Uprising suppressed Teutonic Order Medieval Denmark North Atlantic Africa Asia Caribbean Saint George's Night Uprising in 1343–1345 (Estonian: Jüriöö ülestõus, Estonian pronunciation: [jyri.øː yles.tɤus]) was an unsuccessful attempt by the indigenous Estonian population in the Duchy of Estonia, the Bishopric of Ösel-Wiek, and the insular territories of the State of the Teutonic Order to rid themselves of Danish and German rulers and landlords who had conquered the country in the 13th century during the Livonian Crusade; and to eradicate the non-indigenous Christian religion.

With the conquest of Ösel (Saaremaa) by the Livonian Order in 1261, Estonia was completely colonized by the Northern Crusaders from Germany and Denmark.

The weight of duties to the lay masters was further multiplied by the repression of indigenous religious practices and economic exploitation imposed by the Catholic Church.

The Estonian provinces of Harria (Harju) and Vironia (Viru) had been conquered by Denmark, but by the 14th century the kingdom's power had weakened.

[1] On Saint George's Night (April 23) 1343, a signal was given by setting fire to a house on a hilltop for a coordinated attack on the foreigners in Harria.

And so it happened, because they started to slay virgins, women, servants, maidservants, noblemen and commoners, young and old; all, who were of German blood, had to die.

"[2] According to the Younger Livonian Rhymed Chronicle, after renouncing Christianity, the rebel forces crisscrossed the whole province of Harria, burned down all the manors of the nobility and killed all the Germans who fell in their hands.

However, the leaders of the rebellion were worried that once the Germans and Danes recovered from the initial shock, the Estonian government might not be able to withstand the combined onslaught of their enemies.

They also told them that the Estonian army had laid siege on Reval, but they were willing to hand the Danish city over to the king of Sweden if the Swedes sent help.

After the countryside was firmly in the Estonian hands, the rebel army laid siege on the city of Hapsal (Haapsalu), the capital of the Bishopric of Ösel-Wiek.

The large number of knights who arrived to the negotiations indicates that the true purpose of the meeting was to neutralize the Estonian kings and then to attack the leaderless rebel army.

Some historians dismiss this explanation and say the negotiations were just a ruse to kill the leaders of the insurgency, and that the official version of the incident was a rather inept attempt to justify the murder of diplomatic envoys by the Teutonic knights.

[6] A large army led by the Master of the Order proceeded immediately towards Reval, seeking out and engaging smaller Estonian units on the way.

Therefore, he decided to use deceit and sent the vogts of Wenden (Cesis) and Treyden (Turaida) under the pretext of peace negotiations to the Estonians, apparently agreeing to the idea of vassalage without landlords.

After the envoys had delivered the acceptance of terms to the Order, the Master and the knights agreed that the killed Germans need to be avenged and the Estonians deserved no mercy.

The Master of the Order and the magistrates of Tallinn learned from a captured German deserter that the Estonians had been promised military assistance from Sweden that had recently conquered several Danish territories in Scandinavia.

After discovering the Danish stronghold in the hands of the Order and the Estonian army utterly defeated, the Swedes satisfied themselves with looting around Reval before sailing back to Finland.

However, since the rebellion in Estonia had already been largely crushed the Order was able to scramble enough troops and with some effort rout the marauding Russians, killing about 1,000 of them.

The chronicler Bartholomäus Hoeneke also tells a story about Estonians plotting to get inside the castle of Fellin by hiding armed warriors in bags of grain.

The German army looted and burned all the villages they came across and finally laid siege on Purtsa Fortress, one of the largest Estonian strongholds on the island.

Nevertheless, Saaremaa remained free and staunchly anti-Christian as the German army was forced to cross back to the continent before the sea ice melted in the spring and the roads became impenetrable for the returning reinforcements from Prussia.

The two sides reached an agreement and the army of the Livonian Order left Saaremaa after the Oeselians had reluctantly agreed to giving hostages and tearing down the fortress of Maasilinna Castle.

The Saint George's Night Uprising has inspired several historical novels by Estonian writers, such as Eduard Bornhöhe's Tasuja (The Avenger).