Birkarls

The Birkarls (Swedish: birkarlar; Finnish: pirkkalaiset) were a small, unofficially organized group that controlled taxation and commerce in central Lappmarken in Sweden from the 13th to the 17th century.

This is at least partly true, since men from Pirkkala appear as witnesses in a document from 1374 about local borders in northern Pohjanmaa.

Legends told that birkarls rights to tax Sami people was given by Magnus the Barnlock, the King of Sweden at that time.

No document has survived granting them official right to the tax and trade monopoly in the north, even though the state first supported and later tolerated the situation for centuries.

A major setback for birkals took place in 1553, when King Gustav Vasa terminated their right to tax the Sami people.

Having no official status, birkarl organizations had little means of fighting back, and they silently eroded away in the 17th century after administrative changes initiated by king Charles IX.