Birkarls: Difference between revisions
Content deleted Content added
| (20 intermediate revisions by 17 users not shown) | |||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{Short description|Historical group with privileges to tax the Sámi}} |
|||
{{refimprove|date=September 2015}} |
|||
{{About|a medieval Scandinavian association|a contemporary Swedish society|Birkarlarna (society)}} |
{{About|a medieval Scandinavian association|a contemporary Swedish society|Birkarlarna (society)}} |
||
[[File:Trading near "Pele" (Pello), Carta Marina.png|thumb|Trading near [[Pello]], as depicted by the [[Carta marina|Carta Marina (1539)]].]] |
|||
{{redirect|Pirkka|the Finnish market brand|Pirkka (brand)|the Finnish magazine|Pirkka (magazine)}} |
|||
'''Birkarls''' ( |
The '''Birkarls''' ({{langx|sv|birkarlar}}; {{Langx|fi|pirkkalaiset}}) were a small, unofficially organized group that controlled taxation and commerce in central [[Lappmarken]] in [[Sweden]] from the 13th to the 17th century.<ref name=vahtola>Vahtola, Jouko. ''Tornionlaakson historia I''. Birkarlit, 'pirkkalaiset'. Malungs boktryckeri AB. Malung, Sweden. 1991. The article draws heavily from the material available in the book.</ref> |
||
==Background== |
==Background== |
||
Birkarls (bircharlaboa) are first mentioned in 1328, when they are listed as one of the settler groups in northern [[Hälsingland]], a designation that covered the western coast of [[Gulf of Bothnia]] all the way up and around the gulf to [[Oulu River]]. |
|||
| ⚫ | |||
According to Professor Jouko Vahtola, the most probable assumption is that the Birkarls were originally Finnish traders. Vahtola suggests that a big part of the Birkarls had originated from the historical [[Tavastia (historical province)|Tavastia]] area, located in southern Finland. In the latter half of the 13th century, King [[Magnus III of Sweden|Magnus III Birgersson]] is traditionally claimed to have granted the privileges for the Birkarls (Kven traders) to control the trade and taxes in the north. This may have been just a ratification of an already existing condition. |
|||
| ⚫ | In the late 16th century, claims about birkarls coming from [[Great Pirkkala]] (a parish in [[Satakunta (historical province)|Upper Satakunta]]) emerged, propagated by birkarls themselves in their battle to prevent the state from stripping their privileges. This is at least partly true, since men from Pirkkala appear as witnesses in a document from 1374 about local borders in northern [[Ostrobothnia (historical province)|Pohjanmaa]].<ref name=vahtola/> Later, in the 19th century, a Finnish term ''pirkkamiehet'' or ''pirkkalaiset'' was invented as a "domestic" name for birkarls. It never appears in any of the documentation or traditions, but is commonly used in Finland today to mean birkarls. |
||
In 1328, Tälje Charter ("Tälje stadga") mention the Birkarls ("bircharlaboa"). Based on the information revealed, the Birkarls then inhabited areas e.g. in northern Hälsingland, which covered the western coast of the [[Gulf of Bothnia]], and from there all the way up and around the gulf to [[Oulu River]]. Tälje Charter is a state treaty, in which the king of Sweden guarantees the Kvens (Birkarls) trading rights in the north (a translation from Latin last printed in 1995 - Wallerström, page 48). <ref name="Wallerström, 1995">''Tälje stadga'' (Translation from Latin). Wallerström, 1995. Sweden.</ref> |
|||
| ⚫ | |||
| ⚫ | |||
| ⚫ | |||
| ⚫ | In the late 16th century, claims about |
||
The main purpose of the birkarl organization was to control the trade with [[Sami people]] and tax them. Legends told that birkarls rights to tax Sami people was given by [[Magnus III of Sweden|Magnus the Barnlock]], the [[King of Sweden]] at that time. Sami people were traditionally taxed by Norwegians already in the [[Viking Age]] or even earlier. Later [[Russians]] started to tax them as well. After having southern Finland under control around 1250, Sweden became interested in the situation in the north. Eventually, some Sami people paid taxes to all three states. Birkarls were just one element in the [[Colonialism|colonial]] system profiting off of the Sami area.<ref name=vahtola/> |
|||
It seems that birkarls' privileges were more ''[[de facto]]'', than ''[[de jure]]''. No document has survived granting them official right to the tax and trade monopoly in the north, even though the state first supported and later tolerated the situation for centuries. |
|||
| ⚫ | |||
| ⚫ | |||
The main purpose of the Birkarl organization was to control the trade with the [[Sami people]] and to tax them. According to [[medieval]] accounts and some other evidence, the Sami were taxed by the [[Norsemen]] and the Finnic tribe of the [[Kvenland|ancient Kvens]] during the [[Viking Age]], but presumably already before Viking Age as well. During Viking Age - and possibly long before -, the Finnic [[Karelians]] too participated in the taxing of the Sami. |
|||
