Harjumaa

Who holds it

Name

None named for 1200

Title

The elders of Harjumaa's parishes and of Varbola

Since

not applicable

Born

not applicable

Family

No ruling family; no elder named for these years. The Danish census of the 13th century shows a native landholding family, the Lode, keeping the estate round Varbola after the conquest.

Confidence

low

en.wikipedia (Harjumaa (ancient county); Varbola Stronghold).

Overlord

None. No tribute is known.

What it holds

• Varbola, ring-walled hillfort and trading centre (Varbola)
• Keava, hillfort (Keava)
• Raikküla, the meeting place

How things stand that morning

Free and pagan.

Wealth

Grain and cattle; the trade gathered at Varbola.

Military

Parish levies; Varbola's stone ring wall, the strongest fort in northern Estonia. No numbers.

Threats

• Novgorod: Mstislav Mstislavich besieges Varbola in 1211 or 1212 and is bought off (later)
• The Germans: Master Volkwin's raid of 1216 (later)
• The Danes from Lindanise in 1219 (later)

Parishes

Listed with their villages in the Danish census of the 13th century; not detailed here.

Hillforts

Varbola (Varbola), Keava (Keava); others not pinned.

Assembly

Raikküla (Raigele), where Henry says the people of the surrounding lands gathered every year.

Neighbours

Rävala to the north, Järvamaa to the east, Alempois to the south-east, Läänemaa to the west.

Tributes

None known in 1200.

Law and courts

Elders of parishes and hillforts; the yearly gathering at Raikküla.

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

In 1200

1. During 1200 (nothing dated)No event in this land is recorded for 1200.Depends on: not applicable Stopped by: not applicable

Later, on the likely course

1. 1211 or 1212 (after this year)Mstislav Mstislavich of Novgorod besieges Varbola for some days and withdraws on payment (Henry of Livonia).Depends on: Novgorod's campaigns Stopped by: not applicable

Places of note

• Varbola: Ring-walled hillfort and trading centre.
• Keava: Hillfort on a ridge.
• Raikküla: The yearly meeting place named by Henry.

Where the sources disagree

• en.wikipedia (Varbola Stronghold) dates the Rus' siege of Varbola to 1211; et.wikipedia (Lembitu) argues for 1212.

Evidence: Varbola is known from archaeology and Henry of Livonia; the land's bounds come from the 13th-century Danish census.

On the map: Roughly modern Rapla County with the south of Harju County; the line with Rävala is a reconstruction.

Primary sources for The Estonians

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• The Chronicle of Novgorod (kept year by year; the Synodal manuscript written in the 13th and 14th centuries). Novgorod's own record, kept at St Sophia. Read online
• The Livonian Chronicle of Henry, Henry of Livonia (1225 to 1227). The chief source for the Baltic mission. Read online
• The birch-bark letters (11th to 15th centuries). Excavated letters and notes on birch bark, dated by the layer they lie in. Read online
• The Registers of Pope Innocent III for 1199 to 1201, Innocent III and the papal chancery (22 February 1199 to 21 February 1201). The pope's outgoing letters for the year, in his chancery's own copy, touching nearly every realm in the atlas. Read online
• Charter book of Livonia, Estonia and Courland, volume 1, 1093 to 1300 (documents of 1093 to 1300, edited 1853). The documents of the Livonian mission: Innocent III's bull of 5 October 1199 calling for a crusade to protect the Livonian church, the privileges for Bishop Albert, Archbishop Hartwig of Bremen's acts for the see of Üxküll, and the later charters that settle who held what on the Düna.
• The law of the Gotlanders; The saga of the Gotlanders (Guta lag about 1220, Guta saga about 1220 to 1275; manuscript of about 1350). The law and the short history of the self-governing island. Read online