European Kingdoms

Danish Governors of North Estonia & Vice-Regents of Tallinn
AD 1219 - 1346

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The European region which today is known as the Baltic States sits at the junction in Eastern Europe with Northern Europe. While the southern two states of Lithuania and Latvia are counted as Eastern European, Estonia is more typically grouped with its Northern European cousins.

The Early Baltics were gradually recovering from the retreat of the continental glaciers at the end of the most recent ice age when the first hunter-gatherers arrived in what would become Estonia around 9000 BC. At the beginning of the third millennium BC, Ugric-speaking people migrated in from the east, descendants of Uralic-speakers around the Ural Mountains. They quickly came to dominate a swathe of territory between modern Finland and the eastern side of the Urals. Those who settled between Lake Peipsi and the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland provided the ancestors of the tribal Finno-Ugric Estonians.

During the first millennium AD, three important cultural regions emerged: northern Estonia, southern Estonia, and western Estonia, together with the islands. The origins of the modern Estonian counties were formed during this period, and these regions maintained their own security and looked after their own interests. The main county in the north was Rävala. Its main settlement was near a castle called Lindanise (Kolyvan in Rus sources) which was used mainly as a defensive refuge, although it may have traded with Scandinavian and Old Russian states from around AD 1000 onwards.

Interest in the Baltics by the increasingly powerful states of Germany and Denmark during the twelfth century may have been generated in part by the continued raids by 'Eastern Vikings' on their ports and ships. These fierce and combative Couronians and Osilians (of Ösel, modern Saaremaa) harried the western states for decades before retaliatory raids grew into militaristic attempts at conquest. The Germans especially had already proven themselves capable of applying creeping subjugation on their less advanced eastern neighbours, as could be seen in the march of Lusatia and the North March. The Danes had already briefly occupied the island of Ösel in 1206, but had been forced to abandon their conquest due to a lack of volunteers to man the fortress they built there.

The Danes carried out a much more successful conquest in 1219 when they won a hard-fought battle to capture the stronghold of Lindanäs and the settlement at its foot. Then they set about taking over and securing all of North Estonia (Danish Estonia, or Estland) by force, while the rest of the Estonian lands were undergoing the same process from the south. What is now Estonia and Latvia quickly came to be governed by German prince-bishops in Courland, Dorpat, Ösel-Wiek, and Riga, while the Order of the Knights of the Sword conquered the rest of Latvia and central Estonia. The captured territory between Danish Estonia and independent Lithuania became known as Livonia.

The Scandinavian version of the name, 'Lindanisse', seems to be one of the oldest used for the city of Tallinn, although the Rus names of Koluvan and Ledenets pre-date the Danish conquest. The Danes quickly exchanged the name for Reval, from the name for the province in which the city lay - Revelia, or Rävala - presumably taken from the native Revalians rather than the other way around. That province was itself later merged into Harria province (modern Harju County).

The Danish king ruled directly (but in his absence), so he appointed a vice-regent in Tallinn to govern in his name (using the Latin title of capitaneus). The position carried with it the governorship of North Estonia, while a bishop was also appointed by the king to sit in Reval.

Andreas Sunonis (the Latinised form of Anders Sunesen), archbishop of Lund and governor in name only of Ösel in 1206, was the first to hold office in Tallinn. The list of subsequent governors and vice-regents (mainly Danes or Danish-Estonians) has many gaps, however. Estonian history from this period is very sketchy in places. Danish forces in Estonia were never very strong, and the king himself rarely entered the province, except perhaps to pass through it on the way to a war elsewhere.

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information by Gediminas Kiveris and Merit Pai, from The History of the Baltic Countries, Zigmantas Kiaupa, Ain Mäesalu, Ago Pajur, & Gvido Straube (Eds, Estonia, 2008), from Eric's Chronicle, from the 15th Yearbook of the Estonian Learned Society in Sweden, 2010-2014 (Eesti Teadusliku Seltsi Rootsis aastaraamat XV. 2010-2014), Ants Anderson (Ed, Stockholm, 2015), from Guide to Castles in Estonia, Mart Helme (Kunst, Estonia, 2003), from The Four Oldest Churches of Tallinn (Morgan Studio, Estonia, 2006), from Guide to Churches in Estonia, Mart Helme & Peeter Säre (Kunst, Estonia, 2002), from Most Beautiful Manors and Castles, Valdo Praust (Grenader Grupp, Estonia, 2004), from Life in Estonia, and from External Links: Life in Estonia (dead link) and Visit Estonia, and Encyclopaedia Britannica, and The Livonian War (Histrodamus), and History of Estonia (Country Studies), and The Missionary Man: Archbishop Anders Sunesen and the Baltic Crusade, 1206-21, Torben K Nielsen (Crusade and Conversion on the Baltic Frontier 1150-1500, Routledge, 2001, available via Taylor Francis), and World Statesmen, and Archaeology: The First Vikings, and The Balts, Marija Gimbutas (1963, previously available online thanks to Gabriella at Vaidilute, but still available as a PDF - click or tap on link to download or access it), and Rurik of Novgorod and the Varangian DNA.)

