Duchy of Estonia (1561–1721)
The Duchy of Estonia, also known as Swedish Estonia, was a dominion of the Swedish Empire from 1561 until 1721 during the time that most or all of Estonia was under Swedish rule. The territory was eventually ceded to Russia in the Treaty of Nystad, following its capitulation during a plague outbreak in the Great Northern War.
The dominion arose during the Livonian War, when the northern parts of present-day Estonia — Reval and the counties of Harju County, Lääne-Viru County, Rapla County and Järva County — submitted to the Swedish king in 1561, and Lääne County in 1581. It is also colloquially known as the "good old Swedish times" by Estonians, but this expression was not used before the following Russian rule, in the beginning of which the situation of Estonian peasantry declined rapidly; to gain the support of the German Baltic nobility, Russia gave them more power over the peasantry.
List of governors
Governors (1561–1674)
- Klas Horn
- Henrik Klasson Horn
- Svante Stensson Sture
- Henrik Klasson Horn
- Clas Åkesson Tott
- Pontus De la Gardie
- Karl Henriksson Horn
- Göran Boije
- Pontus De la Gardie
- Hans Wachtmeister
- Gustaf Axelsson Banér
- Göran Boije
- Karl Henriksson Horn
- Nils Turesson Bielke
- Axel Nilsson Ryning
- Gabriel Bengtsson Oxenstierna
- Anders Eriksson Hästehufvud
- Jakob De la Gardie
- Per Gustafsson Banér
- Erik Axelsson Oxenstierna
- Wilhelm von Ulrich
- Bengt Skytte
- Wilhelm von Ulrich
- Wilhelm von Ulrich