"The kingdom of the young Lion of the North was extensive. It was a land of light and darkness, a sparsely populated wilderness whose ragged, rocky shores were joined by the sea. In the eastern part of the kingdom spread swamps and forests, in the middle of which small villages and fields peeked out. Sneaky spies his in the wilds. The ruler's power only extended to gloomy castles and small coastal towns. There were few roads and they were hardly more than horse tracks. In autumn and winter, the land was covered in darkness, which was illuminated by the moon, stars, and northern lights.
At the beginning of the 17th century, Finland was a chaotic corner of the earth, ravaged by the civil war and famine. In the storms of the turn of the century, it had been on the verge of being completely torn away from the kingdom. In the 1590s, Finland was in the hands of Sigismund's fiercest supporter, Baron Klaus Fleming. Fleming had suspected Duke Charles' intentions and kept the army prepared. At the same time, he had isolated Finland from the motherland. The hard-working Fleming made sure that the Finnish nobility was loyal to him and the king. Fleming's administration and especially the accommodation of soldiers in the castle camp with the peasants caused the peasants, who trusted the Duke's support, to rise up in rebellion. Fleming's forces crushed the rebels in a short but bloody cudgel war in 1596-1597."
Pohjolan Leijona Kustaa II Adolf ja Suomi 1611-1632 by Mirkka Lappalainen