First Swedish Crusade

In the Holy Land (1095–1291) Later Crusades (1291–1717) Northern (1147–1410) Against Christians (1204–1588) Popular (1096–1320) The First Swedish Crusade was a possibly mythical military expedition in the 1150s to Southwestern Finland by Swedish King Eric IX and English Bishop Henry of Uppsala.

[1] The crusade has traditionally been seen as the first attempt of the Catholic Church and Sweden to convert Finnish pagans to Christianity.

[citation needed] The First Novgorod Chronicle relates that in 1142 a Swedish "prince" and bishop, accompanied by a fleet of 60 ships, plundered just three Novgorodian merchant vessels somewhere "on the other side of the sea".

That gave rise to a theory that Eric had conducted the expedition before he became king or pretender to the throne.

All that is known about King Eric and Bishop Henry is that they most probably held important positions in Sweden at some time during the mid-12th century.