Baltic Noble Corporations - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Baltic Noble Corporations of Courland

Courland

Courland is one of the historical and cultural regions of Latvia. The regions of Semigallia and Selonia are sometimes considered as part of Courland.- Geography and climate :...

, Livonia

Livonia

Livonia is a historic region along the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It was once the land of the Finnic Livonians inhabiting the principal ancient Livonian County Metsepole with its center at Turaida...

, Estonia

Danish Estonia

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....

, and Oesel (Ösel) were medieval fiefdom

Fiefdom

A fee was the central element of feudalism and consisted of heritable lands granted under one of several varieties of feudal tenure by an overlord to a vassal who held it in fealty in return for a form of feudal allegiance and service, usually given by the...

s formed by German nobles in the 13th century under vassalage to the Teutonic Knights

Teutonic Knights

The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem , commonly the Teutonic Order , is a German medieval military order, in modern times a purely religious Catholic order...

and Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

in modern Latvia

Latvia

Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

and Estonia

Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

. The territories continued to have semi-autonomous status from 16th to early 20th century under Swedish and Russian rule.

History

The Teutonic Knights entered the area of what is now Latvia and Estonia in the beginning of the 13th century in order to Christianize the region. After the conquest much of the Order's land was divided among the German noble families originally from Westphalia and regions along the Rhine river. The towns also saw the development of a German mercantile class. The noble families constituted a minority amongst the local German-speaking population, and overall, the German-speakers constituted a small minority of the total population. During the second half of the 16th century, this area fell under the sovereignty of Sweden and Poland, which at that time dominated the Baltic Sea. While this resulted of the suppression of the Teutonic Order, local self-government remained in the hands of the four aristocratic corporations of Livonia, Estonia, Courland and Oesel.

With the growth of Russian power following the defeat of Sweden in the Great Northern War

Great Northern War

The Great Northern War was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in northern Central Europe and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swedish alliance were Peter I the Great of Russia, Frederick IV of...

(1700-1721), Livonia, Estonia (with the island of Oesel (Saaremaa

Saaremaa

Saaremaa is the largest island in Estonia, measuring 2,673 km². The main island of Saare County, it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hiiumaa island, and belongs to the West Estonian Archipelago...

)) and Courland (obtained in the second half of the 18th century from Poland) all became Russian provinces. Imperial Russia recognized the four aristocratic corporations' traditional privileges - German language, Lutheran religion and self-government.

The growth of Latvian and Estonian nationalism and the collapse of the Russian Empire led to the founding in 1918 of Latvia and Estonia as independent nations. As a result, the traditional aristocratic corporations lost their legal privileges and political status, and were reduced to charitable organizations. Most of the property belonging to the Baltic Germans, including their estates, was confiscated. Many of these families emigrated, the majority to Germany but also overseas. In 1939, following the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact

Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939...

, the agreement between Hitler and Stalin to divide up Poland and the Baltic states, the remaining Baltic Germans were evacuated to German-occupied Poland.

Estonian Noble Corporation

The earliest written reference of the Estonian Noble Corporation (Estländische Ritterschaft) dates from 1252. Its origins date back to the time of Danish rule, when two northern Estonian provinces of Harjumaa

Harjumaa

Harjumaa, , was an ancient Estonian county. It corresponded roughly to the present territory of Rapla County.- See also :*Danish Estonia*Harju County*Rapla County*History of Estonia*Livonian Crusade*Rulers of Estonia...

and Virumaa

Virumaa

Virumaa is a former independent county in Ancient Estonia. Now it is divided into Ida-Viru County or Eastern Vironia and Lääne-Viru County or Western Vironia...

where allied together. The process of the development of the corporation into a political entity was completed by the end of the Rule of the Teutonic Order in 1561, resulting in the control of the region and its peasant population, although excluding the cities.

Estländische Ritterschaft managed to maintain its dominant role throughout the period of Swedish

Swedish Estonia

The Duchy of Estonia , also known as Swedish Estonia, was a dominion of the Swedish Empire from 1561 until 1721, when it was ceded to Russia in the Treaty of Nystad, following its capitulation in the Great Northern War. The dominion arose when the northern parts of present-day Estonia were united...

and Russian rule. This meant that the practice of the Protestant-Lutheran faith (of the Augsburg Confession) was guaranteed along with the use of German as the administrative language and local autonomy in the administration of the land and the application of the law to its German and Estonian population.

Oesel Noble Corporation

The island of Oesel (Saaremaa

Saaremaa

) was conquered by crusaders between in 1227. During this period most of the island and the county of Wiek (Läänemaa) on neighboring mainland, became episcopal property, while the island of Moon (Muhu

Muhu

Muhu , is an island in the Baltic Sea. With an area of 198 km² it is the third largest island belonging to Estonia, after Saaremaa and Hiiumaa....

) and the eastern section of Oesel fell to the Teutonic Order. In 1238, the Seeland Convention recognized the Oesel Noble Corporation's right of co-govern the territory with the episcopal chapter.

The island and its noble corporation were subordinated to the Kings of Denmark from 1560 to 1645, to the Swedish Crown from 1645 to 1713, and the Russian Tsar between 1713 and 1917. In 1920 the newly independent Republic of Estonia abolished the institution of nobility and its privileges, liquidating the Oesel Noble Corporation and expropriating the vast majority of their estates.