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kalaadrius — Otepaa piiskopilinnus, ver 0.5
#fort #hillfort #livonia #stronghold #otepää #dorpat #livonian #otepaa #bishops #castle #fortress
Published: 2015-11-07 18:39:26 +0000 UTC; Views: 11303; Favourites: 158; Downloads: 0
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Description
=============================================Pealkiri: Otepää piiskopilinnus
Title: Otepää bishop's castle
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A fictional reconstruction of the medieval bishop's castle of Otepää.
The name Otepää (German Odenpäh, Odenpe, Odempe) comes from Ancient Estonian, meaning bear's head. It has been guessed that the name was either inspired by the shape of the hill (which resembles bear's head a bit), or by names of Estonian elders who were ruling there in ancient times [1] .
The fortress played an important role in the Baltic Crusade against Estonians (1208–1224), and it was frequently sieged and conquered by both sides. In 1216, it fell into the hands of crusaders, and in that year, the construction of red-brick fortifications likely began. After the crusader conquest in 1224, the fortress served for short time as the residence of the Prince-Bishop of Tartu (Dorpat). During 1224-1225, the initial castle was completed, and it was the first red-brick castle in Estonia at that time. [1] [3]
As the residence of the Prince-Bishop was moved to Tartu (probably due to its better location for trade), and other borderline castles were erected (Vana-Kastre, Kirumpää, Uue-Kastre, Vastseliina), the Otepää castle seemed to have lost its strategic importance, and it merely kept its importance as a local economic center. It has also been suggested that the location of the castle -- a hill in a valley -- was rather disadvantageous in the age of far range siege weapons [6] . For this reason or for some other, the castle seemed to have met its decline by the end of 14th century, and it had no strategic role in the great conflicts of the coming centuries [3] [1] .
Interestingly enough, the oldest hand firearm in Estonia (The Cannon of Otepää, or the Otepää gonne, from the end of 14th century) was found from ruins of the Otepää castle. [4]
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Otepää piiskopilinnuse fantaasiarekonstruktsioon.
Linnuse nimi - Otepää (saksa allikates Odenpäh, Odenpe, Odempe) - tähendanud tollal tõenäoliselt "karu pead". On oletatud, et nimi tulenes kas linnamäe iseloomulikust kujust või mõne muistsel ajal valitsenud vanema nimest [1] .
Linnus mängis olulist rolli ristisõdade / muistse vabadusvõitluse ajal (1208–1224), mida näitab selle sagedane piiramine ja vallutamine. Oletatavasti aastal 1216, kui linnus oli sakslaste kätte langenud, algas tugeva telliskivimüüri rajamine. Pärast ristisõdijate vallutust aastal 1224 oli linnus lühikest aega Tartu piiskopi residentsiks. Piiskopi eestvedamisel toimusid linnuses aastatel 1224-1225 ulatuslikumad väljaehitamisetööd ning pärast linnuse valmimist oli tegemist esimese kivikindlusega Eestis. [1] [3]
Kuna piiskopkonna keskus kolis Tartusse (tõenäoliselt parema sobivuse tõttu kaubanduseks) ning piiskopkonna piirialadele kerkisid uued linnused (Vana-Kastre, Kirumpää, Uue-Kastre, Vastseliina), näis Otepää muutuvat aja jooksul vähetähtsaks "tagalalinnuseks", mis omas vaid olulisust kohaliku majanduskeskusena. Arvatavasti muutus piiramisrelvade arenedes probleemseks ka linnuse asukoht -- mägi oru põhjas --, kuivõrd ümbritseva oru servad pakkusid üsna soodsaid positsioone linnuse piiramiseks [6] . Igal juhul näib linnus 14. saj lõpuks olevat oma tähtsuse kaotanud ning Liivi sõjas see "linnuslikku" rolli enam ei mänginud [3] [1] .
Otepää linnuse varemetest on leitud ka Eesti vanim käsitulirelv, eestlaetav ja lukuta algeline püss. [4] [5]
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Related:
*) Otepää ancient hill fort: fav.me/da8vshh
*) Bishop's castle of Tartu: fav.me/d7s799f
*) Kärkna Abbey: fav.me/d85nsse
*) Vana-Kastre bishop's castle: fav.me/d8c9u8j
*) Uue-Kastre bishop's castle: fav.me/d8ryty3
*) Kirumpää bishop's castle: fav.me/davh8uf
*) Vastseliina bishop's castle: fav.me/dci4cx5
*) Map of the prince-bishopric of Tartu: fav.me/dbauswd
*) Tartu Cathedral and town fortifications: fav.me/de0wzcx
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Comments: 5
Wow, this is yet another wonderful reconstruction of a medieval castle in Estonia from you! It is such a shame I did not know you when I was writing my book about medieval Livonia. Your reconstructions are very well done, they are in good taste and can inspire imagination. Once again, well done! I have talked to people from Tartu University and I was told that there is some new evidence which suggests that the handgun might actually be later and post date the destruction of the castle by the Teutonic Order. It is a shame because in my book, I also wrote that this is one of the oldest hand guns in Europe! From what I remember, the chamber where it was founded is right next to the gateway to the inner castle... Anyway, thank you very much once again for uploading this, it is a pleasure to look at your works!
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Many thanks for the comment and 
About dating the destruction of the castle and the handgun. As far as I have read, there is a hypothesis that the great fire in the castle (often associated with the destruction of the castle) actually happened in the early decades of 15th century, 10-20 years later than previous research suggested. This new hypothesis is based on the analysis of archaeological findings, and as there is no written source mentioning the event, the whole matter becomes even more mysterious. If the castle was not destroyed during a military conflict (non are known from the new time period), a question arises, what non-military event could have been fatal enough to cause a (complete?) destruction of a stone castle. As for dating the handgun, I am really not sure, whether the new hypothesis also applies to it. But I guess even if it is to be dated, say, 10-20 years later, you could still claim it being one of the oldest hand guns in Europe? Or is there an abundance of handgun findings from early 15th century, so the claim for rareness no longer holds?
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Thanks for the response, of course, you are right that early 15th C. is still very early for a handgun so it would still be one o the oldest examples in Europe. From what I heard, the problem with most of the known examples, however, is that they are not securely dated. That is why Otepaa was so unique, because o the secure date... Still, of course it is a rare and fascinating discovery!
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