Bjarmaland
Bjarmaland (also known as
Bjarmland,
Bjarmia or
Perma) was a territory known up to the
Viking Age - and beyond - on the south shores of the
White sea and the surrounding areas in Northern Europe, in area that today is part of north-western
Russia, limiting approximately to the modern day Finnish-Russian northern border in the
Finnish province of
Lapland.
Bjarmaland is mentioned e.g. by
Norse sagas, where the
Finnic Bjarmians (also known as
Bjarms) lived and "ruled". In at least some historical
Norse writings - such as e.g. in those by
Ottar from Hålogaland - the
Bjarmians were referred to as
Kvens, i.e. the
Finns - and their descendants - of northern Scandinavia, northern Finland and northwestern Russia.
In this view - supported to by some other historical writings, and the
Scandinavian folklore - such as that found in the Finnish national epic, the
Kalevala - the
Bjarmians were the most eastern of the
Finnic people referred to as
Kvens, and thus
Bjarmaland formed the most eastern edge of the area known as
Kvenland.
Much of what we know about the Viking Age
Bjarmland comes from the Norse and Icelandic sagas, also from the writings by the Norwegian explorer Ottar ca
870, as well as the Arabian traders from the south. In
1133 Abdullah Hamid ben Muhammed traveled to
Vepsä and traded sword blades to "a land which is located at bahr muzlimin Dark Sea
(Arctic Ocean) shores", where sword blades were exchanged for Sable skins.
In today's terms, the historic
Bjarmians - their descendants - are called
East Karelians.
The name appears in old
Norse literature, possible for the area where
Arkhangelsk is presently situated, and where it was preceded by a Biarmian merchant town. The first appearance of the name is in the
Voyage of Ohthere, which was undertaken ca
890. According to the story, it was not the first Scandinavian voyage to the Biarmians, and it was explicitly undertaken to purchase
walrus tusks from the Biarmians. Biarmland is also used later, maybe not the same Biarmland, both by the German historian
Adam of Bremen (ca. 11th c.) and the Icelander
Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241) in
Herrauðs (Herraudhs) and
Bosa saga, telling its rivers flowing out to
Gandvik.
Biarmian god
Jomali or
Jumala (meaning thunder) is
Finnic but the description of him is more Siberian, especially the crown adorned with twelve stars in gold, characteristic to Siberian shaman caps.
Olaus Magnus usually put Biarmland near the Perm region (
Komi peoples), and
Johannes Schefferus (1621 - 1679) argued it was equal to an ancient and larger
Laponia. Later more modern researches argues it is presumably associated with
Vepses or
Karelians and that
Tschudins mentioned in Russian chronicles is identical to Biarmians.
It has been considered whether the inhabitants in Biarmland were either displaced by the
Russians or assimilated by them. It has been suggested that the
Vepses, who remain not far from the hypothetical area are the descendants of the Biarmians, are the only remaining descendants of the Biarmians.
Bureus¹ also argued (Latin)
biarmia to be derived from (Finnish)
vaaramaa, "mountain ground" (bergstrakt).
[¹
either the geographer Andreas Bureus (1571-1646) or linguist Johannes Bureus (1568-1652).]The
Norwegian merchant
Ottar (Ohthere) related for king
Alfred the Great that he had passed the
North Cape and after several days' voyage he arrived at a great river, the Dvina. At the estuary of the Dvina, dwelt the
Beormas, who unlike the
nomadic Sami peoples were sedentary, and their land was rich and populous. Ottar did not know their language but he said that it resembled the language of the Samis (
Finno-ugric). The Biarmians told Ottar about their country and other countries that bordered it.
Later several expeditions were undertaken from Norway. In 920,
Eirik Bloodaxe made a Viking expedition, as well as
Harald II of Norway and
Haakon Magnusson of Norway, in 1090.
The most well-known expedition was that of
Tore Hund (Tore Dog) who together with some friends, arrived in Biarmland, in
1026. They started to trade with the inhabitants and bought a great many pelts, whereupon they pretended to leave. Later, they made shore in secret, and plundered the burial site, where the Biarmians had erected an idol of their god
Jomali (Ibmel, cf. (Finnish)
Jumala, 'thunder god', see
Thor). This god had a bowl containing silver on his knees, and a valuable chain around his neck. Tore and his men managed to escape from the pursuing Biarmians with their rich booty.
The wealth of the Biarmians was due to their profitable trade along the
Dvina, the
Kama River and the Volga to
Bolghar and other trading settlements in the south. Along this route, silver coins and other merchandise were exchanged for pelts and walrus tusks brought by the Biarmians. Further north, the Biarmians traded with the Saami who are said to have been tributaries to the Biarmians.
It seems that the Scandinavians made use of this trade route, in addition to those that were already travelled by the Varangians. In
1217, two Norwegian traders arrived in Biarmland to buy pelts; one of the traders continued further south to pass through Russia in order to arrive in the
Holy Land, where he intended to take part in the
Crusades. The second trader who remained was, however, killed by the Biarmians. This caused Norwegian officials to perform a campaign of retribution into Biarmland which they pillaged in
1222.
This time seems to be the decline of the Biarmians. The arrival of the
Mongols in Russia undoubtedly contributed to the decline. Even if Biarmland was very distant from the lands plundered by the Mongols, many Biarmians sought refuge in
Norway, where they were given land in
Malangen, by
Haakon IV of Norway, in
1240. More important for the decline was probably that the trade routes had found a more westerly orientation and that the Scandinavians had started to trade with
Novgorod instead.
When the Novgorodians founded
Velikiy Ustiug, in the beginning of the
13th century, the Biarmians had a serious competitor for the trade. More and more Novgorodian
Slavs arrived in the area during the 14th and 15th centuries, which lead to the final submission and assimilation of the Biarmians.
*
Perm*
Mythical place*
Pomors*
Russenorsk*
Kola Norwegians* http://uralica.com/kola.htm
