"Dark Age Finns" Topic

In the National Museum in Helsinki Finland, there is a pretty extensive collection of Viking Age artifacts. This has led to some interest in trying to assemble some Dark Age Fins for my Vikings to "interact" with. However, I have no knowledge of Finland during this period. Are any of you aware of any English works on the region during this period? What about the appearence of Finnish warriors during this period?

During my visit to the museum (about 6 years ago) I also remember seeing some reference that the Finns actually terrified Viking raiders for some reason. Is anyone familiar with this or know where it came from?

Thanks,

Kyle

I did locate this interesting article on the subject:

link

The idea of Finns scaring the crap out of various other cultures is a big part of Finnish lore. The coat of arms for the town of Lapeenranta, for example, shows a "wild man" dressed in leaves and carrying a club … as the story goes, explorers navigating Lake Saima were going to come ashore near present-day Lapeenranta but were scared off by this crazy wild man who ran around the shoreline howling and waving his club. Pretty awesome lore!

More info on the various "wild man" stories in Finland:

link

Good luck with finding works in English, since even in Finnish there is not too much material published about Finland in the medieval times. That article you found looks quite interesting.

I also remember seeing some reference that the Finns actually terrified Viking raiders for some reason. Is anyone familiar with this or know where it came from?

Supposedly some Vikings though that some Finnish had magic powers that allowed them to raise storms, and for sea-borne raiders that would have been bad news.

Another aspect keeping in mind is that Finland was not particularly rich area at the time, so the prospects for loot were limited. That said, at least one historian has lately suggested that Vikings might have captured some Finns as slaves and sold them away farther to the east.

Ive heard the same about Finnish magic and vikings; interesting that as late as the 19th century Finns were supposed to be unlucky to have aboard ship.

Not much research help but try and check out the original "Pathfinder" film from the eighties. Its been a while but it was about "vikings" attacking a Finnish village. And a damn good film if memory serves me right.

The Kalevala may be as good as anything you are likely to find.

The Baltic Finns interacted with the Vikings and were a part of their trading networks – and on occasion, victims of their raids. If you are wanting to put them on the table against the Vikings a mix of Vikings or Slavic types would do.

The Sami (or Laplanders) apparently did spook the Vikings to a bit. Their religion was older and more shamanistic than that of the Norse. Sami women were sought as slaves for their magical powers. But a lot of that comes from later written sources, so its validity is questionable.

Putting the Sami into a Dark Age game might be difficult. Heavily fur clad barbarian types might do. For a good visual reference, find the 1987 film Olefas (Pathfinder) about conflict between Karelians and Sami.

The Kalevala may be as good as anything you are likely to find.

As a historical source, I would not rate it highly…

Thanks for the information and ideas. The article that I found and posted the link to also mentioned the idea of Finnish "wizards" etc. It was also interesting to learn that there were numerous tribal groups in the region that we now refer to as Finland. That should not be too surprising.

Is Kalevala a work or account of the region?

I will see if I can chase down a copy of "Pathfinder". I was thinking that the Sami might be similar to some of the Eskimo types?

Interesting stuff.

The Kalevala is a Nineteenth Century epic poem, based on Finnish mythology and folklore. As an historical source for the Dark Ages, it would be dubious at best …

The Kalevala can be described as the National Mythology.
As Griefbringer said (and I am guessing he is more Finnish than my 0%) – it isn't really history.
About as historical as the movie Excaliber.

But, if you read between the lines, you can gather some info on weapons, etc.
Be warned, it's like reading a very long Longfellow poem.

Both 'Crowbone' in the Oathsworn series and 'Hawk Quest' are fiction books that include Vikings fighting Finns – I think they are called Suomi in the books but can't remember. In both cases the Finns are portrayed as sneaky ambushers that do quite a bit of damage, here is a review:
TMP link

Also is Pathfinder the one where the bad guys use little crossbows? If so, I thought they were identified as Tchud tribesmen?

1987 film Olefas (Pathfinder)

That should be Ofelas.

As for actual archeological evidence, there is a good number of Viking graves scattered around the southern coast of Finland, indicating that a number of Vikings sailing along the coast must have died of various reasons (disease, accident or violence) and have been buried by their comrades.

These graves often take the form of a simple pile of rocks hastily built somewhere close to the shore to honour the fallen Viking.

Many of these graves are still identifiable nowadays, and can be found marked on some of the more detailed maps. It is worth noting that due to the particular nature of Finnish geography, these graves are nowadays farther away from the shore than when they were originally built.

Don't forget that the Vikings would have also sailed along the northern coast of Estonia, which was inhabited by tribes similar to those found in southern Finland. And they also tended to sail up the river Daugava (Dvina) from what is nowadays Latvia.