The Finnish nobility ( fi, Aateli; sv, Adel) was historically a privileged
class
Class or The Class may refer to:
Common uses not otherwise categorized
* Class (biology), a taxonomic rank
* Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects
* Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...
in
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
, deriving from its period as part of
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
and the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
. Noble families and their descendants are still a part of Finnish republican society, but except for the titles themselves, no longer retain any specific or granted privileges. A majority of Finnish nobles have traditionally been Swedish-speakers using their titles mostly in Swedish. The Finnish nobility today has some 6,000 male and female members.
The Finnish
nobility
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the realm with many e ...
is organized into classes according to a scheme introduced in the Act on the Organisation of the House of Nobility (Fi. ''Ritarihuonejärjestys'', Sw. ''Riddarhusordningen''). The ranks (compare with
royal and noble ranks
Traditional rank amongst European royalty, peers, and nobility is rooted in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Although they vary over time and among geographic regions (for example, one region's prince might be equal to another's grand duke), ...
) granted were (''Swedish'' / ''Finnish''):
* ''furste'' / ''ruhtinas'' (corresponding approximately to
crowned or Sovereign Prince in the German sense. Compare
Charles, crowned Prince of Wales and
Albert II, Sovereign Prince of Monaco)
* ''greve'' / ''kreivi'' (corresponding to Count)
* ''friherre'' / ''vapaaherra'' (corresponding approximately to baron)
* ''riddare'' / ''ritari'' (translated as "knights", but actually equivalent to English baronets, since the rank is heritable) a higher class of untitled nobility, which was formed for descendants of members of the
Royal Council of Sweden and in 1778 came to include the eldest families and the families of
knight commander
Commander ( it, Commendatore; french: Commandeur; german: Komtur; es, Comendador; pt, Comendador), or Knight Commander, is a title of honor prevalent in chivalric orders and fraternal orders.
The title of Commander occurred in the medieval mili ...
s of royal
chivalric order
An order of chivalry, order of knighthood, chivalric order, or equestrian order is an order of knights, typically founded during or inspired by the original Catholic military orders of the Crusades ( 1099–1291) and paired with medieval concep ...
s; this class encompassed 73 families in Finland. The class was merged with the untitled nobility in 1863.
* ''herr'' (''svenneklassen'') / ''herra'' (''asemiesluokka''), untitled nobility.
Under the above Act on the Organisation of the House of Nobility, the head of each family had a seat in the House. There also existed a proxy system according to which the head of the family could be represented by another male member of the same family or even by a male member of another family by proxy.
Finnish Dukes after the Middle Ages were always
prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...
s of the
reigning family, and counted as such.
Following elevation into nobility by the
monarch
A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority ...
, the key concept was that of "introduction" to ones peers at the
House of Nobility ''(Fi. Ritarihuone / Sw. Riddarhuset)'', which was a chamber in the
Diet of Finland
The Diet of Finland (Finnish ''Suomen maapäivät'', later ''valtiopäivät''; Swedish ''Finlands Lantdagar''), was the legislative assembly of the Grand Duchy of Finland from 1809 to 1906 and the recipient of the powers of the Swedish Riksda ...
(1809–1906), the then Parliament, and in the
Riksdag of the Estates
Riksdag of the Estates ( sv, Riksens ständer; informally sv, Ståndsriksdagen) was the name used for the Estates of Sweden when they were assembled. Until its dissolution in 1866, the institution was the highest authority in Sweden next to t ...
of
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
to which Finland belonged until 1809. The House of Nobility served as an official representation for the nobility regulated by the
Finnish government
sv, Finlands statsråd
, border =
, image = File:Finnish Government logo.png
, image_size = 250
, caption =
, date =
, state = Republic of Finland
, polity =
, coun ...
, but regulation has decreased in step with the privileges. Virtually all noble families have been introduced (with the exception of some members of foreign nobility that, while having been naturalized to the royal court, have never been introduced; and some grantees of nobility who had no heirs and did not bother), and their members are listed in a calendar published regularly (usually every three years).
In Finland, the nobility was generally sparser in resources than, and not as powerful as, its brethren in Sweden.
Medieval nobility
The formal nobility in Finland dates back to 1280 when it was agreed in the entire Swedish realm by the
Decree of Alsnö that
magnate
The magnate term, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders, or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or ot ...
s who could afford to contribute to the
cavalry
Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...
with a heavily equipped horse-soldier were to be exempted from tax - at least from ordinary land taxes - as the
clergy
Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...
already had been. The archaic term for nobility, ''
frälse
The Swedish nobility ( sv, Adeln eller Ridderskapet och Adeln) has historically been a legally and/or socially privileged class in Sweden, and part of the so-called ''frälse'' (a derivation from Old Swedish meaning ''free neck''). The archaic term ...
'', also includes the clergy when referring to their exemption from tax.
The background was that the outmoded system of a ''
leiðangr The institution known as ''leiðangr'' (Old Norse), ''leidang'' (Norwegian), ''leding'' (Danish), ''ledung'' (Swedish), ''expeditio'' (Latin) or sometimes lething (English), was a form of conscription ( mass levy) to organize coastal fleets for seas ...