By the late [[Middle Ages]], both the slowly expanding Realm of Sweden and Novgorod too had become more interested in the taxation of the Sami in the north. However, the status of the Birkarls in control of the Sami taxation remained strong up-til the mid-16th-century, after which the Birkarls were just one element in the [[Colonialism|colonial]] system taking benefit of the Sami area. In the early 17th century, the Birkarls fully lost their upper hand in the battle for the rights to tax the Sami people. |
|||
The earliest known account written in [[Swedish language]], [[Eric's Chronicle]], is from c. 1320-1340 AD. Thus, no pre-14th-century documents have survived, where the granting of rights to the Birkarls for the taxation and trade monopoly in the north could be viewed. However - despite of the lack of documentation -, the post-[[Viking Age|Viking-Age]] newly-born country of Sweden clearly appears to have been forced to tolerate and/or support the situation for centuries. |
|||
From the first half of the 14th century, a related document has survived. It is the signing of a state treaty between Sweden and the Birkarls, known as Tälje Charter ("Tälje stadga" in Swedish). In that treaty, the king of Sweden guaranteed the Kvens ("birkarls") trading rights in the north (translation from Latin last printed in 1995, Wallerström, page 48). <ref name="Wallerström, 1995" /> |
|||
In practice, a Birkarl owned the Sami people on his turf, and they were treated as if they were property. Privileges to own Sami people usually went in the family. Later, the Birkarl privileges became merchandise as well. <ref name="Vahtola, Jouko, 1991" /> |
|||
==Area of influence== |
==Area of influence== |
||
Birkarls were active in the [[Tornio]], [[Luleå]] and [[Piteå]] River valleys, Tornio being their main area. Each of the valleys formed a separate "[[Lappmarken|lappmark]]" with its own birkarls.<ref name=vahtola/> Sami people south of Piteå were "Crown Samis" that paid their taxes directly to the king. |
|||
| ⚫ | |||
Birkarls were active in northern Scandinavia and Fennoscandia, but particularly on the western and northern coastal areas of the [[Gulf of Bothnia]]. In the final centuries of their activity, their influence was felt strongest in and around the [[Tornio]], [[Luleå]] and [[Piteå]] river valleys, each of the valleys forming a separate area known as "[[Lappmarken|Lappmark]]", with its own Birkarls. Sami people south of Piteå were the so-called "Crown Samis", who paid their taxes directly to the king. The area of Tornio is known as the most important center for the Birkarl activities in history. |
|||
In the 16th century, towards the end of their existence, the [[Kemi River]] valley was also partly under birkarl influence. In the 1590s, they also tried to gain tax control of the sea Sami people on the [[Arctic Ocean]].<ref name=vahtola/> |
|||
| ⚫ | |||
According to Professor Emeritus Kyösti Julku, there are at least 12 prehistoric Kven place names in the modern-day area of Troms in [[Northern Norway]]. In his 1539 map of Scandinavia named [[Carta Marina]], [[Olaus Magnus]] marks Birkarl [[Kvenland|Kvens]] ("Berkara Qvenar") inhabiting the area roughly between the modern-day city of [[Tromsø]] and the archipelago of [[Lofoten]] in Norway. The first ever recorded Norwegian tax records from the mid-1500s onward also mention Kvens, suggesting the presence of the Birkarls in Norway at the time. These tax records are stored at the National Archival Services of Norway (Riksarkivet). <ref name="Kyösti Julku, 1986">Kyösti Julku: ''Kvenland - Kainuunmaa''. With English summary: The Ancient territory of Kainuu. Oulu, 1986.</ref> |
|||
In the east, the Kemi River Valley was at least partly under the influence of the Birkarls still in the late 16th century. |
|||
==Decline and end== |
==Decline and end== |
||
| ⚫ | Birkarls remained useful to the king as long as the state's hold on the north was weak. After the disintegration of the [[Union of Kalmar]] in the early 16th century, the situation in the north became more important. A major setback for birkals took place in 1553, when King [[Gustav I of Sweden|Gustav Vasa]] terminated their right to tax the Sami people. Unable to continue their former lives, many birkarls became local tax authorities (''lapinvouti'' in Finnish).<ref name=vahtola/> |
||
The Birkarls' trade monopoly did not last much longer and was in the line of fire from 1570s. The state wanted to concentrate trade into towns that were easier to control, making the need for birkarls obsolete. Having no official status, birkarl organizations had little means of fighting back, and they silently eroded away in the 17th century after administrative changes initiated by king [[Charles IX of Sweden|Charles IX]]. Tornio, Luleå and Piteå all received their town charters in 1621 marking an official end to birkarls.<ref name=vahtola/> |
|||
| ⚫ | Birkarls remained |
||
==Further reading== |
|||
