72 Juhan Kreem, Kersti Markus
Who Founded the Pirita Convent? in the Baltic Sea region were very mobile; Juhan Kreem, Kersti Markus the leading posts were acquired not by those Summary who could boast of their long-time stay in one place, deep roots or great ancestors, but Abstract: This article examines the back- by those who had relatives sitting in the mag- ground of people who were involved in istracies in other Hanseatic towns. This Han- founding the Pirita convent. The founding sa merchant elite, the leading group (Han- of the convent was a joint undertaking of sische Führungsgroupe), has also been de- various groups of people. In addition to scribed as beyond-towns, and this phenom- Hanseatic merchants, local vassals and the enon was extremely significant in keeping landowner, the Teutonic Order also contrib- the Hanseatic league together. Looking at uted to it. these connections in the context of founding the Pirita convent, even if the founders ties Keywords: Middle Ages, social history, Bir- to Tallinn were not direct, they did exist via gittine order, Pirita convent Hansa. We can but agree with Tore Nyberg, who a long time ago classified monasteries Balthasar Russows Livonian Chronicle lists established near Tallinn, Lübeck and Stral- three wealthy merchants as founders of the sund as Hanseatic establishments (Hansea- Pirita convent: Hinrich Schwalberch (Swal- tische Gründungen). bart), Hinrich Huxer and Gerlach Kruse, who A convent, however, could not be founded gave everything they had to the convent and only by a group of enthusiasts. An important became brothers there. This bit of informa- role in founding other Brigittine monaster- tion travels from one Pirita-related publica- ies was played by overlords. In the local Es- tion to another, although we know hardly any- tonian context, the role of the Teutonic Or- thing about these men. The aim of the current der has so far been unfairly neglected. When article is to examine the background of these two anonimous men visited Vadstena in 1407 people, which will enable us to get a better and spoke of their intention of founding a overview of the social and political background convent, the Vadstena Diarium also mentions of the founding of the Pirita convent. that the Teutonic Order had given permis- Tallinn sources do not mention these three sion to found an order and had allocated land merchants. Gerlach Kruse came from the town for it. The name of the Livonian master of of Söderköping in Sweden. From 1406, his the Teutonic Order, Konrad von Vietinghoff, brother was canon of the Linköping bishopric crops up among the founders of the convent and from 1415 stayed at the Brigittine abbey in the bull of Pope Johannes XXIII (anti- of Vadstena. However, the same family name pope) in 1411, which officially confirmed occurred in many Hanseatic towns, mostly the Pirita convent. among more important people. The found- The Teutonic Order and the Brigittines ers of the convent were probably a part of had quite a few features that led to a mutual this group as well. The little we know about attraction. Each had an aristocratic element. the elite of the Tallinn merchants gives rea- The Order was a religious order of knights, son to believe that they were open to the out- whose social base was predominantly the side world to a considerable extent. During lower ranks of the German aristocracy. St. the heyday of the Hansa period, merchants Birgitta was descended from the Swedish Kes asutas Pirita kloostri? 73 high nobility and the second book of her Rev- felt quite secure in the Baltic Sea region. elations, written in Sweden between 1344 and What is probably more important is the 1349, largely deals with the problems of the fact that, although she was a Swedish saint, nobility. Birgitta was concerned that the ide- Birgittas ideas were perceived in the early als characterising the noble orders in the 12th 15th century not just as Scandinavian, but as and 13th centuries were disappearing. Lofty something much wider, as an innovation of aims had been replaced by greed and disloy- the whole Catholic Church, involving not just alty. Birgittas clear aim was to reconnect the monastery reform but also, for example, the knights with the church. Her revelations fa- ending of the schism. During those decades, voured the ideology of crusades, which might the Brigittine movement was especially topi- have made her ideas acceptable to the Teu- cal and this would explain the support of the tonic Order. However, Birgitta did not utter Teutonic Order for their activities in the Baltic. a call to arms for a war against the pagans; The relations between the Pirita convent rather, she advocated a peaceful mission to and the town of Tallinn, however, were tense. bring them to the Christian faith. The new In a 1413 