13th century estonia?

does anyone have info on 13th century Estonia?.

I recently visited an amazing hillfort in Varbola and was amazed to find out that the fort had never been taken in all the years that German knights,Swedish, Danes and the Livonians were occupying Estonia.This place must have been the hub for the local tribes.I know that there was a battle around 1212 with the russian novgorod, but i cannot believe that this was the only pitched battle for varbola fort. was Lembitu leading the fort?

I would love to obtain any information on the subject if someone would be so kind,as I am soon to be living nearby the fort and would like to understand the history.

was the fort related to the battles of paala or umera in anyway?

any info on the 1208-1223 battles?

where did all the silver come from?(plundered?)

any info or pictures of the sieges would be cool.

 

many thanks Kalevipoeg.

this would be brilliant if you could. i will keep a close eye out on this post.

many many thanks.

Exelent Mangudai!!

oeselian and rotalian? were they estonian tribes? livonians? or the order?

does Lihula still stand? ,my guesses are no.is that stronghold closer to west coast,or west of varbola?did varbola have another name that i could research?

And why was sweden trying to occupy Estionia goddammit! were Swedish christians at this point? or just oppertunist?

many thanks. please keep it coming. I have so much to learn.

aaaaah i see.

so the oeselians(islanders of saremaa) were the tough ones again!

they were also the only locals to hold their land against the more recent russian occupation so i am informed.

these rotalians sound interesting.were they the defenders of the west region?as varbola is also positioned nearby perhaps they were related.

as for you mean vikings...well i thought that Estonians were also of the viking blood.and have been told that they were one of the most feared sea men.

why were Sweden and Germany not allies at this point?

hmmmm. so many questions.I will one day know about the mystique that is varbola.it has such an atmosphere that compels me to find out more.

Bloody hell, the third attempt of posting now, hope i succeed. I had translated material from my Estonian history books about fighting during 1208-1212, but now i don't like writing the same thing the third time so i'll just fill you in on Varbola. Hope that axeman gets the overview of the Ancient Strugggle for Freedom done.

The fort(linnus) of Varbola:

The largest linnus of Ancient Estonia is located in Raplamaa county, M�rjamaa parish in the village of P�lli. The linnus has been mentioned twice in the Chronicles of the Livonian Henrik, once in 1212. as Castrum Warbole and the second time as Castrum Warbolense in 1223. And in Russian sources it is mentioned as the place where the duke of Pskov - Mstislav the Braves raid extended up to Varbola.
Many findings from trhe 12th and 13th century give belief that at the time the the linnus of Varbola was the militery center for the parish of Varbola and also for the entire county of West-L��nemaa. The linnus situated on the trade route ranging from Novgorod to Padise. The linnus was in usage up until the 14th century when it became obsolete after the uprising of J�ri�� in 1343. Varbola, is on of the few ancient military centers that did not evolve into a larger settlement. Much because the Varbolians (i'll call them in this weird manner, excuse me) had good relations with the invaders on a treaty basis which kept the conquerors from builind their own military settlement at the location. Up until the 15th to the 17th century there was a cemetery located in the courtyard of the linnus, which is a unique feature in Estonia. Up until the beginning of the 20th century you could see the farm place of the mansions forest guard (metsavaht) on the courtyard of the linnus. After the storms of the sixties in the last century the linnus area was ridded ofthicket and bushes.

The linnus was located on the north side of a 3-4 metre high knoll which had the shape of a sparrows (varblane) beak. It covered an area of 2 hectars which was surrounded by a 580 meter long limestone plated wall. Its height on the outer side was 7-8 metres and from the inside 2-6 metres. On the south bank a 10 meter wide and 2-3 metres deep moat guarded the linnus. The wal had 2-3 gateways. On the coutryard, the remnants of 90 vaporizing-furnaces was found and at the center of the courtyard was a unique 15 meter deep well, cut into limestone.
As extraordinary findings, a tip of an oak mace ahs been found, also a dice of bone, forms of bronzeworking and an ironschlack(do not know what it exactly means) which leads to the conclusion of raw-iron making in Varbola.
The source for this was: www.varbola.ee/vvv/linnus.htm

Another source:
Varbola coutrytown (consists of the fort) can proudly be presented as the most powerful ancient linnus of the Baltics. Often called "Sparrows beak" in the Russian chronicles of the 13th century. The linnus was most likely founded in 11th or 12th century and it can be said that nobody ever conquered the linnus of Varbola.
when in 1060. Izitsjav and in 1212. Mstislav, Russian dukes came to siege the linnus with great forces, ransom was payed and it wasn't looted.
It can be sayd that wealth for those kind of payments was generated by protecting the local trade routes. During winter time the trade went by land and the Western-European and Scandinavian states were in trade realtionships with Southern-Russia and even up to Persia. The location of the linnus  was well chosen. It was a days trip from the western coast so no surprise attacks could happen and to the east, 5 kilometres from the linnus, a smaller preventive linnus was constructed.
The linnus was built by the most modern standards of ancient Estonia. In earlier days, a linnus was protected by a water moat, and a fence. But now, a stone wall formations were constructed. the amount of work was tremendous - 30,000 cubic metres of stone was taken to the location. That makes a quarter of a million horse loads. On the edge of the stone walling,  higher defensive walls from logs were constructed and also, higher tower constructions. Both on the east and western side were 2 metre wide gateways which were layin in place with a two time stone wall and supported by wide tree trunks/posts.
The linnus itself is about 2 hectars large. Also the well i told you about earlier was found in 1938-1939. It was 5,5 x 5 metres wide ending with 2 metres at the bottom. During this finding of the well, about half a hundred coins, sarcificed in the 15th to 17th century and several everyday tools were also found. Places of sacrifice also were the gateways and local  water spring area.
During 1974.-1982. the linnus was thorally investigated and about 90 stone settlements were located inside the courtyard as permanent living conditions. The settelemnts were mostly small square formations without a chimney. At the back wall, each of these settlements/houses had a vaporizing oven. In front of it, food was made as in later times in Estonian farms. During the 19th century the inner courtyard of the linnud was used by the family of the local forest guard. They used the local inner cemetery as a place of farming and later as grazing land.

source: www.marjamaa.ee/?id=5178

Well, this is waht i could find and very very quickly translate from my native pages. Tally-o!!!

Well yes, atleast the other members can read this info aswell. It was good to get some real history written here, as most of the time i just like to bash Bush and smother christianity. 

any info on rotalians?

wiked Mangudai! thats exelent news.

If its not possible could you please name any of the books, ideally in English lol. But in Estonian or Swedish is cool.

once again many thanks! ill keep my eyes peeled.

<<<<< pats axeman on the back.

woohoo!

axeman my friend,my eyes are permanently looking at this post! lol