outcome of many battles was determined by the refusal of these men to yield an inch.

During this great power period, much attention was given to strengthening the economy. The most lasting benefit of this policy in Finland was the establishment of new cities. Of course, the centers of population still presented very modest statistics: old Turku had a population of six to seven thousand, Viipuri some three to four thousand, and the new Helsinki about one thousand, while all the other centers had only a few hundred each. The spread of learning was also a feature of this period, and the founding of the university in Turku in 1640 meant a great step forward for Finland. Since the first printing press in Finland was set up at the same time, a purely Finnish learning began to develop. However, the Finnish language itself still remained as something kept alive only by the masses of people, in spite of the fact that a Swede, Eskil Petraeus, had written the first Finnish grammar in 1649.

Society was divided into classes. The nobility kept the highest positions in its own hands, while the clergy formed another class, to which youths from the lower classes were able to aspire if they received a university education. The burgesses were beginning to increase in importance as the cities expanded. The Finnish farmers remained at the bottom, under pressure both from the national economy, with heavy taxes causing many farms to be abandoned, and from the power of the nobility which, as a privileged class, had received extensive domains as land grants. The formation of large estates, which had begun in the 1580s, continued on well into the 1630s, while poor farmers continued to be forced to sell their lands to freeholders, the clergy, the burgesses, governors and other officials, or retired soldiers, from which gradually developed an aristocratic landowning class. After the long years of wars, however, the shaky national economy forced reform in this sensitive land problem: after much discussion, lands granted as gifts were withdrawn by instituting a `reduction.' Directly only the state profited by it, but for the Finnish farmers it meant their being rescued from sinking to the status of tenants to the nobility. 4

Sweden-Finland's role as a great power came to an end early in the 18th century. The end was preceded by the famine years, 1694-97, when privation and distress forced their way into every Finnish home, and then the Great Northern War (called the "Great Wrath" by the Finns) during which all Finland was

4. op. cit. Aimo Halila, "Suurvalta-aika", I, pp. 398-470.

4