Danish Estonia refers to the territories of present-day
Estonia that were ruled by
Denmark firstly during the 13th-14th centuries and again in the 16th-17th centuries.
Denmark rose as a great military and mercantile power in the 12th century. It had an interest to end the occasional
Estonian and
Couronian pirate attacks that threatened its Baltic trade. Danish fleets attacked Estonia in 1170, 1194, and 1197. In 1206, King
Valdemar II and archbishop
Andreas Sunonis led a raid on Ösel island (
Saaremaa). The Kings of Denmark laid a claim on Estonia as their possession, which was recognised by the
pope. In 1219 the Danish fleet landed in the major harbor of Estonia and defeated the Estonians in the
Battle of Lyndanisse that brought
Northern Estonia under Danish reign until the
Estonian uprising in 1343, when the territories were taken over by the
Teutonic Order and sold by Denmark in 1346.
In 1559 during the
Livonian war the
Bishop of Ösel-Wiek in
Old Livonia sold his lands to King
Frederick II of Denmark for 30,000
thalers. The Danish king gave the territory to his younger brother Magnus who landed on
Saaremaa with an army in 1560 The whole of
Saaremaa became a Danish possession in 1573, and remained so until it was transferred to Sweden in 1645.
Duchy of Estonia
The
Duchy of Estonia ( ), was a direct dominion () of the
King of Denmark from 1219 until 1346 when it was sold to the
Teutonic order and became part of
Ordenstaat.
During the
Livonian crusade in 1218
Pope Honorius III gave
Valdemar II free hands to annex as much land as he could conquer in Estonia, additionally
Albert of Riga, the leader of the Teutonic crusaders fighting the Estonians from the south visited the king and asked him to attack the Estonians from the North.
[Christiansen, pp.111]In 1219, Valdemar gathered his fleet, joined forces with the
Rugian navy led by prince Wizlav of
Rügen and landed at Northern Coast of Estonia in the
Lyndanisse (now Tallinn) harbor in an Estonian province of
Revala. According to the legend, the national
flag of Denmark Dannebrog was born at the time by falling from the sky during a critical moment in the fight and helped the Danes to win the
Battle of Lyndanisse against the Estonians. The date of the battle,
June 15, is still celebrated as
Valdemarsdag (the national "flag day") in present day Denmark.
The order of the
Brothers of the Sword had conquered Southern Estonia whilst Denmark had taken the North, and the two agreed to divide Estonia, but quarreled over the exact borders. In 1220 the King of Denmark agreed to submit southern Estonian provinces
Sakala and
Ugaunia that were already conquered by
Sword Brethren. Bishop Albert submitted to Denmark the Estonian provinces of
Harria,
Vironia and
Jerwia.
In 1227 the
Swordbrothers conquered all Danish territories in Northern Estonia. After their defeat in the
Battle of Saule the surviving members of the order merged into the
Teutonic Order of Prussia in 1237. On June 7, 1238 the Teutonic order concluded the Treaty of Stensby at a royal fortress in the south of
Zealand with the Danish king Valdemar II. According to the treaty Jerwia stayed part of the
Ordenstaat and Harria and Vironia were ceded back to King of Denmark as his direct dominion, the Duchy of Estonia. The first
Duke of Estonia had been appointed by Valdemar II in 1220, the title was resumed by the kings of Denmark from 1269.
Due to its status as the king's personal
possession, the Duchy of Estonia was included in a nationwide Danish taxation list
Liber Census Daniæ () (1220–41), an important geographic and historic document. The list contains about 500 Estonian place names and names of 114 local vassals.
The capital of Danish Estonia was
Reval (Tallinn), founded at the place of
Lyndanisse after the invasion of 1219. The Danes built the fortress of
Castrum Danorum at
Toompea Hill . Estonians still call their capital "Tallinn", which according to an urban legend derives from
Taani linna (Danish town or castle). Reval was granted
Lübeck city rights (1248) and joined the
Hanseatic League. Even today, Danish influence can be seen in heraldic symbols such as the city of Tallinn's coat of arms being a shield with the Danish cross; and Estonia's coat of arms depicting a similar three lions to the Danish coat of arms.
