History, The Swedish Conquest

The conversion of the Finnish tribes to Christianity was initiated both from the Orthodox East and Roman Catholic Sweden. It proceeded for more than two centuries, from 1050 to about 1300. The Saami became Christians at an even later date.

According to tradition, Nicholas Breakspear, an English cardinal who became Pope Adrian IV, encouraged the Swedish king Eric to cross the Baltic with a strong force in 1155. His goal was not only to convert the heathen but also to gain economic and political ends. King Eric defeated the Finnish tribes but was not able to make his conquest permanent. An English clergyman, Henry, who had been bishop of Uppsala in Sweden, remained in Finland. He was slain within the year and subsequently became the patron saint of the city of Abo and of all the Finns.

A papal bull of 1172 (or 1171) proposed that the Swedes hold Finland in subjection by building fortresses with permanent garrisons; in time, the Swedes subdued the Finns and the Tavastians, achieved control of Finland’s foreign trade, and established the Christian religion. The church was placed on a firm foundation when an episcopal see was established at Abo in 1209 (a monastery of the Dominicans was founded there in 1249). In 1216 the pope confirmed Swedish title to those parts of Finland that were already conquered and also to mission territories in the east and north. A solid basis for Swedish rule was laid by the Earl Birger, who dispatched a “crusade” in 1249 and built a fortress in Tavastia in central Finland as a protection against Russian incursions. When the ruler of Novgorod in Russia invaded Tavastia again in 1292, the Swedes sent a force into Karelia as far as the Neva River. A treaty of 1323 divided Karelia between Sweden and Novgorod.

In 1362 the Finnish people were given the same rights within the monarchy as the people of Sweden. When Queen Margaret I established the Kalmar Union in 1397, Finland was drawn into the dynastic politics of the Scandinavian countries. All during the 15th and 16th centuries most of Finland was administered as fiefs by Swedish noblemen, who levied heavy taxes on the people. Numerous Swedes—farmers, fishers, and merchants—settled in Finland at this time.