Drawing Borders or Dividing Lands?: the peace treaty of 1323 between Sweden and Novgorod in a European context

Social scientists, geographers and many historians have adopted the view that medieval and early modern borders were not linear but merely zones. This view has nowadays been widely accepted and repeated. As many medievalists have pointed out, however, it cannot be denied that many divisions between the powers in medieval Europe looked like clear, linear demarcating borders. Discussions regarding the characteristics of medieval borders have mostly led to the repetition of antagonistic viewpoints. The topic that has aroused the most discussion between these two standpoints among historians in Finland is the Nöteborg Peace Treaty of 1323. The aim of this article is to compare the Western European medieval concept of a border with the border we find described in the territorial division agreed upon by the princely powers of Novgorod and Sweden in 1323. Such a comparison will perhaps enable us to better understand how medieval borders functioned and how they were alike in many ways.