Estonian knighthood

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The Estonian Knighthood was from the second half of the 16th century until 1920, the political and legal merger of the predominantly German Baltic nobility in the north of present-day Estonia . Due to the status privileges guaranteed by the respective sovereign, the political influence and the large agricultural landowners, the knighthood outside the cities was the ruling class of the country until the end of the 19th century. The Estonian knighthood had its seat on the Toompea in Reval .

She is a member of the Association of the Baltic Knights .

Affiliation

Originally everyone in Estonia who was enfeoffed with a knighthood was part of the Estonian knighthood. However, when Swedish kings began to hand over goods to non-aristocratic mercenary leaders in Estonia, and when citizens of Reval and Narva also invested their fortune in manors, the knighthood had to set itself apart from these and create a register. In Courland such had existed since 1620 and in Sweden since 1625. However, the 1648 obtained permission from Queen Christina to create a register of the Estonian knighthood was not implemented after the Queen and her successors elevated most of those mercenary leaders and citizens to the nobility. The preparatory work for the nobility register began in January 1729, the entries were made from 1745. The nobility register of the Estonian knighthood only existed since 1756. A total of 308 genders were registered with the Estonian knighthood, of which 179 still exist today.

history

Swedish time

During the Livonian War (1558–1583), Sweden's military superiority in the Baltic Sea area became increasingly clear. Between June 4 and 6, 1561, the Baltic German nobility of Estonia voluntarily took an oath of allegiance to King Erik XIV of Sweden . This ended the rule of the Teutonic Order in Estonia.

In 1584 the nobility from the Estonian districts of Harju (German Harrien ), Järva (Jerwen) and Viru ( Wierland ) formed the Estonian knighthood. In the same year, the nobility of Lääne (Wiek) including the island of Hiiumaa (Dagö) joined the knighthood. The Estonian knighthood is the oldest of the four Baltic German knighthoods.

The area of ​​knighthood included the northern part of what is now Estonia. The island of Saaremaa (Ösel) kept its own knighthood . The main initiator of the Estonian knighthood, along with the Baltic German nobility, was the influential Swedish commander and politician Pontus de la Gardie .

With the knighthood (outside the cities with their local self-government) the real power lay in Estonia. The traditional state privileges of knighthood were confirmed and renewed by the respective monarch over Estonia when he ascended the throne. The privileges of knighthood provided for extensive autonomy both in the administration of the country and in the administration of justice over the German and Estonian population. They guaranteed the practice of the Evangelical Lutheran religion of the Augsburg confession . German was the language of the authorities.

The Swedish state power was represented by a governor general . However, two advisers elected from the Estonian nobility were attached to him as government councilors. The interests of the knighthood were mainly represented by a state parliament, which met regularly. The chairman of the knighthood was the knighthood governor, who was usually elected by the state parliament for a term of three years.

Russian time

In 1710, Estonia was conquered by the Russian Tsar Peter I. In the Peace of Nystad in 1721, Sweden recognized the loss of territory under international law. Tsar Peter and his successors continued to guarantee the Estonian knighthood their privileges. The administrative system, ownership and self-government of the nobles were retained. The country retained the Evangelical Lutheran religion and German as the administrative language. Conversely, the Baltic German nobles pledged their loyalty to the Tsar. The governorate of Estonia was formed, the tsarist state power was represented by a governor-general in Tallinn (Reval) .

With the accession to the throne of the Russian tsar Alexander II , he for the first time no longer recognized the traditional privileges of Estonian knighthood. But only Tsar Alexander III. actively tried to abolish the special rights of knighthood. The aim was to create a Russified unitary state, which was only partially successful in Estonia.

Republic of Estonia

In the course of the October Revolution in Russia in 1917 and the turmoil of the First World War , Estonia declared its independence from Russia as a republic on February 24, 1918. , Try the German Empire, the Baltic States with the creation of the United Baltic Duchy bring politically under German sovereignty, failed in November 1918. In the Estonian War of Independence against Soviet Russia and against the predominantly German Baltic Landeswehr Estonia maintained its state independence militarily. The Estonian Knighthood was then dissolved as a public corporation .

The Estonian Constitution of 1920 finally abolished all class and noble privileges, which ended the political influence of the knighthood. An expropriation of the Baltic German landed estates ( manors ) formed the core of the new Estonian agricultural state, but deprived most of the aristocrats in the country from their economic livelihood. Many Baltic Germans moved to Germany.

World War II and after

When the Baltic Germans who had remained in Estonia left their ancestral homeland at Hitler's behest in 1939 due to the German-Soviet non-aggression pact , all knightly families who had remained in the country were also affected.

In 1949, the survivors of the Second World War in Germany joined the Association of Baltic Knights. V., in which the families of the former Estonian knighthood are also integrated. The aim of the association is "to preserve common traditions, to maintain the awareness of a common past with the Baltic states and to deepen the understanding of the Baltic in the western countries".

Coat of arms of the knighthood

Three striding, vertically arranged blue leopards have adorned the coat of arms of the Republic of Estonia since 1918 . It is the same coat of arms that has been used by the Estonian knighthood since the Danish period in the 13th century. It is derived from the coat of arms of Denmark .

Knighthood captains of the Estonian knighthood

See also

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Kiriku plats 1; today the building is part of the Estonian Art Museum.
  2. ^ Forerunner was the union of the vassals of Harju and Viru, the Universitas vasallorum in Estonia constituta during the Danish time of Estonia . The first documents of the Universitas Vasallorum are already occupied for 1252.
  3. ↑ A complaint by the Baltic Germans to the League of Nations against the Estonian agricultural law was unsuccessful. Only later was the Baltic Germans paid compensation for expropriated land, which resulted in a normalization of the relationship between the German minority and the Estonian state.