Finland-msg - 9/25/98
History and culture of Finland.
NOTE: See also the files: Finland-hist-art, Norse-msg, Norway-msg, pst-Vik-Norse-msg.
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Stefan at florilegium.org
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From: marten at rieska.oulu.fi (Lady Dark)
Date: 17 Jul 91 18:35:18 GMT
Organization: University of Oulu, Finland
Unto the gentle who asked about finnish costume (I'm sorry I can't find
your posting anywhere from my files so I'll put this to the rialto).
It is surprising how few books in english there are of this subject. From
the index I have, I could find only this one (but at least in Finland the
author is very respected in this area of study)
Lehtosalo-Hilander, P.-L., 1984a: Ancient Finnish Costumes. Published by
Suomen Arkeologinen Seura. Vammala.
There are, however, quite a few sources in Swedish, several in German and
lots (surpriese, surprise..:) in Finnish. If you think that any of these
would be helpful, please drop me a note and I'll mail the sources to you.
LapC (=Llwyd ap Cadwaladr)
========================================================================
# At office: Atte Kinnula # In the Current Middle Ages: #
# Rakentajantie 5 F/303 # Llwyd ap Cadwaladr #
# 90570 OULU, FINLAND # (now try pronouncing that >;)#
From: Antti Leino <leino at huuhkaja.pc.Helsinki.FI>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Finland in the Middle Ages?
Date: 23 Aug 1995 15:19:56 GMT
Organization: Wallace & Gromit Fan Club
Lord Christian <jdw at cris.com> wrote:
>Does anyone know what was going on in Finland in the fifteenth
>century? I would like a persona from around that time and place
>but cant find any info about life in the middle ages there.
>I heard there so a King Christian, thats why I was interested.
Briefly, Finland was a part of the Kalmar Union (which was, in effect,
Denmark, Sweden and Norway in personal union), like the rest of
Scandinavia. Technically it was a Swedish province, but it had
considerably more freedom under the Union kings than during the rest
of the Swedish rule. One of the reasons was that Bishop Magnus of
Turku (the see encompassed the whole Finland, until mid-16th century)
was a rather important figure in politics during the early half of the
century; another important reason was that the Danish Union kings were
a lot more distant than the Swedish ones.
As to the information, I can't really guess what is available in
English. All in all, you can rather safely change Finland for Sweden;
the differences were not all that big (except, of course, for the
language). Just keep in mind that Finland was something of a
semi-independent back-country province.
Feel free to ask me, too. If you send me personal mail, I'll probably
even notice (I've been on the Rialto rather sporadically for the last
couple of years).
--
Pietari Pentinpoika Uv Antti.Leino at Helsinki.FI
Barony of Aarnimetsa, Kingdom of Drachenwald
Another 15th-century Finn, and a herald.
From: HNHN15A at prodigy.com (Jana Russ)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Finland in the Middle Ages
Date: 27 Aug 1995 16:48:26 GMT
Organization: Prodigy Services Company 1-800-PRODIGY
jdw at cris.com (DRONE) wrote:
>
>Does anyone know what was going on in Finland in the fifteenth
>century? I would like a persona from around that time and place
>but cant find any info about life in the middle ages there.
>I heard there so a King Christian, thats why I was interested.
>
>Thanks,
>Lord Christian
>jdw at cris.com
The country we call Finland is actually called Suomi by its own people.
In the Middle Ages it was not an independant nation, but rather a duchy
of the Swedish crown. (Finland has been a land contested over by the
Swedes and the Russians since the twelfth century...) The King Christian
you refer to may have been one of 2 Scandinavian Kings by that name.
Christian I became king of "the Scandinavian Union" (Sweden, all the
fiefs of Finland except for Viipuri Province, Norway, sometimes Estonia,
& Denmark) in 1457 and immediately sent troops into Finland to force them
to acknowledge him. While they did submit, and even furnished up to
1/3rd of Sweden's fighting forces for years to come, the Finns had a
habit of not paying their taxes and of disappearing into the forests when
the tax collectors showed up (it's a *Sisu* thing <G>). Eventually the
Swedish Crown declared they would only tax "arable lands" and then
declared Finland "unarable" (this saved them the embarrassment of trying
to subdue a people
who continually refused to acknowledge the blow...<VBG>)
Christian II of Denmark became king of the Union in 1520 and was mostly
known for the bloodbath by which he took Stockholm. The Finns resisted
him, but lost due to the treachery of the prelate Hemming Gadh. Many
Finnish nobles went to the headsmans block. The Danish yoke was thrown
off in 1523, by the Swedish King Gustavus Vasa.
Neither of these Christians is considered "popular" by the Finns. And
the name Christian is more commonly considered a Swedish name, not common
among Midieval Finns. I recommend 2 books:
_The History Of Finland_, by Eino Jutikkala (trans. by Paul Sjoblom),
Thames and Hudson, London, 1962.
_Of Finnish Ways_, by Aini Rajanen, Barnes and Noble, NY, 1984. ISBN 0-06-
464077.
Another source to look for is the _Kalevala_ , a collection of the oral
traditions and Finnish folk myths that was set down as *epic poetry in
the ancient style* by Elias Lonnrot in the early 1800's. It is
considered today to be a national epic of the Suomi people.
Good luck in your research.
nakemiin!
Gwynhyvar
(in the SCA a good Welsh girl who just happens to be mundanely of Finnish
descent, full of sisu, and had Finnish history spoon fed to her from the
cradle on....)
From: cjcannon at ucdavis.EDU (Carol Cannon)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Viking clothing info. (fwd)
Date: 31 Aug 1995 18:37:38 -0400
Organization: The Internet
Forwarded from Historical Costuming List:
Have you read "Sarks, suomalaisia muinaispukuja
(Ancient Finnish Costume) by Pirkko-Lehtosalo-Hilander,
published by the Finnish Archeological Society, 1984?
It covers Finnish grave finds to about AD 600 to
the 13th C, with most of the information from the 11th,
12th & 13th C's. The text covers the actual finds of
textiles & jewelry, interpetations & reproductions made
from them, basic structure of costumes in Northern Europe,
Pan-European trend of fashion, etc. Most of the clothing
shown is for women.
<the end>