Baltic Nobility
The Baltic German nobility was a privileged social class in the territories of modern-day Estonia and Latvia. It existed continuously from the Northern Crusades and the medieval foundation of Terra Mariana. Most of the nobility consisted of Baltic Germans, but with the changing political landscape over the centuries, Polish, Swedish, Russian, Danish, and even Scottish families also became part of the nobility, just as Baltic German families re-settled in locations such as the Swedish and Russian Empires. The nobility of Lithuania is for historical, social and ethnic reasons separated from the German-dominated nobility of Estonia and Latvia. History This nobility was a source of officers and other servants to Swedish kings in the 16th and particularly 17th centuries, when Couronian, Estonian, Livonian and the Oeselian lands belonged to them. Subsequently, the Russian tsars used Baltic nobles in all parts of local and national government. Latvia in particular was noted ...
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