Swedish-Novgorodian Wars

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The Russian Republic of Novgorod and medieval Sweden waged a number of wars for control of the Gulf of Finland, an area vital for the lucrative Hanseatic trade, and part of the former trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks. The Swedish attacks against Orthodox Russians had religious overtones, but before the 14th century there is no knowledge of official Crusade bulls given by the Pope.

The conflict was rooted in the Viking Age when the Varangians had a trade outpost in Ladoga and controlled the course of the Neva River. The Slavicization and Christianization of Northern Russia accounted for the deterioration of relations between the Vikings and Novgorod at the turn of the 11th century. Eiríkr Hákonarson raided Ladoga in 997, followed by Sveinn Hákonarson in 1015. After Yaroslav I's marriage to Ingegerd of Sweden in 1019 the conflict was settled by making Ladoga a jarldom in the orbit of Kievan Rus. It was ruled by Ragnvald Ulfsson, father of King Stenkil.

Stenkil's granddaughter Christina married Mstislav of Novgorod, upon whose death in 1132 Novgorod seceded from Kievan Rus. In 1142 the Swedish troops attacked the Novgorod merchants somewhere in the Baltic Sea region and killed 150 Novgorodians. It is the first known case of hostilities between Sweden and Novgorod. In 1164, a strong Swedish fleet approached Ladoga but was soundly defeated<ref>The Novgorod "Karamzin's" Annals, the Full Collection of Russian Annals, vol. 42, St.-Petersburg 2002.</ref>. It is claimed that Novgorodians and their Karelian allies launched pirate raids against mainland Sweden during the 12th century.<ref>Article about Sigtuna raid by Vokrug Sveta. In Russian.</ref> During one of such raids, as a legend has it, they brought to Novgorod the doors of the Sigtuna cathedral as a prize. However, there is no certainty on the background of the destroyers of Sigtuna.<ref>The only source that claims the attackers to have been Karelians is the Eric's Chronicle written in early 14th century as anti-Novgorod propaganda. Most historians consider the attackers to have come from the Baltic coasts.</ref>

Russo-Swedish Wars
Middle Ages
1495–1497
1554–1557
1558–1583
1590–1595
1610–1617
1656–1658
1700–1721
1741–1743
1788–1790
1808–1809

Apart from Ladoga, Novgorodian interests clashed with Sweden's in Finland, a country which Russian forces sacked on numeral occasions from the 11th century onward. The raid in winter 1226-1227 led to heavy losses on the Finnish side. A Finnish retaliatory raid against Ladoga in 1228 ended in disaster, contributing to the Finns' subjugation by the Catholic Swedes during the Second Swedish Crusade in 1249. Seven years later, the Novgorodians devastated Swedish Finland again.

In 1240 the Swedes, possibly under the leadership of Birger Magnusson (later known as Birger jarl) undertook an attack against Novgorod. Soon after their fleet entered the mouth of the Neva River, the Swedes were roundly defeated in the famous Battle of the Neva by a young prince, Alexander of Novgorod, who would later be given the epithet "Nevsky" to memorialize this victory.

The defeat was so thorough that no Swedish incursions on Northern Russia were recorded until the end of the century, when Sweden resumed its expansion into Finland and Karelia. In 1293 the Swedes won a part of western Karelia and built the fortress of Vyborg there. This expedition has traditionally been dubbed as the Third Swedish Crusade. Seven years later, they founded the fortress of Landskrona in the mouth of Neva, on the river Okhta, and ruined the Novgorod settlements on the Neva. Later that year the Novgorod troops retaliated by destroying Landskrona.

In the early 14th century, military tensions escalated and the two powers were continually at war. In 1311, the Novgorodians devastated central Finland, where the Swedes had recently built a new castle. In response, a Swedish fleet embarked towards Ladoga and set this trade emporium on fire. Three years later, the Karelians' discontent with Novgorod's rule broke out into the open, as they killed Russian governors and sought for help in Sweden. After several months of hostilities, Karelia submitted to Novgorod's authority again.

Oreshek, one of fortresses built by the Novgorodians to contain the Swedish expansion.

In 1318, Novgorod attacked Turku in southwestern Finland, burning the city and the cathedral as well as the episcopal castle in Kuusisto. Four years later, they besieged Vyborg and founded Oreshek, an important fortress dominating the entrance to the Ladoga Lake.

Peace treaties — such as the famous Treaty of Nöteborg with the Swedes (August 12, 1323) or the Treaty of Novgorod with the Norwegians (June 3, 1326) — provided but a temporary palliative. In 1348, king Magnus Eriksson set out on a new "crusade" against Novgorod. He set Oreshek ablaze and converted the area to Roman Catholicism. In the next year, the Russians recovered lost ground and devastated the locality of Vyborg.

Deep on the other side of the Nöteborg border, Sweden established a new castle in central Ostrobothnia around 1375. The castle was assaulted by Novgorod in 1377, but could not be taken over. Hostilities between the two powers were renewed in 1392 and 1411. The last conflict ensued in 1445, several decades before Novgorod was absorbed into Muscovy.