Kvenland, known in medieval sources by various names including Cwenland, Qwenland, and Kænland, is an ancient region in northern Scandinavia. Kvenland and the ethnonym Kven are only mentioned in a small number of historical accounts and remain a subject of scholarly debate. Kvenland was located somewhere east of Scandinavian Mountains, and is often suggested to have been located at the Bothnian Bay in northern parts of present-day Sweden and Finland.
The earliest surviving mention of Kvenland comes from an Old English Orosius, written in the late 9th century. This text is an Old English adaption of Historiae adversus paganos by Paulus Orosius (fl. c. 400), supplemented with information from the Norwegian chieftain and traveler Ohthere of Hålogaland. Ohthere described Cwenland and the conflicts between the Cwenas and the Northmen.
Historia Norwegiæ, a brief history of Norway probably written in the 12th century, also mentions Kvenland. The most detailed accounts appear in Icelandic sagas written in the 12th and 13th centuries, such as Egil's Saga and Hversu Noregr byggðist. These texts, composed centuries after the events they describe, portray Kvenland as a realm with its own kings. The relationship between the historical reality and the legendary elements within these sagas is a central question in the study of Kvenland.
Medieval and older sources
Old English Orosius A Norwegian adventurer and traveler named Ohthere visited England around 890 CE. King Alfred of Wessex had his stories written down and included them in his Old English version of a world history written by the Romano-Hispanic author Orosius. Ohthere's story contains the only contemporary description about Kvenland that has survived from the 9th century:Online edition of Ohthere's description of Kvenland. A more faithful edition of the original text is in Thorpe, B., The Life of Alfred The Great Translated From The German of Dr. R. Pauli To Which Is Appended Alfred's Anglo-Saxon Version of Orosius, Bell, 1900, pp. 250–52. Note that in translations here the names of places, countries and people have been harmonized to forms used in Wikipedia, while forms used in the text are presented in parentheses. [Ohthere] said that the Norwegians' () land was very long and very narrow ... and to the east are wild mountains, parallel to the cultivated land. Finnas inhabit these mountains ... Then along this land southwards, on the other side of the mountain (sic), is Sweden ... and along that land northwards, Kvenland (). The Kvens () sometimes make depredations on the Northmen over the mountain, and sometimes the Northmen on them; there are very large [freshwater] meres amongst the mountains,Given the context, "geond", with a range of possible meanings in "throughout", "over" and "as far as", is best understood as "amongst"; and "moras", with a range of possible meanings in "moors" or "mountains", is best understood as "mountains", though "moors" may be intended. The word mór [] m (-es/-as) used in the original text can be translated as moor, morass, swamp; hill, mountain. See e.g. . and the Kvens carry their ships over land into the meres, and thence make depredations on the Northmen; they have very little ships, and very light.
As emphasized in the text, Ohthere's account was an oral statement, made to King Alfred, and the section dealing with Kvenland takes up only two sentences. Ohthere's information on Kvens may have been second-hand, since, unlike in his other stories, Ohthere does not emphasize his personal involvement in any way. Ohthere's method of locating Kvenland can be interpreted to mean that Kvenland was located in and around the northern part of the modern-day Sweden and in the mid-western part of the modern-day Finland, when the difference in the Viking compass is taken into consideration (see more further below).
Ohthere's may be a reference to the Sami people, but not all historians agree on this.Julku, Kyösti: Kvenland – Kainuunmaa. With English summary: The Ancient territory of Kainuu. Oulu, 1986. Although Ohthere does not give any name for the area where his "Finnas" lived, he gives a lengthy description of their lives in and around Northern Norway, without mentioning Kvens.Ohthere's description of Sami people. Earlier in the text Ohthere is reported to have said that "that land is very long north from thence, but it is all waste, except in a few places, where the Finnas dwell here and there".
Ohthere's mention of the "large [freshwater] meres" and of the Kvens' boats are of great interest. The meres are said to be "amongst the mountains", the words used in the text being . Ohthere may be referring to the Southern Norwegian lake district, which is also referred to in Orkneyinga saga. This way, the reference would have included Lake Mjøsa, an area which is known to have been inhabited at that time: the Orkneyinga saga tells how these inhabitants were attacked by men from Kvenland.
The mention of the "very light ships" (boats) carried overland has a well-documented ethnographic parallel in the numerous portages of the historical river and lake routes in Fennoscandia and Northern Russia. According to the philologist Irmeli Valtonen, "[the] text does not give us a clear picture where the Cwenas are to be located though it seems a reasonable conclusion that they lived or stayed somewhere in the modern-day areas of Northern Sweden or Northern Finland."Irmeli Valtonen: A Land beyond Seas and Mountains: A Study of References to Finland in Anglo-Saxon Sources. A paper in the book Suomen varhaishistoria [Proto-history of Finland]. Edited by Kyösti Julku. Rovaniemi 1992.
