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The Oeselians or Osilians were a historical subdivision of Estonians inhabiting Saaremaa (Latin: Oesel or Osilia), an Estonian island in the Baltic Sea. In modern Estonian, they are called saarlased (Estonian pronunciation: [ˈsɑːrlɑset] "islanders"; singular: saarlane), which also applies to present-day inhabitants of the island. They are first thought to be mentioned as early as the 2nd century BC in Ptolemy's Geography III.[1]

Europe in the 9th century

The Oeselians were known in the Old Norse Icelandic Sagas and in Heimskringla as Víkingr frá Esthland (English: vikings from Estonia).[2][3][4][5] Their sailing vessels were called pirate ships by Henry of Livonia in his Latin chronicles from the beginning of the 13th century.[6]

Eistland or Esthland is the historical Germanic language name that refers to the country at the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea in general, and is the origin of the modern national name for Estonia. The mainland of modern Estonia in the 8th century Ynglinga saga was called Adalsyssla in contrast to Eysyssel or Ösyssla that was the name of the island (Swedish: Ösel, Estonian: Saaremaa), the home of the Oeselians. In the 11th century, Courland and Estland (Estonia) were both denoted separately by Adam of Bremen.[7]


Battles and raids[edit]

Saxo Grammaticus describes the Estonians and Curonians as participating in the Battle of Bråvalla on the side of the Swedes against the Danes, who were aided by the Livonians and the Wends of Pomerania. It is notable that other Baltic tribes — i.e., the Letts and Lithuanians — are not mentioned by Saxo as participating in the fight.[9] Snorri Sturluson relates in his Ynglinga saga how the Swedish king Ingvar (7th century), the son of Östen and a great warrior, who was forced to patrol the shores of his kingdom fighting Estonian Vikings. The saga speaks of his invasion of Estonia where he fell in a battle against the men of Estland who had come down with a great army. After the battle, King Ingvar was buried close to the seashore in Estonia and the Swedes returned home.[10]

According to Heimskringla sagas, in the year 967 the Norwegian Queen Astrid escaped with her son, later king of Norway Olaf Tryggvason from her homeland to Novgorod, where her brother Sigurd held an honoured position at the court of Prince Vladimir. On their journey, Oeselian Vikings raided the ship, killing some of the crew and taking others into slavery. Six years later, when Sigurd Eirikson traveled to Estonia to collect taxes on behalf of Valdemar, he spotted Olaf in a market on Saaremaa and paid for his freedom.

A battle between Oeselian and Icelandic Vikings off Saaremaa is described in Njál's saga as occurring in 972 AD.

About 1008, Olaf II Haraldsson (995 – 1030), later king of Norway, landed on Saaremaa. The Oeselians, taken by surprise, had at first tried to negotiate the demands made by the Norwegians, but then gathered an army and confronted them. Nevertheless Olaf (who was 12 or 13 years old) won the battle.

Artifacts of the hoard from Kumna, Estonia, Iron Age.[11]

Around the year 1030, a Swedish Viking chief called Freygeirr may have been killed in a battle on Saaremaa.

According to the Novgorod Chronicle, Varyag Ulf (Uleb) from Novgorod was crushed by Estonians in a sea battle close to the town of Lindanise in 1032.

From the 12th century, chroniclers' descriptions of Estonian, Oeselian and Curonian raids along the coasts of Sweden and Denmark become more frequent.


Map of Varbola by L. A. Mellin



From Dirham hoards in Estonia


Religion and mythology[edit]



Estonia constitutes one of the richest territories in the Baltic for hoards from the 11th and the 12th centuries. The earliest coin hoards found in Estonia are Arabic Dirhams from the 8th century. The largest Viking-Age hoards found in Estonia have been at Maidla and Kose. Out of the 1500 coins published in catalogues, 1000 are Anglo-Saxon.[14]


Main article: Livonian Crusade

With the rise of centralized authority along with a bolstering of coastal defense in the areas exposed to Vikings, Viking raids became more risky and less profitable. With the growing presence of Christianity and the rise of kings and a quasi-feudal system in Scandinavia, these raids ceased entirely. By the 11th century, the Scandinavians are frequently chronicled as clashing with the Vikings from the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, which would ultimately lead to German, Danish and Swedish participation in the Northern crusades and the Scandinavian conquest of Estonia.

The eastern Baltic world would be transformed by military conquest. First the Livs, Letts and Estonians, then the Prussians and the Finns were eventually overwhelmed and underwent baptism, military occupation and sometimes extermination by German, Danish and Swedish forces.[15]

Conquest of Oeselians[edit]


In 1222, the Danish king Valdemar 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 to Revel[disambiguation needed], leaving bishop Albert of Riga' brother Theodoric and few others behind hostages as pledges for peace. The castle was leveled to the ground by Oeselians.[16]