1219 - 1221

Archbishop of Lund. Former governor of Ösel (1206).

1221

Archbishop of Lund in Scania, Andreas Sunonis (the Latinised form of Anders Sunesen), has completed a spell of two years in his additional office as the first vice-regent of Tallinn and governor of North Estonia. He has played a key role not only in bringing enforced Christianity to the Estonian people, but had also been a key player in the Danish invasion of North Estonia in 1219. Now he concentrates entirely on his archbishopric in Scania until his death in 1228.

The oldest sections of Tallinn's city wall - still largely extant - were built by the Danes in the thirteenth century (click or tap on image to view full sized)

1219 - 1227

Duke of Reval. Bastard son of King Valdemar II of Denmark.

1219 - 1227

Over the course of the following eight years, North Estonia is slowly taken by force under Danish control. Various fortresses are built, including one at Kiltsi (see feature link). In 1220, following quarrels between the Danes and the Order of the Knights of the Sword over the precise borders between their conquests, Denmark agrees to submit the southern Estonian provinces of Sakala and Ugaunia (Dorpat) which are already under the control of the knights. Bishop Albert in Livonia officially submits to Denmark and North Estonia the provinces of Harria (Harju), Vironia (Viru), and Jerwia (Järva).

1227

The Danes are temporarily eclipsed in North Estonia when the Order of the Knights of the Sword conquers all of their territory from the heartland of their powerbase in central Livonia. Duke Canute and Archbishop Andreas are kicked out of the country by the resurgent Estonians (Canute's descendant, Bengt Algotsson, is created duke of neighbouring Finland in 1353).

The role of the Estonian elders on Ösel-Wiek is effectively terminated when that island is finally conquered. Ösel-Wiek is established as one of four bishoprics in Livonia. The territory is divided between the archbishop of Riga, the Order of the Knights of the Sword, and the city of Riga. Over the course of the next few years, the city of Riga loses its domain and the island remains under the governance of two landlords - the bishop of Saare-Lääne (Ösel-Wiek) and the Order.

This image is taken from a somewhat later, slightly romanticised depiction of the Order of the Knights of the Sword, but their general uniform is of the same style as that of the better-known European crusaders of the Near East

1233

The area around the Dome Cathedral in Tallinn (see feature link) becomes the scene of a battle which takes place between the Order of the Knights of the Sword and pro-Papal vassals who want to create an ecclesiastical state. The bodies of defeated pro-Papal knights are piled at the alter of the cathedral after the battle spreads inside the church.

1233 - 1234

A commander of the Order of the Knights of the Sword.

1236 - 1238

The Order of the Knights of the Sword is decimated by the Samogitians and Semigallians (two peoples who are situated between the Lithuanians and the Lats in what is now southern Latvia) at the Battle of Schaulen (Saule) in 1236.

The following year, what remains of the Order joins the Teutonic Knights as an autonomous branch in Livonia, now known as the Livonian Order, or Livonian Knights. While being subject to the grand master of the Teutonic Knights, the Livonian Knights continue to operate on their own behalf. Now unable to hold onto North Estonia securely, the parishes of Harria and Vironia are returned to the Danes under the terms of the Treaty of Stensby in 1238, which is mediated by the Pope. However, the Livonian Knights keep Jerwia and also have control of Ösel-Wiek.

1240 - 1242

Denmark attacks Novgorod to the east of its lands in North Estonia. Apart from teaching Novgorod a lesson and perhaps winning some territory, the Finno-Ugric Votians are also targeted as the Danes want their territory. Overall, though, the campaign fails to gain any territory at all. In fact, Novgorod is able to launch a reprisal attack which enters Livonian lands to the south of North Estonia.

Bishop Hermann of Dorpat and his Ungenois forces are defeated along with the Teutonic Knights on 5 April by the prince of Novgorod, Alexander Yaroslavitz Nevsky, during the Battle of the Ice on Lake Peipsi. This halts the eastwards advance of the German crusaders and fixes Dorpat's border along Peipsi, where it remains to this day (with later Soviet era modifications).

The oldest sections of Tallinn's city wall - still largely extant - were built by the Danes in the thirteenth century (click or tap on image to view full sized)

1248

The city of Reval (modern Tallinn) is granted town privileges by Lübeck, founder of the Hanseatic League of trading ports. This allows it an elevated degree of self-governance and probably a decreased tax burden with the Danish king.

