Finnish Crusades ((install)) Link

For Finland, the legacy was profound. The crusades pulled the country away from the Eastern Orthodox orbit of Novgorod and towards the West. Finland became an integral part of the Swedish realm, gaining the rights of a Swedish land (the Österland or "Eastern Land"), representation in the election of the king, and the rule of Swedish law. The Catholic Church brought literacy, a written administration, and connection to the Latin cultural sphere.

This was the real war. Sweden and Novgorod had been competing for control of Karelia (eastern Finland) and the lucrative fur trade routes. In 1293, Marshal Torkel Knutsson led a large Swedish force across the frozen Gulf of Finland. He stormed the Novgorodian outpost at Ladoga, but more decisively, he built a formidable stone castle at Vyborg (Viipuri). finnish crusades

To call these events "crusades" in the same vein as the expeditions to Jerusalem is misleading. There was no massive pilgrimage army, no vow to liberate the Holy Sepulchre. They were, instead, frontier crusades —military missions blessed by the Pope to expand Christendom's borders and secure the political interests of a rising Swedish kingdom. For Finland, the legacy was profound