The name Kven briefly appears later in King Alfred's Orosius. The Kven Sea is mentioned as the northern border for the ancient Germany, and Kvenland is mentioned again, as follows: ... the Swedes () have to the south of them the arm of the sea called East (), and to the east of them Sarmatia (), and to the north, over the wastes, is Kvenland (), to the northwest are the nomadic people (), and the Norwegians () are to the west.Cf. Geography of Alfred
The Viking compass is believed to have had a 45-degree rotation of cardinal points.See e.g. Weibull, Lauritz. De gamle nordbornas väderstrecksbegrepp. Scandia 1/1928; Ekblom, R. Alfred the Great as Geographer. Studia Neuphilologia. 14/1941-2; Ekblom, R. Den forntida nordiska orientering och Wulfstans resa till Truso. Förnvännen. 33/1938; Sköld, Tryggve. Isländska väderstreck. Scripta Islandica. Isländska sällskapets årsbok 16/1965. If the territories listed in King Alfred's Orosius are examined with that in mind, the Norwegians would be to the northwest of Sweden, and the nomadic people would be to the north. These points are correct after rotation based on the difference between the Viking and modern compasses. Kvenland is then situated to the northeast of Sweden and might be placed somewhere around the present-day Swedish Norrland or the western part of the present-day Finland. The information of Kvenland being situated "over the wastes", northwards from the Viking-period "Sweden" (corresponding roughly to the south-central part of present-day Sweden) matches the idea of Kvenland extending to Norrland. There is no "Finland" mentioned anywhere either in the original or the updated version of Orosius' history.
Hversu Noregr byggdist and Orkneyinga saga Three medieval Icelandic accounts discuss Kvenland. They are Egils saga and the more legendary Hversu Noregr byggdistHversu Noregr byggdist. See also original text. and Orkneyinga saga.Orkneyinga saga. See also original text. According to Hversu Noregr byggdist, Kvens made sacrifices to Thorri, who "ruled over Gothland, Kvenland (Kænlandi) and Finland." According to Orkneyinga saga, Fornjót was "a king" who "reigned over Gotland, which we now know as Finland and Kvenland." It was located "to the east of the gulf that lies across from the White Sea (Gandvík); we call that the Gulf of Bothnia (Helsingjabotn)."The text in the original language.
Orkneyinga saga contains a description of Nór traveling from Kvenland to Norway. This is how Nór started his journey to Norway: But Nor, his brother, waited until snow lay on the moors so he could travel on skis. He went out from Kvenland and skirted the Gulf, and came to that place inhabited by the men called Sami (Lapps);It is not sure if this is a reference to Sami people or some other group. Finnic-based "Lapp" does not appear in any other saga. It became a common name for Sami people only later in Middle Ages, and Norwegians never really adopted it. that is beyond Finnmark.
Having traveled for a while, Nór was still "beyond Finnmark." After a brief fight with the Lapps, Nór continued: But Nor went thence westward to the Kjolen Mountains and for a long time they knew nothing of men, but shot beasts and birds to feed to themselves, until they came to a place where the rivers flowed west of the mountains. — Then he went up along the valleys that run south of the fjord. That fjord is now called Trondheim. Nór ended up attacking the area around Trondheim in central Norway and later the lake district in the south, conquering the country and uniting it under his rule. There is no mention of Kvenland after that. Again only a handful of words are devoted to Kvenland, mainly telling where it was.
Nór's journey from Kvenland to Norway is missing from Hversu, which in fact does not even mention that Nór came from Kvenland at all, only stating: "Norr had great battles west of the Keel". The journey may have been lifted from some other context and added to Orkneyinga saga in a later phase by an unknown author who wanted to make the saga more adventurous.
Whether Fornjót and his immediate descendants were actual historical people has been debated. Kyösti Julku notes that no geographical errors have been found in the descriptions of the Orkneyinga Saga. He asks why therefore the people described in the account should be considered not to have existed.Julku, Kyösti: Kvenland - Kainuunmaa. With English summary: The Ancient territory of Kainuu. Oulu, 1986.
Egil's saga Egil's Saga is an Icelandic saga likely written between 1220 and 1240 CE. Although the author is anonymous, scholarly tradition often attributes the work to Snorri Sturluson (1179–1241), a prominent Icelandic historian, poet, and politician.
The saga chronicles the lives of a Norwegian family over several generations. The narrative begins in Norway around 850 CE and concludes in Iceland around 1000 CE. It contains an account of an alliance between the hero's uncle, Thorolf Kveldulfsson, and a king of Kvenland named Faravid, in a campaign against Karelian raiders. Chapter XIV of the saga provides specific geographical information regarding Kvenland's location:Egil's Saga, Chapter XIV Finmark is a wide tract; it is bounded westwards by the sea, wherefrom large firths run in; by sea also northwards and round to the east; but southwards lies Norway; and Finmark stretches along nearly all the inland region to the south, as also does Hålogaland outside. But eastwards from Namdalen (Naumdale) is Jämtland (Jamtaland), then Hälsingland (Helsingjaland) and Kvenland, then Finland, then Karelia (Kirialaland); along all these lands to the north lies Finmark, and there are wide inhabited fell-districts, some in dales, some by lakes. The lakes of Finmark are wonderfully large, and by the lakes there are extensive forests. But high fells lie behind from end to end of the Mark, and this ridge is called Keels.