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1. WRITTEN INFORMATION ABOUT THE TRIBES THAT INHABITED THE TERRITORY OF KARELIA FROM THE ANCIENT TIMES UNTIL THE 14TH CENTURY

# 1-5 The first written mention about Karelian tribes

# 1 A mention in the annals of the Vesi's participation in prince Oleg's war journeys

year 882
In the year of 63901. Oleg went and got himself a lot of warriors, Variags, Chudi, Sloveni, Meri, Vesi, Krivichi, and, having come to Smolensk, with Krivichi, took the city and stationed his men there, and from there he went downwards and took Liubets, and stationed his men there. And then he came to the Kiev mountains... And Oleg settled to reign in Kiev...

According to these chronicles, in 882 the Novgorod prince Oleg had gathered a large army, among which is mentioned Vesi - the ancestors of the present Veps nationality, and captured Smolensk, Liubech, and then Kiev, which he made his capital. This is one of the first few mentions of Vesi.


# 2 Novgorod treebark tablet #5902 - about lithuanians setting on a war journey against the karelians
year 1066 3
Lithuania rose against Korela.

This document tells about the beginning of war actions of lithuanians against the karelians. Those, who studied this document, referring to the presence of a special sign - tamga - in the left part of the document, indicate the official significance of this document.


# 3 From the geographical introduction to the Norwegian chronicles "the History of Norway" -about Karelians
no later than 1115
To the northeast of Norway there area numerous tribes, indulging in (o, horror!) paganism: Kirials and Kvens, Finns with antlers, all of them Biarmons4...


# 4 The first Novgorod chronicles - about a war journey of Karelians against the Finnish Häme tribe
year 1143
In the year of 6651. That same year Korela went out against the Häme and, retreating, lost two ships.

This event in the chronicles speaks about an unsuccesful war journey by Korela against Häme, which at that moment resided in the southern areas of present-day Finland.


# 5 The first Novgorod chronicle - about the participation of Karelians in exiling the Novgorod prince Yaroslav
year1270
In the year of 6778... That same year there was a rebellion in Novgorod, and they decided to exile prince Yaroslav from the city, and they had called a conference in Yaroslav's courts... And the prince went out of the city against his will... Yaroslav began collecting an army to go against Novgorod... And to Novgorod there came all the Novgorod area and that of Plskov, Ladoga, Korela, Izhera5, Vodi6, and everyone came to Golino, young and old, and there they stationed for a week near the river passage, and Yaroslav's army was on this other side... And Yaroslav sent to bow down to the Novgorod army and they made a truce on Novgorod's conditions and they set Yaroslav back to reign and they had him swear by the cross...

Prince Yaroslav was exiled from Novgorod for his actions, which llimited the rights of the inhabitants of Novgorod. Later, however, the people of Novgorod agreed to let him still be their prince, but on one condition that he would from now on "be without unjustice". Karelians took an active part in these events being a part of the Novgorod army. This document is an evidence of karelians' participation in the internal affairs of Novgorod.


# 6-9 Joined fighting of karelians and Novgorod against the aggression of the Swedish and the German feudals (13-14th centuries)

# 6 the first Novgorod chronicle -about Karelians participating in the war journey of alexander Nevski against the Germans

In the year of 6749. Prince Olexander came to Novgorod, and the Novgorod people were glad. That same year prince Olexander went out against the Germans in the Koporye city, with the Novgorod people, and with the Ladoga people, and with the Korela people, and with the Izhera people, and took the city, and brought the Germans back to Novgorod, and set some free; and he hung the traitors Vodi and Chudi7.

Having captured the southeastern part of the Finnish Gulf (the territory of the Vodi tribe), the Germans were looking to also capture the Neva river coasts and Karelia. Their plans were deranged by the war journey of Alexander Nevski against the Koporye city in 1241. People of Ladoga, Izhora and Korela participated in the journey. Germans were driven out of the Vodi territories they had occupied.


