In the summer of
1589 the town of Kandalaksha was burning, in the distance a column of
rugged Finns were marching towards their next target, the town of
Kem, at its head was the soon to be legand, Pekka Vesainen.
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| The lifesize statue of Pekka Vesainen outside Ii parish church. Source: Personal Collection |
His life
Due to the times and area, little concrete information exists
regarding Pekka Vesainen. It isn’t known when he was born but he
does appear in Swedish documents (Finland was part of the Swedish
empire at this time) in 1563 under the name Petr Vesa. There is
conflicts as to where he is born, with some claiming he was born it
Utajärvi, while the more popular theory is he was born in Vesala, in
what was then part of Ii. His family is also a mystery, but the
legends state he had a wife and 7 children. In the 1571 tax lists, he
is known to have one horse, four cows, four bulls and four sheep, a
modest holding for those in the same area but it is thought (due to
Swedish Crown Accounts) that he was an assistant Lay Judge in the
Municipality of Ii.
It is thought he died in 1627 in the same house that he had lived in
his whole life.
Outside of this, not much else is known of his life, a lot is
attributed to oral legend and isn’t confirmable.
The Long Wrath
The Kingdom of Sweden and the Tsardom of Russia, and as well as their
predecessors and successors, found themselves in various conflicts
over the territories than now make up Finland, Estonia, Latvia and
Russia.
Between 1570 and 1595, a 25 year long conflict, known as Pitkä Viha
(or Long Wrath) in Finnish, took place that heavily affected Finland.
Johan III of Sweden and Ivan Vasilyevich of Russia (more commonly
known as Ivan the Terrible) came to blows over demands between the
two nations, after Swedish ambassadors were arrested in Novgorod,
demands for Swedish silver mines to be handed over to Russia and the
reveal that Ivan’s granddaughter was promised to Danish Prince
Magnus av Ösel (Sweden was currently at war with Denmark) and who
had been promised the crown of Livonia; Conflict broke out.
Russian and Danish troops marched on to Reval (Modern day Tallinn)
and laid siege to the Swedish garrison there in August. After
numerous assaults, two Swedish ships breaking through the blockade
with much needed supplies in September, an outbreak of plague in 1571
and the conclusion of Peace with Denmark in February, the siege was
lifted in March, and Prince Magnus was forced to retire his forces.
The conflict ebbed and flowed throughout the two nations, with both
sides gaining advances and loosing gains as is the normal way in war.
In Finland the war wasn’t some distant event. Russian forces,
mainly paid Karelians, burnt and ravaged the areas of Ii and Kiiminki
during the 1580s. It was in face of the destruction of his home area
that Vesainen would raise up an armed militia to strike back. Leaving
in early summer 1589, he led between 90-100 village men (Russian
sources state as many as 900) to the White Sea, attacking several
Russian and Karelian settlements along the way. They then attacked
the town of Kandalaksha, burning down the monastery there and killing
up to 450 people but before any Russian help could arrive the raiders
had moved south. They advanced to Kem, a small fishing village, where
they ransacked it before deciding to return home. The party returned
by the coming of Fall with much loot. Vesainen returned to find his
wife had been captured by Russian supported raiders and two of his
children dead. It was this event that legend states inspired his
second expedition into Russia.
Fuel by the anger of his dead children and missing wife, he led a
force of a few hundred men from Ii, Tornio and Kemi areas to the Kola
Peninsular. Here he led an attack against the Petsamo Monastery on
Christmas Eve 1589. The raiders took out their revenge upon the monks
and laymen present at the Christmas worship, putting over 100 to the
sword and burning down the entire complex before heading to the
important trading town of Kola. Here they attacked and conquered the
town, plundering and burning the residents. The militia force, full
of rage, then attempted to take the Fort in the area. However the
Russia forces, under command of a Voivode (A warlord), held out
against the more lightly equipped Finns and soon Vesainen was forced
to call a retreat. He returned in early 1590, having freed his wife
along the way (but the stories aren’t clear where or when), and
settled back into a peaceful country life.
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| The Petsamo Monestry as it appeared in 1911. Source: Wikimedia |
Later in 1590, legend says he was visited by King Johan III and
presented with gifts for his services. However, Vesainen’s life
wasn’t to remain peaceful for long, for another raid by Russians
hit the Ii and Kiiminki areas. Vesainen’s family lost three more
children to these raiders, breaking Pekka’s spirit.
The Growing of
the Legend
Due to his spot in antiquity, as well as residing in the more wild
areas of Swedish rule, not much official documents are able to
support much of the life of Pekka Vesainen. Outside of a couple of
official tax documents, the majority of what we know comes from oral
tradition. While oral tradition is an accepted part of
historiography and helps us understand the importance of events
within the context of anthropology, it can be highly questionable to
rely solely upon it. This is due to oral transmissions within
societies being subject to embellishment, twistings, and reflections
of the current societal trends. But it shouldn’t be wholly
dismissed due to the faults, but used in conjunction with the more
confirmable information we have.
Pekka Vesainen’s legend is one that sees more input from oral
tradition. Thanks to a tax record of the Ostrobothnia bailiff in
1589, in which he collected some of the spoils from Vesainen’s
expedition, we can at least confirm that he was involved in the
incidents at Kandalaksha and Kem. The second expedition to Kola is
one that has come under more scrutiny. Due to the closeness of the
events and lack of corroborating sources, most modern historians
believe that Vesainen wasn’t involved in this event but regardless
of the truth, the legend has grown up around it.
In the rise of Finnish Nationlism (Fennoman movement) in the 18th
century, saw a rise of National Heroes from Finland’s past. These
characters were romanticised in literature and used as examples of
Finnishness and bravery against the invader. Vesainen’s story was
elevated to the national stage in 1894 with the publication of ‘Juho
Vesainen’ by Finnish Nationalist Historical writer Santeri Ivalo.
From this point, Vesainen’s life became a symbol of the
determination and drive of the Ostrobothnian people and in 1936 a
large statue was placed at Vesala depicting the Militia leaders head.
A road in the village was also named after him, and in 1940 a
lifesized statute of Vesainen was erected at Ii’s parish church.
Sources
Oral Tradition as a Reliable Source of Historical Writing: Arguments for and Against and Implications for Historical Writing in Education; MURAINA, Monsuru Babatunde (2015)
