page_title: Kingdom of Finland (1742)
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Kingdom of Finland (1742) / Aftermath
caption_attribution_description: English: Vyborg Governorate existed 1721-1811 (merged to Finland).
context_page_description: The attempt to create a Kingdom of Finland in 1742 is a little-known chapter in the history of Finland. Following the Russian occupation in the Russo-Swedish War and vague promises of making the country independent, Finns elected the then Duke Peter of Holstein-Gottorp as the King of Finland. However, the political situation had outgrown the idea of Finnish independence and it quickly evaporated.
context_section_description: Disappointment in the results of the Turku Diet lantdag generated some plans to rebel against the Russian occupation, but no actions came of these sentiments.
  In general, the events of the Turku Diet lantdag in 1742 had no consequences after the Russian occupation ended the following year. Elizabeth's new candidate was elected as the next King of Sweden, and some Finnish territory was ceded to Russia. However, the events clearly resemble what happened seventy years later in the Finnish War, which ended up with the Finnish estates gathering in the Diet of Porvoo and swearing their oaths of loyalty to the Russian Emperor Alexander I as the Grand Duke of Finland. Alexander was the grandson of the Duke Charles Peter.
  Sjöström (pp 540–541) mentions that those lands of “Old Finland” were in a sense the surviving continuation of the Kingdom of Finland from 1742.
  Häkkinen and Sippu (pages 84–85) mention that still in the 1790s, certain farmers of the villages of Liikkala, Mämmälä and Ruotila in Old Finland, lodged a claim in court where they pleaded certain provisions of the 1742 Manifest of Empress Elisabeth among other points of law to support their position in that lawsuit. This implies that the 1742 manifest and the "statehood" of the ephemeral 1742 kingdom were still regarded as part of the fundamental rights in the Russian-held Old Finland.
  According to biographical account collected by Dr. Paaskoski (pages 101-102), Johannes Balthasar von Campenhausen (1689-1758) was between 1742 and 1744 the Governor-General of (the occupied) Finland and as successor of James Keith, held the position of leader of civil administration of Finland, firstly at Turku. As consequence of the Treaty of Turku of 1743, Governor-General Johannes Balthasar von Campenhausen transferred his seat to Lappeenranta, in the Old Finland. By the year 1744, Governor-General von Campenhausen organized the administration of Old Finland under himself. Swedish law and administrative practices were employed in the administration organized by von Campenhausen.
  According to Sjöström (pp 540–541), from 1743 to 1917, Old Finland (and other territories with which it merged), was governed as a separate territory with its own administration, law system, governance and constitution, in many aspects similar to the principalities of Germany. The hereditary monarchical ruler of these territories was always a member of the family of the dukes of Gottorp.
  The sovereigns apparently displayed their claim to the Kingdom in a heraldic way: Since 1788, the Arms of Old Finland (Governorate of Finland) included the royal crown under "the protection of" the imperial crown.
caption: The Coat of Arms 1788–1811 of Old Finland
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