'' fleet and a king on constant travels in the realm (between the estates of
Uppsala öd Uppsala öd, Old Norse: ''Uppsala auðr'' or ''Uppsala øðr'' (''Uppsala domains'' or ''wealth of Uppsala'') was the name given to the collection of estates which was the property of the Swedish Crown in medieval Sweden.The article ''Uppsala öd'' ...
) was in need of replacement. The
crown
A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...
's court and castles were now to be financed through taxes on land.
Quite soon, conditions were attached: land up to certain amount was tax-exempted in exchange for one soldier. Wealthier
magnates
The magnate term, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders, or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or ot ...
took it upon themselves to maintain several soldiers, in order to have tax exemption for their other manors. The concept of the nature of land, if it was ''frälsejord'', exempt from land taxes or not, evolved and was registered on tax rolls. From the 17th century onwards, non-nobles were not allowed to purchase noble land (but they might however inherit it).
Generally, the nobility grew from wealthier or more powerful members of the peasantry, those who were capable of assigning work or wealth to provide the requisite cavalrymen. In Finland, there never existed outright
serfdom
Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which develop ...
. Hence, nobility was basically a class of well-off citizens, not owners of other human beings. In the Middle Ages and much of the modern age, nobles and other wealthy men were landowners, as well as lords of
villein
A villein, otherwise known as ''cottar'' or ''crofter'', is a serf tied to the land in the feudal system. Villeins had more rights and social status than those in slavery, but were under a number of legal restrictions which differentiated them ...
s and servants. Members of the nobility utilized their economic power and sometimes also other powers to have smaller farmowners sell their lands to manor lords, so landowning centralized gradually more in the hands of the noble class.
Cavalry and battle exercises (often in forms of
tournament
A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:
# One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...
s) became the lifestyle of the nobility, as it already was in
feudal
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a wa ...
Western Europe. Usually, a lord was himself one of the soldiers, being the commander of his military retinue, a heavily equipped, constantly exercised mounted warrior, often with
destrier
Mounted on a destrier, Richard Marshal unseats an opponent during a skirmish.
The destrier is the best-known war horse of the Middle Ages. It carried knights in battles, tournaments, and jousts. It was described by contemporary sources as the ...
, and pursuing the royal grant of
knighthood
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...
which was a valued title and formed an upper level of the nobility (the uppermost was the circle of royal councillors). Some lesser noblemen remained
squire
In the Middle Ages, a squire was the shield- or armour-bearer of a knight.
Use of the term evolved over time. Initially, a squire served as a knight's apprentice. Later, a village leader or a lord of the manor might come to be known as a " ...
s, ''armiger''s for their whole lives. Sometimes a nobleman was himself the only soldier that his manor provided for the cavalry and possibly with less-than-adequate equipment. In some cases, some impoverished nobles provided a cavalryman together (it was actually unavoidable if a manor of lesser gentry was divided between several heirs, as the
Swedish inheritance law provided, contrary to the
primogeniture
Primogeniture ( ) is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn legitimate child to inherit the parent's entire or main estate in preference to shared inheritance among all or some children, any illegitimate child or any collateral relativ ...
inheritances of French countries). It was also possible to have the obligation fulfilled by a paid employee - no particular condition required the lord himself to be a soldier (as evidenced by lord
Bo Jonsson Grip
Bo Jonsson (Grip) (early 1330s – 20 August 1386) was head of the royal council and marshal under the regency of Magnus IV of Sweden. Also in the council was his friend and colleague, Karl Ulfsson av Ulvåsa, eldest son of Saint Birgitta. From ...
, fiefholder of most of Finland, never becoming a soldier himself), it was just the evolving lifestyle of the noble class.
Soon it was also agreed that the king should govern the Swedish realm (to which Finland belonged) in cooperation with a
Privy Council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...
(or Royal Council) where the bishops and the most distinguished
magnate
The magnate term, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders, or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or ot ...
s (i.e. the ''noble'' most prominent economic contributors to the army) participated. When troublesome decisions were necessary all of the ''frälse'' was summoned to
diet
Diet may refer to:
Food
* Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group
* Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake
** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...
s. Finland sometimes had its own assemblies for the nobility,
provincial diet
The estates of the realm, or three estates, were the broad orders of social hierarchy used in Christendom (Christian Europe) from the Middle Ages to early modern Europe. Different systems for dividing society members into estates developed and ...
, convened by royal order.
The Finnish nobility had no hereditary
fief
A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an Lord, overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a for ...
s except for a brief period in the early modern era. If they were appointed to a crown castle, their heirs couldn't claim their civil or military authority as inheritance. The lands of the magnates who were the medieval nobility were their own,
allodial
Allodial title constitutes ownership of real property (land, buildings, and fixtures) that is independent of any superior landlord. Allodial title is related to the concept of land held "in allodium", or land ownership by occupancy and defens ...
properties, and not "on lease" from a feudal king. If by their own means (including the suffering of the local peasantry) they built a castle, and financed troops, then the castle was theirs, but the troops, of course, were additionally expected to serve as a part of the realm's army.
For extended periods the medieval commanders of
Viborg castle
Vyborg Castle (russian: Выборгский замок, fi, Viipurin linna, sv, Viborgs slott) is a Swedish-built medieval fortress around which the town of Vyborg (today in Russia) evolved. The castle became the stronghold of the Swedish realm ...
