place inhabited by the men called Sami (Lapps)^[11]; that is beyond Finnmark."

Having travelled for a while, Nór was still "beyond Finnmark". This also indicates a southern location for Kvenland. The perspective is also clearly Norwegian. After a brief fight with Sami people (Lapps), Nór continued:

"But Nor went thence westward to the Kjolen Mountains and for a long time they knew nothing of men, but shot beasts and birds to feed to themselves, until they came to a place where the rivers flowed west of the mountains. -- Then he went up along the valleys that run south of the fjord. That fjord is now called Trondheim."

Starting somewhere on the eastern coast of the Gulf of Bothnia, Nór had either went all the way up and around the Gulf, or skied across - it was winter, and the Gulf might have been frozen.^[12] Nór ended around Trondheim in central Norway and started his conquest of the country. There is no mention of Kvenland after that any more. Again only a handful of words had been reserved for Kvenland mainly telling where it was or had been.

Nór's journey from Kvenland to Norway is missing from Hversu. In fact, Hversu does not even mention that Nór came from Kvenland at all, only stating that "Norr had great battles west of the Keel". The journey may have been lifted from some other context and added to Orkneyinga in a later phase by an unknown author that wanted to make the saga more adventurous. However, the conflict itself between Kvens and Norwegians remains a fact as verified by Ottar even though it might not have ended in the conquest of Norway.

Egil's saga

"Egils saga" is an epic Icelandic saga possibly by Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241 CE), who may have written it between the years 1220 and 1240 CE. The saga covers a long period of time, starting in Norway in 850 CE and ending around year 1000 CE. It contains a short description of Egil's brother Thorolf co-operating with a Kvenland king Faravid against invading Karelians.

Rather accurate geographical details about Kvenland's location are given in chapter XIV: ^[13]

"Finmark is a wide tract; it is bounded westwards by the sea, wherefrom large firths run in; by sea also northwards and round to the east; but southwards lies Norway; and Finmark stretches along nearly all the inland region to the south, as also does Hålogaland outside. But eastwards from Namdalen (Naumdale) is Jämtland (Jamtaland), then Hälsingland (Helsingjaland) and Kvenland, then Finland, then Karelia (Kirialaland); along all these lands to the north lies Finmark, and there are wide inhabited fell-districts, some in dales, some by lakes. The lakes of Finmark are wonderfully large, and by the lakes there are extensive forests. But high fells lie behind from end to end of the Mark, and this ridge is called Keels."

Saga's Finmark extended much wider than it does today, covering all of northern Fennoscandia all the way south to Hälsingland and Karelia. Kvenland is given here to exist along Finmark as well, most probably on the same borderline than other listed areas, which indicates a rather southern location. Since "Finmark stretches along nearly all the inland region to the south, as also does Hålogaland outside", there is little room for Kvenland in the north.

Worth noting is that the saga is the only source that seems to clearly separate Finland and Kvenland, listing them as neighboring areas. However, Finland is not listed in all of saga's surviving versions indicating that it might be a later addition by someone who did not recognize Kvenland any more.

Saga says that "eastwards from Namdalen is Jämtland", but actually the direction is southeast. Also Hälsingland is southeast, not east, of Jämtland. Like it was said earlier, it is widely assumed that viking compass had a 45 degree rotation of cardinal points meaning that their "east" was actually southeast. Having this correction in the list it makes perfect sense.

Lands mentioned in Egil's Saga, and Thorolf's possible route from Namdalen to Kvenland.

In chapter XVII Thorolf goes to Kvenland again:^[14]

"That same winter Thorolf went up on the fell with a hundred men; he passed on at once eastwards to Kvenland and met king Faravid."

Now if Thorolf went to mountains around his homeland Namdalen and went "eastwards", ie. southeast, he would've first come to Jämtland and then to Hälsingland. These are the same lands that were listed earlier in the saga, giving here meaning for them to be listed in the first place - track to Kvenland from Namdalen went straight through Jämtland and Hälsingland. Now going further southeast from Hälsingland across the Gulf of Bothnia Thorolf ends up in the southwestern tip of present-day Finland, center of Finland's Viking era population. Placing Kvenland there seems to have no conflict with the text or archeology. (See map.)

Again, as with Ottar, it must be noted that Sami people and Kvens are not discussed at the same time. The saga tells how Norwegians taxed the Sami people,^[15] but there is no indication in the saga that Kvens would have competed with the Norwegians of the Sami control or lived near or among them.

A lot of debate has taken place whether the saga provides truthful information of Iron Age Kvenland by mentioning that the Kvens had a real-sounding king and a law to divide the loot. The saga places the confrontation of Norwegians and Karelians on the 9th century, but this is not likely to have happened at that time: Karelians extended their activities to Finmark only from the 12th century onwards. Further deteriorating saga's credibility is that the writer seems to have invented key geographical details, like claiming Karelia to be right under mountains. Kvenland part of Egil's saga is probably a pastiche.

