| Sakala Sakala | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| county of Ancient Estonia | |||||||
| unknown | |||||||
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| Capital | unknown | ||||||
| Area | |||||||
| • Coordinates | 58°20′N25°20′E / 58.33°N 25.33°E Coordinates: 58°20′N25°20′E / 58.33°N 25.33°E | ||||||
| History | |||||||
| History | |||||||
• Established | unknown | ||||||
• Disestablished | unknown | ||||||
| |||||||
Sakala County (Estonian: Sakala, Latin: Saccalia) [1] was an ancient Estonian county [2] that was first mentioned in print by Henry of Latvia in the early 13th century. [3]
Sakala County is in northwestern Livonia, covering approximately the present counties of Viljandi, the southern half of Pärnu and the western third of Valga County. It was the southernmost of the ancient Estonian counties.
According to one hypothesis, the tribe of Sosols mentioned in Old East Slavic chronicles implies the people of Sakala. The chronicles say that Kievan Rus organized military campaign against Sosols in 1060 and taxed them. A year later, Sosols rose, destroyed Kievan Rus fort in Tartu and attacked Pskov. [4]
After the Livonian Crusade, the county became a part of the Livonian Confederation.
In Sackalian folklore, the neighbouring Ugaunians (ugalased) were enemy warriors and robbers. For instance, a folk song from Viljandi, the capital of Sackalia, calls for speeding up the harvest work because the Ugaunians might attack.[ citation needed ]
The Northern Crusades or Baltic Crusades were Christian colonization and Christianization campaigns undertaken by Catholic Christian military orders and kingdoms, primarily against the pagan Baltic, Finnic and West Slavic peoples around the southern and eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, and to a lesser extent also against Orthodox Christian Slavs.
Viljandi is a town and municipality in southern Estonia with a population of 17,407 in 2019. It is the capital of Viljandi County and is geographically located between two major Estonian cities, Pärnu and Tartu. The town was first mentioned in 1283, upon being granted its town charter by Wilhelm von Endorpe. The town became a member of the Hanseatic League at the beginning of the 14th century, and is one of five Estonian towns and cities in the league. The once influential Estonian newspaper Sakala was founded in Viljandi in 1878.
Suure-Jaani is a town in the northern part of the county of Viljandimaa in Põhja-Sakala rural municipality, 25 kilometres north of the town of Viljandi. Until 2017, Suure-Jaani was the administrative centre of Suure-Jaani rural municipality.
Lembitu was an ancient Estonian senior (elder) from Sakala County and military leader in the struggle against conquest of the Estonian lands by the German Livonian Brothers of the Sword at the beginning of the 13th century. He is the only Estonian pre-Crusade ruler, about whom some biographical information is known.
Counties are the first-level administrative subdivisions of Estonia. Estonian territory is composed of 15 counties, including 13 on the mainland and 2 on islands. The government of each county is led by a maavanem (governor) who represents the national government at the regional level. Governors are appointed by the national government for a term of five years.
Saare County is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It consists of Saaremaa, the largest island of Estonia, and several smaller islands near it, most notably Muhu, Ruhnu, Abruka and Vilsandi. The county borders Lääne County to the east, Hiiu County to the north, and Latvia to the south. In January 2013 Saare County had a population of 30,966, which was 2.4% of the population of Estonia.
The Livonian Chronicle of Henry is a document in Latin describing historic events in Livonia and surrounding areas from 1180 to 1227. It was written ca. 1229 by a priest named Henry. Apart from the few references in the Primary Chronicle compiled in Kievan Rus' in the twelfth century, it is the oldest known written document about the history of Estonia and Latvia.
Ugaunians or Ugannians, referred to as Chudes by the earliest Russian chronicles were historical Finnic people inhabiting the ancient southern Estonian Ugandi County (Latin:Ungannia) that is now Tartu, Põlva, Võru and Valga counties of Estonia.
Ugandi was an independent county between the east coast of Lake Võrtsjärv and west coast of Lake Pskov, bordered by Vaiga, Mõhu, Nurmekund, Sakala, Tālava, and The Principality of Pskov. Ugandi had an area of approximately 3000 hides. Ugandi corresponded roughly to the present Estonia's territory of Võru County, Põlva County and half of Tartu County and Valga County, as well as Petseri County.
Vyachko of Koknese, also Vetseke of Kokenhusen was the ruler of the Principality of Koknese in present-day Latvia, a vassal of Polotsk, who unsuccessfully tried to establish himself as a local ruler first in Latvia and then in Estonia, and fought against the expansionism of the Livonian Knights at the turn of the 13th century.
Oeselians is a term historically applied before the Northern Crusades up to the 13th century to people who were living on the island of Saaremaa or Oesel as it was known back then, an island in Estonia in the Baltic Sea. In modern times they are sometimes also referred to as piratical Saarlased. In Viking-Age literature, the inhabitants were often included under the name "Vikings from Estonia". The name Oeselians was first used in writing by Henry of Livonia in the 13th century. The inhabitants are often mentioned in the historic written sources during the Estonian Viking Age.
The Livonian crusade refers to the various military Christianisation campaigns in medieval Livonia – in what is now Latvia and Estonia – during the Papal-sanctioned Northern Crusades in the 12-13th century. The Livonian crusade was conducted mostly by the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Denmark. It ended with the creation of Terra Mariana and the Danish duchy of Estonia. The lands on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea were one of the last parts of Europe to be Christianised.
Ancient Estonia refers to a period covering History of Estonia from the middle of the 8th millennium BC until the conquest and subjugation of the local Finnic tribes in the first quarter of the 13th century during the Teutonic and Danish Northern Crusades.
The Varbola Stronghold was the largest circular rampart fortress and trading centre built in Estonia, in Harju County in the 10th – 12th centuries. Parts of the ruins of the 580-metre (1,900 ft) long and 8-to-10-metre high limestone wall of the fortress stand to this day. The long gateways with multiple gates were built to defend the entrances. In these sections higher defensive towers were erected. There was a 13-metre (43 ft) deep well in the middle of the fortress and the territory held about 90 structures with furnaces for accommodation built with limestone floors and foundations.
The Pskov Land was a historical region in the north-west of the medieval Russia centred around the city of Pskov. It was a vassal state of various Rus' states and had a measure of independence as Pskov Republic before being annexed by the Grand Duchy of Moscow. It had an important role in the trade and conflicts between Russia and its western neighbours.
Mõtsa Pūol or Metsepole was an ancient Livonian county inhabited by the Finnic Livonians, on the east coast of the Gulf of Riga, at the northwest of what is now the Vidzeme region of Latvia. Metsepole was bordered by the ancient Estonian Sakala County to the north, Latgalian Tālava to the east and Livonian county of Turaida to the south.
Tālava was a Latgalian country in the northern Vidzeme and northern Latgale region of today's Latvia. It was bordered by the Latgalian Principality of Jersika to the south, the Livonian counties of Metsepole and Idumeja to the west, the Estonian counties of Sakala and Ugandi to the north and the Russian Novgorod Republic to the east.
The siege of Tartu took place in 1224 and resulted in the fall of the last major center of Estonian resistance in the mainland provinces to the Christian conquest of Estonia.
Rūsiņš of Satekle was a Latgalian duke during early 13th century who is several times mentioned in ancient sources due to his activities in Livonian Crusade.
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