The time of the merchants (1419-1434)
The time of the merchants (1419-1434)
In 1419 the newly formed Republic of Sweden seemed invincible; she was flush with cash and held sway over the largest realm in Europe. She was also in the hands of the great merchant families and this would shape her policies for the coming 15 years.
Over the following decade the merchants waged a fierce war of commerce with all comers in the great trading centre of Visby. Visby was by now a great city of 50 000 inhabitants and the centre of all trade via the Baltic Sea. This meant that whoever controlled the trade in Visby would control the long distance trade from most of Russia, Scandinavia, Poland, the Baltic provinces and northern Germany. A huge amount of wealth was thus to be had. Since the government lacked the institutional means to enforce a monopoly and the physical means to dominate the trade the overriding concern became the construction of a navy. In five years a huge navy consisting of 45 galleys and 5 carracks was built to control the Baltic. The greatest of these was the great carrack
Värdigheten (Worthiness) which even sported a bombard, a primitive cannon which could fire stones.
The trading centres of Europe
By 1426 the new navy was ready and took to the seas protecting the trade inside the Baltic and finally ridding the sea of the pirates, often of muslim persuasion, that had been plaguing it since the 13th century. With this also came a dominance of the trade, although not quite a monopoly, since Swedish merchants were not required to pay for the protection of the navy, giving them a large competitive advantage. The merchants now expanded into the trade of Western Europe but failed to gain more than a tentative foothold, it was clear that they had reached their limit.
In Europe three new major alliances were appearing on the political stage. The Kingdom of England had become dominant on its own isles and was now allied to the grand duchy of Luxembourg and the powerful Papacy. The re-vitalized Kingdom of Germany had gained control of most of the Rhine and now built its power in an axis from the duchy of Zeeland on the North Sea to the duchy of Steiermark east of the Alps. The Final alliance was that of the French. In 1420 the Duke of Orléans had proclaimed himself King of France and then forged an alliance with the powerful duchies of Artois and Armangnac.
These three alliances now waged war intermittently with each other and since England held lands in France and France held lands in England as well as Germany the conflict was guaranteed to go on for quite some time.
By 1429 the new government of merchants felt sufficiently secure internally to go to war against the former Swedish vassals of Finland over the control of the rich port of Riga in Livland. Despite the enormous preponderance of the Republic the war dragged on through five years of hardships until the Finns finally gave in. Over five winters more than 50 000 Swedes froze to death in the wilderness of Karelia and the Kola peninsula in the north. The war was waged on a strategy of occupying the central parts of Finland in order for them to give up their holdings in the Baltic provinces. In October 1430 the capital of Helsinki fell and the army moved inland. Sieges were set in the provinces of Savolaks and Kexholm and these were completed in October and December 1431 respectively.
During the winter of 1432 the army, which was very short of competent commanders since the purging of noblemen in the aftermath of the revolution, suffered a mutiny of most officers. In the end the government was forced to recall some of the noble officers of the old royal army in order to maintain discipline and quell the mutiny. This was accomplished at the cost of increased noble power in the Riksdag.
In 1432 the Finns finally decided to make a stand and two armies of 8 and 10 000 respectively were defeated in the woods of Karelia, with the death of Marshal Engelbrekt as the greatest loss. Still the Republic persevered and in the spring of 1434 both Kola and Karelia had been conquered. Now a great army of 18 000 men embarked for Livland and on June 9 the Great fleet of the Republic met the Finnish navy of three ships off Nyholmen in Åland. All three Finnish ships were sunk and the Swedes lost none. As the army disembarked outside of Riga the mayor appeared and presented its commander with the keys to the city. The Finns were finally ready to give up and in the ensuing peace the Republic of Sweden gained the provinces of Estland, Livland and Savolaks. The war had been a success since the Republic had gained two great trading ports and now controlled the trade of the Dvina River. However the cost had been great as well since treasury was almost emptied and the merchants had been forced to yield a significant amount of power to the nobles in exchange for an efficient army. All told the Republic was probably stronger for it, if somewhat more unstable.