Other sources

Besides the three main sources, Kvenland or Kvens are very briefly mentioned in four Icelandic texts from the same era. One of the texts may be written in Norway.

Norna-Gests þáttr saga

Norna-Gests þáttr saga has a brief mention about the king of both Denmark and Sweden, Sigurd Ring (ruling in the mid-8th century), fighting against invading Curonians and Kvens:

"Sigurd Ring (Sigurðr) was not there, since he had to defend his land, Sweden (Svíþjóð), since Curonians (Kúrir) and Kvens (Kvænir) were raiding there."^[16]

The short mention about Kvens has little other relevancy except that it is the only known reference to Kvens in a Swedish context, however the saga itself is written in Iceland. The text lets the reader understand that Curonians and Kvens were co-operating, even though their simultaneous attack may be understood as a coincidence. Curonians were a Baltic people living in present-day Latvia, so if Kvens were co-operating with them around 750 CE or if the writer of the saga wanted the readers to believe so, Kvens should have lived rather near to Curonians. Saga does not mention Finland or Finns.

Historia Norwegiae

Historia Norwegiae is written sometime between 1160-75 CE in an unknown location, although eastern Norway is suspected. It contains a list of peoples in the north:

"But towards north many pagan tribes - alas! - stretch from the east behind Norway, namely Karelians (Kiriali) and Kvens (Kwæni), corneous Sami people (cornuti Finni) and both peoples of Bjarmia (utrique Biarmones). But what tribes dwell behind them, have we no certainty."^[17]

Finland and Finns are again not mentioned. Since both Karelians and Bjarmians lived further away in the east than Finns, Kvens can easily have meant Finns, but this is speculative and nothing certain can be said.

Leiðarvísir og borgarskipan

Kvenland appears once in a list of countries found in Leiðarvísir og borgarskipan, which was basically a guidebook for pilgrims about the routes from Northern Europe to Rome and Jerusalem, written by an Icelandic Abbot Níkulás Bergsson in the monastery of Aþverá (Munkaþverá) in the late 1150s CE. The publication contains two descriptions of lands around Norway that the Abbot seems to have acquired for his book from independent sources.

"Götaland (Gautland) is east of the River Göta (Gautelfi), and closest to it is Sweden (Svíþjóð), then closest is Hälsingland (Helsingaland), then Finland (Finnland); then come the borders of Russia (Garðaríki), which we mentioned earlier. But on the other side of Götaland is Denmark --"

"Closest to Denmark is little Sweden (Svíþjóð), there is Öland (Eyland); then is Gotland (Gotland); then Hälsingland (Helsingaland); then Värmland (Vermaland); then two Kvenlands (Kvenlönd), and they are north of Bjarmia (Bjarmalandi). From Bjarmia, uninhabited lands stretch in the north to the borders of Greenland (Grænland) --"^[18]

The first description of the two is more correct. It lists Finland, but not Kvenland. The second one seems badly convoluted. It mentions Kvenland, but not Finland. Kvenland seems to be in the vicinity of Helsingland and Värmland, but then on the other hand north of Bjarmia; and yet north of Bjarmia is said to be uninhabited lands. Greenland is described as if it was connected to the continent.

Icelandic Annals

Icelandic annals have a late mention of Kvens clearly active in the north. Around 1271 CE, the following is said to have happened:

"Then Karelians (Kereliar) and Kvens (Kvænir) pillaged widely in Hålogaland (Hálogalandi)."^[19]

Whether the two tribes co-operated or just accidentally fought against Norwegians at the same time, is left open. However, the short mention seems to confirm that Karelians were not alone taking over the control of northern lands from Norwegians at the end of the 13th century. This is also the third reference to Kvens and Norwegians fighting against each other.

Possible other sources

It is sometimes speculated that Sitones mentioned in Tacitus' Germania from 98 CE already have a connection to Kvens. Similarly it has been suggested that the Vinoviloth mentioned by Jordanes in De origine actibusque Getarum in the 6th century CE could have been Kvens.^[20] A more potential reference to Kvenland is Terra Feminarum ("Woman Land") mentioned by Adam of Bremen in his Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum (Deeds of Bishops of the Hamburg Church) written in 1075 CE, a possible mistranslation of the name Kvenland.

Another reference to a north-bound land of women is from an Icelandic manuscript from the 14th century that describes a kuenna land ("Woman Land") "north of India" and "near ... Albania" that would only have women with both reproduction organs.^[21] As the name appears in a geographical list of countries and Finland is nowhere to be found, it may also be a misunderstanding from an era that no longer recognized Kvenland any more. The text is however so convoluted, that relation to Kvenland is very speculative.

