Rivista Di Araldica -- The Evangelization of Finland

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Nobility

Heraldry, Genealogy,

Knightly Orders

Asociacion de Hidalgod in Fuero de Espana Junta de Italia

Italian Genealogical Heraldic Institute

Federation of the Italian Associations of Genealogy, Family History, Heraldry and Documentary

Sciences

Angelica Rom library

MAY-AUGUST 2006

Milan

Number 72-73

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The crusades are a phenomenon which, as is well known, affects not only the Holy Land, but also the Baltic. The expeditions of the Sword and Teutonic Knights, and their Danish and Swedish allies, against the still pagan populations of northeastern Europe revived the glories and horrors of the Christian holy war far from the East. This activity of territorial conquest by northern potentates and expansion stimulated by the Church of Rome also affects distant Finlan. It is thanks to evangelization that Finland can also become part of Catholic universality, breaking the isolation to which it had been forced for centuries. In fact, until the 12th century Finland was a land unknown to the Latin West. His name does not appear in travel narratives as it is absent from cartography

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The first mention of this people, which appeared in Tacitus' Germany in the form of Fenni towards the end of the 1st century AD. and repeated in later Greek language sources under that of Scritifinni (ie Finni skiers) has been forgotten. Moreover, the Finns of the ancient-medieval sources are not even identifiable with certainty with the Suomalaiset (self-denomination of the Finno-Ugric-speaking people who emigrated to Finland at the end of the last glaciation) but rather are to be recognized in the Lapps or Sami, and for many centuries Finn-land or Finn-mark will indicate the land of the nomads of the tundra. Due to its distance from the main centers where the history of the High Middle Ages was being reforged, Finland, covered with impenetrable forests and thousands of lakes, remained practically unknown to southern geography and only thanks to an Arab cartographer of Roger II of Altavilla will begin to know something about it, albeit in an imprecise and almost legendary way. Thanks to al-Shafiri al Idrisi (1100-1165), known in the West as Idrisi or Edrisi, medieval cartography makes a decisive progress in relation to both the method of investigation and the graphic realization. In fact, Idrisi, on the advice of Roger II, Norman king of Sicily between 1129-1154, collects updated data on the geography of the world known until then, without limiting itself to the Mediterranean, but going beyond its borders to extend the survey also to the Nordic countries. and Slavs.

Idrisi questioned merchants, missionaries, sailors who had visited the various provinces of Orbis and compared their stories to then choose the version that most likely corresponded to reality. The text was written in Arabic (unfortunately Rugger II, who had commissioned the work, did not have time to have it translated into Latin) and was accompanied by a geographical map, which was very different from the model of contemporary maps, called TO, which often they had no reference to actual reality, having become bad copies of Ptolemaic fashions. Idrisi was born in Ceuta in the Moroccan princely family of the Idrisidi and had studied in Cordoba. For political reasons if he had to take refuge at the Norman court of Palermo, becoming a renegade in the eyes of his co-religionists. To satisfy the curiosity Roger II

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he began to draw up a geographical work that will be known as Il Libro ri Ruggero, which today we would more faithfully call the Guide of the Known World, accompanied by an atlas engraved in silver plates (it took 150kg) unfortunately gone missing. A not always reliable translation into French of the book was made by A. Jaubert in 1840. The critical echezinne was edited by a team from the Eastern University of Naples. D'atlante was published in 1926 by K. Miller. The fundamental problem of the text remains its paleographic reading in fact the names of places, especially when referring to Northern Europe, are difficult to interpret. This is due to the peculiarities of the Arabic alphabet, which does not easily lend itself to the transcription of foreign names, since it practically only contains the consonants that make up a word. As for Scandinavia, described in the chapter dedicated to the VII Climate, that is the northernmost belt according to the Ptolemaic division, Idrisi knows some places in Norway but not Sweden. As for Finland, the discussion is still open. Finnish historians have identified some localities (Abraza, which would be Turku, Rangwalda which would be Pori and Kaland which would be Kalanti), but their opinion is shared by all scholars.