, on the border with
republic of Novgorod
The Novgorod Republic was a medieval state that existed from the 12th to 15th centuries, stretching from the Gulf of Finland in the west to the northern Ural Mountains in the east, including the city of Novgorod and the Lake Ladoga regions of mod ...
, did in practice function as
margrave
Margrave was originally the medieval title for the military commander assigned to maintain the defence of one of the border provinces of the Holy Roman Empire or of a kingdom. That position became hereditary in certain feudal families in the Emp ...
s, keeping all the crown's incomes from the fief to use for the defense of the realm's eastern border. However, it was not formally hereditary, though almost all appointees were from certain families, related to the
Swedish earldom of Orkney. See
Margraviate of Wiburg.
Sporadically, at the very uppermost level of feudal society, the position of
Duke of Finland Duke of Finland (in Finnish ''Suomen herttua''; Swedish ''hertig av Finland'') was an occasional medieval title granted as a tertiogeniture to the relatives of the King of Sweden between the 13th and 16th centuries. It included a duchy along with f ...
was created, three times for a brother of a king and once for a more distant relative (
Benedict, Duke of Halland
Duke Benedict of Halland and Finland (c. 1330 – c. 1360), aka ''Bengt Algotsson'', was a medieval Swedish lord, and royal favourite.
He was born to a family who descended from Svantepolk of Skarsholm and his wife Benedikta Sunadotter. Svantepol ...
), he also from a family of
high nobility
Traditional rank amongst European royalty, peers, and nobility is rooted in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Although they vary over time and among geographic regions (for example, one region's prince might be equal to another's grand duke) ...
.
Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick III (German: ''Friedrich III,'' 21 September 1415 – 19 August 1493) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1452 until his death. He was the fourth king and first emperor of the House of Habsburg. He was the penultimate emperor to be crown ...
granted the archdeacons of Turku an HRE estate and status as ecclesiastical counts palatine (pfalzgrave) during the tenure of
Magnus of Särkilax
Magnus, meaning "Great" in Latin, was used as cognomen of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus in the first century BC. The best-known use of the name during the Roman Empire is for the fourth-century Western Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus. The name gained wi ...
(later bishop Magnus III). This foreign honour was used also by his archdeaconal successors, at least catholic ones, but sometime in the next centuries it fell into disuse.
Despite the heavy German influence during the medieval age, the elaborate German system, with numerous specific - especially
comital
Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...
- titles such as ''Landgraf, Reichsgraf, Burggraf'' and ''Pfalzgraf'', was never applied as such in Finnish fiefs and nobility.
Medieval Finnish ''frälse'' families included those of
Särkilax,
Tavast, Karp,
Horn
Horn most often refers to:
*Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound
** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments
*Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...
,
Villnäs,
Kurk of Laukko,
Lepaa,
Fincke Finke or Fincke is the name of:
Places
;Australia
*Finke, Northern Territory, a community in central Australia now known as Aputula
*Finke bioregion, An IBRA region in the Northern Territory
*Finke River, a river in central Australia
*Finke Gorge ...
,
Dufva,
Harviala,
Sydänmaa,
Karppalainen,
Boije,
Hästesko,
Jägerhorn af Spurila, Pora (
Spore
In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, f ...
),
Gesterby and
Sarvlax, as well as foreign-originated but establishedly Finlandic
Danske,
Fleming,
Frille,
Bidz and
Diekn.
The previous basis of entrance to the ''frälse'' was mostly demolished by
Gustav I of Sweden
Gustav I, born Gustav Eriksson of the Vasa noble family and later known as Gustav Vasa (12 May 1496 – 29 September 1560), was King of Sweden from 1523 until his death in 1560, previously self-recognised Protector of the Realm ('' Riksföre ...
in 1536 when he, among his rearrangements of the military, made a new organization of the cavalry. Practically continuing the old system of a large farm (manor) maintaining a cavalryman, he created a new name for these, ''
rusthåll'', and greatly enlarged their number. A ''rusthåll'', generally speaking a plain manor, was to support a horseman, his horse and equipment, in exchange for tax exemption. This no longer carried a noble status with it, and the cavalryman was not required to permanently be in the king's garrisons, but was summoned to service only for wartime, being allowed to remain in the farm in peacetime, off-duty (after a century, this became obsolete as Sweden was continuously at war somewhere, or maintained all-too-big an empire, wherefore off-duty for cavalrymen became an unknown concept). This organization did not change in essence when in 1682
Charles XI of Sweden
Charles XI or Carl ( sv, Karl XI; ) was King of Sweden from 1660 until his death, in a period of Swedish history known as the Swedish Empire (1611–1721).
He was the only son of King Charles X Gustav of Sweden and Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein- ...
introduced the new
Swedish allotment system
The allotment system ( sv, indelningsverket; fi, ruotujakolaitos) was a system used in Sweden for keeping a trained army at all times. This system came into use in around 1640, and was replaced by the modern Swedish Armed Forces conscription s ...
