Baltic knighthoods

( Association of Baltic Noble Corporations ) [1] The Teutonic Knights entered the area of what is now Latvia and Estonia in the beginning of the 13th century in order to Christianize the region.

After the conquest much of the Order's land was divided among the German noble families originally from Westphalia and regions along the Rhine river.

While this resulted in the suppression of the Teutonic Order, local self-government remained in the hands of the four aristocratic corporations of Livonia, Estonia, Courland and Oesel.

As a result, the traditional aristocratic corporations lost their legal privileges and political status, and were reduced to charitable organizations.

The process of the development of the corporation into a political entity was completed by the end of the Rule of the Teutonic Order in 1561, resulting in the control of the region and its peasant population, although excluding the cities.

In 1920 the newly independent Republic of Estonia abolished the institution of nobility and its privileges, liquidating the Oesel Knighthood and expropriating the vast majority of their estates.