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Revision as of 18:23, 4 September 2006 by Waterloo Battle (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Together with other Finnic groups, the Viking Age Kvens are believed to have participated in the Varangian/Viking conquests abroad.
An investigation to the following collection of selected sources and references (each somehow relating to the Kvens) can - perhaps - give more understanding as to how the Kvens (and/or Finnish people in general) were viewed in historic texts during the Viking Age (800-1200 AD) and the Medieval period:
In 870 AD, the Norwegian explorer and leader Ottar from Hålogaland writes a thorough account about his Northern Scandinavian and White Sea exploration trip, where he discusses the Kvens. According to Othar, the Kvens ruled the territories of the Northern Scandinavia - east from the Norwegian mountain chain - which he traveled through.
In 890 AD, the English King Alfred the Great writes in the Universal History of Orosius about the Kvens and the land they rule.
In 1075 AD, Adam of Bremen, one of the most important German medieval chroniclers, discusses Kvens in Gesta (a history of Bremen/Hamburg and of the northern lands). He calls Kvenland Terra Feminica. Comparisons to Tacitus' (98 AD) similar Sithons' (i.e. Kvens') female leadership reference and the historic Nordic references to the female leader "Gygr" and/or "Pohjan akka" have been drawn ever since.
In 1154 AD, the Arab historian and scientist, Muhammad al-Idrisi tells that the King of FMRK has possessions in Norway. "Fmrk" is believed to refer to Finnmark, which area - according to the Norwegian leader "Othar" and according to the Universal History of Orosius (republished by King Alfred the Great in 890 AD) - was "ruled" by the Kvens.
In 1157 AD, in his geographical chronicle, Nikolaos, the abbot of the monastery at Thingeyrar in Northern Iceland, talks about "two Kvenlands" that reach the areas "north from Bjarmia".
In 1170 AD, the Historia Norvegiae tells about the whereabouts of Kvenland. According to the text, the Kvens served pagan gods.
In 1187 AD, according to a Swedish chronicle, the main Swedish center, Sigtuna, is conquered and destroyed by an attack from easterly direction. Later medieval Swedish sources explain the Karelians to have been behind this attack. However, around this time the Kvens and the Karelians are known to have began their cooperation. Historians believe the River Kemijoki (part of the historic Kvenland) settlement name of Sihtuuna to derive from the name Sigtuna.
In 1200 AD, the Danish historian, Saxo Grammaticus, tells about Finnish kings.
In 1220 AD, the Icelandic bishop, poet, and historian, Snorri Sturluson, writes the Ynglinga Saga, in which marriages and wars of Finnish and Swedish royal families are mentioned.
In 1230 AD, in the introduction to the Orkneyinga Saga, Fundinn Noregr discusses the kings of Finland and Kvenland and their conquest of Norway. Based on the information given in this saga, the ruling families of Sweden, Norway, the Orkney Islands, Normandy, and England descend from these Finnish and/or Kven kings.
In 1230 - 1240 AD, in Egils saga - possibly by Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241 A.D.) - Kvens are discussed.
In 1251 AD, the Karelians fought against the Norwegians.
In 1271 AD, the Kvens and the Karelians cooperated in battles against the Norwegians in Haalogaland. These battles had a lasting effect in the life of the entire Northern Scandinavia.
Charles IX of Sweden
The Professor Emeritus Kyösti Julku from the University of Oulu in Finland states is his 1986 book KVENLAND / KAINUUNMAA, page 187, the following (exact quote / the original text WAS written in English as follows):
"Once King Karl IX had strengthened his hold on the crown of Sweden he appended to it the title "King of the Kainulaiset", apparently using it for the first time on 16.3.1607.
This title was later dropped, but Kainuu, or Ostrobothnia, occupied a separate position from the rest of Finland for a long time to come. Thus when Queen Christina appointed Count Pehr Brahe as Governor-General, he became officially Governor-General of Finland, Åland and Ostrobothnia.
This can only be interpreted, of course, as implying that the incorporation of Ostrobothnia into rest of the country by international agreement was still a recent event and remained fresh in people's memories."
In his above mentioned book, the Professor Emeritus Julku points out what numerous other historians have concluded as well: Kainu(u) means Kvenland in Finnish language, and kainulaiset refers to the Kvens (the Kven people). In historic texts Kvenland has also been referred to as Ostrobothnia, which term thrives from the Swedish language.