MP30 – Big hate changed the urban landscape of Rauma and the bourgeoisie

Old Rauma, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2021. Old Rauma was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1991 as a unique example of a living and well-preserved old Nordic tree city.

The fifth part of the 30th anniversary of Old Rauma as a World Heritage Site series looks at the impact of the Great War on Rauma.

The Big Hate changed the urban landscape and the bourgeoisie of Rauma

Isoviha was the Russian occupation of Finland in 1713-1721, during the Great Northern War of 1700-1721. The Russians arrived in Rauma, probably in September 1713, and a large part of the Rauma bourgeoisie fled to Sweden to escape the occupation. The Great War ended with the peace treaty signed in Uusikaupunki in 1721.

During the exodus, many Rauma burghers died. During the occupation, Rauma suffered looting and sheltering by the Russians, but compared to neighbouring towns it was spared little, as only some of the houses of the fleeing inhabitants were burnt down. In Rauma, 43 houses were left deserted, 82 were left in ruins and only 30 survived to some extent. Already during the Great Famine of 1695-1697, Rauma’s population was hit. In 1697 alone, 221 people are said to have died of starvation in Rauma. In addition, the plague struck.

The Big Wrath changed the urban landscape, as many of the houses needed major repairs and some had to be rebuilt. In addition, the Great War had a major impact on the city’s bourgeoisie.

Rauma gained more than 30 new bourgeois during or immediately after the Great War. Most of them came from the town or parish of Rauma, but there were also newcomers from Vyborg, Eurajoe, Hämeenkyroe, Laitila, Mynämäki, Nevanlinna and Pirkkala.

One of the new burghers was Petter Simberg, who had previously lived in Nevanlinna and had been fleeing the occupation in Sweden during the Great War. Nevanlinna, at the confluence of the Neva and Ohtajoki rivers, near present-day St Petersburg, had been conquered by Russia at the beginning of the Great Northern War and was destroyed in 1703. In Rauma, Simberg took up residence in the Jäkär House, now known as the Rauma Museum offices.

Simberg first came to Rauma in 1719, when he received a promise of bourgeois rights from the mayor, Hans Bijnman. He moved to Rauma permanently the following year. Simberg was sworn in as a bourgeois in 1722, guaranteed by the customs officer and hired labourer Johan Spornberg and the bourgeois Mickel Rääppi.

Minna-Liisa Salonsaari, Deputy Director of the Rauma Museum

Sources of the text:
History of the city of Rauma. Rauma history of Rauma.
Veli Pekka Toropainen: Rauma’s new bourgeoisie 1722.