, where ''rusthåll''s continued as its cavalry element. (In the 1st century of rusthålls, the farm owner himself often served as a cavalry soldier, but later that role was often filled by a hired employee, who enjoyed a
rider croft and pay from the farm. Thus, in later centuries, owners of ''rusthåll'' again became a sort of local higher class, though not endowed with formal nobility. In exceptional cases, one ''rusthåll'' could support as many as seven horsemen. The system of ''rusthåll''s continued until the 19th century in Finland.) People thus lost in 1536 the original entranceway to the ''frälse'' which continued to enjoy its privileges, continuing to provide cavalrymen on behalf of their allodial manors, and becoming a much more closed class.
Swedish nobility in Finland (between 1561 and 1809)
On one hand Finland, and on the other the Sweden proper, west of the
Gulf of Bothnia
The Gulf of Bothnia (; fi, Pohjanlahti; sv, Bottniska viken) is divided into the Bothnian Bay and Bothnian Sea, and it is the northernmost arm of the Baltic Sea, between Finland's west coast ( East Bothnia) and the Sweden's east coast (West ...
, had approximately equal number of nobles. This was a medieval legacy and lasted the whole 16th century. According to research, the number of adult-aged male nobles, in average, was around 300-400 in Sweden proper and around 250-350 in Finland. (Actually, in the 1520s, their number was exceptionally low in Sweden proper, only 174, whereas the more usual size, 320, inhabited in Finland. This was in part a result of executions of the
Stockholm bloodbath
The Stockholm Bloodbath ( sv, Stockholms blodbad; da, Det Stockholmske Blodbad) was a trial that led to a series of executions in Stockholm between 7 and 9 November 1520. The event is also known as the Stockholm massacre.
The events occurred af ...
and other killings just around 1520.) However, their social level differed drastically.
A minority of all nobility belonged to an informal circle of high nobility, measured by wealth, High Councillorships held by the family, and impressive medieval ancestors. Lower nobility was a larger group, clearly lower in terms of wealth, position and respect from social, economic and political regard. Generally, their members made cavalry service on behalf of one farm, or just a few in maximum. There was only a fraction of tax-exempted noble land in Finland compared with its proportion in Sweden proper. The Swedish manors were much concentrated in hands of families of high nobility. In Finland, as the contrary case, the nobility was generally so-called soldier nobility, and the vast majority of Finnish noble families had only one or at most, a few of manors, and mostly were regarded as lower nobility.
However, the situation of the 16th century favored soldiers, because the kingdom was in almost constant external warfare and kings trusted their military officers much more than other nobles, also when building administrative machineries. Soldier nobility gained even some improvements to their position and wealth, whereas in general the noble class and its privileges were decreasing in importance during the harsh early Vasa kings. Soldier nobles from Finland benefited from this development.
Already in the late Middle Ages, some distinction had been occasionally made between on one hand tax exemption; and on the other hand a proper ennoblement. It was part of the custom that only kings were entitled to dub knights and ennoble, while in addition several other authorities, including at least important castellans of big castle fiefs, were able to grant tax exemption (sv: 'frälse', fi: 'rälssi') to landholdings and useful local gentrymen. Only the increasing precision (and greed for tax revenues) of the Vasa kings brought implications of these differences afront in 16th century and particularly then in 17th century when the
House of Nobility had been established.
While a number of not-ennobled families with 'rälssi' rights were ultimately allowed to enroll to the House, also a vast number of 'rälssi' families (which did not have a proper documentation of any grant of nobility left, and generally were of the poorer scale of the rälssi class) were not accepted.
One of latter groups (which has gained wider awareness in historical research) was the Squires of Vehkalahti ('Vehkalahden knaapit').
At the time of
Late Middle Ages
The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the Periodization, period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Eur ...
,
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
was still the language of instruction from the secondary school upwards and in use among the educated class and priests. As Finland was part of Sweden for more than 600 years, Swedish was the language of the nobility, administration and education. Hence the two highest
estates of the realm
The estates of the realm, or three estates, were the broad orders of social hierarchy used in Christendom (Christian Europe) from the Middle Ages to early modern Europe. Different systems for dividing society members into estates developed and ...
, i.e.
nobles
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteristi ...
and
priests
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in p ...
, had Swedish as the language of the gentry. In the two minor estates,
burghers and
peasant
A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasants ...
s, Swedish also held sway, but in a more varying degree depending on regional differences.
In the entire 16th century, only a moderate number of ennoblements actually took place. The size of the Finnish and the Swedish nobility did not increase by much. Nobility in general was yet formed of so-called ''old nobility''.
Already
Gustav I of Sweden
Gustav I, born Gustav Eriksson of the Vasa noble family and later known as Gustav Vasa (12 May 1496 – 29 September 1560), was King of Sweden from 1523 until his death in 1560, previously self-recognised Protector of the Realm ('' Riksföre ...
appointed exceptionally many Finnish nobles as High Councillors of the Realm, partly because of trust and loyalty, partly because almost all adult male Swedish high nobles had been efficiently axed just a few of years earlier by Christian II and thus were not available for appointments.
