Duchy of Estonia (1561-1721)

Origins

As Terra Mariana collapsed under Russian attack, the city of Reval and the knighthoods of Harrien, Wierland and Jerwen submitted to Eric XIV of Sweden in 1561. Sweden held on through the long Livonian War, and the Treaty of Teusina in 1595 confirmed its possession of northern Estonia.

Rule and society

The duchy was ruled by a Swedish governor at Reval, but the Baltic German nobility kept wide self-government, their Lutheran church and control of their serfs. Swedish rule founded schools, including a gymnasium at Reval in 1631, and promoted printing in Estonian; Charles XI's reduction of noble estates in the 1680s angered the nobles. Reval and Narva were key ports for Baltic trade.

Decline and legacy

In the Great Northern War Russian forces took Reval in 1710, and the Treaty of Nystad in 1721 confirmed the loss. The region became the Governorate of Estonia within the Russian Empire, its nobles' privileges guaranteed by Peter the Great.