# 7 The first Novgorod chronicle - about Novgorod troops protecting Karelian land from swedish attacks
year 1284
In the year of 6792... That same year the German commander Trunda together with the Germans8 in their ships had entered the Ladoga lake through the Neva river with a large army, looking to collect taxes from Korela. But the Novgorod army with their commander Smen and with the Ladoga people came and stationed by the mouth of Neva and waited for them, and when those came, they beat them, the rest of them having fled in the month of September the 9th.

Having captured most of the Hame territory, the Swedes were looking to submit southwestern Karelia to Sweden. By the end of the 13th century their raids in the Neva river and Ladoga lake areas became very frequent. The desire of commander Trunda to tax karelians in 1284, however, was not successful, because the swedes had to encounter the organised resistance of the Novgorod army, which managed to crush and drive out the Swedes out of Karelian territory.


# 8 The first Novgorod chronicle - about karelians throwing back a swedish attack
year 1292
In the year 6800... That same year the Swedes came in the amount of 800 for war, 400 of them went to Korela and 400 went to Izhera; and Izhera had beaten them, and Korela had beaten theirs, and some they took with their hands9.

In 1292 Korela and Izhora had themselves, without help from Novgorod, managed to beat the Swedes and to drive them out of their lands.


# 9 The first Novgorod chronicle - about the Pähkinäsaari/Noteburg peace treaty between Novgorod and Sweden
year 1323
In the year of 6831. The Novgorod people went with prince Yuri and founded a city10 in the mouth of Neva on the Orekhovi island. And right away came the ambassadors from the Swedish king and signed an eternal peace with the prince and with Novgorod according to the old rules...

Peace between Sweden and Novgorod was signed in the Orekhov (Pähkinäsaari/Noteburg) peace treaty , which mostly covered territorial claims. The country borderline went from the Finnish gulf along the Sestra river up north to the Saima lake and then on northwest to the gulf of Botnia. According to the Orekhov/Pähkinäsaari/Noteburg treaty it was prohibited for both countries to build new cities on Karelian territory, the Swedes did not have the right to buy land from the Novgorod Karelians. the population of both sides was banned from crossing the official borders - "and if a debtor or a servant or peasant or someone who commited evil runs to your side, or to ours, he should be returned to the officials". The treaty also covered the trade issue: "guests, visit without harm from any German land... same for our guest the way across the sea should be clear."


1 Here and further on the documents retain dates according to the system "from the creation of the world" (6390, 7122 etc.) Western Europe had switched to the present calendar system "Anno Domini" by the 10th century, Russia - in 1700 by the decree of Peter the Great on January 1st, 7208 from the creation of the world, therefore the difference between the two systems is 5508 years. To convert dates to modern calendar it is necessary to remember, that in Russia until the year 7000 from the creation of the world (1492 A.D.) the year began on March 1st, and then until 7208 - on September 1st. Therefore, when converting to modern dates events, that happened from September 1st till December 31st in the period from year 7200 to year 7208, one should subtract 5509 years, and from January 1st to August 31st - 5508 years. In cases when the month is unknown, usually a double date is written, for example: year 7184 - 5509(5508) = year 1675/76.

2 According to the authors of the publication, out of 614 documents, found in Novgorod in 1951-1983, over 10 contain information on Karelia. A large portion of documents was found in the Nerev excavation on the Sophia (left coast) side of Novgorod. This particular document is the oldest mention of Karelians in written monuments. The basis of its dating was the site where it was found - it is related to the year 1066.

3 Year 1115 is the time when the events, described in the chronicle, ended.

4 Kirials are Karelians. Kvens are a Finnish tribe. Biarmons are the inhabitants of Biarmia - a legendary land in the east of northern Europe.

5 Izhora (Izhera, Ingerians) is a tribe, native to Karelians, it occupied the Neva river area.

6 Vodi are a Baltic-Finnish tribe, that lived south of the finnish Gulf.

7 Chudi - that is the way Russian chronicles sometimes called the Baltic-finnish tribes.

8 Germans - foreigners, strangers. In this case the chronicle is talking about the Swedes.

9 Took with their hands - took into captivity.

10 The city was named Oreshek.

The materials were taken from the book "The history of Karelia in documents and materials", published by the Petrozavodsk State University, Petrozavodsk, 2000.

 

A fuller list of ancient documents, concerning Korela, on the PETERSBURG AREA website.