Estophilia
Estophilia refers to the ideas and activities of people not of Estonian descent who are sympathetic to, or interested in, Estonian language, Estonian literature or Estonian culture, the history of Estonia, and Estonia in general. Such people are known as Estophiles.
The term particularly refers to the activities of the Estophile Movement of the late 18th to early 19th century, when local Baltic German scholars began documenting and promoting Estonian culture and language. This movement played a crucial role in triggering the Estonian Age of Awakening in the 1850s, which eventually led to the Estonian Declaration of Independence and the foundation of the Republic of Estonia, as an independent democratic nation, in 1918.
Background
Since the 13th century Northern Crusades, the use of Estonian language had been gradually suppressed in the local society, as the Middle Low German, and later High German, became the increasingly dominant language in the cities, in organised trade and among wealthy rural landowners. Indigenous Estonian language was largely restricted to the everyday life of non-noble urban population and the farmers in the countryside. Native Estonians who became citizens or landlords tended to linguistically Germanise voluntarily, however this process did not destroy the evolution of the Estonian culture. Moreover, in the 18th century, many of the local educated and wealthy German-speakers took interest in, and began learning about, the Estonian language and culture, and in the process, contributing to the systematic understanding of it.The Enlightenment era brought with it greater tolerance and spread the desire to educate the uneducated. For example, the very first Estonian language periodical publication, Lühhike öppetus , concerned medical techniques.
History
Estophile Enlightenment Period (1750–1840)
Educated German immigrants and local Baltic Germans in Estonia, educated at German universities introduced Enlightenment ideas that propagated freedom of thinking and brotherhood and equality. The French Revolution provided a powerful motive for the "enlightened" local upper class to create literature for the peasantry. The abolition of serfdom in 1816 in Southern Estonia: Governorate of Livonia and 1819 in Northern Estonia: Governorate of Estonia by Emperor Alexander I of Russia gave rise to a debate as to the future fate of the rural population. Although many Baltic Germans regarded the future of Estonians as being a fusion with the Baltic Germans, the Estophile educated class admired the ancient culture of the Estonians and their era of freedom before the conquests by Danes and Germans in the 13th century. The Estophile Enlightenment Period formed the transition from religious Estonian literature to newspapers printed in Estonian for the general public.The ideas of Johann Gottfried Herder greatly influenced the Baltic German intelligentsia to see the value in the indigenous Estonian culture. Inspired by Herder's collection of European and Estonian folk songs, they came to view native folklore as natural expressions of truth and spontaneity. As a result, they founded several scientific societies, published textbooks for schools, newspapers and literary works of considerable merit, such as the construction of the epic Kalevipoeg from folk sources.
Otto Wilhelm Masing and Garlieb Merkel were prominent Estophiles. Masing was one of the main advocates of popular education and published a weekly newspaper in the Estonian language called "Marahwa Näddala-Leht" in 1821–1825.
The Litterarum Societatis Esthonicae was established in Tartu in 1838, which counted as its members Friedrich Robert Faehlmann and Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald, author of the Estonian national epic Kalevipoeg which was inspired by the Finnish epic Kalevala.