Chapter 7.1.2: Governing in the provinces of Estonia and Livonia. Cities.

The representatives of the central power of the state in the governorates of Estonia and Livonia were the governors, who resided in Tallinn and Riga respectively. They were in charge of military and state tax matters, as well as approving the decisions of the local knighthoods.


The Palace of Toompea, the former seat of the governor of Estonia, now the Estonian parliament. In Tallinn.

Each knighthood discussed and voted on important local matters in the landtags, which were held every three years. All landowners of the noble class participated there. Between the landtags, the governing was done by a council of advisors, who had been picked for life by the landtag.

To restrict access to the landtag, in the middle of the 18th century lists of nobles were drawn up. Those lists included all the current members of the knighthoods, and it was determined that only their descendants would be able to belong to the knighthoods. This ensured that all the newcomers would be kept out of the local affairs.

The power of the knighthoods did not reach the cities, where the power was still held by the town councils and the more successful merchants.

During the reign of Catherine the Great, there were big changes in the administrative affairs of the Baltic provinces. Efforts were made to establish a similar kind of rule like elsewhere in the vast empire, this included getting rid of the Baltic Special Arrangement starting from 1783. The presence of the central state increased, the number of bureaucrats more than tripled. The powers of the local nobility in the fields of government and the judiciary system were decreased and the toll border was lost.

To appease the nobles however, the manors were made the personal property of the nobles, which meant that the state could no longer take them away like happened in the Swedish era.

The land was divided into counties (called kreis (German)) , and as each county had to have a county capital, a few new towns were established: Baltiski (Paldiski) , Walk (Valga) and Werro (Võru).



The counties of the governorate of Estonia.



The counties of the governorate of Livonia. Ösel (Saaremaa), Pernau (Pärnu), Fellin (Viljandi), Dorpat (Tartu) and Werro (Võru) were in the Estonian speaking territory, the rest were in Latvian speaking territory.




Võru St. Catherine's church, opened in 1793.



Tartu Town Hall, 1789.



Pistohlkorsi City palace, now home to the City Museum of Tartu.



Stenbock house, opened in 1792, now home to the Estonian government. In Tallinn.



Tiesenhausen palace, 1798. In Tallinn.



Brockhausen house, 1787. In Tallinn.



Schöler house, 1780. Now the Museum of Viljandi.



Rakvere (old) courthouse, 1786. Now houses the Police Museum.



Paide courthouse, 1790.

Emperor Paul I, who came into power after the death of Empress Catherine, restored the old system of governance and judiciary in the Baltic provinces in 1796. But some reforms remained in place: the toll border was not reinstated, the manors were left as the property of the nobles and many state owned government and healthcare institutions remained active. In exchange for reinstating the old privileges of the nobles, Russia also established a system of getting conscripts for the army here. The time of service lasted for 25 years. Around 1200-2200 men were picked into service each year, based on a sort of lottery.



The facade of the Kadriorg Palace in Tallinn. Built in 1718-1725 on the orders of emperor Peter the Great as his summer residence.



The dance hall.



The Upper Garden.

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