1248 - 1249

Died about 1249.

1249

Brother or son?

1254 - 1257

1259

1260 - 1290

The Livonian Knights, along with the Teutonic Knights, are abandoned by their Estonian and Couronian vassals and defeated severely by the Samogitians at the Battle of Durbe in Livonia in 1260. As a result, numerous rebellions break out against the Teutonic Knights all across the Baltics, including military expeditions by the Lithuanians, and it takes around thirty years before complete control is regained.

A typical Lithuanian wooden castle from a time in which the land was filled with them, approximately 450 in all, held by the nobility against the country's powerful enemies

1262

Rest of name unknown.

1266

1268 & 1270

The Danish fleet sails to Reval in 1268 and 1270 to ward off threats posed by the Lithuanians and Rus (probably of Novgorod). The rebellions by Estonians and Couronians in northern Livonia seem not to extend into North Estonia, but the political situation is doubtless fraught and North Estonian lands vulnerable to attack.

1270

1274 - 1275

Smolensk is the last of the independent principalities of the Rus, but it now falls to Mongke Temur of the Golden Horde. The following year he defends his Rus vassals by dispatching a Mongol-Rus force to ward off the Lithuanians, an action requested by Duke Lev I of Halych-Volynia.

1275 - 1279

Died 1279.

1279 - 1281

Surname uncertain.

1283

To the south-west of Livonia, the Teutonic Knights continue to advance north through Prussia, and having conquered the lands of the Skalvs and part of that of the Yotvingians, they drive the Nadruvians to the River Nemunas in 1283, right on the border with Lithuania. The population of these areas is killed off, with only a few managing to escape across the border.

The oldest sections of Tallinn's city wall - still largely extant - were built by the Danes in the thirteenth century (click or tap on image to view full sized)

c.1285

1287

1287

Rest of name unknown.

1288

1294

The accession of Pukuveras to the Lithuanian throne unites Samogitia to the crown on a permanent basis, and probably serves to end the series of Samogitian rebellions against their various German opponents. Pukuveras dies just three years later but his son, Viten, rules both lands as a single political entity.

1296

1298

1304

1310

1312 - 1313

Related to Johann, above?

1313 - 1314

1323

Would appear to be the Johannes Canne of 1310.

1326

Peter von Dusburg writes that in the Prussian province of Nadruva, in the place called Romuva, there is a powerful priest named Krivė, whom the people regarded as pope, and whose dominion extends not only over Nadruva, but also over Couronia, Lithuania, and Semigallia. The only such 'pope' known to recorded history, Krivė is highly respected by the kings, nobility and common people, and his rule covers almost all of the Baltic lands during the wars against the Teutonic Knights.

The gods of the Old Prussians were Patrimps, Parkuns, and Patolls (sounding like modern Latvian names in the near-compulsory 's' at the end of each name) who were related to the principle cycles of human life - birth and growth, maturity, and ageing and death

1329

1332 - 1343

King Christopher II of Denmark dies a prisoner, having already lost the kingdom to factionalism. Denmark as a kingdom ceases to exist for the next eight years. The political fallout and turmoil reaches North Estonia where the pro-German Marquard Breide and his supporters are opposed by the pro-Danish Bishop Olav von Roskilde of Reval. The division is replicated across North Estonia, with each group holding onto its own pockets of territory.

1332 - 1335

Pro-German. Opposed by Reval. Died.

1340 - 1343

Governed Jul-May.

1343

Acting governor. Died 1343?

1343

The St George's Night Uprising sees a large-scale native Estonian revolt beaten by the Livonian Knights, using a mixture of treachery and battle. The Danish response to the uprising seems to be muted (unsurprisingly, given their continued internal divisions), with the Knights taking command of the defence. However, the Knights are unable to prevent some disasters, such as the loss of Pöide Castle on Ösel-Wiek, and the probable massacre of its entire garrison.

The oppressed Estonian peasants began the St George's Night Uprising in 1343, which was brutally put down by the Livonian Order, resulting in the Order being able to take control of all of the major Danish strongholds in the duchy of Estonia

1343 - 1344

A Livonian stadholder. Died 1359.

1344 - 1346

Last Danish vice-regent of North Estonia.

1346

The Danish king sells North Estonia to the Livonian Knights for ten thousand marks and all of Estonia is now ruled by a German nobility class. The official transfer of power takes place on 1 November 1346.

The last Danish bishop of Reval, Olav von Roskilde, is allowed to retain his position, but now under the governance of the Teutonic Knights. The title of 'Duke of Estonia' falls into disuse (only to be revived by Danish King Christian I in 1456 without actually holding any Estonian territory in what is now Livonian Estonia).