Tools Castle (in German Tolsburg, originally Vredeborch) is
the northernmost and youngest medieval castle in Estonia, the
year of its construction is considered to be 1471, and its
founder was Master of the Order Johann Wolthus von Herset. The
fort was supposed to protect the port of Tools there from raids
by pirates. The Toolse castle was also the center of the Toolse
bailiff and the residence of the Toolse bailiff.
Since
2004, the Tools castle has been a part of SA Virumaa Museums.
The first conservation works were carried out in the Toolse
fortress in the 1930s. Virumaa Museums has been doing
conservation work on Tools since 2006. During this time, the
southern and northern facades of the gate tower, the gates
between the courtyards, and the cracks in the wall have been
preserved. Tow hooks were installed in the west tower of the
castle, and the cracks in the tower's wall and the vaulted
ceiling of one of the cellars were conserved, which were also
covered with waterproofing.
Location: 4 km from Kunda, Vihula Parish, Lääne-Viru County Map
Constructed: 1471
The origin of the harbor in the 13th and 14th centuries is
considered the reason for the construction of the Order Castle in
Tools. century. The harbor was built in the Middle Ages on the bay
to the west of the current ruins of the Order Castle. From the
former harbor site, the remains of a medieval breakwater have been
preserved in Toolse Bay, on the beach side of which the harbor was
located. The port of Tools was first mentioned in 1437 in the
correspondence between Vyborg and Tallinn as a place where Finnish
and Estonian peasants exchanged grain and salted salmon. At the end
of the 14th century or in the 15th century, a two-story house fort
was built on the top of Toolse promontory, probably to protect the
port, which may have belonged to the Wrangelite noble family in the
middle of the 15th century.
The construction of the Order's
castle on Toolse promontory, on the site of the previous house
castle, is associated with Johann Wolthus von Herse, who was elected
Master of the Order on January 7, 1470. At the beginning of 1471,
Von Herse decided to build a new fortress for the order, halfway
between Tallinn and Narva, near the port of Tools. He had this done
by deciding on his own, without consulting the brothers and the
chapter.
The fortress was built to protect against pirates
and, if necessary, it was supposed to prevent the Russians from
crossing the Narva River towards Tallinn, thus becoming part of the
system of border fortifications against Russia, and to ensure the
grain trade of the Order and its vassals through the port of Tools.
Von Herse was accused of breaking relations with Sweden, which took
the construction of the fortress as an attack on itself.
In
order to build the fortress, the Selja manor and the Tolsburg manor
belonging to them were transferred from the Wrangels to the bailiff
created around the fortress, and a new fortress was built in its
place. Von Herse named the new fortress Vredeborg (Estonian k
rahulinn, also Vredeborch, Fredeborg, Fredeborch). The new name was
first mentioned in writing on August 13, 1471. The construction of
the castle began already in the winter of 1471.
The year 1219
has also been claimed as the beginning of the time of construction
of the Order Castle in Tools. In the Livonian section of German
topography dating from the mid-17th century, its author Martin
Zeiler states that Toolse Castle was built in 1219. There is no
solid evidence for this because he does not name his source.
However, the rest of the facts about Tools are correct.
In
the fall of 1471, von Herse's fellow brothers were imprisoned in the
Helme (Helmet) fortress under the leadership of Berent von der
Borch, who had been confirmed by him as the Land Marshal of the
Order in July, and were pushed from power. Von Herse died the
following October. Von der Borch became the new master of the order
and Vredeborg was again called Tolsburg. In 1483, the Pope made
Borch take a church oath, which is why he had to resign from the
post of Master of the Order.
In 1558, during the Livonian
War, the Order Castle of Tools fell into the hands of the Russians.
The castle was destroyed during the Livonian War. The fortress was
mentioned in the Täyssinä peace treaty concluded on May 18, 1595,
when the Russians renounced, among other things, all rights over
several Estonian fortresses and their fiefs. At the beginning of the
17th century, the castle was restored and was partially still
usable. In 1619, the Swedish governor of Estonia, Gabriel Bengtsson,
appointed Herman Wrangel as the ruler of Oxenstierna Toolse
cantonment, after the cantonment lost its military importance, the
region was merged with Selja manor, which was also called Toolse in
the 17th century. The lands of Selja Manor had already been in the
possession of the Wrangells since the Danish era, later they were in
the possession of the Rennenkampffs and then the Girard de
Soucantons. Toolse Order Castle was finally destroyed during the
Northern War at the beginning of the 18th century and the castle was
abandoned.
Toolse Order Castle was built in at least five stages and the
construction work lasted a few hundred years.
In construction
stage I, or the oldest part of the fortress, there was a three-story
living tower behind the west facade built in the 15th century, which
also included a west tower. This house fort was accessed through a
foot gate in the west wall that was closed with a latch.
Construction stage II: in the second quarter of the 15th century,
the fortress was expanded and adapted for firearms. A complex with
an inner courtyard and a forecourt developed, which extended to the
easternmost tower. The front yard was accessed through a wide gate
opening in the eastern wall, and further into the courtyard through
a sharp arched gate. The rooms located on the north side of the
inner courtyard were led to by a separate gate that was closed with
a deadbolt, with shooting holes on the sides.
The
construction stage III building was a large square easternmost
tower, which was intended as a gate tower of the easternmost camp
yard. The task of the tower was to secure the camp yard and the
northwest corner of the complex, which was built some time later.
In the IV construction stage, a round artillery tower was built
on the northwest corner of the fortress. According to the drawing of
Anthonis Goeteeris from 1615, the height of the tower was equal to
the second construction stage of the fortress. The tower has an open
platform floor, the upper edge was crowned by the steps of a
defensive passage, as in the walls of the second construction phase.
In the same period, the walls were raised and two dankers were built
on the northern side of the fortress.
In the V, or the last
stage of construction, a forecourt with a circular wall typical of a
camp castle was built in the eastern wing of the fortress and a gate
tower in front of it.