Stenberga Castle (also known as ''Teinperi'') was a small medieval castle in

Masku Masku () is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Southwest Finland region. The municipality, which is located about just north of Turku, has a population of () and covers an area o ...

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 Bo ...

. It was originally built of gray stone, consisting of two towers with outer dimensions of and , respectively. The castle walls were thick. In a later phase, bricks were also used in the construction. The castle was on a steep rock, presumably an island back then, by the sea near the mouth of Hirvijoki River, flowing from

Nousiainen Nousiainen (; sv, Nousis) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the Southwest Finland region, from Turku along Highway 8 ( E8). The Finnish-speaking municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The p ...

. Due to the

post-glacial rebound Post-glacial rebound (also called isostatic rebound or crustal rebound) is the rise of land masses after the removal of the huge weight of ice sheets during the last glacial period, which had caused isostatic depression. Post-glacial rebound ...

, the location is now almost from the coastline. Very little remains of the castle. Excavations have not been carried out on the site since the early 20th century, which has given room to dispute the castle's age. Some historians see it as a 14th-century construction, while others date it to the late 12th century, when

King Canute Cnut (; ang, Cnut cyning; non, Knútr inn ríki ; or , no, Knut den mektige, sv, Knut den Store. died 12 November 1035), also known as Cnut the Great and Canute, was King of England from 1016, King of Denmark from 1018, and King of Norway ...

built similar-looking small defensive castles in various parts of Sweden. According to more or less vague chronicles, Finland seems to have been under special military attention by Danish, Swedish and Russian forces in the 1190s, thus giving the possible context for the construction of the castle. Historian

Ericus Olai Ericus Olai (ca. 1420-1486) was a Swedish theologian and historian. He served as a professor of theology at Uppsala University and dean at Uppsala Cathedral. Ericus Olai was the author of the chronicle ''Chronica regni Gothorum'' and was an earl ...

claimed in the late 15th century that bishop Kol of

Linköping Linköping () is a city in southern Sweden, with around 105,000 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Chu ...

(d. 1196?) had been the

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 wit ...

(''Dux Finlandiae''), which however can not be confirmed from other sources.Suomen Museo 2002. See page 66. The book can be ordered from th
Finnish Antiquarian Society
Also noteworthy is the castle's strategic position closing the maritime access to Nousiainen, which was the earliest presumed see of the

Bishop of Finland The Archdiocese of Turku ( fi, Turun arkkihiippakunta, sv, Åbo ärkestift), historically known as '' Archdiocese of Åbo'', is the seat of the Archbishop of Turku. It is a part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, and its see city is ...

. The see was moved to

Koroinen Koroinen ( Finnish; ''Korois'' in Swedish) is a district in the Koroinen ward of the city of Turku, in Finland. It is located to the north of the city centre, across the river Aura from the Turku Student Village Turku Student Village ( fi ...

latest in the mid-13th century. Whatever the case, the castle itself is not mentioned in historical sources during the time when it was in operation. The Stenberga estate around it is first mentioned in 1398 as the property of the then bailiff of the

Turku Castle Turku Castle ( fi, Turun linna, sv, Åbo slott) is a medieval building in the city of Turku in Finland. Together with Turku Cathedral, the castle is one of the oldest buildings still in use and the largest surviving medieval building in Finland. ...

. The estate was later donated to a Bridgettine monastery in

Naantali Naantali (; sv, Nådendal) is a town in southwestern Finland, and, as a resort town during the summer, an important tourist centre of the country. The municipality has a population of (), and is located in the region of Southwest Finland, west ...

in the 1430s. According to some historians, the abandoned castle was soon thereafter disassembled to get construction material for the monastery, which was only some ten kilometres away. In 1556, the estate, along with other property of the monastery, was confiscated to the state during the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and i ...

. Today, the site is on private property, and has not been maintained for years. Land-owner's permission is required for a visit. The climb to the hilltop across steep rocks and bushes may be difficult.

Gallery

Image:Stenberga 1.jpg, Steep slopes of the Stenberga Castle rock Image:Stenberga 2.jpg, View from the castle rock Image:Stenberga 3.jpg, Some of the few remaining constructions on the castle rock

References

{{coord, 60, 32, 05, N, 22, 00, 21, E, region:FI_type:landmark, display=title Castles in Finland Buildings and structures in Southwest Finland

See also

Gallery

References