The Grand Duchy of Finland

Three recurring themes dominate the Grand Duchy of Finland’s historical image. First, it is used as shorthand for Finland’s status as a modern autonomous state within the Russian Empire. Second, seen from a longer perspective covering the Swedish period, scholarly works tend to present it as an empt...

Full beskrivning

Sparad:
Bibliografiska uppgifter
Materialtyp: Online
Språk:engelska
Utgiven: Finnish Literature Society / SKS 2026
Ämnen:
Länkar:ONIX_20260621T103021_9789524270144_7
Taggar: Lägg till en tagg
Inga taggar, Lägg till första taggen!
_version_ 1869530896568156160
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description Three recurring themes dominate the Grand Duchy of Finland’s historical image. First, it is used as shorthand for Finland’s status as a modern autonomous state within the Russian Empire. Second, seen from a longer perspective covering the Swedish period, scholarly works tend to present it as an empty relic stemming from old listings of royal titles. Third, in more popular representations it is part of the imaginary realm of Sweden-Finland and predestined to become a nation state. This book strives to specify all these takes by investigating the historical meanings associated with the notion of grand duchy from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries. It analyses different layers in the Swedish, Russian, and Finnish use of the concept, from medieval modes of princely power to modern ideas of national statehood in the light of the evolving history of the European concepts of state and nation. In Finland the ‘grand duchy’ was seldom rhetorically confronted as a symbol of the declining old order. Nor, however, was it a synonym for the ‘Emperor’s Finland’ and unbroken loyalty. Instead, its meaning was stretched in opposing directions as a frame for princely rule and an arena for representing the people. During its long history the Grand Duchy of Finland came to signify both Finland’s imperial dependence and its constitution as a separate state and nation – until the overstretched concept shattered in 1917, both from without and within.
format Online
id doab-20.500.12854ir-177756
institution Directory of Open Access Books
language eng
publishDate 2026
publishDateRange 2026
publishDateSort 2026
publisher Finnish Literature Society / SKS
publisherStr Finnish Literature Society / SKS
record_format ojs
spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-1777562026-06-22T05:05:51Z The Grand Duchy of Finland Liikanen, Ilkka Marjanen, Jani Conceptual history Era of autonomy Forms of government Grand Duchy of Finland Historiography Period of Swedish rule in Finland thema EDItEUR::1 Place qualifiers::1D Europe::1DN Northern Europe, Scandinavia::1DNF Finland thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPH Political structure and processes thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHD European history Three recurring themes dominate the Grand Duchy of Finland’s historical image. First, it is used as shorthand for Finland’s status as a modern autonomous state within the Russian Empire. Second, seen from a longer perspective covering the Swedish period, scholarly works tend to present it as an empty relic stemming from old listings of royal titles. Third, in more popular representations it is part of the imaginary realm of Sweden-Finland and predestined to become a nation state. This book strives to specify all these takes by investigating the historical meanings associated with the notion of grand duchy from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries. It analyses different layers in the Swedish, Russian, and Finnish use of the concept, from medieval modes of princely power to modern ideas of national statehood in the light of the evolving history of the European concepts of state and nation. In Finland the ‘grand duchy’ was seldom rhetorically confronted as a symbol of the declining old order. Nor, however, was it a synonym for the ‘Emperor’s Finland’ and unbroken loyalty. Instead, its meaning was stretched in opposing directions as a frame for princely rule and an arena for representing the people. During its long history the Grand Duchy of Finland came to signify both Finland’s imperial dependence and its constitution as a separate state and nation – until the overstretched concept shattered in 1917, both from without and within. 2026-06-22T05:05:49Z 2026-06-22T05:05:49Z 2026-06-21T16:05:07Z 2026 book book ONIX_20260621T103021_9789524270144_7 1458-526X (Print) 2669-9591 (Online) https://doi.org/10.21435/sfh.30 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/114386 9789524270144 9789524270120 9789524270137 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/177756 eng Studia Fennica Historica open access image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/114386/1/9789524270144.pdf Finnish Literature Society / SKS Finnish Literature Society/SKS 10.21435/sfh.30 10.21435/sfh.30 8ceefe60-b6e9-4502-8498-ff110bb0f062 9789524270144 9789524270120 9789524270137 Finnish Literature Society/SKS 323 Helsinki, Finland open access
spellingShingle Conceptual history
Era of autonomy
Forms of government
Grand Duchy of Finland
Historiography
Period of Swedish rule in Finland
thema EDItEUR::1 Place qualifiers::1D Europe::1DN Northern Europe, Scandinavia::1DNF Finland
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPH Political structure and processes
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHD European history
The Grand Duchy of Finland
title The Grand Duchy of Finland
title_full The Grand Duchy of Finland
title_fullStr The Grand Duchy of Finland
title_full_unstemmed The Grand Duchy of Finland
title_short The Grand Duchy of Finland
title_sort grand duchy of finland
topic Conceptual history
Era of autonomy
Forms of government
Grand Duchy of Finland
Historiography
Period of Swedish rule in Finland
thema EDItEUR::1 Place qualifiers::1D Europe::1DN Northern Europe, Scandinavia::1DNF Finland
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPH Political structure and processes
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHD European history
topic_facet Conceptual history
Era of autonomy
Forms of government
Grand Duchy of Finland
Historiography
Period of Swedish rule in Finland
thema EDItEUR::1 Place qualifiers::1D Europe::1DN Northern Europe, Scandinavia::1DNF Finland
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPH Political structure and processes
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHD European history
url ONIX_20260621T103021_9789524270144_7