Varbola Castle
The Varbola Castle ( Latin Castrum Warbole , Estonian Varbola Jaanilinn ) in Harrien ( Harjumaa ) was the largest fortress and an important trading center in pre-Christian Estonia from the 10th to 12th centuries.
The castle is located between the present-day villages of Varbola and Põlli in the rural municipality of Märjamaa , Rapla County . Parts of the 580 m long and 8 to 10 m high limestone ring wall are still standing today. Long doorways with several gates were created to protect the entrances. In these areas there were higher defense towers. A draw well thirteen meters deep in the middle of the fortress secured the water supply. 90 heatable buildings with limestone floors served as accommodation.
Henry of Latvia reports that the Castrum Warbole was besieged for several days in 1211 by Mstislaw Mstislawitsch of Novgorod . The conflict was settled after a tribute payment.
During its Livonian Crusade, the Livonian Order invaded Estonian territory. In the peace negotiations in Varbola, Volkwin , the Lord Master of the Order, made the acceptance of Christianity and the provision of hostages a condition. The Estonians agreed. The hostages were freed at the behest of the ambassadors of the Danish king Waldemars II , who had taken control of the northern part of Estonia. The Danes demanded their surrender, as had been agreed with the Livonian bishops. Volkwin bowed to the Danish request in ignorance of this agreement with the condition that the rights of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword should not thereby be reduced , and handed the hostages over to their fathers. So the Estonians of Varbola became subjects of the King of Denmark. According to the Waldemar-Erdbuch ( Latin Liber Census Daniae ), the area around the Varbola trading center remained in the possession of the Estonian noble family Lode. Waldemar II and his son Knut took parts of the fortress Lohu and the fortress Keava in Harrien into their possession.
The fortress Varbola lost its importance in the second quarter of the 14th century, after an important role in 1343 against Christianity and the Teutonic Order directed St. George's Night Uprising had played.
In the 16th and 17th centuries the fortress was used as a cemetery. The first known mapping was carried out in 1786 by Ludwig August Graf Mellin . 1938–1941, 1953 and 1974 excavations were carried out on the fortress area. Among the archaeological finds were made from bone dice .
literature
- Henricus (de Lettis), James A. Brundage: The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia . Ed .: James A. Brundage. Columbia University Press, Madison 1961, ISBN 0-231-12888-6 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed January 8, 2017]).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Scriptores Rerum Livonicarum; Published 1853; p. 162
- ↑ a b Varbola Jaanilinn on www.eestiggid.et (Estonian)
- ↑ Lettis and Brundage : p. 119
- ↑ Lettis and Brundage : p. 186
- ^ The administrative system of Harjumaa in the 13th century at Central and Eastern European Online Library
- ↑ Vahtre, Sulev (ed.). 1960. Bartholomäus Hoeneke: Liivimaa noorem riimkroonika . Tallinn: Eesti Riiklik Kirjastus.
Coordinates: 59 ° 2 ′ 42.8 ″ N , 24 ° 27 ′ 8 ″ E