Chapter 5.2: Cities

With the advent of the Early Modern Era, the state strived to achieve greater power across the land. Cities had to start fighting for their traditional privileges, as the state tried to bend the cities to the economic, strategic and administrative needs of the state. The state was of course most interested in the taxes and tolls collected in the cities.

The largest amount of autonomy remained in Tallinn, as it had voluntarily submitted to Swedish rule. The town rights remained in place, although the citizens had to appeal to Stockholm instead of Lübeck if they were not satisfied with the results of the courts. Tallinn did not escape from the new taxes either. Under Karl XI, the position of the Mayor of Justice was established to represent the interests of the state in the town council. The Castle of Toompea became the centre of the government of the province. The population reached 15 thousand by the end of the Swedish Era.


Panorama of Tallinn by Adam Olearius, 1656


A building on Toompea from the earlier Swedish era.

A warehouse from the 1690s


So called Menšikov house, built in the 1680s.


Rosen Palace in Tallinn, built during the 1670s. Now the Embassy of Sweden.

Tartu also retained its old privileges, but lost its status as a trade city. The trade routes would start to bypass the city entirely. In 1629, Gustavus Adolphus made Tartu the capital of Livonia, a status it only retained for three years, before it was given to Riga instead. During this time, in 1632, the University of Tartu was founded, marking the beginning of the oldest university in Estonia (more about it in an upcoming chapter). The population reached 3500 by the end of the Swedish era.

In Narva, the old laws were replaced by Swedish laws. Swedish was made the official language of affairs and the city was ruled by the state. Stockholm saw huge potential in Narva as a transit and port city and a military outpost. In the middle of the 17th century, Narva also became the capital of the province of Ingria. All of this had a huge influence of the development of Narva. In 1659 the city burned down, and following it, fancy new baroque houses, a town hall and a stock exchange were built. Narva became an important centre of trade, the importance of Tallinn decreased and the importance of Narva increased. For example, there was a big colony of English merchants there by the end of the century, they even had their own church. The population reached 5000 by the end of the Swedish era.


The main square of Narva in the 1930s, with the town hall and the stock exchange. The Swedish era heritage was completely wiped out during the Second World War, the town hall remains.

As Sweden found ruling the oversea provinces from Stockholm bothersome, there were even plans to make Narva the second capital of the Swedish Empire. The Swedish Era is considered the golden age of Narva.

Only Pärnu and Kuressaare managed to retain their status as a city as well. Other towns went under the rule of the state and lost any sort of autonomy. They only regained their status as a city during the Russian era.







Some Swedish era buildings in Pärnu.


The Town Hall of Kuressaare, finished in 1670.


The Weigh House of Kuressaare, finished in 1654.

The proportion of Estonians in Tallinn was about a third, other cities were completely Germanized and Swedified.

Life in the cities remained pretty much the same as it had been before. The length a serf had to be in a city before being found out to become a free man was extended from one year to two.

Sweden considered commerce extremely important, as tolls were the main source of income. All cities were divided into two categories: 1) hinterland cities, which were only allowed to conduct domestic trade, and 2) warehouse cities, which had the privilege of conducting international trade. The only warehouse cities in Estonia were Tallinn and Narva. Other cities would send their produce to Tallinn, Narva, Riga or overseas to Sweden. The trade in the hinterland cities dropped severely.

The era of the Hanseatic League ended, the main article of trade was the exported grain, which was sent to the Netherlands, Northern Germany and Sweden.

Sweden regulated trade as well, for example, they imposed a ban on exporting grain during periods of crop failure to have backups of grain and keep the price of bread at a reasonable level. This was disliked by the merchants, who lost lots of profit with the loss of foreign markets.

During the second half of the 17th century, Sweden started to see Muscovy as a threat to her Eastern provinces. So the country initiated an ambitious plan to build grand systems of bastion networks around the most important cities in order to defend them. In 1686, the project for Tallinn by Erik Dahlberg, the head of all fortifications of the Swedish state, and Paul von Essen, the commandant of Tallinn,  was approved. There were supposed to be 11 bastions, bearing the names of Swedish provinces, and 6 ravelins. Only 3 bastions were completed, the Ingrian, the Swedish and the Skåne bastion. In addition, there were supposed to be the Wendia, Finlandia, Estonia, Livonia, Karelia, Bremen, Pommern and Götaland bastions.


The Ingrian bastion, now the Harju hill.

The Swedish bastion, now the Linda hill

Skoone bastion, now the Rannavärava hill. (Going through renovation works at the moment)



The Gootide redoubt, which was supposed to be the Götaland bastion but was completed as a redoubt.



The construction of the bastions of Narva began in 1682. They were named: Victoria, Honor, Gloria, Fama, Triumph, Fortuna, Pax and Justitia. All of them survive, except for Fama.


Victoria bastion.

The bastions of Tartu were named after Swedish monarchs: Karl IX, Karl X Gustav, Gustav II Adolf, Karl XI, Gustav I Vasa, Ulrika Eleonora, Christina and Hedwig Eleonora. Some of them still survive as hills, they are part of the Toomemäe park.

The bastions of Pärnu were named after the bodies of the Solar System: Venus, Saturnus, Mars, Sol, Jupiter, Mercurius and Luna. Pieces of the fortifications have survived.


The Tallinn gate, part of the fortification systems of Pärnu.