Kurki of Laukko - Original Kurki Family of Tavastia

Original Kurki Family of Tavastia

According to folklore, an ancestor of the family Kurki was Matthew Kurki, a legendary chieftain of Pirkka men of 13th century. Legendary material assign him as the first owner of Laukko. However, before the confiscation of ecclesiastical properties in 16th century, kings and government did not have lands to grant to speak of, and therefore this idea, having received it from king as reward, in the folklore derives from more modern era. In Middle Ages, people owned usually just inherited lands and lands conquered or assarted by the clan. Landed properties were highly family-committed.

Laukko seems not to have been an immense landholding until made gradually such by the second Kurki family in the 15th century.

The location of the Matthew (Mattis) Kurki folklore as itself matches, because Laukko is located in Vesilahti, the historical Pirkkala area, where those folk legends are strongest.

There is a gap of a century between Mattis Kurki and the first documented Kurki, deputy lawspeaker Jakob Kurki (Jeppe, Jesper, Jaakko, Jacob) of the late 14th century, whose seat was the manor of Niemenpää in southern Tavastia.