Summary

Based on the sources about the ancient Kvenland and Kvens, only the following assumptions can be made with relative certainty:

• Kvenland existed in Fennoscandia
• Kvenland was comparable to Sweden and Norway during the late Iron Age and early Middle Ages
• Norwegians and Kvens had occasional conflicts
• Kvens had light boats
• Kvens had no special connection to Sami people
• The first indisputable reference to Kvens in northern Fennoscandia is at the end of the 13th century

However, there are strong grounds to suggest that:

• Kvenland was a dialectal Norwegian/Icelandic name for the Iron Age Finland
• Ancient Kvens were the same as Finns

Different interpretations

Like all countries lost in the history, Kvenland has generated many theories about its origin.

Contemporary Finnish historians, such as Oulu University professor Kyösti Julku, have claimed that Kvenland should be translated as "Kainuu", an organized kingdom supposed to have ruled over much of the northern Fennoscandia.^[22] The ancient Kainuu would have been unrelated to what Kainuu today is. According to the critics, the theory has not been verified by sufficient archaeological finds ^[23], and is mainly based on disputable interpretation of the above-mentioned sources. No concrete evidence has been presented that Kainuu would have been a major Finnish land already in the Iron Age, even though names "Kven" and "Kainu(u)" may share common roots. Finnish dialects spoken in the north have not been proved to have developed already in the Iron Age. It might be argued that to be a prominent player in history, Iron Age Kainuu is also too absent from Finnish and Karelian mythology and folklore.

Oulu University professor Jouko Vahtola presented that there is no evidence of the name "Kainuu" being of Western Finnish origin and considered it to have Savonian-Karelian-Bottnian roots. Vahtola favoured connection between Kvenland and Kainuu, but also speculated it to have developed independently. Based on the archaeological reality in the north, Vahtola did not believe that there was an ancient tribe called Kvens and considered them to be mainly Tavastians hunting and trading in the northern Pohjanmaa.^[24] This moderated version of Julku´s theory is nowadays widely adopted in Finland, Sweden and Norway, and it is cited in many studies and popular works. Supporters of this theory want to see Birkarlar as Kvens' successors in the north.

A very opposite view has been provided by a Finnish historian and Helsinki University professor Matti Klinge who has placed Kvenland not only in southern Finland, but around the Baltic Sea as a kind of "sea people". Klinge tried to prove Kvenland as a naval power on the Baltic sea, but his reasoning about Kvenland's navy ruling Baltic coasts is very speculative, and without concrete support in the sources.^[25]

A Finnish historian, politician and Helsinki University professor Kustaa Vilkuna speculated that Kvenland was located in southern Finland, but separate from Finland, situated on the Gulf of Bothnia and covering just northern Varsinais-Suomi and coastal Satakunta.^[26] A small local area called as "Kalanti" (Kaland in Swedish) would have been a remnant of the earlier name Kvenland.

Kvenland has also been associated with the legendary Pohjola, a mystical country in Finnish mythology ruled by a fierce witch, Louhi. There is no evidence that they have anything to do with each other.

Kvenland and Kvens later in historical time

Main article: Kven

Besides the above-mentioned texts, there is no reference to Kvenland in the medieval or earlier sources. There are also no other Icelandic sagas or old Norwegian sources that would mention "Finland" in a Norwegian context.

As a name for a country, Kvenland seems to have gone out of ordinary usage around the beginning of the second millennium. Finland as an independent, but not organized, entity ceased to exist in the 13th century when it was assimilated to Sweden. Need for other countries to have a specific name for it diminished and inlined with the Swedish way from which names Kvenland and Kvens were absent. However, Norwegians kept using the name "Kven" at least for those Finns which started moving to northern Fennoscandia around the time of the Swedish conquest. There was a clear need to have a distinct name for the Finns in the north, since Norwegians, unlike their neighbors, already called the Sami people "Finns" and using the same name for the Finns on the same area might have been confusing. This probably resulted in the name preserving in the north when it no longer was used for southern Finns.

Today, name "Kven" is reserved for the Norway's Finnish-speaking population in the present-day Northern Norway.

See also

• Bjarmaland

References

Further reading

• Edgren, Torsten - Den förhistoriska tiden. Finlands historia 1. 1993.
• Hallencreutz, C.F. - Adam, Sverige och trosskiftet. 1984.
• Huurre, Matti - 9000 vuotta Suomen esihistoriaa. 1979, 1995.
• Jutikkala, Eino, with Kauko Pirinen - A History of Finland. 1979.
• Vahtola, Jouko - Suomen historia / Jääkaudesta Euroopan unioniin. 2003.
• Zetterberg, Seppo / Tiitta, Allan - Suomi kautta aikojen. 1997.