The Treaty of Nöteborg, also known as the Treaty of Orehovsk (Swedish: Freden i Nöteborg; Russian: Ореховский мир; Finnish: Pähkinäsaaren rauha), is a conventional name for the peace treaty signed at Oreshek (Swedish: Nöteborg; Finnish: Pähkinäsaari) on 12 August 1323. It was the first agreement between Sweden and the Novgorod Republic regulating their border, mostly in the area which is now known as Finland. Three years later, Novgorod signed the Treaty of Novgorod with the Norwegians.
At the time, the treaty had no distinguishing name. It was regarded as a "permanent peace" solution between Sweden and Novgorod.[1] "The Treaty of Nöteborg" is a direct translation of the Swedish "Nöteborgsfreden". The Russian term for the treaty, directly translated into English, is "The Peace of Orehovsk", latinized as "Orehovskii Mir", or "Ореховский мир" in Cyrillic script. The Swedish "Nöteborg" and the Russian "Orehovsk" are names for an old fortress in Shlisselburg. The Finnish term for the treaty, "Pähkinäsaaren Rauha", translates literally to "The Peace of Nut Island". It is a cognate of the Swedish word ('nöt' meaning nut). Pähkinäsaari is the Finnish name for the island on which the fortress was built.
The full text of the original treaty no longer exists. It has survived in parts in Russian, Swedish, and Latin. The surviving partial texts somewhat differ from each other.[2]
The treaty was negotiated with the help of the Hanseatic League in order to conclude the Swedish-Novgorodian Wars. As a token of goodwill, Novgorod ceded three Karelian parishes to Sweden. Sweden would in turn stay out of any conflict between Novgorod and the Danish Duchy of Estonia. Both sides would promise to refrain from building castles on the new border.
The treaty defined the border as beginning from east and north of Viborg Castle, running along the Sestra and Volchya Rivers, splitting the Karelian Isthmus in half, running across Savonia and, according to traditional interpretations, ending in the Gulf of Bothnia near the river Pyhäjoki. However the wording "the sea in the north" could be interpreted as the Arctic Ocean.[3]
The southern part of the border close to Viborg was considered the most important part of the treaty and the new border. As such, it was clearly defined. The border further north, away from important settlements, was defined more vaguely. The treaty might have originally given both Sweden and Novgorod joint rights to northern Ostrobothnia and Lappland.[4]
Finnic tribes living on both sides of the border had no say in the treaty. Sweden and Novgorod had already established their respective de facto control over their areas of influence in eastern Fennoscandia, with Karelians under Russian rule and the western tribes under Swedish rule. The attempted "permanent peace" established by the treaty did not last for long. The northern part of the border crossed wide stretches of wilderness which later on became the center of contention between Sweden and Novgorod. Within five years from the treaty being signed, Swedish colonists started making inroads into northern Ostrobothnia.[5] Sweden established castles at Uleåborg circa 1375 and Olofsborg in 1475. These fortresses were clearly on the Novgorodian side of the established border.[6]
In 1595, the Treaty of Teusina acknowledged the Swedish version of the treaty as the authentic and correct one. Long before that, Sweden had permanently taken over large areas on the Novgorodian side. These new territories included Ostrobothnia and Savonia. Eventually, the territory which was under Swedish rule would become the nation we now know as Finland.