Walhalla-orden was a

secret society A secret society is an organization about which the activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence ag ...

founded in the early part of 1783 in the Sveaborg (today, in Finnish:

Suomenlinna Suomenlinna (), or Sveaborg (), is a sea fortress composed of eight islands, of which six have been fortified. Located about 4 km southeast of the city center of Helsinki, the capital of Finland, Suomenlinna is a popular destination for bot ...

)

fortress A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from L ...

outside

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

by Johan Anders Jägerhorn along with

Gustaf Adolf Reuterholm Baron Gustaf Adolf Reuterholm (7 July 1756 in Sjundeå, Nyland, Sweden (now Finland) – 27 December 1813 in Schleswig), was a Swedish statesman. He acted as the de facto regent of Sweden during the minor regency of Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden ...

. It is thought to have been instrumental in setting in motion forces that eventually caused

Finnish independence Finland declared its independence on 6 December 1917. The formal Declaration of Independence was only part of the long process leading to the independence of Finland. History Proclamation of Empress Elizabeth (1742) The subject of an independe ...

Origins

Valhallaorden began as an offshoot of an obscure Swedish quasi-masonic secret society called ''La Constance'', created to bolster loyalty to the

Swedish Constitution of 1772 The 1772 Instrument of Government () was the constitution of the Kingdom of Sweden from 1772 to 1809. It was promulgated in the wake of the Revolution of 1772, a self-coup mounted by King Gustav III, and replaced the 1720 Instrument of Governm ...

. However, the Swedish counterpart withered quickly, while the

Valhalla In Norse mythology, Valhalla ( , ; , )Orchard (1997:171–172) is described as a majestic hall located in Asgard and presided over by the god Odin. There were five possible realms the soul could travel to after death. The first was Fólkvang ...

society took root in the Sveaborg fortress. In addition to the originating lodge in Sweden, they had a lodge known as ''The Cabin of the Holy Axel'' based in

Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...

Historical context

Walhalla-orden was not unique to its period in Sveaborg; quite the contrary, besides a

masonic lodge A Masonic lodge (also called Freemasons' lodge, or private lodge or constituent lodge) is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also a commonly used term for a building where Freemasons meet and hold their meetings. Every new l ...

and Walhalla-orden, there were a number of similar societies including a British-inspired secret society of ''kirvesmiehet'' called ''Saint Charles' Cabin'' and another unconnected society called Brothers of February the Seventeenth. On the frivolous side, there was also a ''secret society'' called the ''Hypotenuse Society,'' which was primarily oriented around marathon drinking. Every shot of punch was registered as a ''working'' in the meeting minutes.

Name

The Walhalla-orden originally was preceded by a lodge taking the name of an early ancestor of Jägerhorn, namely Rutger Ingesson, who according to legends inspired by the

Song of Roland The ''Song of Roland'' () is an 11th-century based on the deeds of the Frankish military leader Roland at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in AD 778, during the reign of the Emperor Charlemagne. It is the oldest surviving major work of French lite ...

was a

crusade The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

in the troops of Erik the Holy. In fact there was a brief time during which ''St. Erik's'' lodge was the Finnish locus of activities.

Symbology

The Walhalla-orden drew its symbology from Gothic revivalist notions of ancient

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

n roots, and the lodges for instance were called by a more archaic Scandinavian name. Even though the initiation ceremonies centered on a five-part play expressing the history of the creation of the Swedish nation in allegorical fashion, the symbolic organizational structure was entirely Finnish without reference to Swedish counties or emblems.

Development

The society began on a strict loyalist foundation and stayed nominally in support of the constitution, but after a short time its membership became primarily composed of officers stationed there who had a grievance with

Gustav III Gustav III (29 March 1792), also called ''Gustavus III'', was King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was the eldest son of King Adolf Frederick and Queen Louisa Ulrika of Sweden. Gustav was a vocal opponent of what he saw ...

. The members were bound by oath to keep their conversations frank and confidential, and took that obligation seriously. Therefore, it is almost certain that many seditious matters were broached, in one form or another. This assumption is supported by the fact that nearly all of the people implicated in the

Anjala conspiracy The Anjala conspiracy (, ) of 1788 was a scheme by disgruntled Swedish officers to end Gustav III's Russian War of 1788–1790. Declaring Finland an independent state was not a part of the original plot, but one of the conspirators Johan Ande ...

, including its leadership, were members of it.

Activities

Though only few fragments of encrypted correspondence remain, and the archives were burned to protect the members later implicated in what the crown considered to be nefarious plots, such as the

, it is thought that the meetings of the Walhalla-orden may have been the first discussions in which

was proposed as a serious idea. Indeed, in the society, people floated the idea of Finland becoming a protectorate of Russia.

References

{{reflist 1783 in Finland Suomenlinna Secret societies in Finland Sweden during the Gustavian era Finland under Swedish rule