Lalli is an apocryphal character from Finnish history. According to the legend, he killed Bishop Henry on the ice of

Köyliönjärvi (''Lake'' , ) is a lake in the municipality of , Finland. Lake and its surroundings are classified as one of the National landscapes of Finland. The area has been inhabited continuously since the Iron Age.

Legend

The story begins with an expedition of one of the first Christian missionaries in Finland, Bishop Henry, during the alleged first crusade of Sweden. In the midst of travelling, he and his entourage stop at a dwelling. Only the matron of the house, Kerttu, is home. Bishop Henry asks for food for his party and hay for the horses, but the matron refuses him. In their hunger, Bishop Henry and his men then forcibly take the food and hay but leave payment before continuing on with their journey. After they are gone, Lalli, the husband of Kerttu, returns and hears of what has happened. In most versions of the story, Kerttu leaves out the part of the payment entirely. When Lalli hears of the bishop ransacking his home, he becomes enraged and pursues the bishop. Lalli catches up to the bishop on a frozen lake, said to be

Albert Edelfelt - Bishop Henry killed by Lalli

There are numerous versions as to how Lalli then met his own gruesome fate, but typically Lalli takes the bishop's

mitre The mitre (Commonwealth English) or miter (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, see spelling differences; both pronounced ; ) is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of ...

to wear it pompously and cuts off the bishop's finger to snatch his valuable ring. The mitre becomes fused to Lalli's head and when he tries to remove it, it tears his scalp off with it. When he tries to remove the bishop's ring from his finger, it likewise tears his finger off. Lalli runs to the woods, where mice or rats corner him up a tree. Lalli then falls from the tree into the lake Hiirijärvi and drowns. The bishop's body parts are collected by his servants and transported with oxen towards the south. The place where the oxen stopped became the site of the first church in Finland. The legend is enshrined in a famous Finnish folk poem called ''Henrikin surma'' ("The Slaying of Henry"). The poem includes such characters as a talking statue of

Christ Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...

. One of the versions of the poem is found in the '' Kanteletar'', a collection of old Finnish folk poetry.

Cultural significance

Lalli is a well-known figure in Finnish

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

. He has been depicted as a figure prostrated at the feet of the Bishop Henry in wooden statues. The name ''Lalli'' is not common in Finland; it may be a form of "

Laurentius Laurentius is a Latin given name and surname that means "''From Laurentum''" (a city near Rome). It is possible that the place name ''Laurentum'' is derived from the Latin ''laurus'' (" laurel"). People with the name include: In Early Christiani ...

", and is also said to be a name for the

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family (biology), family Ursidae (). They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats ...

(traditionally saying the actual name of the animal was avoided, so the use of nicknames arose). Also, in the Finnish toponymy ''Lalli'' occurs, for example, in

Pirkkala Pirkkala (; ) is a municipality in Finland, located in the Pirkanmaa region. It lies to the southwest of the regional capital, Tampere. The population of Pirkkala is approximately , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately . I ...

, where there is both the place name ''Lalli'' and ''Lallin lahti'' ("Lalli Bay") on the shores of Lake Pyhäjärvi. In the television series ''

Suuret suomalaiset ''Suuret suomalaiset'' (''Great Finns'') was a 2004 television show broadcast in Finland by Yle (the Finnish Broadcasting Company), which determined the ''100 greatest Finns of all time'' according to the opinions of its viewers. The viewers we ...

'' – the Finnish version of ''

100 Greatest Britons ''100 Greatest Britons'' is a television series that was broadcast by the BBC in 2002. It was based on a television poll conducted to determine who the British people at that time considered the greatest Britons in history. The series included i ...

'' – Lalli was chosen as the 14th greatest Finn. Lalli used to be generally viewed as an evil-doer along with his wife, but in the 20th century he also became viewed as sort of a rebel pagan against imperialism and forced conversion of the

Northern Crusades The Northern Crusades or Baltic Crusades were Christianization campaigns undertaken by Catholic Church, Catholic Christian Military order (society), military orders and kingdoms, primarily against the paganism, pagan Balts, Baltic, Baltic Finns, ...

Satakunta

Lalli's axe, along with Bishop Henrik's

feature in the coat of arms of the former

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Köyliö Köyliö (; ) is a former municipality of Finland. It was merged to the municipality of Säkylä on 1 January 2016. It was located in the Satakunta region. The population of Köyliö was (30 June 2015) and covered a land area of . The populatio ...

and now from 2015 the merged

Säkylä Säkylä () is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the Satakunta region, southeast of the city of Pori. The municipality has a population of () and the municipality covers an area of of which is inland water (). The population density ...

. There is a statue of Lalli in Köyliö designed by Aimo Tukiainen, as well as two prominent relics in

Satakunta Satakunta (in both Finnish language, Finnish and Swedish language, Swedish, ; historically ''Satacundia'') is a Regions of Finland, region ( / ) of Finland, part of the former Western Finland Province. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland ...

