Treaty of Nöteborg

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Prevalent view of the two-branched border set in the treaty.[1][2] Shown in red the undisputed section of the border, shown in black dotted line the two branches of the border and in gray the border that was in use in 16th century.[3][4]

The Treaty of Nöteborg, also known as the Treaty of Orehovsk (Swedish: Freden i Nöteborg; Russian: Ореховский мир; Finnish: Pähkinäsaaren rauha), is a conventional name for the peace treaty signed at Oreshek (Swedish: Nöteborg; Finnish: Pähkinäsaari) on 12 August 1323. It was the first agreement between Sweden and the Novgorod Republic regulating their border, mostly in the area which is now known as Finland. Three years later, Novgorod signed the Treaty of Novgorod with the Norwegians.

Name

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At the time, the treaty had no distinguishing name. It was regarded as a "permanent peace" solution between Sweden and Novgorod.[5] "The Treaty of Nöteborg" is a direct translation of the Swedish "Nöteborgsfreden". The Russian term for the treaty, directly translated into English, is "The Peace of Orehovsk", latinized as "Orehovskii Mir", or "Ореховский мир" in Cyrillic script. The Swedish "Nöteborg" and the Russian "Orehovsk" are names for an old fortress in Shlisselburg. Pähkinäsaari is the Finnish name for the island on which the fortress was built.

Contents

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The full text of the original treaty no longer exists. It has survived in parts in Russian, Swedish, and Latin. The surviving partial texts somewhat differ from each other.[6]

The treaty was negotiated with the help of the Hanseatic League in order to conclude the Swedish-Novgorodian Wars. As a token of goodwill, Novgorod ceded three Karelian parishes to Sweden. Sweden would in turn stay out of any conflict between Novgorod and the Danish Duchy of Estonia. Both sides would promise to refrain from building castles on the new border.[citation needed]

The treaty defined the border as beginning from east and north of Viborg Castle, running along the Sestra and Volchya Rivers, splitting the Karelian Isthmus in half, running across Savonia and, according to traditional interpretations, ending in the Gulf of Bothnia near the river Pyhäjoki. However the wording "the sea in the north" could be interpreted as the Arctic Ocean.[7]

The southern part of the border close to Viborg was considered the most important part of the treaty and the new border. As such, it was clearly defined. The border further north, away from important settlements, was defined more vaguely. The treaty might have originally given both Sweden and Novgorod joint rights to northern Ostrobothnia and Lappland.[8]

Peace Memorial at Pähkinäsaari

Aftermath

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Finnic tribes living on both sides of the border had no say in the treaty. Sweden and Novgorod had already established their respective de facto control over their areas of influence in eastern Fennoscandia, with Karelians under Novgorodian rule and the western tribes under Swedish rule. The attempted "permanent peace" established by the treaty did not last for long. The northern part of the border crossed wide stretches of wilderness which later on became the center of contention between Sweden and Novgorod. Within five years from the treaty being signed, Swedish colonists started making inroads into northern Ostrobothnia.[9] Sweden established castles at Uleåborg circa 1375 and Olofsborg in 1475. These fortresses were clearly on the Novgorodian side of the established border.[10]

As the border cut through the heartland of the Karelians, Novgorod relied on Lithuanian service princes to strengthen its hold on its share of Karelia. These service princes relied on contributions from the local population, which did not make Novgorodian governance any more popular. Despite this, Novgorod did not make serious attempts at Christianizing the Karelian population. However, by 1337, some Karelians attempted to extend Sweden's area of control to the east, and in Korelsky Gorodok, a local uprising called for Swedish intervention and led to the killing of Russian merchants and all Christians in general. In 1339, after two years of fighting, Sweden and Novgorod renewed the treaty, but with an additional clause following a Novgorodian demand:[11]

If our Karelians escape to you, then kill or hang them; if yours escape to us we will do likewise, so that they shall not cause enmity between us. Those, however, who have been baptized in our faith we shall not hand over, but there are only a few left, since they are all dead due to the wrath of God.[11]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Georg Haggren, Petri Halinen, Mika Lavento, Sami Raninen ja Anna Wessman (2015). Muinaisuutemme jäljet. Helsinki: Gaudeamus. p. 376.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ Jensen, Kurt Villads (2019). Ristiretket. Turku: Turun Historiallinen Yhdistys. p. 280. ISBN 978-952-7045-09-1.
  3. ^ Uino, Pirjo (1997). Ancient Karelia. Helsinki: Suomen muinaismuistoyhdistyksen aikakausikirja 104. p. 201.
  4. ^ Jensen, Kurt Villads (2019). Ristiretket. Turku: Turun Historiallinen Yhdistys. p. 280. ISBN 978-952-7045-09-1.
  5. ^ "Treaty's Swedish and Latin texts". Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. as maintained by the National Archives Service of Finland. Note that neither text can be said to be fully original, since both have survived as later, and possibly modified, copies.
  6. ^ Nöteborgsfreden och Finlands medeltida östgräns. Andra delen. Skrifter utgivna av Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland, No 427:2, VIII + s. 239–509. Helsingfors 1991. (97:1, 186–200). Detailed discussion about the conflict over the correct text of the treaty. See page 186. The Russian text is available in S. N. Valk, Gramoty Velikogo Novgoroda i Pskova (Moscow: AN SSSR, 1949), 67–68.
  7. ^ Tarkiainen, Kari (2010). Ruotsin itämaa. Helsinki: Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland. p. 71. ISBN 978-951-583-212-2.
  8. ^ See Gallén, Jarl: Nöteborgsfreden och Finlands medeltida östgräns, Helsingfors 1968. Also see Gallén, Jarl; Lind, John: Nöteborgsfreden och Finlands medeltida östgräns, vol. 2–3, Helsingfors 1991.
  9. ^ Vahtola, Jouko. Tornionlaakson historia I. Birkarlit, 'pirkkalaiset'. Malungs boktryckeri AB. Malung, Sweden. 1991.
  10. ^ See Skrifter. See also Michael C. Paul, "Archbishop Vasilii Kalika of Novgorod, the Fortress of Orekhov, and the Defense of Orthodoxy," in Alan V. Murray, ed., The Clash of Cultures on the Medieval Baltic Frontier (Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 2009): 253–271.
  11. ^ a b Murray, Alan V. (5 July 2017). Crusade and Conversion on the Baltic Frontier 1150–1500. Taylor & Francis. p. 145. ISBN 978-1-351-94715-2.

Further reading

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