Finland had probably been described by Adam of Berma, a German chronicler of the second half of the 11th century, as the Land of Amazons, but also of monsters and feral creatures, behind which, however, cultural specificities were hidden that led back to shamanism, whose priests used to dress in the guise of bears and reindeer. Finland becomes an alter orbis for the medieval imaginary. After all, the periphery of Europe and in Antiquity and in the Middle Ages, and even beyond, the area not only of the geographical mystery as an unexplored land, but also the seat of those physical and moral alterities (the monsters, the Amazons) that

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populate a logocentric culture linked to the concept of the superiority of the Mediterranean civilization first and then Christian. After all, the persistence of paganism in north-eastern Europe undoubtedly reinforces this image of the other world, which is such and not only for the extraordinary phenomena that characterize it (the "burning" ice of Icelandic volcanoes, the whirlpools or maelström of 'North Atlantic, the days without night of the high latitudes), but also because paganism continues to thrive in it, which, after the year 1000, is perceived not only as a form of religious life different from the Greek-Latin one, but essentially as a threat to our own civilization. In reality, obviously the Baltic crusade that arises as a natural filiation from this way of looking at non-Christianized peoples will not only be the confrontation between two religious forms, but also the extreme thrust of a territorial and political evolution that brings Teutons, Swedes, the Danes and Russians of Novgorod to seek a wider space, religious, political and economic, precisely at the expense of these unconverted populations.

When it takes place, the conversion of the pagans will strengthen the nascent Scandinavian monarchies and enrich them with territories, but also with excellent soldiers and useful tax payers. And since history still gives us the key to reading and also the explanation of modern phenomena, it will be precisely this pincer advance between west and east that sees Scandinavian and Slavic Christians clash with the northeastern Baltic peoples, the roots of the sentiment of aversion that the latter, who have become modern nations, will continue to feel for the German and Russian world. The difficulty that Finns, Estornians, Lithuanians, Latvians and Poles have today to accept a coexistence with Russia without seeing it as the usual enemy therefore has its ancient origins in these long years of bloody wars. Equally ancient is the suspicion and lack of trust that these peoples have towards the Germans, to whom, however, for constant reasons, in years closer to us they have had to ally themselves. Finally, it would be excessive to say that the hockey final at the Turin Olympics between Finland and Sweden and the strong emotional wave it aroused in these countries, is the last beach of a wave that comes from afar, but sure and that when the Finnish looks west, even if for contingent reasons, he does not feel a movement of particular sympathy. After all, all this is natural in fact Finns, Estonians, Lithuanians and Latvians, not the backbone of powerful and proud nations, have a strong cultural identity, which cannot be confused with the German- Scandinavian or the Russian-Slavic identity.

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Even in northern Europe, therefore, the introduction of faith served to create new social structures, strengthening the monarchical power of countries that had recently entered the historical scene. This support was combined with the apostolic fervor of the missionaries and the first bishops, stimulated by the Holy Sede who, through the evangelization movement, saw the boundaries of Christianity widening and, at the same time, of its influence towards the northern kingdoms. The push towards the North also had the function to compensate for the mutilation suffered in the South due to the invasion of arabs in fact one of the elements that came to constitute the ideal that consists the reconquest of what had been lost, was applied to the North, where it was he could regain what was lost in the Near East. Of course, more than a territorial recovery it was a conquest and the loot was inviting. The Baltic territories represented in fact the possibility for an improper feudalism to replenish their wealth and for the cadet children of families linked to the majority to create an attractive future, but they were also the places of considerable wealth in terms of natural goods, such as furs, wood, tar, wax, dried fish, metals for forging weapons, amber even slaves

The Baltic crusade was anticipated by the slow insinuation of Christianity. Known are the episodes of mass baptisms that preceded the actual conversion, the result of victories achieved not in the field of Faith but on that of battle. The policy of the "religion of one's king" (cuius rex eius religio) had quickly paved the way for the evangelization of the Scandinavian peoples. Of course, the king looked to political convenience, and he cared little about having to renounce the ancient gods if the prize was the promotion of his own monarchy and dominion first within his own country and then outside it. But, as we said, in addition to the conversion brought to the point of the sword, there is also a process of evangelization of "long times". This is particularly evident in Finland. As we will see shortly, that of the first Finnish crusade (mid-twelfth century) is actually a propaganda invention, in fact Finland sees the first representatives of Christianity disembark on its shores not from warships, but from peaceful merchant boats. It was in fact trade that brought the first Christian communities to the northern shores of the Baltic, even before the Church of Rome settled there with its own bishops and convents. These Christian merchants come from Sweden and Germany. As has always happened, between the two blocks there is what the Arabs called the house of the truce, that is, a band where the two potential opponents meet

