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Oeselians orOsilians is a historical name for the people who prior to theNorthern Crusades in the 13th century lived in theEstonian island ofSaaremaa (Ösel)[a] – theBaltic Sea island was also referred asOeselia orOsilia in written records dating from around that time.[1] In Viking Age literature, the inhabitants were often included under the name "Vikings from Estonia",[2] as written bySaxo Grammaticus in the late 12th century. The earliest known use of the word in the (Latinised) form of "Oeselians" in writing was byHenry of Livonia in the 13th century. The inhabitants of Saaremaa (Ösel) are also mentioned in a number of historic written sources dating from theEstonian Viking Age.
On the eve ofNorthern Crusades, the people then residing in Saaremaa were described in theLivonian Rhymed Chronicle: "TheOeselians, neighbors to theKurs (Curonians), are surrounded by the sea and never fear strong armies as their strength is in their ships. In summers when they can travel across the sea they oppress the surrounding lands by raiding both Christians and pagans."[3]
TheChronicle of Henry of Livonia describes a fleet of sixteen ships and five hundred Oeselians ravaging the area that is now southernSweden, then belonging toDenmark. In the XIVth book ofGesta Danorum,Saxo Grammaticus describes a battle onÖland in 1170 in which the Danish kingValdemar I mobilised his entire fleet to curb the incursions of Couronian and Estonian pirates.
TheLivonian Rhymed Chronicle describes the Oeselians as using two kinds of ships, thepiratica and theliburna. The former was a warship, the latter mainly a merchant ship. Apiratica could carry approximately 30 men and had a high prow shaped like a dragon or a snakehead as well as a quadrangular sail.
The superior god of Oeselians as described byHenry of Livonia was calledTharapita. According to the legend in the chronicle, Tharapita was born on a forested mountain inVirumaa (Latin:Vironia), mainland Estonia from where he flew toOesel, Saaremaa.[4] The name Taarapita has been interpreted as "Taara, help!" (Taara a(v)ita in Estonian) or "Taara keeper" (Taara pidaja). Taara is associated with theScandinavian godThor. The story of Tharapita's or Taara's flight from Vironia to Saaremaa has been associated with a majormeteordisaster estimated to have happened in 660 ± 85B.C. that formedKaali crater in Saaremaa.
Henry of Livonia wrote about an encounter between the Oeselian pagans and a captured Christianmissionary, Frederick of Zelle, during the 13th century. The Oeselians are quoted using the words "Laula! Laula! Pappi!" (Sing! Sing! Priest!) when torturing the missionary.[5] ThisFinnic[6] expression has been suggested to support the identification of Oeselians as a Finnic language group at that time.[7]
In 1206, the Danish army led by kingValdemar II andAndreas, the Bishop of Lund landed on Saaremaa and attempted to establish a stronghold without success. In 1216 theLivonian Brothers of the Sword and the bishop Theodorich joined forces and invaded Saaremaa over the frozen sea. In return the Oeselians raided the territories in Latvia that were under German rule the following spring. In 1220, the Swedish army led by kingJohn I of Sweden and the bishopKarl of Linköping conqueredLihula inRotalia in Western Estonia. Oeselians attacked the Swedish stronghold the same year, conquered it and killed the entire Swedish garrison, including the Bishop of Linköping.
In 1222, the Danish kingValdemar II attempted the second conquest of Saaremaa, this time establishing a stone fortress housing a strong garrison. The Danish stronghold was besieged and surrendered within five days, the Danish garrison returned toReval, leaving bishopAlbert of Riga' brother Theodoric and few others behind hostages as pledges for peace. The castle was leveled to the ground by Oeselians.[8]
In 1227, the Livonian Brothers of the Sword, andBishop Albert of Livonia organized a combined attack against Saaremaa.[9] After the destruction ofMuhu Stronghold and surrender ofValjala Stronghold, the Oeselians formally accepted Christianity.[10]
In 1236, after the defeat of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword in theBattle of Saule, military action on Saaremaa broke out again.
Oeselians acceptedChristianity again by signing treaties with theLivonian Order's Master Andreas de Velven and theBishopric of Ösel-Wiek in 1241, setting penalties for pagan rituals.[11] The next treaty was signed in 1255 by the Master of the Order, Anno Sangerhausenn, and, on behalf of the Oeselians, by elders whose "names" (or declaration?) had been phonetically transcribed by Latin scribes as Ylle, Culle, Enu, Muntelene, Tappete, Yalde, Melete, and Cake.[12] The treaty granted several extraordinary rights to the Oeselians. The 1255 treaty included unique clauses concerning the ownership and inheritance of land, the social system, and exemption from certain restrictive religious observances.
In 1261, warfare continued as the Oeselians had again renounced Christianity and killed all the Germans on the island. A peace treaty was signed after the united forces of theLivonian Order, theBishopric of Ösel-Wiek, the forces ofDanish Estonia including mainland Estonians and Latvians defeated the Oeselians by conquering the Kaarma stronghold. Soon thereafter, theLivonian Order established a stone fort atPöide.
On 24 July 1343, duringSt. George's Night Uprising, the Oeselians killed all the Germans on the island, drowned all the clerics and started to besiege theLivonian Order's castle at Pöide. The Oeselians levelled the castle and killed all the defenders. In February 1344,Burchard von Dreileben led a campaign over the frozen sea to Saaremaa. The Oeselians' stronghold was conquered and their leader Vesse was hanged. In the early spring of 1345, the next campaign of theLivonian Order took place that ended with a treaty mentioned in theChronicle ofHermann von Wartberge and theNovgorod First Chronicle. Saaremaa remained the vassal of the master of theLivonian Order, and the Bishopric of Ösel-Wiek. In 1559, after the fall of theLivonian order inLivonian War, theBishopric of Ösel-Wiek sold Saaremaa toFrederick II of Denmark, who resigned the lands to his brotherDuke Magnus of Holstein until the island was taken back to the direct administration of Denmark and in 1645 became a part ofSweden by theTreaty of Brömsebro.
For centuries Swedish raiders pillaged along the Baltic's eastern shores, but there they faced rivals such as the Kurs and the piratical Saarlased, or Oeselians, from the Estonian island of Saaremaa. Saaremaa's current coat of arms pictures a longboat, and Viking images thrive in Latvian and Estonian legends, jewelry, and folk dress. "Saarlased were the Vikings of the Baltics," said Bruno Pao, a marine historian on Saaremaa. "We have found stone ship settings, burial mounds, silver hoards. The pagan era here lasted until the 13th century."
Henry's chronicle includes quotations ascribed to the Oeselians, such as Laula! Laula, pappi! ['Sing! Sing, priest!'] (HCL XVIII.8). The expression is unambiguously Finnic and supports the identification of Oeselians as a Finnic language group. This is further corroborated by the Finnic toponymy that does not seem to include substantial earlier substrate layers (at least in the light of research today; cf. Kallasmaa 1996–2000)
In the early 13th century, the residents of Oesel, as Saaremaa was then known, were notorious for pirating Baltic churches. They were, indeed, the very last pagan holdouts in the region; by the year 1227, the Livonian Brothers of the Sword, crusaders who originated in Germany, had forced every other tribe and town in what now are Estonia and Latvia to submit to baptism or the sword. On Jan. 6, 1227, a huge army of crusading Germans, Rigans, Letts and Estonians gathered on the mainland parallel to Oesel. They and their horses marched across the frozen Baltic to the tiny island of Mona, attached by causeway to Oesel's northeastern tip. Deprived of a maritime defense, the Oeselians were finally forced to succumb.