letter to the Orders Grand Mas- order never materialised, but Birgittas criti- ter in Prussia, Tallinn complained about the cism of the knights and her innovative pro- convent being too close to the coast and that gramme no doubt had an impact on the ex- it could thus become a nest of pirates and isting religious orders of the knights. pose a threat to the harbour. At the same Birgittas criticism can be seen as con- time, it should be emphasised that the secu- structive, strengthening the ties between the rity risk was not the only argument of the two orders, whereas it is rather difficult to citizens of Tallinn against the convent. The explain the collaboration between the Teu- correspondence expresses a worry about tonic Order and the Brigittines in the Baltic pious donations pouring out of town or, in Sea area in the early 15th century. The rela- other words, that there would be increasing tions of the Order with the newly established competition among the church institutions Kalmar Union were tense, but at the same in Tallinn. Controversy about the location time dynamic, depending to a great extent of the Brigittine convent lasted for some on the conjunctural policy of the moment. time, and even the Livonian Masters of the After the death of his guardian Queen Mar- Order became more cautious. The doubts gareta in 1412, the King of Denmark Erik of of the Teutonic Order might have appeared Pomerania attempted to turn the Vadstena only in connection with the Danish king abbey into a religious centre of the Kalmar Eriks specific plans to re-conquer Estonia Union which would be closely connected to that fall in the same decade. Still, the Order his court. Eriks dynasty was also directly overcame its doubts quite quickly. In 1416/ connected to the earlier Brigittine monaster- 17 Siegfried Lander allowed the founding ies Syon Abbey in England and Maribo in of stone buildings at Pirita. In a letter to Tal- Denmark. Erik presented a demand to the Teu- linn, the Master asked for permission to use tonic Order to return northern Estonia to Den- the Tallinn quarries. Pirita also asked per- mark, and the plan found supporters among mission in 1437 via the Livonian Master. Harju-Viru vassals. The founding of the Pirita These messages further deepen the impres- convent occurred before the time of King Erik sion that Tallinn and Pirita had communi- and, as a result, the Teutonic Order must have cation problems. 74 Juhan Kreem, Kersti Markus
The inhabitants of the convent included ably played a significant role in the develop- representatives of prominent patrician fami- ment of the convent, whose roots were in lies of Tallinn. On the other hand, the town Scandinavia. complained even in the early 16th century It has to be admitted, in summary, that the that it had no convent where the daughters founding of the convent cannot be exclu- of its citizens could find shelter. The fact that sively ascribed to one or the other social Pirita was not a suitable place for the de- group; rather, it happened thanks to the col- scendants of ordinary burghers indicates the laboration of very different forces, such as elitist nature of the convent. It could be sum- the Teutonic Order, Hanseatic merchants, the marised that the Pirita convent, situated out- local nobility and the Vadstena abbey. side the Tallinn town borders, was not en- tirely isolated from the towns religious and Translated by Tiina Randviir social life, but did not play any significant proof-read by Richard Adang role in it either. According to Tore Nyberg, the aristocratic element had very little impact on establishing the Pirita convent. However, written sources and the tombstones surviving in the church tell a different story. The participation of Harju-Viru vassals in building the convent is evident in the letter of the Livonian Mas- ter Siegfried Lander von Sponheim to Tallinn in 1416/17. Among other things, the letter mentions that the vassals allowed stones from their domains to be used in construction work. Analysing the existing sources, the knight- hoods clear support of the Pirita convent is revealed: the main donation was land, but large sums of money were not infrequent ei- ther. These were influential families whose control stretched to Virumaa in the east, al- though the lands given to the convent were situated in the parishes around Tallinn (Jõe- lähtme, Juuru and Rapla). Compared with do- nations by the citizens of Tallinn, mostly less than 20 marks, we can say that the convent existed due to the support of the nobility. One of the prominent persons here is Elsebet Po- debusk from the Danish high nobility, who spent her last days in the convent as a nun. Her part in alleviating the tensions between King Erik and the Teutonic Order and her remarkably generous donations to Pirita prob-