Late Middle Ages · Europe · War

1343

Estonian peasants rise on St. George's Night

1343

Estonian villagers, groaning under Danish rule, rose in coordinated rebellion against their German landlords on the eve of St. George's feast. Manor houses burned across Harju and Laane. The Teutonic Order intervened, slaughtered peasants by the thousands, and bought the entire province from Denmark within three years. Estonia became a Baltic crusader state for two more centuries.