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to trade, get to know each other, build rather than destroy. This area of encounter between the German-Scandinavian and pagan Christian world goes to Finland located on the southwestern coast of the country (today's Satakunta and Varsinais-Suomi), while that of contact between Orthodox Slavs and Karelian pagans is located in the area of modern Viipuri, and that is in the Isthmus of Karelia

The House of the truce is however, by its very definition, a place of transitory reality, in fact in a second phase the real conversion takes place and it needs other, more hasty means to be effective. And this not only because the pagans reveal themselves more interested in the exchange of goods than in the word of the Gospel, but also because from the east the nascent power of Novgorod is advancing with the same be the sole responsibility of Latin-Scandinavian. The complexity of the situation is also revealed in the unexpected resistance of paganism even if it is subdued. In fact, battles can be won, tribal leaders baptized, or their heads cut off if the water of baptism cannot be poured on it, but paganism will not completely disappear. It is enough to read the great Finnish epics of the Kalevala and the Kalevipoeg, albeit recreated in the nineteenth century by not always faithful collectors, to realize that the Finnish world, which extends to the two shores of the Gulf of Finland, has preserved for a very long time the distinctive signs of paganism and especially of that shamanic religion which certainly represents the most ancient form of human religiosity. To proceed with the work of evangelization, however, it is necessary to have a coordinating center, which cannot be geographically too far from the regions concerned. The evangelization of Scandinavia and the Baltic lands had originally found its driving force in the archbishopric of Hamburg-Bremen to which the figure of Ansagarius (first half of the 9th century), the "apostle to the North" is linked. The attempts made by the bishops of Hamburg-Bremen to introduce Christianity were directed, given the dynastic connections, not only to Denmark and Sweden, but also to Norway whose evangelization had begun with Olav Trygvasson (995-1000), but already Hakon the Good , who died in 960, had embraced the new faith. Between 1016 and 1082 Norway was definitively Christianized thanks to Olao the Saint, who however had to accept the existence of pockets of pagan resistance. Around the year 1000 Christianity, through Norway, also reached distant Iceland; hence its influence extended to Greenland, which became the northernmost outpost of the Church.

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Thanks to the new faith and this Arctic presence, it could even have managed to make a fleeting apparition on American soil, where Bishop Eirik, in 1121, would have gone according to the Icelandic Annals in search of the communities that the Vikings had left in Vinland. This has led to the supposition that the papacy was interested in keeping a Christian presence alive in those territories, a theory that does not enjoy any documentary or archaeological support. It is however true that the pontiff intervened on several occasions in favor of the last Scandinavians of Greenland, now condemned, we are at the end of the fifteenth century, to extinction due to the isolation of the colony.

It is now opportune to turn further south and trace a synthesis of the process leading to the evangelization of Finland which is in any case to be related to that of the northeastern Baltic area. We will take first in pagan times, but also later, they had been particularly close. The introduction of Christianity in Estonia dates back to the 13th century; the first to have tried to sow the seeds of conversion were the bishop Meinardo and the Cristercian abbot Bertoldo of Loccum, but the results of the mission had remained limited. The Church thus resorted to more convincing means and Albert of Buxhövden, canon of Bremen, founder of Riga in 1201 and the first to be invested with this bishopric, instituted in 1202 the order of the Fratres Militiae Christi, known as Knights Swordholders, inspired by the model represented by the Templars. Thus began the crusades against the Baltic pagans, financed by the Hanseatic merchants, interested in eliminating not only the danger of the Estonian pirates but above all in entering the new territories rich in economic prospects. The conquest of the Germanic Knights was however bitterly opposed, so much so that they had to ask for the help of Valdemaro II of Denmark. Between 1224 and 1227 Danes and Knights had however definitively subdued the country, which was divided among the conquerors. In 1237 the swordtails, almost annihilated the previous year by the Lithuanians, were absorbed by the Order of the Knights of Santa Maria Teutonica, born in Palestine and then destined to spread the Faith in the pagan territories of Prussia, where it kept its headquarters. They installed their own vassals and representatives in Estonia, whose government was unpopular as to provoke continuous revolts, all repressed in blood. After the departure of the Danes, the Teutonic Order became in the second half of the fourteenth century the only master of Estonia whose inhabitants had been reduced to the rank of serfs. The driving force of the Church's centralization was the territory called Livonia,

