Finnveden
Encyclopedia
Småland
' is a historical province in southern Sweden.Småland borders Blekinge, Scania or Skåne, Halland, Västergötland, Östergötland and the island Öland in the Baltic Sea. The name Småland literally means Small Lands. . The latinized form Smolandia has been used in other languages...
. It corresponded to the hundreds of Sunnerbo Hundred, Östbo Hundred and Västbo Hundred. Finnveden had its own judicial system and laws as the other small lands. Finnveden is situated around lake Bolmen
Bolmen
Bolmen is a lake in Småland, Sweden. Covering 184 km², and with a maximum depth of 37 m, it supplies a considerable part of Skåne with fresh water by means of an 82-km long tunnel, the Bolmen Water Tunnel, built during the 1970s and 80s. Bolmen is situated at the heart of Finnveden, one of the...
and the river Lagan. Most runestones in Finnveden describe men who died in England. Finnveden is today divided and is a part of Hallands län, Kronobergs län and Jönköpings län.
It was first mentioned by Jordanes
Jordanes
Jordanes, also written Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th century Roman bureaucrat, who turned his hand to history later in life....
when he referred to its population as the Finnaithae (derived from an old form of Finnheden, Finn(h)aith-) when describing the nations of Scandza
Scandza
Scandza was the name given to Scandinavia by the Roman historian Jordanes in his work Getica, written while in Constantinople around AD 551. He described the area to set the stage for his treatment of the Goths' migration from southern Sweden to Gothiscandza...
in Getica.
Etymology
The Scandinavian placenames Finnveden, FinnmarkFinnmark
or Finnmárku is a county in the extreme northeast of Norway. By land it borders Troms county to the west, Finland to the south and Russia to the east, and by water, the Norwegian Sea to the northwest, and the Barents Sea to the north and northeast.The county was formerly known as Finmarkens...
and the province of Finland (which gave name to Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
) are all thought to derive from Finn, an ancient Germanic word for the Finnic people inhabiting areas of Fenno-Scandia and Scandinavia. The connection between the names Finnveden, Finnmark and Finland is not entirely clear. However, it is known that in addition to the Uralic Sami people, the Finnic
Finnic
Finnic or Fennic can refer to:* Finnic languages* Finnic peoples...
tribe of Kvens have historically inhabited areas of Scandinavia which today are part of Norway and Sweden. According to Emeritus Professor Kyösti Julku, in the area of Tromsa, Norway, alone there are 12 prehistoric Kven place names.
Whereas the Finnic tribes historically inhabiting the modern-day area of Finland and the surrounding areas (Kvens, Tavastians, Savonians, Karelians, etc.) are known to have represented a farming culture for several last millennia, the Finno-Ugric Sami people were still "hunter-gatherer
Hunter-gatherer
A hunter-gatherer or forage society is one in which most or all food is obtained from wild plants and animals, in contrast to agricultural societies which rely mainly on domesticated species. Hunting and gathering was the ancestral subsistence mode of Homo, and all modern humans were...
s" during the first millennia AD. Thus, when the Roman historian Publius Cornelius Tacitus
Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...
describes the "Fenni
Fenni
The Fenni were an ancient people of northeastern Europe first described by Cornelius Tacitus in Germania in AD 98.- Ancient accounts :The Fenni are first mentioned by Cornelius Tacitus in Germania in 98 A.D...
" in his account 'Germania' in 98 AD, he is believed to have meant the Sami. Most historians see Tacitus' reference to the "Sitones" to mean the Finnic/Finnish Kvens:
- "Upon the Suiones, border the people Sitones; and, agreeing with them in all other things, differ from them in one, that here the sovereignty is exercised by a woman. So notoriously do they degenerate not only from a state of liberty, but even below a state of bondage."
- Among similar namings of the Kvens, in 1075 AD the German chronicler Adam of Bremen calls Kvenland 'Terra Feminarum', "Territory of Women", and on the 14th century, Icelandic manuscript refers to Kvenland as 'Kuenna Land' ("Woman Land").
