Chapter 5.1: The Countryside

When Sweden conquered the Baltic territories, a large portion of land fell under the control of the crown. As the coffers of the state were empty, the state began a huge campaign of giving land to nobles, state officials and officers as compensation for their work. By the 1650s, less than two percent remained under the control of the state. As a result, huge territories fell under the control of Swedish nobility and families like Oxenstierna, De la Gardie and others. But the Swedish nobility never physically relocated here, they mostly rented out their manors to the local nobility.

As mentioned, Sweden started nationalising manors. The first victims were the lands that had been given out as compensation earlier. Nevertheless, this caused a lot of fear amongst the Baltic-Germans, as they feared they would be next. And their fears were founded, in the end, the nationalisation campaign affected every single noble family. As a result, the Swedish era would later be remembered in a very negative light by the Baltic-German community.

There was a clear distinction between manor and village fields. Although both belonged to the manor, the manor could only ask for tributes from the village fields, whilst all of the produce from the manor field would belong to the manor. Peasants were forced to work on all fields, manor fields had the priority.

The number of manors boomed in the 17th century, from around 500 in 1600 to more than 1000 by the end of the Swedish Era. Some manors were split, many manors were completely new. When a new manor was created, the fields of the local village(-s) were made into manor fields, and peasants were given new, but worse or even uncultivated plots.



Punishing peasants in a Northern Estonian manor, Adam Olearius, 1656.

Most of the revenue in the manors came from selling crops. A vast majority of sold crops came from the manor fields. Livestock farming was rare, in most cases manors only had dogs and horses. Peasants had to pay tribute: oxen, pigs, calfs, rams, lambs, geese, chicken, eggs, butter, hay, animal fat, bacon, honey and wax. In addition they had to provide firewood, bags, yarns, flax, hemp, hops etc. In the case of coastal villages fish as well.

Although the peasants in Finland and Sweden were free, serfdom remained in place in the oversea provinces. Sweden did not interfere with the local peasant-manor relations too much. What it did try to do was to regulate the power of the local nobility somewhat. For example, the killing of peasants was banned. Peasants were also allowed to give pleas to the local governor to some extent. But Sweden also reacknowledged the existence of the fact that peasants were tied to their manor indefinitely and that they were completely owned by the landlord in 1668.

The economic situation of the peasants worsened, the size of the farms decreased and required tributes increased. With the increase in the size of manor fields, the workload of peasants also increased. The typical norm for a farm was 6 days of work per week during winter, and 12 days of work per week during summer. (This meant that during summer, a farm had to send two workers to the manor 6 days a week, whilst during winter they had to send only one). In addition the peasants had to also do “help work”, so during the busiest periods of work (for example during sowing or haymaking), the manors would demand one or two extra labourers from the farm. During the most critical periods, for example the harvest, the manor would demand all peasants from the farms to work at the manor fields for up to three days. Of course the peasants had to also worry about their own fields.

However, there was change in the air from the 1680s onward. The peasants on the farms, which had been nationalised, were declared as crown peasants. These peasants still had to labour for the manor like before, but the arbitrary justice of the landlords was banned, the same went for extra random work and other orders. In addition, the children of peasants were given the right to go to school and join the army. In 1681, the king Karl XI declared in the province of Livonia and then six years later in Estonia, that the “vile slavery and serfdom” ought to and will be abolished.

The state also started to regulate the amount of work the peasants had to do, decreasing the maximum cap. The peasants were also given some property rights.

Unfortunately these gains would only last for a short period and then be reversed during the beginning of the Russian Era. As a result, the Swedish era was later remembered as the “good old Swedish time” by the Estonian consciousness.

A network of postal roads and corresponding infrastructure was established in the 1630s.