Governor General (Estonia)

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The (general) governor of Estonia was the governor of the Swedish and from 1710 Russian monarchs in the Estonia governorate from 1561 to 1917 . The governorate comprised the entire northern part of the national territory of the Republic of Estonia , which was proclaimed on February 24, 1918 .

history

In the early 1560s, during the Livonian War (1558–1583), the northern part of what is now Estonia submitted to the Swedish crown. The area comprised the four districts of Harrien , Jerwen , Wiek and Wierland and the island of Dagö . Sweden formed an administrative unit from it.

The governor or governor general of the Swedish and Russian crowns was the governor of the Swedish king or, from 1710, of the Russian tsar in Estonia. He was based in Reval .

The real power holder of Estonia remained the native Baltic German nobility of Estonia. It was organized in the Estonian knighthood , whose privileges were largely guaranteed by the Swedish king and later the Russian tsar. The knighthood exercised its power over a state parliament, which existed until 1917.

In October 1710, Russia conquered the area in the Great Northern War . Sweden recognized the loss of territory under international law in the Peace of Nystad in 1721. The Swedish administrative structure was retained. However, the tsarist governor general was directly subordinate to the monarch, although in other Russian governorates he was subordinate to the senate. As the Estonian Governorate ( Russian Эстляндская губерния ), Estonia remained one of the three Baltic Governments of the Russian Empire alongside Livonia and Courland until February 1918 .

Swedish governors of Estonia (1561–1674)

Swedish Governors General of Estonia (1674-1710)

Russian Governors General of Estonia (1710–1728)

Russian governors of Estonia (1728–1762)

Russian Governors General of Estonia (1762–1792)

  • 1762–1775: Peter August Friedrich von Holstein-Beck
  • 1775–1792: Georg Browne

Russian governors of Estonia (1783-1917)

(1783–1792 and 1808–1819 the governors of Estonia were subordinate to the governors general)

Russian governors general of Estonia (1808–1819)

See also

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Livonia , which was later conquered , was constituted as the Livonian Gouvernement . The governor general there had his seat in Riga .
  2. ↑ The list is incomplete and will be continued over several subsequent issues.