In 1240 Valdemar II created the
Bishopric of Reval but contradictory to
canon law reserved the right to appoint the bishops of Reval to himself and his successor kings of Denmark. The decision to simply nominate the holy see of Reval was unique in the whole Catholic Church at the time and was disputed by bishops and the Pope. During the era, the election of bishops was never established in Reval and the royal rights to the bishopric and to nominate the bishops was even included in the treaty when the territoris were sold to Teutonic Order in 1346
First mentioned in 1240, the duchy was locally governed by a
viceroy () appointed by the king and who functioned as his plenipotentiary. The viceroy had administrative powers, he collected the taxes and commanded the vassals and the troops in case of war. Most of the viceroys were either of Danish or Danish-Estonian nationality.
In Vironia, the main power centers were Wesenberg (
Rakvere) and
Narva, built on the site of the old Estonian fortresses of
Rakovor and
Rugodiv (according to the
Old East Slavic chronicles). Wesenberg was granted Lübeck city rights in 1302 by
King Erik Menved. Narva received these rights in 1345.
The vassals of the Danish king received
fiefs per
Dominum utile in exchange for military and court services. The oath of the vassals to a new king had to be sworn by a "year and a day". Most of the vassals , 80% were Germans from
Westphalia, 18% were
Danes and 2%
Estonians [Skyum-Nielsen pp. 118] (Clemens Esto, Otto Kivele, Odwardus Sorseferæ etc.) The chronicler
Ditleb Alnpeke (1290) complains that the king of Denmark accepts Estonians as his vassals. The Danish rule was more liberal in that respect than the reign in the territories conquered by the Swordbrothers where no natives were allowed to become lords of fiefs.
In 1248, the vassals and burgers of Reval already had a local legislative body
ritterschaft.
The Danish army only visited the province occasionally. In 1240–42, Denmark went to war against
Novgorod and tried to extend its rule to the land of
Votians. King Valdemar sent his sons Abel and Canute to support the campaign of his vassals but did not gain any new territories. The Danish king
Erik Plogpennig visited Estonia in 1249 and the Danish fleet sailed to Reval in 1268 and 1270 against
Russian and
Lithuanian threats.
In August 1332 king
Christopher II of Denmark died and Denmark fell into political turmoil. The province in Estonia became split between a pro-Danish party led by bishop Olaf of Reval and the pro-German party led by captain
Marquard Breide. After the Estonians of Harria rebelled in the
St.George's Night Uprising of 1343 the
Teutonic order occupied the territories. The overthrow of the Danish government came 2 days after the Order had defeated the Estonian revolt and the Danish viceroy was imprisoned in cooperation with the pro-German vassals. The castles in Reval and Wesenberg were handed over to the Order by the pro-German party on May 16, 1343 and the castle at Narva in 1345. In 1346 Estonia (Harria and Vironia) was sold for 19 000 Köln
marks to the
Teutonic Order, ignoring the promise by
Christopher II in 1329 never to abandon or sell its Estonian territories. The king of Denmark even made a public statement repenting for breaking that promise and asked forgiveness from the
Pope. The shift of sovereignty from Denmark to the Teutonic Order took place on November 1, 1346
King's Viceroys
- Eilard von Oberch 1275–1279
- Heinrich Bernauer 1313–1314
- Marquard Breide 1332–1335
- Konrad Preen July 1340 – May 1343
- Bertram von Parembeke 1343
- Stigot Andersson 1344–1346
Danish province of Øsel
In 1559 during the
Livonian war Frederick II of Denmark bought the
Bishopric of Ösel-Wiek from
Prince-Bishop Johannes V von Münchhausen. The possession was given as an
appanage to
Magnus, Herzog von Holstein, the brother of
Frederick II. Denmark ceded Wiek (
Läänemaa) to the
Polish-Lithuanian Union in exchange for
Livonian possessions in Ösel. In 1572 Ösel was transferred to direct administration by Denmark. In 1645, it was ceded from Denmark to
Sweden by the
Treaty of Brömsebro.
Danish Governors of Ösel
- Klaus von Ungern zu Dalby May 1573 – August 1576
See also