Birkarls' trade monopoly was now turned to gradual decline, and from 1570s onward it was seriously set in the line of fire. Unable to continue their former lives as usual, many Birkarls became local tax authorities (''lapinvouti'' in Finnish). However, still in the 1590s the Birkarls tried to hold on to - or regain - tax control of the Sea Sami people on the coastal areas of the [[Arctic Ocean]]. |
|||
* Samu Sarviaho (2020) "[https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03468755.2020.1788633 The elusive Finn: ethnic identities, source criticism and the early history of Northern Sweden in seventeenth-century Swedish historiography.]" Scandinavian Journal of History |
|||
At this point, the state of Sweden had become interested in concentrating the trading in the north into towns which were relatively easy to control. This soon changed the former role of the Birkarls as the controllers of the northern trade and taxation. Having no longer official status on these fields, the Birkarl organization had little means to fight back, and it silently eroded away in the 17th century, after administrative changes initiated by King [[Charles IX of Sweden|Charles IX]]. |
|||
In 1607, once King Charles IX had strengthened his hold on the crown of Sweden, he appended to it the title 'King of the Caijaners' (people of Kainuu), apparently using the title the first time on March 16, 1607. However, Kainuu (same as [[Kvenland]], according to Kyösti Julku) ''"occupied a separate position from the rest of Finland for a long time to come"''. <ref name="Kyösti Julku, 1986"/> |
|||
Tornio, Luleå and Piteå all received their town charters in 1621, marking an "official" end to the period of strong influence of the Birkarls in all of northern Scandinavia and Finland. |
|||
==Kven theory== |
|||
The ancient Kven people and their land called [[Kvenland]] are discussed in the c. 890 AD [[Old English language|Old English]] version by [[Alfred the Great|King Alfred of Wessex]] of the world history written originally by the [[Hispania Tarraconensis|Romano-Hispanic]] author [[Paulus Orosius|Orosius]]. Also medieval [[Norse mythology|Icelandic]] accounts written in the 12th and 13th centuries discuss the Kvens and their nation called Kvenland, which was ruled by kings. |
|||
It is often speculated that what became known as Birkarls would in fact have been post-[[Viking Age|Viking-Age]] upper class members of the Kven society discussed in medieval accounts. According to this assumption, the area where the Birkarls operated, would have located in the heartland of the ancient [[Kvenland]].<ref>Klinge, Matti. ''Muinaisuutemme merivallat'' (1983). Book is in Finnish, also published in Swedish as ''Östersjövärlden'' (1984) and in English as ''Ancient Powers of the Baltic Sea'' (2006).</ref><ref name="Kyösti Julku, 1986"/> |
|||
As a name for a country, Kvenland seems to have gone out of ordinary usage around the end of the [[Viking Age]], unrecognized by scholars by the 14th century. As the first ever account written in [[Swedish language]], [[Eric's Chronicle]], was published as late as the 14th century, no medieval references to "Kvenland" or "Kvens" are available from Swedish literature. |
|||
However, in the 1539 map [[Carta Marina]] by the [[Sweden|Swedish]] author [[Olaus Magnus]], the Birkarl [[Kvenland|Kvens]] ("Berkara Qvenar") are shown inhabiting the Norwegian North Atlantic coast, roughly in the middle in between the [[archipelago]] of [[Lofoten]] and the modern-day city of [[Tromsø]]. In his 1555 publication ''[[Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus]]'' ("A Description of the Northern Peoples"), Magnus also mentions both terms: The Finnish traders that commuted between and inhabited the general area of [[Tornio]] and the modern-day area of [[Norway]] are told to have been called "Kvens". <ref name="Vahtola, Jouko, 1991" /><ref name="Kyösti Julku, 1986"/> |
|||
Historians consider it likely, that for the [[medieval]] inhabitants of the modern-day area of Norway the term ''Kven'' included Birkarl traders. Whatever the case, most of the [[Kven people|Kven minority]] in the present-day [[northern Norway]] originates from - or has immigrated from - the same area on which Birkarls were active. |
|||
==Modern recognition== |
|||
The flag of [[Kvenland]] was lifted up at the [[Kiruna]] City Hall in Sweden on March 16, 2013, at 11:00, in celebration and honor of the first annual Day of the Kvens. Hereafter, the day is meant to be recognized wider in the Kven communities of the north, and by others as well. |
|||
The date for the occasion was chosen from the 14th century signing of a state treaty between Sweden and Kvenland, known as Tälje Charter ("Tälje stadga" in Swedish). In that treaty, the king of Sweden guaranteed the Kvens ("Birkarls") trading rights in the north (translation from Latin last printed in 1995, Wallerström, page 48). <ref name="Wallerström, 1995" /> |
|||
