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My ancestors from Wallonia |
Why did the Walloons come to Sweden? |
When King Gustavus II Adolpus inherited the Swedish throne in 1611 he was only 17 years old. The Swedish
nation was at war with three of its neighbours, Denmark/Norway, Poland, and Russia. With the help of a powerful army and
skilful officers they managed to push the Danes back from their positions deep inside the country. At the pece treaty of
Knäred in 1613 Sweden obtained freedom from tolls in the narrow stait of Öresund, something that would help the
Swedish trade abroad a great deal. Meanwhile the war against the Russians continued, mainly under the leadership of Jacob de la Gardie who was the Governor of Novgorod. later the king himself took command. The Russians were forced to agree to a peace treaty in Stolbova in 1617. There they had to relinquish the province of Keksholm in eastern Finland, and the province of Ingemanland. Sweden now had practically full control over the Baltic and was a power of great importance. Gustavus Adolphus governed a land with great natural resources slumbering in vast and still undeveloped areas. There were large forests, mountains rich in minerals, and mighty waterfalls. Only very few made use of all these assets because the Swede didn't yet have the finances and the know-how that were needed. The country was poor and the population was small. At this time only around 900 000 inhabitants were living in proper Sweden, and most of these were earning their living from fishing and farming. Gustavus Adolphus realised that Sweden had the potential to become a virtual goldmine with all this iron and with all these forests! And as ruler of this great power, and with ambitions to enlarge the empire even further, he also knew that the country needed to produce its own weapons and ammunition. And the need for these was great! Also in the rest of Europe there was a need because of the constant warfare on the continent. The king supported the budding immigration of skilled Walloons who had the knowledge and experience needed for extracting and processing iron. After the death of Gustavus Adolphus at the battle of Luetzen in 1632, the young Queen Christina's guardian Axel Oxenstierna took over the rule together with four other high Governement officers, and these men continued to encourage the modernisation of Sweden. |
| Sweden looked like this during its period a a grat power. Press for an enlargement. |
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| The early manufacture of iron in Sweden was of little importance compared with today. But it was still
introducing the embryo of an industrial dimension to the rural society. It developed over many centuries thanks to easily
accessible mines in central Sweden, to plenty of firewood from the forests, and to the many minor rivers and brooks that
oowered the water wheels and ultimately the bellows. It was mostly for own use that the smith was working, and if anything was exported it would be as raw material osmund iron. Then the iron would be bought back processed. In our eyes it looks like bad economy and already Gustv Wasa in the 16th C thought so. He recruited Germans to get a more viable industri started. Towards the end of the Middle Ages the iron was produced by farmers who owned or leased land with iron ores. They were called bergsmän ("Hillsmen") and the iron was a kind of sideline to their farming. Thanks to this sideline it could be worthwhile to be a farmer on the outskirts of villages and in forest areas which would otherwise have been left uninhabited. For practical reasons the hillsmen organised themselves and worked together as teams, called bergslag ("Hills teams") The word "bergslag" has given the name to a whole area in central Sweden where mines were abundant. It's still called Bergslagen. The farmers who had a stake in such a hill team worked in rotation after an agreed schedule and they shared the profits according to how big a stake they had. This applied to both the mining and the work at the blast furnace. The hillsmen and their team had a certain power and status in the Middle Ages and their rights were respected by the authorities. This became evident sometimes when a rich foundry owner came along and wanted to appropriate the farmers' mine with usual power language. The hill teams came to play a part in the democratisation of the country, and now and again one of them would appear in political circumstances. Their world were to change radically in the 17th C when the production of rod-iron took off. This was the modern export product of the day. It would be produced at major works founded by wealthy townsmen, noblemen, or others with access to money. What was left for the hill teams was from then on to melt the iron and make ingots and sell these to the masters at the bigger ironworks I'm not going to describe the details of the iron processing. There are already many good websites where you can read more about it. I can recommend a look at ECO MUSEUM BERGSLAGEN Mining History Network where you can find links to mining history from all over the world. |
Where did the Walloons come from? |
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Walloons speak a special dialect of French, called Walloonian. They inhabit central and southern Belgium - the provinces of Liège,
Hainaut, Luxembourg, Namur and part of Brabant. They are one of the two main ethnic groups that populate Belgium, the other group
being the Flemish who speak a dialect of the Dutch language. The Walloons descended from Celtic tribes who were forced to flee
from northern Gallia at the invasion of Germanic people, the "Belgae" as Julius Caesar called them in his comments. Walloonia had been Europe's weapon smithy up to the 17th C. But the war between Spain and the United Netherlands in 1621 put a stop to its heyday, and the country became a theartre of war. The industry was eradicated and many Walloons left for the North to get away from the horrors of the war and also because the prospects were much better in Scandinavia. Already around 1580 two of them Wellam de Wijk och Wellam de Bescher arrived in Sweden and were asked to kick start the Swedish iron production. The rich merchant Louis De Geer in Amsterdam acted as a financial guarantor, and already before he actually came to Sweden he had a very big financial influence in the country! When he came to settle down in 1587 he chose the town Norrköping for his HQ. The town became the center for the immigration and various other industries quickly mushroomed. The long journey from Walloonia via the river Meuse a short distance away from the coast to Utrecht and then on to Amsterdam where they visited de Geer's office to sign a working contract. From there they sailed to Sweden. Despite Europe being unsafe at that time the voyages to and from Sweden were mostly uneventful and free of accidents. I believe that my ancestors the mining crofter Wellam Beneux and the charcoal burner Colas Grenier came to Sweden under similar circumstances during this dynamic era. Wellam Beneux is by the way my paternal grandfather's paternal grandmother's paternal grandfather's
paternal grandfather's paternal grandmother's father! |
What was life like in a Walloon
Read here for the answer! |
My sources:
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