Cudgel War - Legacy

Legacy

In his work Nuijasota, sen syyt ja tapaukset (1857–1859), historian and fennoman Yrjö Koskinen saw the peasants as fighting for freedom and justice. Albert Edelfelt's painting Poltettu kylä (1879) depicts a woman, a child, and an old man hiding behind a rock as a village burns in the background. The poet Kaarlo Kramsu praised the insurgents and lamented their defeat in patriotic poems such as Ilkka, Hannu Krankka, and Santavuoren tappelu, published in Runoelmia (1887). After the Finnish Civil War, the debate has centered around an interpretation that emphasizes Duke Charles's role in inciting the revolt, as found in Pentti Renvall's Kuninkaanmiehiä ja kapinoitsijoita Vaasa-kauden Suomessa (1949); and an explanation that stresses the roots of the rebellion in class conflict, as argued by Heikki Ylikangas in Nuijasota (1977).