# First Swedish Crusade

vteSwedish colonial conflicts :
9th century
1st Courland
2nd Courland
12th century
1st Finland
13th century
Tavastia
2nd Finland
3rd Finland
Livonia
15th century
Satakunta
16th century
4th Finland
17th century
1st Beversrede
2nd Beversrede
Tacorary
Casimir
1st New Sweden
2nd New Sweden
Saint Kitts
Kattan
1st Carolusborg
2nd Carolusborg
3rd Carolusborg
4th Carolusborg
3rd New Sweden
Kauhajoki
Värtsilä
Lembola
Libelits
18th century
Esequibo
19th century
1st Saint-Barthélemy
2nd Saint-Barthélemy
3rd Saint-Barthélemy
4th Saint-Barthélemy
5th Saint-Barthélemy
6th Saint-Barthélemy
20th century
Svalbard :
Christianization of Finland :
People :
Locations :
Kokemäki ● Köyliö ● Nousiainen ● Koroinen ● Turku Cathedral :
Events :
Finnish-Novgorodian wars First Swedish Crusade Second Swedish Crusade Third Swedish Crusade :
vte :
The First Swedish Crusade was a possibly mythical military expedition in the 1150s to Southwestern Finland by Swedish King Eric IX and English Bishop Henry of Uppsala.
The earliest written sources of the crusade are from the late 13th century. The main sources of the crusade, the legend of Saint Erik and the legend of Saint Henry, describe the crusade as caused by the multiple raids of pagan Finns on Sweden.
The crusade has traditionally been seen as the first attempt of the Catholic Church and Sweden to convert Finnish pagans to Christianity. However, the Christianisation of Southwestern Finland is known to have already started in the 10th century, and in the 12th century, the area was probably almost entirely Christian. According to legends, after the crusade, Bishop Henry was killed at Lake Köyliö by Lalli. Henry later became a central figure of the Catholic Church in Finland.

## Veracity of the crusade

Academics debate whether this crusade actually took place. No archaeological data gives any support for it, and the earliest written sources are from much later. No surviving written source describes Finland under Swedish rule before the end of the 1240s. Furthermore, the diocese and the bishop of Finland are not listed among their Swedish counterparts before the 1250s. Also, the Christianisation of south-western Finland is known to have already started in the 10th century, and in the 12th century, the area was probably almost entirely Christian.
The Swedish bishop who was normally involved in the eastern campaigns was the Bishop of Linköping, not the Bishop of Uppsala.
The First Novgorod Chronicle relates that in 1142 a Swedish "prince" and bishop, accompanied by a fleet of 60 ships, plundered just three Novgorodian merchant vessels somewhere "on the other side of the sea".

## Timing of the crusade

Almost every year of the 1150s has been suggested as the year that the crusade possibly took place. The most widely-supported years have been 1150, 1155, 1157 and 1158. Other candidates have been 1153, 1154 and 1156.
At the time, leading the leiðangr was the responsibility of the jarl. That gave rise to a theory that Eric had conducted the expedition before he became king or pretender to the throne. Legends give no year for the expedition, but all attempts to date it to an exact year in the 1150s have been much later speculations. All that is known about King Eric and Bishop Henry is that they most probably held important positions in Sweden at some time during the mid-12th century.