The First War Between Sweden And Russia

In the last tale it was told how Birger Jarl subdued the Finns and

brought then to give up their heathen practices and accept Christianity.

But this refers only to the section of Finland bordering on the Baltic

Sea. Farther east the Finns were pagans still, worshipping idols and

living a savage life in their vast forests, and bitterly hating the

Christians. At times they would come in hordes out of their wild

woodlands and attack the settled people, killing them in the most cruel

way their distorted fancies could contrive.



They had two chief deities, Jumal, the great good one, and Perkel, the

great evil one, and these were supposed to meet in fierce encounters in

which they would throw each other over high mountains. The people kept

wooden images of these deities in their huts, and had also open places in

the forest, with a stone on the centre of each, on which they made

sacrifices to their divinities. When a Karelian, as these people were

called, came to within a fixed distance of the sacrificial stone, he took

off his cap and crawled up to it silently, making sacrifices there of the

bones and horns of elk and reindeer. In case of danger they would

sacrifice goats, cats and cocks, sprinkling their idols with the blood of

these animals.



At that time, shortly before the year 1300, Birger, heir to the throne of

Sweden, was very young, and the country was under the rule of Torkel

Knutson, regent of the kingdom and a wise and energetic man. Exasperated

by the cruelties committed by the Karelians on the Christians, he

determined to put a stop to them and sailed to Finland with a strong

army. Against this force the pagan foresters could not make head and they

were soon obliged to submit. A fort with a strong garrison was built at

Wiborg to keep them in order, and the churchmen who went with the

expedition strove to convert them.



It is not with these savage woodsmen, however, that we are concerned, but

with the Russians, with which people the Swedes now first came into

warlike contact. The forest Russians of that day were as savage as the

Finns and as hard to deal with. They came to the help of the Karelians in

this war, and to punish them the regent took Castle Kexholm, their chief

stronghold, and left in it a garrison under Sigge Lake. It was this that

brought on the first war between the Swedes and the Russians, some of the

events of which are so interesting that it is worth telling about.



After the Swedes had held Kexholm for some time their food supply ran

very low, and as no aid came from home many of them wished to abandon the

fort. This Sigge Lake would not listen to. He had been left there to hold

the place and did not intend to give it up. But only the bravest of his

men remained with him, the others leaving under pretext of sending food

and reinforcements from home.



Neither men nor supplies arrived and the Russians, learning of the state

of affairs, gathered in multitudes around the fort, laying close siege to

it. In the end, after a brave resistance lasting many days, food became

so scarce that the Swedes dared not stay any longer and they determined

to try and cut their way through the besiegers.



The gates were thrown open and Sigge rushed out at the head of his

company, with such force and fury that for a time it seemed as if they

would succeed. But they were weakened by semi-starvation and in the end

the swarming Russians killed them all but two, who alone made their

escape and carried the news of the disaster back to Sweden.



The regent was greatly distressed at the loss of the brave men whom he

had left so long without support. It was too late to save their lives but

he felt it his duty to avenge them. To do so he set sail with another

army, making his way up the river Neva, the stream on which the city of

St. Petersburg was afterwards built. No enemy was seen and the regent

landed on an island in the river, where he built a strong fort which he

named Landscrona, furnishing it plentifully with provisions.



The Russians, when they found what was being done, were infuriated. A

great multitude of them, thirty thousand in number, gathered on the Neva

and made a vigorous effort to burn the Swedish fleet, sending rafts down

the stream on which were great heaps of blazing wood. But the regent

caught these by iron chains which he stretched across the stream, holding

the fire-floats until they burned out.



This effort failing, the Russians made a fierce attack on the fortress,

with such savage violence that though many of them fell the others would

not give up the assault. But so strong and so well defended was the place

that they failed in this also, and in the end were obliged to retreat,

leaving great numbers of dead behind them. Then a young and brave knight

in the garrison, named Matts Kettilmundson, made a sortie against the

Russians and drove them back in panic flight, many more of them being

killed.



Shortly after this a party of Russian cavalry, one thousand strong,

appeared in the edge of a wood, not far from the fort, their armor

gleaming brightly in the sunlight. While the garrison were looking at

them from the walls, the brave knight Matts Kettilmundson asked

permission of the regent to ride out against them, saying that "he would

venture a brush with the bravest among them."



The regent having consented, the daring fellow put on his armor and had

his horse led through the gate. Leaping on it he rode out, and when he

had passed the moat, turned back to his friends who lined the wall.



"Strive to live happily," he said, "and do not be troubled about me, for

it depends on God in heaven whether I shall return with a captive foe or

fail to return at all."



He then rode boldly on and sent an interpreter to the Russian lines,

challenging the bravest of the Russians to fight with him for life, goods

and freedom. It must be borne in mind that those were the days of

chivalry and knight-errantry, when such adventures and challenges were

common things and good faith was kept with those who made them. So no

force or treachery was attempted against the daring knight, although we

should hardly have looked for knightly deeds and chivalrous ways in the

Russia of that day.



However, as the story goes on to say, the Russian king appealed in vain

for a knight to try conclusions with the Swedish champion. Not a man in

the troop was ready to make the venture, and Sir Matts sat his horse

there all day long waiting in vain for an antagonist. As evening

approached he rode back to the fortress, where every one congratulated

and praised him for his courage. The next morning the Russians had

disappeared.



Soon after this, the army growing weary and longing for home, the regent

set sail down stream, leaving three hundred men and abundant supplies in

the fort, under a knight named Swen. But as contrary winds detained the

fleet Sir Matts landed with a strong party of horsemen and made long

raids into the country, gathering much booty, with which he returned to

the ships. Then the army continued its way home, where it was received

with much joy.



But the garrison in Landscrona did not find their lot much better than

had the former garrison in Kexholm. The new walls were damp and the

advancing summer brought hot weather, so that their provisions began to

spoil. As a consequence scurvy and other diseases broke out and many of

the men died. Some of those who remained wished to send home for help,

but others objected to this, saying that "they preferred waiting for help

from heaven and did not wish to trouble the regent, who had enough to

attend to at home."



When the Russians gathered around the fort to attack it, as they soon

did, only twenty men in the garrison were fit to bear arms in defence.

These could not properly guard the walls and the Russians steadily

advanced, all losses being made up from their great numbers, until in no

great time the walls were taken. The Swedes retired to their houses,

continuing to fight, but as the Russians set fire to these, the governor

and some others threw down their arms, offering to surrender. They were

at once cut down by the assailants.



The few who remained alive now took refuge in a stone cellar, where they

defended themselves manfully; and refused to submit until the enemy had

offered them their lives. Then they yielded and were carried as captives

into the country, the fortress being razed to the ground. Thus, in the

year 1300, ended the first war between Russia and Sweden. The Swedes

fought well and died nobly, but they lost their lives through the neglect

of their countrymen and rulers.