Swedish and Finnish Historiographies of the Swedish Realm, C. 1520-1809: Shared Past, Different Interpretations?

In the early modern era, two Nordic countries that are neighbours today, Sweden and Finland, formed one realm. Yet, modern history writing has largely ignored this unity, instead developing analysis and discussion in close connection to nationalistic ideas, national politics, and processes of state-building. Historians of both countries have therefore mostly approached their common past separately and academic history in both countries has taken its own course of development, leading to different emphases.

This volume explores the common early modern history between Sweden and Finland from the Middle Ages to beginning of the 19th century, and how this history has been created in professional historiography (1860-2020), which methods have been used, and which themes studied. Based on extensive source material, including a database of history publications in different fields in both countries, this book offers a fresh scholarly approach to the study of historiography through a unique comparative perspective.

This book is an excellent resource for students and professional researchers alike through providing an alternate view on the history of Sweden and Finland and providing key insight into the historiography of these two countries, and the similarities and differences they showcase.

Petri Karonen is a professor of Finnish history at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. His research interests include Finnish and economic history in general, focusing on the shared history of Sweden and Finland in the early modern period. His publications include a general history of the Swedish realm 1520-1809: Great Power of the North (in Finnish) and studies concerning the history of historiography.

Miia Kuha is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. She is currently working in her own project on 17th-century clergymen’s wives and widows, funded by the Academy of Finland. She has published articles on the historiography of cultural history in Sweden and Finland, the local history tradition in Finland, and lived religion in early modern Eastern Finnish parish communities.