Greetings and welcome back to the Swedish history series.
Last episode I talked a bit about how and why Sweden became Christian and today I thought to talk a bit about the Crusades from a Scandinavian perspective.
Near to here we have a runstone erected in the memory of Osten who went to Jerusalem, Jur Salir for a pilgrimage and died in Greece, Grietland, in the Byzantine Empire.
And although Sweden's primary target for its holy wrath went east to Finland, Baltics and Russia, there was also a contingent who went down to fight in the Holy Land along the Crusaders.
The most famous one is actually a fictive character called Arn.
And for the record one of the greatest reading experiences I've had was when I was 13 and read the trilogy of On the Templar by John Guillaux.
Now of course I might have had a different opinion on the series if I read it today but then it was a really inspiring series that really got me interested in history.
Now you might wonder why would Swedish or Scandinavian crusaders go with Germans, Englishmen, Frenchmen to retake the Holy Land?
Well as I said in previous episodes it was still the allure of gold and glory in addition to of course geopolitical and religious reasons.
So if we're talking about the religious reasons you could get you could get absolved of sins if you partook in a crusade but a great reason in my opinion at least and I'm not the first one to say this is that there was the promise of land gold and glory to be had if you partook in a crusade.
Now, of course, the majority of the fighting done by Scandinavians in the Middle East at the time was via the Varingian Guard, the elite regiment of the Byzantine Emperor, primarily made out of Scandinavian Vikings, but also of some Anglo-Saxons and some Slavic people.
And a note here as well is that after William the Conqueror the Norman I talked about the Normans in the last episode when they took over England, a lot of Anglo-Saxons fled to the Byzantine Empire and became recruited in the Varyingian GOD.
So a lot of things were going on in medieval Europe and of course the crusades took place over numerous centuries, and the crusades to Jerusalem were a bit earlier than the crusades to the East.
And the Crusades to the East, to Finland, was done for two reasons.
If we believe the Christian or Swedish sources from the time, it was due to pagan aggression from the Finnish coast.
So Basically, Finnish Vikings raiding Sweden.
Sweden retaliates via conquering Finland and Christian argument to convert them to Christianity was of course used not only by the Swedish crusaders at the time but for other powers as well.
What I just said is an oversimplification of the situation in Finland and Sweden at this time.
The majority of people living along the coasts of Finland at this time were also Swedes.
And when the Swedes of today's Sweden commenced their crusades against Finland, many of the Swedes and Finns who lived in Finland were already Christian.
So you can imagine the awkward moment when they came to the other side of the Baltic Sea to convert people who were already good Christians.
So this story is not black and white, but it has a lot of nuance to it.
So I just thought to clarify that in the context of Swedish Crusades.
And when we talk about crusades, it is often a story of spirituality combined with geopolitical interests.
So Sweden saw this as a great opportunity to expand eastward, which would later bring them into contact and conflict with Russia.
But that will be a topic for a later video.
Swedish Crusaders weren't the only ones who went east.
You also had the infamous Teotonic Order who waged a rather bloody crusade against the pagans in Lithuania, Lithuania being the country in Europe who stayed pagan the longest.
So the Crusades weren't only conducted in order to meet Islamic aggression, although the Crusades were a very late response to Islamic aggression.
If we're understanding the quest to retake the Holy Land, we must also discuss the general geopolitical situation in the Middle East at the time.
The Roman Empire and later the Byzantine Empire had bloodied itself against its longtime rival Persia.
And when they had blooded themselves against each other for numerous centuries, a new aggressive and expansive power, namely the Arabs, who made huge land gains in formerly Persian territory and the formerly Christian North Africa, they also managed to conquer the formerly Visigothic Spain and Portugal, leaving one bit of Christian land in Asturias in north of the Iberian Peninsula.
The Arabs got as far north as Tours, where they got resoundingly defeated by Charles Mattel at the Battle of Tours in 732.
So the Crusades was a very late response to Islamic aggression.
Now the Crusades is a topic of its own and I would need a much longer video to explain all of the details concerning those.
But in regards to Sweden, it was also a way to participate in a greater Christian community.
And of course, as I said, the allure of gold and glory and fame and recognition among the powers of Europe in the community of Christendom, so to speak.
So that could be said to be the Swedish involvement in the Crusades.
A minor contingent going with the larger crusades instigated by the Pope and the larger powers.
You had crusades going eastward for Sweden's own geopolitical reasons, for conquest, simply put.
So that is the Swedish involvement in the Crusades.
The very short story one might say.
So thank you for watching.
I hope that was somewhat informative.
And of course, you can read up on all of this yourself.
And I would definitely encourage you to read up more about the Crusades.
