The Estonian Knighthood (german: Estländische Ritterschaft, et, Eestimaa rüütelkond) was a

fiefdom A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of f ...

that operated in the northern part of modern

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

. It was formed in 1584 by the

Baltic German Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly declined ...

nobles and disbanded in 1920. Just like other Baltic knighthoods, the Estonian also had semi-autonomous privileged status in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

. The earliest written reference of the Estonian Knighthood dates from 1252. Its origins date back to the time of Danish rule, when the northern Estonian provinces of

Revala Revala (also ''Rävälä'', la, Revalia, by Henry of Livonia ''Revele'', by Danish Census Book ''Revælæ'') was an Ancient Estonian county. It was located in northern Estonia, by the Gulf of Finland and corresponded roughly to the present terr ...

Vironia Virumaa ( la, Vironia; Low German: ''Wierland''; Old Norse: ''Virland'') 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. Vironians built ...

and

Harria Harjumaa, ( la, Harria) (1200 hides), was an ancient county in what would now be Estonia. Parishes *around Varbola *around Lohu *around Kose See also * Danish Estonia *Harju County *Rapla County *History of Estonia *Livonian Crusade *Rul ...

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 The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians on ...

in 1561, resulting in the control of the region and its peasant population, excluding the cities. Estonian Knighthood managed to maintain its dominant role throughout the period of

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

and

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

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.

References

{{Authority control Geographic history of Estonia 1584 establishments in Europe 1920 disestablishments in Europe