Manufacturing Saltpetre in Finland in the Late 16th and Early 17th Centuries
Mirkka Lappalainen
Chapter from the book: Talvitie P. & Granqvist J. 2021. Civilians and Military Supply in Early Modern Finland.
Part of
Chapter from the book: Talvitie P. & Granqvist J. 2021. Civilians and Military Supply in Early Modern Finland.
This chapter analyses the manufacturing of potassium nitrate in late 16th- and early 17th-century Finland. In order to secure its self-sufficiency in gunpowder manufacturing at the eve of its Age of Greatness, the Swedish crown built a network of state-owned saltpetre works and obliged peasants to deliver the raw materials. The system did not function as hoped for several reasons, not least because of the burdensome ‘saltpetre tax’, which created conflicts between the local peasants and the crown’s men, and it was fairly quickly abandoned for other solutions.
Lappalainen, M. 2021. Manufacturing Saltpetre in Finland in the Late 16th and Early 17th Centuries. In: Talvitie P. & Granqvist J (eds.), Civilians and Military Supply in Early Modern Finland. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.33134/HUP-10-5
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Published on June 22, 2021