The first written record of the church is the charter of Haapsalu where Bishop Hermann I, the founder of the town wrote: "...we, the ones having established the cathedral in Haapsalu and having provided our canons with the appropriate dwellings and income, determined a certain site to be a town, where everybody who has chosen it as their place of living together with us, could gather and find shelter there; and if needed would be able to defend the church with all the means at their disposal."