: Lalli's hut and Lalli's tombstone. Both are, according to legend, places where Lalli took refuge after killing the bishop. Lalli's hut is located in ''Lootinnummi'' in Köyliö. There has been no actual archeological evidence that the mound of stone was once a house, but folklore claims that it was. 13 km away from Lalli's alleged hut is Lalli's tombstone: a boulder by Lake Hiirijärvi said to be still damp with Lalli's tears. This area has been called Lalli's farm. Lake Hiirijärvi ("Lake Mouse") allegedly received its name from the Lalli myth. Martti Haavio, a researcher of Finnish mythology, theorised that this was not part of the original story, but added later on. It is possible that the legends marking these areas as Lalli's settlements were manufactured by the church, as it would grant them rights to the land. File:Köyliö.vaakuna.svg,

Coat of Arms, featuring elements from the Lalli legend. File:Lallin asumus.JPG, Storied "Lalli's residence" at ''Lootinnummi'' File:Lallin itkukivi.JPG, Similar Lalli's "crystone" in ''Hiirijärvi'', which is still said to be moist from his tears

In modern popular culture

The story of Lalli and Henry’s death on the lake is the subject of the song ''Köyliönjärven jäällä'', by Finnish metal band

Moonsorrow Moonsorrow is a Finnish pagan metal band formed in Helsinki in 1995. Musically, the band incorporates elements of black metal and folk metal in their sound. The band call their sound "epic heathen metal" and try to distance themselves from th ...

.Moonsorrow – Köyliönjärven jäällä (Pakanavedet II)
– Genius Lyrics

Historicity

Although often considered a fictional story as there are no records of a Bishop Henry (as pointed out in research by historian Tuomas Heikkilä), new research by linguist Mikko Heikkilä claims that Bishop Henry was in fact a German missionary named Heinrich. He claims to have found records that state a missionary by the name of Heinrich (or "Heinärikki" as called by Finns) was slain in the early 12th century, only a few decades before the Bishop Henry of legend. According to him the fictional character of Bishop Henry was mostly based on Heinrich but was then conflated with the legend of Eric IX of Sweden, who is also storied to have met his end gruesomely murdered. Tuomas Heikkilä doubts this version of the events and states that Mikko Heikkilä combines different sources liberally.

Gallery

File:Nousiainen.vaakuna.svg, Nousiainen Coat of Arms, with Henry stepping on Lalli File:Missale Aboense cropped.jpg, Bishop Henry with Konrad Blitz and Maunu Särkilahti on top of Lalli, '' Missale Aboense'' (1488) File:St Henrik Storkyro kyrka.jpg, 15th century imagery from a

retable A retable is a structure or element placed either on or immediately behind and above the altar or communion table of a church. At the minimum, it may be a simple shelf for candles behind an altar, but it can also be a large and elaborate struct ...

in the church of

Isokyrö Isokyrö (; ) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the South Ostrobothnia region, from Vaasa. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . In the name of the municip ...

File:Bishop-Henrik-1955.jpg, 1955 stamp depicting a wooden sculpture of Henry stepping on Lalli, from the church of Isokyrö File:Bishop Henry on Lalli, 15th century Isokyrö church retable.jpg, Henry on Lalli, 15th century

church retable File:Biskop Henrik i Pyttis.jpg, Wooden statue in the church of

Pyhtää Pyhtää () is a municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It is located in the Kymenlaakso regions of Finland, region, west of the city of Kotka. Overview The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is wa ...

File:Wooden sculpture of Bishop Henry stepping on a bloodied Lalli from Akaa church, c. 1500.jpg, Wooden sculpture of Henry stepping on a bloodied Lalli from

Akaa Akaa () is a town and a municipality in Pirkanmaa, Finland. It was created on 1 January 2007, when the town of Toijala and the town of Viiala were united into a single municipality. The municipality of Kylmäkoski was consolidated with Akaa o ...

church, c. 1500 File:Drawing of a medieval wooden sculpture of Bishop Henry on Lalli from Sääksmäki church.jpg, Drawing of a medieval wooden sculpture from

Sääksmäki Sääksmäki is a List of former municipalities of Finland, former municipality, currently part of Valkeakoski in the Pirkanmaa region of Western Finland. A past president of Finland, Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, the Finnish film producer and director Ve ...

church File:Once painted birch sculpture of Bishop Henry on Lalli from Asikkala church, 15th century.jpg, Once painted

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 3 ...

sculpture from

Asikkala Asikkala () is a municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. Its seat is in Vääksy, at the shores of the Lake Päijänne. It is located in the provinces of Finland, province of Southern Finland and is part of the Päijänne Tavastia regi ...

church, 1300–1500 File:Decorative panel of Lalli slaying Bishop Henry and wearing his mitre from Nousiainen church, c. 1420.jpg, Decorative panel of Lalli slaying Henry and wearing his mitre from Nousiainen church, c. 1420 File:Decorative panel of Lalli's finger wearing Bishop Henry's ring being found in Spring on a block of ice from Nousiainen church, c. 1420.jpg, Decorative panel of Lalli's finger wearing Henry's ring being found in Spring on a block of ice, Nousiainen church c. 1420

References

External links

* {{authority control Fictional characters from the 12th century Finnish mythology Finnish murderers Legendary Finnish people