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the bishopric of Riga in Latvia and the southern part of present-day Estonia; the Christian advance was however severely opposed by the Estonians. This resistance appears fierce to Henry the Latvian, the author of the most written source in 1225 with the aim of recording the events of the Baltic Evengelization (from 1184 to 1227), and has become the most important document in medieval Baltic history. Endeo, an eyewitness, describes when it happened in Livonia on the occasion of the Crusade contra paganos, that is, the offensive against the Estonians, the Livonians, the Latvians, the Semigalli, the Curons, the Vendas, the Lithuanians. The Chronicle deals with the actions of the first Baltic bishops, among which Albert of Buxhövden stands out. Henry reports the narration of the founding of Riga and informs us about the birth of the Order of the Sword-Bladed Knights, whose task was to Christianize Estonia. Henry, however, also speaks of the diplomatic relations between the Baltic potentates and Rome, held above all through the papal legate William of Modena. We know very little about Enrico. In all likelihood he was not Latvian, as in the past, but a German who had accompanied Albert of Buxhövden to Latvia. According to others, he is instead Saxon. Henry probably arrived in Latvia when he was 18 years old. Here he undertook some trips, always on behalf of the ecclesiastical organization, which he too, in 1215, would take him to Rome to assist the interpreter, an expert on the places. Henry is the typical representative of the religious who also had to be involved in warfare, in fact, in the opinion of historians, his expertise in warfare techniques and military matters is remarkable. He was, as Piero Bugiani recalls, a fighter for the cause of the Lord, who used the weapons of the word as that of metal.

We focused on this aspect of the Christianization of Estonia because the points of reference to Finland are stimulating. Points of reference, in this case, by contrast, given that the events of the Baltic evengelization highlight the different development that it covers in southwestern Finland. By the turn of the millennium, the descendants of the Proto-Finni had settled in a rather small area.

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of southwestern Finland and the Isthmus of Karelia. From here, in the following centuries, going up the rivers and using the vast lake system, they expanded to the north and east, preferring however the coastal territories to those of the interior, covered with forests and swamps. However, nuclei of non-indigenous peoples had long since established along the Finnish shores of the eastern Baltic, whose contribution to the development of Finnish society was decisive, both in economic and cultural terms. At the end of the pagan era Finland comprises three main inhabited areas: in the southwest are the Suomalaiset, while in the western lakes region the Hämäläiset settled who also controlled, although they did not keep permanent colonies, a part of the northern coast of the Gulf Finland, where they practiced fishing and traded with the frequenters of the east bank. In the eastern region of the lakes the Savolaiset had instead entered, while further east the presence of the Karjalaiset had established themselves, whose main centers were located along the western bank of the Ladoga

In Finland there is no real popular resistance to the introduction of Christianity, even if the legend of Lalli, based on a late medieval poem that tells of the killing of the first bishop of Finland, Henry by a peasant, may actually refer to a real episode of resistance to the settlement of the Church in the territory. St. Henry is believed to be the apostle of Finland. He was of English origin (England played an important role in the early days of Scandinavian evangelization), and was appointed bishop of Uppsala in 1152. According to tradition, I accompany the King of Sweden Erik in the first crusade against the pagan Finns in the summer of 1155. Remained in the Varsinais-Suomi region, he became its first bishop. Also according to the hagiographic tradition, Henry was murdered in 1156 by a farmer named Lalli on the ice of Lake Köyliö. If this really happened, it was probably as a form of reaction to the imposition of taxes and the Christian-Svedesem government, hated by the indigenous population. The cult of the saint began to assert itself in Finland towards the end of the thirteenth century, enjoying considerable favor among the population. The day of his death was also celebrated with a fair, which is still held in the city of Turku. Also in the same century a long poem was composed which commemorated his martyrdom, The ballad for the death of Bishop Henry. The saint's body was buried in Nousiainen, from where the relics were transferred to the Turku catterdale towards the end of the 13th century. A few years ago a metacarpal bone was given by the National Museum of Helsinki in custody to the church of St. Henry of