At the coronation of King
Eric XIV
Eric XIV ( sv, Erik XIV; 13 December 153326 February 1577) was King of Sweden from 1560 until he was deposed in 1569. Eric XIV was the eldest son of Gustav I (1496–1560) and Catherine of Saxe-Lauenburg (1513–1535). He was also ruler of Est ...
in 1561, some nobility became hereditary, when the hereditary higher titles of greve (Count) and ''
friherre
(; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , literally "free lord" or "free lady") and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire ...
'' (Baron) were created (two of the grantees were ethnically Finnish: Lord Lars Ivarsson Fleming, 1st Baron of Sundholm (Fi. Arvasalo), and lord Klas Kristersson
orn
Orn or ORN may refer to:
*Orn (name), a given name and surname
* ''Orn'', the second book in Piers Anthony's trilogy Of Man and Manta
* Offshoring Research Network, an international network researching the offshoring of business processes and ser ...
1st Baron of Åminne (Fi. Joensuu); and their designated baronial estates were in Finland). In Eric's reign, those titles were intended to be inherited in an English and French manner, eldest heir succeeding. (This is attested by several examples: Nils Sture, eldest son of Count of Vestervik and Stegeholm, was personally titled Baron of Hörningsholm during the lifetime of his father, and not a count himself. Also, king Eric made one younger son, Erik Gustavsson Stenbock, of a baron, Gustav Olavsson of barony Torpa, a baron also, in order to him have the title and status too - that grant was made in same occasion as father's elevation.) Eric's successor, King
John III of Sweden
John III ( sv , Johan III, fi, Juhana III; 20 December 1537 – 17 November 1592) was King of Sweden from 1569 until his death. He was the son of King Gustav I of Sweden and his second wife Margaret Leijonhufvud. He was also, quite autonomous ...
, however changed the rules into more German and Polish model, allowing all male-line members of a comital or a baronial family to have the same title, although the senior member was the "Head of the House" and held the actual county or the baronial estate (John's alteration however caused another development: if the male-line family became extinct, the title extinguished too - in France and England model, heiresses were often entitled to succeed to family's baronies and counties in case of brothers dying out). John III also recognized all nobility as formally hereditary when he decreed that a noble not capable of maintaining a cavalryman lost neither the tax exemption of the nobility nor the rank (in 1536 John's father Gustav I had already introduced non-noble sources of cavalrymen, the so-called ''rusthåll'' organization). The
Swedish House of Nobility
The House of Nobility ( sv, Riddarhuset) in Stockholm, Sweden, is a corporation and a building that maintains records and acts as an interest group on behalf of the Swedish nobility.
Name
The name is literally translated as ''House of Knights'', ...
was organized in 1626. For a list of Lord Marshals of the nobility (the chairmen of the House of Nobility), see
:fi:Maamarsalkka. Rigid,
formal ranks were established, in place of a fluctuating network of relationships and a somewhat open entry. The requisite ground for introduction to the rolls of nobility was either birth into an "ancient" noble family, or ennoblement by the king. A great interest in
genealogy
Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kins ...
ensued.
The feudal system of maintaining a cavalry soldier as the requisite of nobility vanished gradually at same time in the 16th century when nobility became an established and restricted class and officially hereditary, not allowing for example marriages with commoners without loss of nobility of children. ''Frälse'' grew gradually more restricted as a class, and also economically less feasible to be granted just for one cavalryman.
In the 16th century, Finland had a relatively high number of recognized noble families (derived often from the Middle Ages), whereas in Sweden proper, the proportionally much rarer nobility often was at the level of high nobility (which is measured by having members of the royal council as ancestors) as Fleming and Wadenstierna. Only a few Finnish families can be seen as recognized high nobles. This high number of lower nobility in Finland is explained to come from its military location, there having been a constant need of tapping the ''frälse'' system for troops and officers which led to a high number of ennoblements to Finland, whereas Sweden proper had lived more peacefully as to foreign wars and additionally had its nobility axed from time to time by civil war.
According to several precedents, medieval nobility was inheritable in female line in case of extinction of male line (and sometimes just because of inheritance of the manor with ''frälse'' status), shown for example by the accepted introductions (registrations) of later
Stiernkors,
Carpelan and
Kurck
The Kurki or Kurck family, also known as the family of Laukko, is a medievally-originated Finnish noble family that produced several historically prominent persons. It is documented in the late 14th century. The family is usually divided in seve ...
female-line families to the rolls of nobility.
There was a special group of
petty nobility
The petty nobility is the lower nobility classes.
Finland
Petty nobility in Finland is dated at least back to 13th century and was formed by nobles around their strategic interests. The idea was more capable peasants with leader roles in local c ...
, the so-called ''
knap
Knap is a surname, and may refer to:
* Josef Knap (1900–1973), Czech writer, poet and literary critic
* Ted Knap (21st century), American journalist
* Tony Knap
Anthony Joseph Knap (December 8, 1914 – September 24, 2011) was an Ameri ...
adel'', derived from the last centuries of the Middle Ages, who generally were not able to produce a royal letter of ennoblement to support their status. Regarding certain districts where there existed a disproportionally high number of such families, their introduction to the House of Nobility was often denied. However, in most cases, such petty noble families were ultimately registered as nobles (the concept of "ancient nobility" was a loose one, in many cases demonstrated only by privileges enjoyed for a long time, for example in taxation or holding offices). Thus, quite many families confirmed in their nobility in the 17th century were presumably actually without any original royal ennoblement, but only became frälse by decisions of past royal bailiffs of castles and such.