However, in medieval texts thereafter the Sami are referred to as "skridfinns" (Skridfinnar, Screrefennae, Scridefinns, etc.) meaning "skiing Finns". The ancestors of the average modern-day Finns on the other hand are referred to either as "Finns" (with varying spellings) or they are simply discussed under the names of the various Finnic/Finnish tribes, such as Kvens, Karelians, etc. The earliest known written text making a clear separation between these two different peoples under these terms, the "Scridefinns" (Sami) and the "Finns" (ancestors of the average modern-day Finn) is Widsith
Widsith
Widsith is an Old English poem of 144 lines that appears to date from the 9th century, drawing on earlier oral traditions of Anglo-Saxon tale singing. The only text of the fragment is copied in the Exeter Book, a manuscript of Old English poetry compiled in the late 10th century containing...
, written in Old English, the earliest version of which is believed to have been from the 6th or 7th century AD.
Although the earliest people inhabiting Fenno-Scandia were hunter-gatherers, using stone tools, the first pottery appeared in the area of today's Finland already in 5200 BCE when the Comb Ceramic culture
Pit-Comb Ware culture
The Pit–Comb Ware culture Comb Ceramic culture was a northeast European culture of pottery-making hunter-gatherers. It existed from around 4200 BC to around 2000 BC...
was introduced. The arrival of the Corded Ware culture
Corded Ware culture
The Corded Ware culture , alternatively characterized as the Battle Axe culture or Single Grave culture, is an enormous European archaeological horizon that begins in the late Neolithic , flourishes through the Copper Age and culminates in the early Bronze Age.Corded Ware culture is associated with...
in southern coastal Finland between 3000–2500 BCE may have coincided with the start of agriculture. Yet, even with the introduction of agriculture, hunting and fishing continued to be important parts of the subsistence economy.
Sources suggesting Finnveden to possibly having been Finnish/Kven ruled community in the early 1st millennia
1n 750 AD (c.), according to Norna-Gests þáttrNorna-Gests þáttr
Norna-Gests þáttr or the Story of Norna-Gest is a legendary saga about the Norse hero Norna-Gest.-Summary:Norna-Gest was the son of a Danish man named Thord of Thinghusbit, who once dwelt on the estate of Grøning in Denmark. When he was born, three Norns arrived and had foretold the child's...
, the king of Denmark and Sweden, Sigurd Ring, still fought areal battles against the Curonians (Baltic Tribe) and Kvens in today's southernmost Sweden: "Sigurd Ring (Sigurðr) was not there, since he had to defend his land, Sweden (Svíþjóð), since Curonians (Kúrir) and Kvens (Kvænir) were raiding there."
In 1216 AD, the Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus writes in 'Gesta Danorum' about Finnish and Kven kings and about the Scandinavian royal families. Grammaticus' account shares likeness, many characters and stories with the writings of Snorri Sturluson. According to both, many heroic Scandinavian figures have Finnish/Kven roots. In reference to the legendary Battle of Bråvalla (c. 750), where the Swedes fought the Geats, Grammaticus names a few such heroes: Now the bravest of the Swedes were these: Arwakki, Keklu-Karl ...".
In 1220 AD, in the Ynglinga Saga, the Icelandic Snorri Sturluson discusses marriages and wars of Finnish and Swedish royal families. The saga tells about the Ynglings, who are the oldest known Scandinavian dynasty, a semi-legendary royal Swedish clan during the Age of Migrations (300–700 AD). The clan's many kings descended from Kven kings. Such descendants included King Ongenpeow (d. c. 515 AD) and his sons Onela and Ohthere:
- The spelling "Ongenpeow" is believed to refer to Finnish 'Ongenpoika' ("fisher boy") or 'Onnenpoika' ("lucky boy"). "Onela" (Onnela) too is Finnish, meaning "happy place". The double consonants in Finnish names are typically – although erroneously – substituted by a single consonant by speakers of Germanic languages. "Ohthere" stands for the Proro-Norse 'Ōhtaharjaz', and Ohtaharjas is Finnish, "ohta" meaning "forehead" in Ostrobothnian dialect of Finnish. OstrobothniaOstrobothniaOstrobothnia refers to various areas in Finland:* Ostrobothnia , province of the kingdom of Sweden before 1809* Ostrobothnia , in modern Finland* Other regions in modern Finland:** Southern Ostrobothnia** Central Ostrobothnia...
was the center of Kvenland during the Viking Age. "Harjas" means "bristle", "prickle" or "brush". Among other suggested Kven "kings" and their descendants, these kings led the Swedes in battles against their southern neighbors Geats at the time when today's Sweden was largely inhabited by the Kvens.