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Helsinki, the Catholic catterdale of Finland, but this has aroused the protest of the Lutheran Church which is now demanding its return. However, according to the Finnish historian Tuomas Heikkilä, who recently dealt with it, St. Henry never existed and should therefore be counted among the "propaganda" saints of the Church of Rome. In fact we do not have any contemporary documentation on Henry, but we only begin to talk about him starting from 1270-1280, that is a hundred years after the alleged martyrdom. In any case, the evangelization of Finland is traced back to St. Henry, which in any case was already underway in the southern region of Varsinais-Suomi, where Christian communities that arrived before the arrival of King Erik of Sweden and St. Henry were operating. . The inhabitants of this region allowed themselves to be subdued, but not even the other Finnic populations of the still free territory opposed the Christian penetration as resistance as that of the Estonians.

To explain this diversity of reaction we must compare the extent of the ideological impulse that moved the Swedes with that which animated the Germanic Knights. Undoubtedly, the knightly and Crusader ideal also operated within the Swedish feudal society, but not to the extent that it was present in the German one, nor did the Drang nach Osten that moved the Swedes cover those characteristics of merciless, cold determination and sacrifice. which he had with the Germanic knightly orders. Moreover, the monks-knights did not arrive in Finland, this example of a fusion of spiritual ardor and war efficiency, nor did the Swedish nobility have the thirst and need for new lands as the German one did.

In conclusion, in Finland, contrary to what happened in Estonia, there was no rift between losers and winners; the ruling class was, of course, of Swedish origin, but over time it also opted for Finnish elements, who became nobles, clerics and even bishops. Finally, the right to land ownership was not taken away from the Finns and, above all, their dignity was not harmed as had been done in Livonia, whose inhabitants were simply called non-Germans, which basically amounted to non-men. In Finland, therefore, on the edge of the virgin lands, a line of fortifications did not arise such as the one that in 1290, running between Dunaburg and Memel, separated the Christianized part in Lithuania from that to the south where the remaining pagan tribes lived. Of it, as the rhymer of the Teutonic Order had written, no warrior had to, from the top of those towers, say: Look at my works, O mighty one, and despair.

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As for Sweden, the first king to be baptized was Olaf Skutkonung, of the Uppsala dynasty, in 1008. Sweden initially returned to the Hamburg-Bremen sphere of intervention, but the bishopric of Lund was founded around 1103. Thus was marked the definitive decline of the influence of Hamburg which the pope, given the ties that the German episcopate had with the emperor, had every interest to reduce. However, Lund only obtained definitive recognition as a spiritual guide for the whole of Scandinavia in 1139.

In 1164 the episcopate of Uppsala was established, which gave further impetus to the evangelizing thrust, stimulated by ecclesiastics of English origin, in turn representatives of a missionary Church of ancient tradition, which will play a very important role in Finland as well.

When Erik Jedvadsson was elected to the Swedish throne in 1157, more favorable moments began to be envisaged for an offensive by the crown to the east, facilitated by the simultaneous crisis of the Danish one. However, it was the papacy in the person of Alexander III to stimulate Erik in this enterprise, with which the king intended to increase his authority within Sweden. In order to be able to carry out both this religious and political task, the Church introduced in the North, within the framework of a broader plan, the concept of crusade, whose application to regions populated by pagan and / or schismatic peoples, i.e. of Orthodox faith, represents an evolution, or an involution, of the religious and spiritual movement which had promoted, under Urban II, the first crusade against Muslim infidels.

The spirit of the crusade soon influenced the Saxon nobles, who in 1147 at the Reichstag in Frankfurt, present Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, asked to be authorized to wage war against the Slavs who were pressing on their eastern borders. The pope therefore, on April 13, 1147, with the Divine Bull dispensation, granted Christians of northern Europe to carry the cross against the pagans who threatened the northern border of Christianity. According to Bernard, in fact, the crusade was qualified not for where the milites went, but for the purposes he intended to achieve.

