The monastery of Petschenga : $b Sketches of Russian Lapland (from historical and legendary sources)Friis, J. A. (Jens Andreas)
History
The monastery of Petschenga : $b Sketches of Russian Lapland (from historical and legendary sources)
Friis, J. A. (Jens Andreas)
Legends -- Lapland; Petschenga (Monastery)
According to some authorities a total of fifty-one monks and sixty-five
servants were slain, and according to others even a larger number. The
majority of the names are Russian, only one or two are Finnish or
Norwegian. In the barn they killed two women, Kyllinna and Fefemj by
name. In all probability they were milkmaids, who attended to the cows.
With this the invaders ended their errand, and made their way down to
the fjord again. From thence they went across to ‘Urze,’ by which most
likely Orafjord is meant, and there they put to death five men, three
lads, five women, and four girls. Among the men are mentioned by name,
Jorgen Iffersen, Iver Ottesen, and Thimofe Mickelsen, who were probably
Norwegians. Among the women, Marin Iffuansdatter is mentioned; she was
also, most probably, a Norwegian woman. The names of the rest seem to
have been those of Russians. These marauders spared neither man nor
woman, but put to death everybody they could.
From Orafjord they made for the town of Kola, which was pretty well
fortified. ‘They reached it two days after Christmas. But the besieged
inhabitants made a sally, and the marauders were completely routed.
Sixty of them were slain, and the rest escaped by boat across the river
Tulom.’ This river has its source in the Nuotjavre Lake, and from it
the remnant probably made their way southwards again to the region of
Kajana, whence they had come. Nothing more, however, is recorded of
their exploits.
Unnas and Ambrose were not the only persons who escaped from being
killed by fire and the enemy’s sword. It is not unlikely that a few
others of the monks also escaped by flight, but nothing is said in the
documents on this point. Ambrose lay ill on a plank bed, with a bandage
over his eyes. His hair was almost entirely burnt off, and his hands
and face were so scorched that he was scarcely to be recognised.
The following day Unnas went over to the ruins. It had frozen during
the night, so that the ice on the river was strong enough to bear him.
There he found nothing left of the entire monastery but smouldering
embers, and charred corpses among the ruins. A number of clothes and
other things had been fetched from the monks’ chambers on to the snow,
and had served the ruffians for beds. Perhaps at one time they had
thought of taking some of these things with them, but had afterwards
abandoned the idea. Unnas took some of the things with him across to
the island, so that both he and Ambrose might have something to rest
upon. The barn was, as has been already observed, also burnt down, and
the cattle had been killed. Part of the slaughtered cattle the brigands
had taken with them, the remainder they had thrown into the fire.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account