Nobility's marriages became restricted: generally, only a noblewoman was eligible for valid marriage of a nobleman in order to transmit the noble status to children. Because before 17th-century mass ennoblements, the number of nobles was actually only in hundreds, daughters of lower nobility became more often brides for wealthy Swedish noble families and even for magnate families. This was one of reasons why many Swedish family of high nobility got also one or more Finnish foremothers (a phenomenon very rare in medieval centuries when already geography was a sort of obstacle). Finnish nobles very often moved to other parts of the realm, to have an office in military or in government.
Count
Axel Oxenstierna
Axel Gustafsson Oxenstierna af Södermöre (; 1583–1654), Count of Södermöre, was a Swedish statesman. He became a member of the Swedish Privy Council in 1609 and served as Lord High Chancellor of Sweden from 1612 until his death. He was a c ...
, 1st Count of
Södermöre, the
Lord High Chancellor of Sweden
The Lord High Chancellor ( sv, Rikskansler), literally ''Chancellor of the Realm'', was a prominent and influential office in Sweden, from 1538 until 1799, excluding periods when the office was out of use. The office holder was a member of the Priv ...
, was the architect of the
Instrument of Government
The Instrument of Government was a constitution of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland. Drafted by Major-General John Lambert in 1653, it was the first sovereign codified and written constitution in England.
Antecedence
The '' ...
of 1634, which laid the foundation of modern Sweden, and in extension that of Finland. It secured that all government appointments had to be filled by candidates from the nobility, a move which helped to mobilize support for, rather than opposition against, a centralized national government. This helped a lot of low-nobility Finns to a more or less lucrative career.
Due to the many wars, the crown needed a means to reward officers, and since cash was not plentiful, ennoblement and grants of land and other fiefs (rights to draw taxes) were used instead. During the 17th century, the number of noble families grew by a factor of five, an immense new influx being generated by royal ennoblements of hitherto commoners. (Most Swedish nobles derive their nobility no further than from ennoblements of the 17th century, usually military officers, or from 18th century ennoblements of usually civil servants.) In a few decades in midst of 17th century, the nobility's share of Swedish land rose from 16% to over 60%, which led to considerably lower tax incomes. The "
reductions
Reductions ( es, reducciones, also called ; , pl. ) were settlements created by Spanish rulers and Roman Catholic missionaries in Spanish America and the Spanish East Indies (the Philippines). In Portuguese-speaking Latin America, such redu ...
" of 1655 and 1680 however brought back most of that land to the crown.
Between 1561 and 1680, there thus existed tens of official baronies and counties, fiefs, in the area of Finland.
When a family was ennobled, it was usually given a name - just as lordships of England and other Western European countries. In 17th and 18th centuries, he name only rarely was the original family name of the ennobled, rather they chose fanciful new names. This was a period which produced a myriad of two-word Swedish-language finery names for nobility (very favored prefixes were Adler, "noble"; Ehren - "ära", "honor"; Silfver, "silver"; and Gyllen, "golden"). The regular difference with Britain was that it became the new surname of the whole house, and the old surname was dropped altogether. To understand ennoblements better, we may think a noble as, using a Finnish example,
Johan Jacob Schaeffer, Lord Ehrensvärd when ennobled, but they did not continue to use the old, thus he was, starting from the ennoblement, "Lord Johan Jacob Ehrensvärd".
These centuries, particularly the centralization of government in the 17th century, saw a gradual mass exodus of Finnish nobility, almost all families of high nobility and a good portion of more capable others, from Finland to the capital of Sweden and manors therearound.
On the other hand, branches of other noble families (from all around the Swedish realm) settled in Finland, mostly due to an office gained by the newcomer nobleman. These were generally of poorer families or branches, because most noblemen pursued towards positions in Stockholm, and the most resourceful generally did not fail.
As a result, when Russia conquered Finland, no particularly powerful class of nobility still inhabited it. They were generally just modestly propertied (or sometimes outright impoverished) families with traditions for serving in the military and/or administration at regular levels, and to create careers starting from junior positions. This was enormously helpful for Emperors to create a functioning administrative machinery, and to have a loyal country. There simply were no powerful magnates to foment feudal rebellion, or to disrupt the building of a bureaucratic state by their important privileges.
Nobility in Russian eras
In 1721 the Russian empire had received eastern areas of
County of Viborg and Nyslott
Viborg and Nyslott County ( sv, Viborgs och Nyslotts län, fi, Viipurin ja Savonlinnan lääni) was a county of the Swedish Empire from 1634 to 1721. The county was named after the castle towns of Viborg ( fi, Viipuri) and Nyslott ( fi, Savonl ...
and
County of Kexholm
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
by conquest. In 1744 these areas were consolidated with newly conquered part of
County of Kymmenegård and Nyslott
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
as
Vyborg Governorate
The Vyborg Governorate was a Russian Governorate 1744–1812, which was established in territories ceded by the Swedish Empire in the Great Northern War. By the Treaty of Nystad in 1721, Sweden formally ceded control of the parts of the Viborg a ...
