Summary:

Sirpa Aalto, Cultures in contact or colliding? Scandinavians and the Finnar in the sagas

There is only a limited amount of written sources with which to study the encounters between Scandinavians and the Finnar, i.e. the Sami people, during the Middle Ages. The focus here will be on the encounters that are depicted in those Kings’ sagas that were first written around the first half of the 13th century. The Kings’ sagas convey a worldview that was prevalent in the Norse-Icelandic cultural sphere during the time they were written.

What makes these encounters between the Scandinavians and the Sami especially interesting is that they each represented very different cultures with respect to livelihood, worldview, and language. The study asks, how these cultures encountered each other and lived side by side, as well as to what extent was there a clash between them? It seems that the encounters were gradually becoming antagonistic at least from the 12th century onwards. Norwegian kings were consolidating their power after a long period of civil wars (ca 1130–1220/1240) and they were relying for this task on the organization of the Church. The Sami did not fit into this society because of their beliefs and livelihood.

The depictions of the Sami in the Kings’ Sagas do not convey the real situation in the 13th century, but these accounts reflect the boundaries for grouping people, from the Norse-Icelandic perspective of the time. It is important for the identity of a group that that group can define itself clearly from surrounding groups and thus support its own identity. When looking at the images of the Finnar in the Kings’ sagas, it is clear that their difference is emphasized; this has to be the view of the elite. In reality, the relations between the Scandinavians and the Sami were varied; this can be confirmed by laws from that period and through the archaeological record.