- 'Ynglings' also refers to the Fairhair dynasty, descending from the Kven kings of Oppland, Norway, who had sprung from Nór's great-grandson Halfdan the Old. According to Orkneyinga Saga, Nór founded Norway. He was a direct descendant of Fornjotr, the King of Finland, Kvenland and Gotland.
In 1220 AD (c.), in the Skáldskaparmál section of Edda, Snorri Sturluson discusses King Halfdan the Old, Nór's great-grandson, and nine of his sons who are the forefathers of various royal lineages, including "Yngvi, from whom the Ynglings are descended". Sturluson then again points to the Finnish-Kven origin of the royal Ynglings by stating:
- "One war-king was named Skelfir; and his house is called the House of Skilfings: his kindred is in the Eastern Land". The official Swedish name for the modern-day Southern Finland in the 13th century was "Eastern Land", Österland, which was the Eastern half of Sweden.
In 1230 AD, the Orkneyinga Saga provides information about the royal lineage of Fornjótr, the King of Finland, Kvenland and Gotland and the conquest of Norway by his descendant, Nór.
In 1387 AD, Hversu Noregr byggðist traces the royal descendants of the primeval Finnish/Kven king Fornjótr to the Swedish kings.
- Hversu Noregr byggðist ('How Norway was inhabited') is an account of the origin of various legendary Norwegian lineages. It traces the descendants of the primeval Finnish ruler Fornjotr (Fornjót) down to Nór, who is here the eponym and first great king of Norway, and then gives details of the descendants of Nór and of his brother Gór in a following section known as the Ættartölur ('Genealogies').
- The Hversu account is closely paralleled by the opening of the Orkneyinga saga, which provides details on the descendants of Gór only, including information not found in the Hversu or Ættartölur. This other account is sometimes called Fundinn Noregr, 'Foundation of Norway'.
- The 'genealogies' also claim that many heroic families famed in Scandinavian tradition but not located in Norway were of a Finnish/Kven-Norwegian stock, mostly sprung from Nór's great-grandson Halfdan the Old.
- Almost all the lineages sprung from Halfdan are then shown to reconvert in the person of Harald Fairhair, the first king of all Norway. Where the information here is comparable with accounts in other sources, the information can be confirmed. Contradicting information is also available however, as would be expected.
- The 'Ættartölur' account ends with a genealogy of Harald's royal descendants down to Olaf IV of Norway with the statement the account was written in 1387, a list of the kings of Norway from this Olaf back to Harald Fair-hair, and a mention of the accession of Margaret, Olaf's mother, as direct ruler of Norway.
In 2007, the DNA research project by Dr. Andrzej Bajor of Poland, under the auspices of the Family Tree DNA Rurikid Dynasty Project, by FamilyTree DNA company, testing 191 men claiming to be Rurikid descendants indicates that most (68%) of the them had haplogroup N1C1, formerly designated N3a1, typical for Finnic people.
Based on some medieval sources, Rurik
Rurik
Rurik, or Riurik , was a semilegendary 9th-century Varangian who founded the Rurik dynasty which ruled Kievan Rus and later some of its successor states, most notably the Tsardom of Russia, until 1598....
was born on the Roslagen seashore, north of Stockholm in the modern-day Sweden. The rule of the Norse and Sveas at the time of Rurik's birth still covered only the very southernmost tips of Scandinavia.
Thus, Rurik's DNA would be explained by the view of the historians who claim that the rest of Scandinavia – including Haalogaland with Nor's Kvens and their descendants – was inhabited only by the Kvens and the Sami.