. This
Old Finland
Old Finland ( fi, Vanha Suomi; rus, Ста́рая Финля́ндия, r=Staraya Finlyandiya; sv, Gamla Finland) is a name used for the areas that Imperial Russia, Russia gained from Sweden in the Great Northern War (1700–1721) and in ...
had its main center in Vyborg and it was there that an institutionalized nobility system of Old Finland had its headquarters.
With the
Peace Treaty of Fredrikshamn in autumn 1809, the Swedish king obliged to cede all of Finland to Russia and he freed Finnish nobles and people from their oaths of fealty. This opened the way to formal adoption of Finnish institutions, such as nobility, by the Russian emperor, as the new grand duke of Finland.
The entire country was the autonomous
Grand Duchy of Finland
The Grand Duchy of Finland ( fi, Suomen suuriruhtinaskunta; sv, Storfurstendömet Finland; russian: Великое княжество Финляндское, , all of which literally translate as Grand Principality of Finland) was the predecessor ...
under the Russian emperor between 1809–1917. The Vyborg house of nobility was amalgamated to the grand duchy's institution.
Finland established its own
noble estate of the Finnish Diet
The House of Nobility either refers to the institution of the Finnish nobility or the palace of the noble estate. The Finnish nobility was until 1906 the first of the four estates of the realm.
The Estate
The estate of nobility existed fully st ...
, starting with the
Diet in Porvoo
The Diet of Porvoo ( fi, Porvoon maapäivät, or unhistorically ; sv, Borgå lantdag; russian: Боргоский сейм), was the summoned legislative assembly to establish the Grand Duchy of Finland in 1809 and the heir of the powers of the ...
1809. The noble class was formally established as a House in 1818 and it raised a palace in 1862 to house its meetings, the
Finnish House of Nobility
The House of Nobility either refers to the institution of the Finnish nobility or the palace of the noble estate. The Finnish nobility was until 1906 the first of the four estates of the realm.
The Estate
The estate of nobility existed fully st ...
. The inherited
ranks continued in accordance with the Swedish model. The House of Nobility, the
first estate
The estates of the realm, or three estates, were the broad orders of social hierarchy used in Christendom (Christian Europe) from the Middle Ages to early modern Europe. Different systems for dividing society members into estates developed and ...
, served as an official representation for the nobility, and as the highest one of the four estates of the diet. Heads of the noble houses were hereditary members of these assembly of nobles. But any nobleman fulfilling the representation criteria could represent his family if the head elected not to appear. Also a system of proxies existed, meaning that the head could empower any Finnish nobleman to represent the family. The proxies were in practice widely used.
The Emperors of Russia found Finnish nobility a nicely co-operative group of useful people in general, and entrusted much of the administration to locals. This was one of reasons why the autonomy of the country was so well established.
As early as the 18th century, during the Swedish rule, a class of mostly bureaucrats, outside of the division between the four estates, was generated.
Towards the late 19th century, restrictions over the "noble land" were lifted, as were marriage restrictions. Privileges were also decreased, or fell into disuse, or some of them became more or less meaningless. Along with other methods of taxation emerging, exemption from regular land tax became less significant. Capable and educated commoners were also recruited for careers as civil servants. The grand duchy never had a powerful nobility, nor was it able to fill all positions with noblemen.
A number of big landholdings were in the possession of certain noble families. Quite often, these were decreed as
fideicommiss
In English common law, fee tail or entail is a form of trust established by deed or settlement which restricts the sale or inheritance of an estate in real property and prevents the property from being sold, devised by will, or otherwise aliena ...
es. Those nobles who possessed farmlands did not work in them, but usually maintained a manorial lifestyle: paid servants and farmhands, bigger or smaller, as well as
villein
A villein, otherwise known as ''cottar'' or ''crofter'', is a serf tied to the land in the feudal system. Villeins had more rights and social status than those in slavery, but were under a number of legal restrictions which differentiated them ...
s,
crofter
A croft is a fenced or enclosed area of land, usually small and arable, and usually, but not always, with a crofter's dwelling thereon. A crofter is one who has tenure and use of the land, typically as a tenant farmer, especially in rural area ...
s, rent farmers and tenants in lease, did the agricultural work, sometimes paying their rents by performing work, sometimes in products, and rarely in cash. Serfdom however never existed in Finland.
However, there were also impoverished noble families and poor members of the otherwise affluent nobility.
The main societal function of the nobility in those days was to provide military officers and civil servants for the grand ducal state. Competition for administrative, judicial and military positions ("offices") was the prevalent life of the Finnish nobility, and for the most part also their main source of income. New ennoblements were granted mostly on the basis of government career.
The families which have been ''introduced'' to the Finnish House of Nobility, the country's own estate of nobility, are listed on the House of Nobility website.
Some families, representing Finnish officers ennobled for their military merits by the Grand Duchy of Finland, were not introduced, and are thus missing from that list.
Privileges
Up to the 19th century, there existed feudally-based privileges in landowning (farmland by its nature exempt from regular land taxation irrespective of who owned it), being connected to nobility-related
lord
Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or ar ...
ships and to
allodial
Allodial title constitutes ownership of real property (land, buildings, and fixtures) that is independent of any superior landlord. Allodial title is related to the concept of land held "in allodium", or land ownership by occupancy and defens ...
land.
