Chapter 3.3: Cities

Soon after the Crusade, cities began to be established by the new rulers.

There were 9 cities in Estonia during the medieval era: Tallinn (Reval), Tartu (Dorpat), Viljandi (Fellin), Uus-Pärnu (Neu-Pernau), Vana-Pärnu (Alt-Pernau), Haapsalu (Hapsal), Paide (Wittenstein), Rakvere (Wesenberg) and Narva. Medieval Livonia was one of the least urbanized regions in Europe.

A city was not determined by its size, but instead by its legal status. Cities had received town rights and privileges from their Seignor, which granted them special status and autonomy. All Estonian cities were given town charters between 1248 (Tallinn) and 1345 (Narva). Each town had their own rights, laws and liberties. They were led by town councils (raad), which were elected by the citizens of the city. The town councils had immense power within the city: the members of the council formed the judiciary; the council decided who would be accepted as a citizen; they regulated the economy, market and production.



The Town Hall of Tallinn, from the early 15th century.

How much a city was able to flourish was determined by its relation to its Seignor. For example, Tallinn had received huge privileges under Danish rule and enjoyed great liberties. It was also by far the biggest city, with a population of over 5000. Tartu, Viljandi and Uus-Pärnu all had about 1000 people, the rest were even smaller.

Becoming a citizen of a town would give a person many rights and privileges, including the right to work in certain professions and to elect the town council. To become a citizen, one had to be accepted by the town council, give an oath to the city and pay a small fee. Most other European cities demanded that a future citizen must also own property in the city, but cities in Livonia did not. The bar here was generally very low, because cities needed to attract immigrants.

Not all people in cities were citizens though. Most were just commoners. The citizens were an elite group.

Over the course of the middle ages, many people arrived to Livonian cities. The majority of the population was formed by Estonians, who had flocked to the cities en masse during the 13th and early 14th centuries, when they were still able to move freely. There were also many Swedes, Finns, Danes in Northern and Western towns and Latvians and Livonians in Southern towns. In Tallinn, Tartu and Narva there were also small communities of Russians.

Like in the country, the elite of a city, the citizens, merchants and craftsmen, were Germans. Estonians formed the lower class, being mostly manual labourers and simple craftsmen. Poor people were referred to in law as “undeutsch” or non-Germans.

The population was organised into guilds. At first they were based on ethnicity, later they became based on profession. The most important guilds in Tallinn were the “Great Guild” or “Suurgild”, which was an organisation that united citizens/merchants, the most powerful strata in society, and the Brotherhood of Blackheads, which united “future” citizens or the offspring of merchants who were yet to be married. One had to be married to become a citizen.


The Great Guild building. (Built in 1404).


The HQ of the Brotherhood of Blackheads. (Built in 1531).

(There were other guilds (and guildhalls) as well)

As you have most likely guessed by now, the merchants were the richest in society. Tallinn, Uus-Pärnu, Viljandi and Tartu were all members of the Hanseatic League (Hansa liit in Estonian and a concept where “Lufthansa” originates). The League has been compared to an early version of the EU. The traders of the League enjoyed duty-free treatment, protection, and diplomatic privileges in affiliated communities and their trade routes. Hanseatic cities developed a common legal system governing their merchants and goods and operated their own armies for mutual defence and aid. Reduced barriers to trade, and the resulting prosperity, gave way to economic interdependence, kinship ties among merchant families, and mutual trust. The most important export was grain and fat, by far the most important import was salt, which was compared to gold. The monopoly of the League over trade in Northern Europe started to wane in the late 15th century.

Some examples of surviving merchant homes in Tallinn:



The Three Sisters.


The Three Brothers.

Merchant homes had living quarters on the first floors and storage rooms on the last floors. That is the reason behind the cranes at the top of the facade.

The craftsmen in Livonian cities mostly focused on the local market. The most common areas of work were: cobblers, tailors, bakers, butchers and blacksmiths, in larger cities there were also teamsters, carriers and coin makers.

Craftsmen were united into “tsunfts” or corporations. Not all professions had their own corporation, but the ones that did, were much more prestigious. If there was a corporation for your profession, and you were not part of it, then you were not allowed to work in that field. In total there were 18 corporations by the end of the Mediaeval era in Tallinn.

Some “better” professions, like goldsmiths, tailors and bakers, had rules that non-Germans were not allowed to join their corporations. Estonians were generally pushed by force to lower paying jobs, like street pavers, stonecutters, trenchers and on, as well as to less prestigious positions, like servants, nightguards etc.

Some professions also allowed females, for example, weavers, midwives and decorators.

There was a saying that “city air makes one free”. The reason behind that was the fact that if a serf managed to escape to a city and stay there for more than a year, without being found by their master, then the serf would become a free man.

The cities were not confined within their town walls. They all owned areas in the immediate vicinity of the settlement, where the townsfolk herded their sheep, took care of their gardens and ploughed their fields.

Most cities were surrounded by a stone wall, smaller ones had mere dirt mounds and wooden fences.


A surviving section of the Town wall of Tallinn.

How the fortifications of Tallinn looked like around 1410:


And the surviving sections of the town wall:



The central location of a city was the market. It was a place of commerce, as well as social events like processions and festivities. New laws, citizens and members of the town council were all shouted out on markets.

Education was mostly limited to the children of citizens, because one had to pay for it. Many continued their studies in the universities of Germany.

Merchants and wealthy craftsmen were highly cultured, most of them owned paintings, books, liked to listen to music and dance, not to mention watch plays. Several attempts at poetry have been found in surviving guild books.

(Religion is covered separately).

As can be seen, I mostly focused on Tallinn for this section. Tallinn is the only preserved mediaeval town in Estonia, others only have some churches or castles left from the mediaeval period. Also the most is known about life in Tallinn.