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History of Finland in the Sixteenth Century

Finland in the sixteenth century With the collapse of the Kalmar Union in 1521, Sweden regained its independence, and Gustav I became king of Sweden. Under him, Sweden became Protestant in 1527. Sweden’s administrative system has undergone a drastic overhaul, giving the state greater control over local life and, of course, raising more taxes. Immediately after the Reformation, Bishop Mikael Agricola of Turku published his translation of the New Testament in Finnish.

In 1550, Gustav I founded Helsingfors (later Helsinki), but for two centuries it remained a fishing village.

After Gustav I’s death in 1560, he was succeeded by three of his sons. Among them was Eric XIV, who inaugurated the era of Swedish expansion when he brought the Estonian city of Tallinn under its protection in 1561. After the Livonian War (1558-1583), Sweden was at war or quasi-war for 160 years. In the first phase of the war, Sweden competed with Denmark, Poland, and Russia for control of Estonia and Latvia.

As a result, the Finns suffered from conscription, heavy taxes, and harassment by the army brought about by the war. This led to the Finnish rebellion in 1596–1597, which ended in bloody suppression. The Treaty of Tyavzino with Russia in 1595 moved the Swedish-Russian border to the east and north, roughly where Finland is today with Russia.

An important part of Finnish history in the 16th century was the growth of agricultural settlement populations. The king encouraged farmers to migrate from the province of Savonia to the vast wilderness of central Finland. This forced the Sami people who originally lived here to leave. Some wastelands are traditional fishing and hunting places for the Karelians. In the 1580s, this led to a bloody guerrilla war between the Finns and the Karelians and the Finns, especially in the Province of Bothen.

Gustav I

King of Sweden (1496-1560). Born in a noble family, he participated in the struggle against Danish rule in 1517. After losing the war in 1518, he was taken to Denmark as a hostage and fled back the next year. In November 1520, the Danes created the “Stockholm Massacre” in Sweden, killing about 100 Swedish nobles, priests, and citizens, which became the fuse of the Swedish independence movement. He led the popular uprising in Dalarna County in 1521, defeated the Danish occupation army in 1523, was elected king, and established the Vasa Dynasty.

In order to consolidate the rule and overcome financial difficulties, the measures adopted include: suppressing the resistance of the big nobles, abolishing their fiefdoms and fiefdoms, sending officials to the localities, and directly obeying the central government; in 1527, Lutheran priests were appointed to carry out the religious reform, and the church was confiscated. Land, castles, disbandment of the church army; 1544 announced the abolition of the electoral system of the king and replaced it with the hereditary system. Before his death, 2/3 of the country’s land was directly owned by the royal family, laying the foundation for the development of Sweden’s feudal autocratic monarchy and soon to dominate the Baltic Sea region.

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Gustav I’s centralization policy caused fierce resistance from some Swedes. Several large-scale popular uprisings took place in Dalarna Province and other areas (1524-1525, 1542-1543). Gustav I brutally suppressed these uprisings, dismembering the leader of the 1542 uprising, Nils Deck. Next, the church made trouble for him. In the 1540s, he nearly executed the Petri brothers and all the archbishops he had appointed.

In 1541, Gustav I formed an alliance with King Christian III of Denmark (son of Frederick I), relying on the latter’s help to end Sweden’s long-standing vassal relationship with the Hanseatic League, a German business city group. At the same time, he actively promoted the commercial development of his country, and soon became one of the wealthiest monarchs in Europe. Vasa reigned for 37 years, and after his death, he caused a disaster. His three half-sons fought against each other for decades, and by the time his grandson Gustaf Adolf came to power, the country was impoverished.

Gustav I’s collection of letters “Könung Gustaf den Förstes registratur” is an important material for studying the history of Sweden in the 16th century.