The city of Kiruna is a part of the [[Kiruna Municipality]]. It is the northernmost municipality of Sweden, and geographically it is Sweden's largest, covering roughly 4.604% of the total area of Sweden. |
|||
In the past, the Kven language spoken in Norway was considered a dialect of Finnish language, much like the Finnic Meänkieli language in northern Sweden. Today, both are officially recognized minority languages in the areas where the languages are spoken. The Finnish, [[Meänkieli]] and [[Sami language|Sami]] all are officially recognized minority languages in the Kiruna Municipality in Sweden. |
|||
==References== |
==References== |
||
{{reflist}} |
{{reflist}} |
||
[[Category:Medieval Finland]] |
[[Category:Medieval Finland]] |
||
[[Category: |
[[Category:Medieval history of Sweden]] |
||
[[Category:Lapland (Finland)]] |
|||
Latest revision as of 06:53, 30 October 2024
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2015) |
,_Carta_Marina.png)
The Birkarls (Swedish: birkarlar; Finnish: pirkkalaiset) were a small, unofficially organized group that controlled taxation and commerce in central Lappmarken in Sweden from the 13th to the 17th century.[1]
Background
[edit]Birkarls (bircharlaboa) are first mentioned in 1328, when they are listed as one of the settler groups in northern Hälsingland, a designation that covered the western coast of Gulf of Bothnia all the way up and around the gulf to Oulu River.
The name birkarl probably originates from an ancient Scandinavian word birk that has been used in reference to commerce in various contexts.
In the late 16th century, claims about birkarls coming from Great Pirkkala (a parish in Upper Satakunta) emerged, propagated by birkarls themselves in their battle to prevent the state from stripping their privileges. This is at least partly true, since men from Pirkkala appear as witnesses in a document from 1374 about local borders in northern Pohjanmaa.[1] Later, in the 19th century, a Finnish term pirkkamiehet or pirkkalaiset was invented as a "domestic" name for birkarls. It never appears in any of the documentation or traditions, but is commonly used in Finland today to mean birkarls.
In total, some twenty theories are estimated to exist to explain the origin and name of the birkarls.
Sami trade and tax monopoly
[edit]The main purpose of the birkarl organization was to control the trade with Sami people and tax them. Legends told that birkarls rights to tax Sami people was given by Magnus the Barnlock, the King of Sweden at that time. Sami people were traditionally taxed by Norwegians already in the Viking Age or even earlier. Later Russians started to tax them as well. After having southern Finland under control around 1250, Sweden became interested in the situation in the north. Eventually, some Sami people paid taxes to all three states. Birkarls were just one element in the colonial system profiting off of the Sami area.[1]
It seems that birkarls' privileges were more de facto, than de jure. No document has survived granting them official right to the tax and trade monopoly in the north, even though the state first supported and later tolerated the situation for centuries.
Area of influence
[edit]Birkarls were active in the Tornio, Luleå and Piteå River valleys, Tornio being their main area. Each of the valleys formed a separate "lappmark" with its own birkarls.[1] Sami people south of Piteå were "Crown Samis" that paid their taxes directly to the king.
The birkarls living in each area of influence were very few, totalling only about 50 men still in the early 16th century.[1]
In the 16th century, towards the end of their existence, the Kemi River valley was also partly under birkarl influence. In the 1590s, they also tried to gain tax control of the sea Sami people on the Arctic Ocean.[1]
Decline and end
[edit]Birkarls remained useful to the king as long as the state's hold on the north was weak. After the disintegration of the Union of Kalmar in the early 16th century, the situation in the north became more important. A major setback for birkals took place in 1553, when King Gustav Vasa terminated their right to tax the Sami people. Unable to continue their former lives, many birkarls became local tax authorities (lapinvouti in Finnish).[1]
The Birkarls' trade monopoly did not last much longer and was in the line of fire from 1570s. The state wanted to concentrate trade into towns that were easier to control, making the need for birkarls obsolete. Having no official status, birkarl organizations had little means of fighting back, and they silently eroded away in the 17th century after administrative changes initiated by king Charles IX. Tornio, Luleå and Piteå all received their town charters in 1621 marking an official end to birkarls.[1]
Further reading
[edit]- Samu Sarviaho (2020) "The elusive Finn: ethnic identities, source criticism and the early history of Northern Sweden in seventeenth-century Swedish historiography." Scandinavian Journal of History