B4 Karl

VUOKATTI TO BE A ART OF KINGDOM

People of Viena Karelia and the North were beginning to be ready for peace. As Russian's own situation was as disorderly as the dispute in the royal house in Stockholm, the empires agreed on a new borderline in the village of Teusina in 1595. This clarified the position of Vuokatti castle that had stood by the unofficial borderline. It was now truly a part of the Kingdom of Sweden. The borderline was now over ten leagues east of the castle.

The next ten years the castle of Vuokatti saw times of peace and building works. In the west the peasants had wrangled with nobility, but Vuokatti castle people stayed away from this unfortunate war that had fellow countrymen fighting each other. In Sweden the power had moved from Sigismund's family to Duke Charles, the son of Gustav Vasa and Margaret. Henrik Jaakko's son, as the lord of the castle, sent a letter to the new King asking for directions.

Crowned King, Charles IX did not leave Finland's frontier on its own. He strengthened the defence of the north by giving orders to build a castle in Kajaani, and to fortify the castle of Oulu. He sent two young noblemen to the castle of Vuokatti to apprentice to cavalrymen. The north and the Arctic Ocean interested the King, but he ordered the main troops of his army to hit in the Baltic. The war in the south was not going well, but an army sent to Russia succeeded. Charles IX offered military power to Vasili Suiski, who was aiming to be the Tsar. In return the King would have the town of Kexholm in Russia. The King's troops were lead by a young Jacob De la Gardie, the 25-year-old son of the former commander-in-chief Pontus De la Gardie. Jacob's troops marched to Moscow in the spring of 1610. The next year the Swedish flag rose above Novgorod.

Also the Viena Karelia fortresses were hit against by thousand men, but the military expedition was seized by the early spring. The Karelians, in turn, made an expedition to Lake Oulujärvi area and without permission taxed the Crown subjects. Vuokatti castle garrison attacked the Viena Karelians and in the close combat Henrik Jaakko's son got a lethal wound and died. Young Eric Stolte, sent to the castle by the King, took command and retreated with his men to the safety of the castle. Despite the dense fire Stolte carried Henrik's body into the castle. Henrik was buried in consecrated ground in a nearby village.