The Academy of Turku During the Last Century of Swedish Rule (1720–1809)

Abstract

The chapter begins by describing the University of Turku as an academic community in the estate-based society of the Kingdom of Sweden, which had lost its status as a Great Power. The author explains the kinship system, born in the seventeenth century, which served to strengthen academic communities both ideologically and economically. Ties of kinship increased ideological cohesion and the sense of a scholarly community both in good and in bad: they were the channel through which books, clothes, and traditions were passed on; however, the kinship system also increased the risk of closedness and inbreeding.

The author analyses the students’ socio-economic backgrounds, their organisation into nations, their studies, and conditions for housing. He also considers the economy of the university and its professors, the incomes of both of these relying on revenues from farms which were under the control and ownership of the academy or professors. The author also discusses the nature of research at this provincial university, which was one of the most utilitarian universities in Europe, research and academic dissertations focussing on practical topics. The university also provided intellectual support for Finnish local patriotism, which in the nineteenth century developed into nationalism.