Fief
A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an Lord, overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a for ...
s were common in late medieval and early modern eras.
The 1906 adoption of the unicameral legislature in the parliament removed the political status of the so-called
First Estate of Finland
The House of Nobility either refers to the institution of the Finnish nobility or the palace of the noble estate. The Finnish nobility was until 1906 the first of the four estates of the realm.
The Estate
The estate of nobility existed fully st ...
, though noble ranks were possible to grant in Finland until 1917. The last untitled ennoblement was made in 1904, and the last baronial rank was given in 1912.
The noble estate was never abolished in Finland, and even the constitution of the republic (1919) decreed that remaining rights of the estate classes are existent, but its privileged position has been weakened step by step. The nobility's political privileges were practically abolished by the reformation of the Parliament in 1906. The last taxation privileges were abolished in 1920. Some minor privileges remained for longer.
It was, however, only in 1995 when the privileges – originating from 1723 – of all four estates were formally abolished in connection with a revision of the Finnish constitution. The privileges had, however, been long considered obsolete unenforceable legislation.
Titles
The lowest, non-titled level of hereditary nobility was "adelsman" (i.e., "nobleman"). The untitled nobility was basically a rank without a fief. In practice, however, the majority of noble houses were fiefholders until the late 19th century.
Following the German example, all members of a noble family received equal noble status – not only the head of the house. If the family is of the rank of Prince, Count or Baron, all members receive that title as well. There are two families forming an exception to the aforesaid (Mannerheim, Aminoff) where all members are barons but only the head and his eldest son is a Count.
The female members of a noble family marrying within the estate bears the higher of titles which they were born to or married to, i.e. a baroness marrying a count becomes a countess, and a countess or baroness marrying an untitled nobleman remains countess or baroness.
In contrast to the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
and the
Benelux
The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a politico-economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe: B ...
countries, no hereditary
titles
A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...
or honours have been possible to grant since 1917. The last baron created was
August Langhoff in 1912; he was
Minister State Secretary of Finland.
''Furste'' (Sw.) or ''Ruhtinas'' (Fi.) (
crowned or sovereign prince) was granted in Finland by the Monarch of Finland to only one – Russian – prince family, that of prince
Menschikoff (
Alexander, Prince Menschikoff), a descendant of
Alexander, Duke of Ingria on 1 July 1833. These Menschikoff thenceforward were premier "peers" of Finland.
Knighthood in knightly orders has generally not been counted as nobility in itself in the modern Finnish system. See also
squire
In the Middle Ages, a squire was the shield- or armour-bearer of a knight.
Use of the term evolved over time. Initially, a squire served as a knight's apprentice. Later, a village leader or a lord of the manor might come to be known as a " ...
and
esquire
Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title.
In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...
.
* Compare with
Royal and noble ranks
Traditional rank amongst European royalty, peers, and nobility is rooted in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Although they vary over time and among geographic regions (for example, one region's prince might be equal to another's grand duke), ...
.
Peerage and families
*
Counties and baronies in Finland
The creation and granting of counties and baronies in Finland began with the coronation of King Eric XIV in 1561 and continued through Great Reductions in the latter half of the 17th century.
Eric XIV created two baronies in 1561, the barony of ...
*
Duke of Finland Duke of Finland (in Finnish ''Suomen herttua''; Swedish ''hertig av Finland'') was an occasional medieval title granted as a tertiogeniture to the relatives of the King of Sweden between the 13th and 16th centuries. It included a duchy along with f ...
*
Fief of Viborg
The Fief of Viborg (1320–1534) was for two centuries a late medieval fief in the southeastern border of Finland and the entire Swedish realm. It was held by its chatelain, a fief-appointed feudal lord.
For extended periods, the medieval comman ...
*
List of Finnish noble families
The following is the list of Finnish noble families, that have been introduced to the Finnish House of Nobility. There are 357 such families, of which 148 still are alive. Still existing families include four with title of count and 25 with title o ...
*
Finnish Royal Family
References
Sources
* ''Pohjoinen suurvalta'' by Petri Karonen
* ''Finlands medeltida frälse och 1500-talsadel'' by Eric Anthoni 1970
* ''Finlands Riddarhus'', by von Törne
* ''Aristokrat eller förädlad bonde? det svenska frälsets ekonomi, politik och sociala förbindelser under tiden 1523-1611'' by Jan Samuelson 1993
* ''Vehkalahden knaapit'' by Eeva-Liisa Oksanen and Markku Oksanen, 2003.
* Sjöström (2011), "Medieval landed inheritances of the Junkar and Vilken lineages of Vehkalahti, Finland", ''Foundations: Journal of the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy'', vol 3 issue 5 (2011 January), pp 425–461
* Sjöström (2011), "Y-DNA and medieval land inheritance of the Rolandh and Tepponen lineages of Vehkalahti, Finland", ''Foundations: Journal of the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy'', vol 3 issue 6 (2011 July), pp 527–563
External links
*
The Finnish House of Nobility - Contains some information in English and other languages
Law on Privileges for the Nobility (1723)- at Wikisource
{{DEFAULTSORT:Finnish Nobility
Medieval Finland