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This application of the concept of crusade is therefore the ideological component that underlies the Swedish intervention in Finland

Scholars do not agree on the exact dating of the so-called first crusade led by King Erik of Sweden and Henry bishop of Uppsala, which should however be placed between 1150 and 1160, they agree in identifying the exact place of Finland southwest where the Swedish troops would land. To all intents and purposes today the opinion has emerged that this crusade never took place, but that it was a propaganda invention, with which the Swedish taking possession of Finland was equated with what had happened in the other Baltic territories.

However, it is true that Christian Sweden had for some time looked with interest at the coastal territories of Finland, where groups of Swedish settlers who already practiced Christian cults had settled.

This infiltration, which lasted over time, had therefore prepared the ground for a clash between a Christian Sweden and a pagan Finland and consequently to be considered a legend, or rather, Crusader propaganda, probably born on the basis of the Vita Sancti Erici, in the which tells of the peace offer made by King Erik and Bishop Henry, rejected by the indigenous population who did not intend to accept the new faith

Swedish expansion into Finland is taking place gradually. In the aftermath of the so-called first crusade, the control of Sweden is mainly based on relations of maritime subjection, but between the end of the twelfth century and the beginning of the thirteenth century this presence takes on a more stable character, being built a military premise for the second phase of penetration that in the thirteenth century is directed towards the region of Häme, in the interior, whose inhabitants continued to oppose evangelization.

The progress of the new faith after the first half of the 12th century was rapid and southwestern Finland aligned itself with the model of Scandinavian Christian societies

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The consolidation of the religious and administrative ties of Finland with Sweden began at the end of the 12th century; only a part of the territory of modern Finland, however, was part of the kingdom of Sweden, whose dominion extended to the coastal regions. The rest of the country, however sparsely populated, was still "terra infidelium" and consequently destined to be areas of conquest and mission.

In the course of this second phase of expansion the spirit of the crusade is definitively affirmed and the Nordic chivalric society, already mobilized for the penetration in Estonia, begins to apply the same principle in Finland, but fortunately for the inhabitants not the same methods, of conquest military of the still pagan Baltic territories. This new, more enterprising action of the Church, manifested itself with the bishop Thomas, coming from Uppsala but of English origin, who around 1218-1220, was placed by Innocenzo III at the head of the Finnish ecclesiastical hierarchy, which however remained under the direct Roman control. In all probability it was Thomas himself who inspired the wide-ranging policy that led to the military expedition in Häme, animated, yes, by a true spirit of crusade

In 1237 Pope Gregory IX had been informed that the Hämäläiset had rejected Christianity, consequently he summoned all Christians to join in a crusade against the irreducible pagans. The behavior of the inhabitants of Häme was therefore different from that followed by the neighbors of Varsinais-Suomi.

The reluctance to submit can be explained by considering how, unlike the southwestern regions, Christianity had not penetrated Häme except to a limited extent. This people also had to have a clearer understanding of the dangers represented by the arrival of foreigners who in the early years of the thirteenth century had already colonized and swedish other lands.

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Tomasso was also the architect, if not the creator of the oriental policy aimed at containing the danger represented by Novgorod, an unsuccessful plan, given that the Crusaders were defeated in 1240.

The church of Rome and the Swedish crown had in fact decided to resort to force to definitively resolve the "Finland problem", which consisted of the pressure exerted by the pagans of Häme and, at the same time, by the Russian threat. The initial success of the Finnish-Swedish Church had been frustrated nonetheless. Tommaso, who in the meantime had moved his seat from Nousiainen to Turku, felt it was his duty to renounce the position he held and in 1245 he retired from the scene.

His work had proved useful in the phase that we can define as "heroic" of Christianization, but now other methods and above all a better organization of missionary politics were needed. Therefore, first of all it was necessary to strengthen the existing link with the Swedish monarchy and convince it to play a more active role in the military field, while in the missionary field the Domini canes, the guardians, if not the mastiffs, of the Catholic Church were used.

On the other hand, Sweden's management of the war campaigns does not involve the need to resort to the Germanic Knights and this avoids the Church from a cumbersome ally and consequently made possible a less problematic amalgamation between the indigenous population and foreigners. Finland was now emerging as a nation.