Second Swedish Crusade
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The Second Swedish Crusade was a Swedish military expedition to Finland. According to Eric's Chronicle from the 1320s, the crusade took place between the death of king Eric XI of Sweden in 1250 and Birger jarl getting elevated to the position of jarl in 1248.[1] Chronicle of Lubeck confirms the expedition with a short note that in 1249 Birger jarl submitted Finland under Swedish rule. From other sources, Birger jarl is known to have been absent from Sweden in winter 1249-50.
All details of the crusade are from Eric's Chronicle. This has also caused a long controversy on the actual target of the expedition, since the Chronicle presents Tavastians (taffwesta) as the Swedish opponents. However, the same Chronicle describes how the expedition was prepared in Sweden and how it was conducted over sea to a land on the coast. Since Tavastia was inland, this contradiction was later explained so that there was a Tavastian port somewhere on the coast that was the primary target of the attack. Chronicle also mentions that a castle called "taffwesta borg" was established after the war. There have been lot of attempts to identify the castle with either Häme castle or Hakoinen Castle in central Tavastia, but neither has been indisputably dated to such an early period. As all other sources indicate that the expedition took place in southerwestern Finland, it is possible that the chronicler just shifted it to Tavastia because of the political situation in the early 14th century when Tavastia was one of the main stages of the war against Novgorod. At the end of his story, the chronicler notes that "so the Russian king lost this land". Thus the castle mentioned in the Chronicle could actually have been the Old Castle of Lieto near Turku where Swedes had their earliest garrisons.
Also the point of time when the attack took place has been disputed. Attempts have been to date the attack either to 1239 or to 1256. Neither date has received wide acceptance.[2]
Probably related to preventing other parties from getting involved in the conflict, Pope Innocent IV took Finland under his special protection in August, 1249, however without mentioning Sweden in any way.[3] The situation was also seen clear enough to have the first Dominican convent established in Finland in the same year.[4] Finland's bishop Thomas, probably a Dominican monk, had resigned already in 1245 and died three years later in a Dominican convent in Gothland. The see being vacant, the diocese had been under the supreme command of the papal legate Wilhelm of Sabina whose last orders to Finnish priests were given in June, 1248.[5] Swedish Bero was eventually appointed as the new bishop in 1248/9. Bero came directly from the Swedish court like his two successors. Bishops held all the power in Finland until 1280s.
As an unexpected side effect, the expedition seems to have cost Birger jarl the Swedish crown. As the old king Eric died in 1250 and Birger was still absent from Sweden, the rebellious Swedish lords selected Birger's under-aged son Valdemar as the new king instead of the powerful jarl himself.
From 1249 onwards, sources generally regard Finland as a part of Sweden. Diocese of Finland is first listed among the Swedish dioceses in 1253. However, very little is known about the situation in Finland during the following decades. Reason for this is partly the fact that Finland was now ruled from Turku and most of the documentation remained there. As the Novgorod forces burned the city in 1318 during the Swedish-Novgorodian Wars, very little remained about what had happened in the previous century.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Description of the crusade. Original text.
- ^ Suomen Museo 2002. See page 66. The book can be ordered from the Finnish Antiquarian Society.
- ^ Letter by Innocentius IV to the diocese of Finland and its people. In Latin.
- ^ Convent established in Finland. In Latin.
- ^ Wilhelm of Sabina's letter to the priests of Finland in 1248. In Latin.
