Danish Estonia

Duchy of Estonia
Hertugdømmet Estland (da) Ducatus Estonie (la)
Dominum directum of Denmark
←   ←   ← 1219–1346 (Danish Øsel 1559–1645) →
Seal of Valdemar IV of Denmark
Map of the 1260s Medieval Livonia, showing Duchy of Estonia in the upper right, 1219–1346. The island of Ösel (Saaremaa) was a Danish possession, 1559–1645.
Capital		Reval (Tallinn)
Languages		Danish, Estonian, Low German
Religion		Roman Catholicism
Political structure		Dominum directum of Denmark
King of Denmark
-	1219–1241	Valdemar II
-	1340–1346	Valdemar IV
-	1559–1588	Frederick II
-	1588–1648	Christian IV
Viceroy
-	1344–1346	Stigot Andersson
Governor of Øsel
-	1562–1567	Heinrich Wulf
-	1643–1645	Ebbe Ulfeld
Historical era		Middle Ages
-	Established	1219
-	Battle of Lyndanisse	June 15, 1219
-	Tallinn joins Hanseatic League¹	1248
-	Disestablished	1346
-	Danish Ösel	1559–1645
Today part of		Estonia
¹ Wesenberg (Rakvere) was granted Lübeck city rights in 1302 by King Erik Menved. Narva received these rights in 1345.

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 frequent Estonian Viking 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.^[1] The whole of Saaremaa became a Danish possession in 1573, and remained so until it was transferred to Sweden in 1645.^[2]

Duchy of Estonia

The Duchy of Estonia^[3] (Danish: Hertugdømmet Estland^[4] Latin: Ducatus Estonie^[5]), was a direct dominion (Latin: Dominum directum) 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.^[6]

In 1219, Valdemar gathered his fleet, joined forces with the Rugian navy led by prince Wizlav of Rügen^[6] 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 Livonian Brothers of the Sword 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.^[7]

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 (Danish: Valdemar Sejrs Jordebog) (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.^[8] 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 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 territories were sold to Teutonic Order in 1346.^[9]

First mentioned in 1240, the duchy was locally governed by a viceroy (Latin: capitaneus) 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.^[10]

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^[11] (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 Brothers of the Sword where no natives were allowed to become lords of fiefs.^[11] 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.^[12]

The title "Duke of Estonia", which had previously been held by the Danish kings, fell into disuse during the Teutonic Order era and was not revived until 1456 by the Danish King Christian I. The title was assumed by the Swedish monarchy after their conquest of Estonia during the Livonian War. The title then transferred to the Russian Tsars after their victory in the Great Northern War and continued to be a subsidiary title of the Russian Tsars until the Romanov Dynasty was overthrown in 1917 during the Russian Revolution.

King's Viceroys

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 Øsel

• Heinrich Wulf 5 March 1562 – 1567
• Klaus von Ungern zu Dalby May 1573 – August 1576
• Johann von Mentz 2 September 1576 – 1584
• Mathias Budde 1584–1587
• Claes Maltesen Sehested 2 February 1599 – 1612
• Nils Kraggen 1612–15
• Jakob Wacke 1615–35
• Anders Bille 1635–43
• Ebbe Ulfeld 1643–45

See also

• Swedish Estonia
• Northern Crusades
• First Swedish Crusade, Second Swedish Crusade and Third Swedish Crusade
• History of Estonia
• History of Finland
• History of Latvia
• History of Lithuania

References

Sources

• Skyum-Nielsen, Niels (1981). Danish Medieval History & Saxo Grammaticus. Museum Tusculanum Press. ISBN 87-88073-30-0. 
• Christiansen, Eric (1997). The Northern Crusades. Penguin. ISBN 0-14-026653-4. 

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