Swedish–Novgorodian Wars

Swedish–Novgorodian Wars were a series of conflicts in the 12th and 13th centuries between the Republic of Novgorod and medieval Sweden over control of the Gulf of Finland, an area vital to the Hanseatic League and part of the Varangian-Byzantine trade route. The Swedish attacks against Orthodox Russians had religious overtones, but before the 14th century there is no knowledge of official Crusade bulls issued by the Pope.

Scandinavians maintained trade relations and other links with Novgorod from the Viking Age onwards. Merchants from Gotland operated both their own trading house (Gutagård) and the St. Olof church in Novgorod. Scandinavians also carried out isolated raids on Novgorod. Eiríkr Hákonarson raided Ladoga in 997, and his brother Sveinn Hákonarson followed suit in 1015. After the marriage of Yaroslav I (Grand Prince of Novgorod and Kiev) to Ingegerd of Sweden in 1019, Ladoga became a jarldom in the orbit of Kievan Rus. It was ruled by Ragnvald Ulfsson, the alleged father of King Stenkil of Sweden (reigned 1060-1066). Dynastic marriages took place between Russian and Scandinavian royal families - for example, in the 1090s Stenkil's granddaughter Christina married Mstislav of Novgorod, upon whose death in 1132 Novgorod seceded from Kievan Rus.

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