Historical Survey of Tallinn up to 1929
In the year 1219 King Voldemar II of Denmark, to whom Bishop Albert had applied for help against Russia, appeared on the coast of Estonia with a large fleet, destroyed…
From: Unknown To: 1929 C.E.
Location: Tallinn
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“Historical Survey.” from Tallinn (Reval) The Capital of Estonia by Eesti Telegraffi Agentuur Tallinn, 1929.
In the year 1219 King Voldemar II of Denmark, to whom Bishop Albert had applied for help against Russia, appeared on the coast of Estonia with a large fleet, destroyed the stronghold of the Estonians—Lindanisa—and in its place erected the Danish castle "Revele“ (the great Castle on the Dome together with the Dome Church), which the Estonians afterwards called "Taanilinn”—the town of the Danes. The old chronicles have it that during the battle which took place near Tallinn on June 15th 1219, the "Danebrog", the Danish banner (a white cross in a field of red, the same as the so-called “small escutcheon" of the present day of the town of Tallinn), fell from the sky and helped the Danes to their victory over the Estonians.
The “little castle”, with the tower called “Long Herman”, (Pikk Herman), was erected in 1227 by the Order of the Brothers of the Sword. At the foot of the Dome a borough came to exist and we may suppose that streets such as “Knight Street”, (rüüte;, Ritter), “King Street” (kuningas,
König) and “Wheel-Well Street” (rataskaev, Rader) existed already about the year 1230. The Danish rule, with a short interruption, lasted till the year 1346. During this period the churches of the town were built such as the Dome Church (Toomkirik) (1210), the Church of St. Olaf (Olevistekirik) (mentioned in 1267), the Church of St. Nicolas (Nigulisiekirik) (mentioned in 1316) and the Church of the Holy Ghost (Pühavaimukirik) (the former chapel of the town-council, mentioned in 1316). The oldest walls with which the town was girt also date back to this time.
Trade and commerce formed the occupation of the inhabitant. In 1248 the town was granted the "Lubian Right”, that is, autonomy and self-jurisdiction. From this time the town began to flourish, the culminating point being reached during the time of the Hansa when the Order ruled the country (1346 to 1561). Here it should be pointed out that the Estonians made repeated efforts to regain their lost independence, but the revolts which occurred were suppressed by the foreign rulers. The bloodiest of these revolts was that of 1343, the "Jürőő' (St. George's Night).
The Reformation commenced in Tallinn in the year 1524: the Dominicans were expelled the country, the Dome Church and the Church of St. Olaf were pillaged.
In the sixteenth century, when Poland, Russia and Sweden contended for domination on the shores of the Baltic Sea, the prosperity of Tallinn began to decline. Russia, having thrown off the Tartar yoke, in her thirst for conquest turned to the West. In the year 1570/71 Tallinn suffered a heavy siege by the hosts of Ivan the Terrible, repeated in 1577. Already during the period of Swedish rule (1561 to 1710), called by the Estonians “the good old Swedish times”, the commerce of Tallinn fell away and the decline continued under Russian rule (1710 to 1918) up to the year 1870, when railway communication between Tallinn and Petersburg was opened.
In spite of their desperate resistance the Estonians had lost their independence in the thirteenth century and by the policy of their rulers, were compelled to forego all economic, political and cultural self-assertion. Only in the beginning of the nineteenth century, after the abolition of serfdom in 1816, did the national regeneration of the Estonian people set in, marked by such events as the formation of the first Estonian society, the “Estonia" (1865), the issue of the first Estonian weekly periodical (1875), the first Estonian singing festival (1880), all indications of increasing national self-consciousness.
Hereafter national endeavour develops rapidly: the second Estonian singing festival (1896), the first daily newspaper (1901), municipal administration of Tallinn by the Estoninans (1904), until at last, after the revolution of 1905, the World War and the second revolution of 1917, after the bolshevist times and German occupation, Estonia succeeded in regaining her independence. On April 23rd 1919 the Constituent Assembly met and after the long, bloody struggle of many nations Tallinn, once the primitive stronghold of the Estonian people, became the capital of the Republic of Estonia.
Tallinn (Reval) The Capital of Estonia, Eesti Telegraffi Agentuur Tallinn, 1929.
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