Uprising on St. George's Night
The rebellion of the Estonian rural population against the German and Danish rulers of the country between 1343 and 1345 was called the uprising on St. George's Night ( Estonian Jüriöö ülestõus ). A major consequence of the unsuccessful uprising was the sale of the Danish possessions in Estonia to the Order of the Brothers of the Sword in the following year 1346.
prehistory
In various crusades (since 1193 with papal approval) and as a result of colonization in the east , the Danes and Germans brought Estonia and Livonia under their rule in the course of the 13th century . The new masters brought Christianity with them, eliminated the previous political structures and introduced a strict tax system. The autochthonous Estonian and Livonian rural population were largely subjugated and made unfree.
The northern part of Estonia with the provinces Viru (German Wierland ) and Harju ( Harrien ) with the capital Tallinn has been under the king of Denmark since 1271 , who carried the title of "Duke of Estonia". Its rule, however, remained weak. More and more German immigrants settled in the country as Danish vassals . There were also some Estonian vassals, while the rural majority of the population remained underage.
revolt
On St. George's Night , April 23, 1343, the rural Estonian population revolted against the foreign rulers in Harju. It may also be joined by some Estonian vassals. Mainly by the chroniclers Bartholomew Hoeneke three, the chaplain Master of the Order of the Sword Brothers ( Fratres miliciae Christ de Livonia ), and its in Middle Low German written Younger Livonian rhymed chronicle (written around 1346/48), the events have been (admittedly from religious point of view) survived.
Afterwards the Estonians renounced Christianity and killed all Germans and Danes whom they could get hold of. According to reports, 1,800 people are said to have died in the uprising. The rebels conquered the Cistercian - Monastery in Padise and killed there 28 monks. At the same time they began the siege of Tallinn , the most important Danish fortress in northern Estonia. They hoped for support from the King of Sweden , to whom they promised Tallinn in the event of a successful alliance. Further requests for help were made to the bailiffs of Turku and Vyborg on the other side of the Gulf of Finland .
At the same time, further popular uprisings broke out on April 25 in Läänemaa ( Wiek ) in western Estonia . The bishop's castle of Haapsalu ( Hapsal ) in particular was the target of a large-scale siege of the Estonians.
Decision on the battlefield
The insurgents chose four Estonians as leaders, whom they called "kings". They agreed to negotiate with the Brothers of the Sword (a branch of the Teutonic Order since 1237 ) about the political reorganization in Estonia and Livonia. The Estonians wanted to recognize the suzerainty of the order if they were directly subordinate to it. The negotiations took place from May 4, 1343 in the castle of Paide ( Weißenstein ) in the province of Järva ( Jerwen ). During the trial, however , the order master Burchard von Dreileben had the four kings executed by the sword. The Order then sought a decision on the battlefield.
On May 11 and 14, 1343, the Estonians were defeated in the battles of Kimmole and Kanavere against the forces of the Brothers of the Sword. All the Estonian leaders were killed. A Swedish-Finnish support force under Dan Nilsson , the governor of Turku , arrived too late in Tallinn on May 18 to come to the aid of the Estonians. After negotiations with the Brothers of the Sword, the Swedish-Finnish troops withdrew without a fight. The uprising was thus suppressed on the Estonian mainland.
Saaremaa
On July 24, 1343, when the uprising in northern Estonia had already ended, a new rebellion broke out on the island of Saaremaa ( Ösel ), which had belonged to the Dominium of the Order of the Sword of the Brothers since 1227 . The church fortress Pöide ( Peude ) was captured by the Estonian rebels. Settlers of German origin and foreign merchants on the island were killed or expelled. At the beginning of 1344, the Order of the Brothers of the Sword landed on the island. In the following battles, King Vesse, appointed by the Estonians, was killed on February 15 or 17, 1344. On the other hand, the uprising on Saaremaa could not be finally suppressed until the following winter of 1345/46.
Result
As a result of the uprising on St. George's Night, all important cities in Estonia, which had been Danish until then, fell into the hands of the militarily and politically strengthened Order of the Swords and the Teutonic Order, especially Tallinn and Rakvere ( Wesenberg ) in 1343 and Narva in 1345 . In 1346 the weakened King Waldemar IV sold the provinces of Harju and Viru to the order for 19,000 Cologne silver marks . After a claim by the Danish king in 1352, the final amount rose to 25,642 marks, i.e. H. almost 6,000 kilos of silver.
aftermath
Since the 19th century, the uprising on St. George's Night has been a central motive in the Estonian people's striving for freedom and independence. In numerous historical short stories and novels it is thematized and stylized as a national myth. Best known is Eduard Bornhöhes Tasuja ( German The Avenger ) from 1880.
During the time of the Soviet occupation of Estonia, the uprising was politically instrumentalized as a social and political resistance of the Estonians against the Baltic Germans .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cornelius Hasselblatt : Van IJstijd dead Skype. Korte divorced from Estonia. Antwerpen, Apeldoorn: Garant 2012, p. 42, see also: Seppo Zetterberg: Viron historia. Helsinki: Suomalaisen kirjallisuuden seura 2007, p. 81.
- ^ Bernhart Jähnig: Constitution and administration of the Teutonic Order in Livonia. Berlin: LIT-Verlag, 2011, p. 36.
Web links
- About Vesse and the Saaremaa uprising (Estonian)