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Birkarl (possible etymology birkö-karl (birch island-men); compare no. finnfärd), a layer of population, or a tribe, or a guild, with a debated origin, that practiced trading until the Middle Ages and territories in northern Finland, Sweden and Russia. They even had (together with Samis) certain own (eccentric) rights, privileges, reserved for trading with the rest of Swedish realm and Europe. The sources still left tells that birkarls had a very strong influence, even power, over the other citizens, and even over the kings of those times (which was not uncommon for wealthy lords). It was not until 17th century that their privileges more or less ceased, particularly after deeds and efforts of Charles IX of Sweden.

There has been a very old belief that they where immigrants from the area of Pirkkala from the province Satakunta in Finland, but that hypothesis is nowadays disputed due to new information. The association between Birkarls and Finnish peoples seems mostly have been made by in particular Finnish preists during the work of Acta Lapponica, an ethnological paper on Sami. A second hypothesis is that the birk in birkarl, or birch in English, originally means mountain so that "birkarlar" would be "Rulers of the mountains" (a proto-noble layer); however, birch has been used in other contexts such as the old trading city Birca. A third hypothesis builds on an idea that Birkarls were descendants of leading families on ancient Finnic kingdom of Quenland.

Besides South Scandinavian or Middle European influence or descent, it is possible that Birkarls had local origins. The reason for uncertainly is because there is are few contemporary sources from that area.

Nordic folklore

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BirkarlBirkarl (possible etymology birko-karl birch island-men ; compare no. finnfard , a layer of population, or a tribe, or a guild, with a debated origin, that practiced trading until the Middle Ages and territories in northern Finland, Sweden and Russia.  
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