Despite the complexities of tracing
families before surnames were acquired (generally not until the
nineteenth century in the Baltic region), the RIIS surname comes with
attached Estonian folklore —
folklore that explains why and how an early individual could
leave traces of his existence. I am doing my best with the newly
found "popular tradition" to decipher the weird syntax and
the personal and place names yielded by online translations. I don't
think it's time to call in a living, breathing translator for this
yet. The lineage has more pressing holes to address before connecting
to Tiit Kolgiks (see Part One).
Words and phrasings in quotation marks
are from the Estonian folkloric accounts, that is, the translations
thereof.
"Tiit Kolgiks" or "Tiit
Kolk" (born ca.1650) was the apparent progenitor of the family
in Baltic lands. It's said the man was a Swedish knight-soldier;
there's mention of the Great Northern War (1700-1721). He came to a
place in what is now Estonia, a village called Sandra on the Raudna
river, in a large area called Viljandi. Whatever his real name was,
the people there called him Tiit Kolgiks. The two countries as we
know them, Estonia and Latvia, were long known as Livonia. The
Great Northern War (1700-1721) was a power struggle between the
Swedish and Russian empires whereby the Swedes lost control of
Livonia.
 |
| A little early for my purpose but nevertheless; bennosfiguresforum.com |
Tiit was legendary for his fine
clothing, magnificent boots (always with spurs), and big handsome
horses with fancy harness —
the man definitely had resources. Tiit built himself a large
wooden house with glass windows which had never been seen before; the
dwelling was also fortified, including a portcullis gate that was
closed at night and raised every morning. If you have never used
online translation from a foreign language, I give you a sample:
He
made yourself into a wooden house with a spacious and large glass
windows to put down, which at the time before the thing was seeing.
Tiit's
grand house sounds almost like a manor house itself. Historically,
the Vastemöisa
estate, one of the oldest in Livonia, was located in the old county
of Viljandi (Viljandimaa) and parish of Suure-Jaani; there were
twelve manor estates in the parish. Each
estate would also have a number of farms.
Additional information becomes more
puzzling. Tiit fell one day while working on horseback, "driving
a large mallet." The resulting injury to his hip (lameness?)
prompted the nickname "Old Kolk." I had a great deal
of trouble with that word kolk; no
particular language was owning up to it until Wolfram|Alpha said it means hip in Slovenian. Our
man was apparently real enough because his birth and death "may
still be seen on the grave" ―
at
least whenever that was written ―
but no specific year or age is now known.
That's
about the extent of the man's personal information that I can extract
from the trees on Geni, supplemented with links to archival and
local history websites. All the accounts of Tiit use more or less the
same words and phrasing; I can't be certain yet but they seem to
derive from an unnamed page related to the URL of the Tartu
Observatoorium website.[1]
Based
on practices in other countries, his being a soldier and possibly a
knight could indicate his Viljandi lands were a reward for military
service. In the 1600s the Swedish Empire extended over all of Livonia
and further south.
If we
accept a mid-seventeenth century birth year for Tiit, and the
existence of an adult son in 1690, then Tiit would have been
integrated into his chosen surroundings well before the end of that
century. I'm thinking from the information so far that the man likely
died before the Great
Northern War, and possibly before 1690 ―
a theory to be explained in due course.
It's worth a digression to mention that
the concept of manors, or estates, developed here in the Middle Ages
during the Crusades. Christianity only came to the region in the
thirteenth century with the Livonian
Order of Knights (part of the Teutonic Order). With the influx of
robust bishops and knight-led retainers, the first estates were
organized ―
hence the predominant
Germanic influence. Thus the native peasants were managed by loyal
"vassals" of the landowners. Over the next few centuries
manor estates became an all-enveloping way of life.
 |
| Kabala Manor house in Rapla parish, 17th century example; Wikipedia |
The Livonian War that took place in the middle of the 16th century left local strongholds in ruins, but at the same time, it boosted the development of manors. Side by side with the disappearance of the Order and bishoprics, the former vassals began to play an increasingly important role in the local state arrangement. Nobility associations known as knighthoods performed in Estonia (in the whole of Old Livonia) local government functions up until World War I. The so-called knight manor ... became the main type of manors, the owner of which had a number of status-related rights along with many stately responsibilities. The number of manors had grown to around a thousand by the 18th century.[2]
Needless to say,
the Baltic region has always been a site of conquest between
warring powers. Despite intermittent bloody battles and changes in
overlords, locally managed government generally continued. So the
scenario of "knights" arriving periodically to settle and
establish farms has historical legs.
This strange tale has developed a life
of its own. I shall have to continue into yet another blog post.
[1]
The direct URL is http://www.aai.ee/~urmas/aba/abaja1.html (accessed
14 January 2014). But if one goes to the Tartu
Observatoorium
website (http://www.aai.ee/) it seems impossible to find the page.
Töravere
Observatory seems to be another name for the institution.
[2]
Estonian Manors
(http://www.mois.ee/english/history.shtml
: accessed 15 January 2014).
©
2014 Brenda Dougall
Merriman
