In Estonia smithery is one of the oldest trades. The making of metal (bronze) tools is linked to the transition to land cultivation and the keeping of animals. The oldest finds of forged artifacts (bracelets, axes, etc.) date back to the early Iron Age (6 centuries B.C. to 1 century A.D.). Indeed iron was a metal that could also be found in Estonia. Traces of the processing of lake and bog ore have been found in the vicinity of Tallinn, in North east Estonia and in some other places. But in general raw material has been imported to Estonia from elsewhere. In the early Iron Age (1st to 5th centuries) iron was the commonest metal in use. The word "smith" designated a craftsman of special skill in general and is used in the Estonian words for carpenter, potter, wheelwright, etc. The names Sepp, -sepp, -sepa, Sepa, etc. are among the most common Estonian sur-names and farm names. Just before our ancient freedom fight, during the later Iron Age (10th century to the beginning of the 13th) smith-work was the leading branch of local craft. Local smiths forged tools for everyday use (axes, knives, sickles, scythes). They likewise made good weapons esp. on the island of Saaremaa.
During the following period under foreign rule some branches of smith-work (e.g. jewellery) became the monopoly of the Baltic-German town craftsmen.
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We can divide the smiths into three groups: the village
smiths, the manor smiths and the free
smiths, who were not locals. In the 18th century smith-work was
the most widespread domestic craft in North
Estonia especially in North West Estonia and on the islands.
In the 18th century free smiths worked mostly in the vicinity of Tallinn and in large manorial estates in Virumaa. These free smiths played an important role in the introduction and spread of new tools (drills etc.) and in the forging of ornaments (it is highly likely that they made ornaments for the peasants too in Western Estonia). |
Village and parish smiths. In recent centuries the village smith worked for the village farmers and in exchange he received land, a dwelling house, a smithy and the right to pasture from the village. Usually the village smith was a cottager (a peasant with little or no land of his own). Working relations started on St. George's day (23rd April). As a rule the village smith worked alone (the farmer who came to the smithy to have some work done operated the bellows or helped with the hammering; he also brought iron, coal and sometimes food along). The work included: shoeing horses, repairing agricultural implements and the making of iron tools and other utensils. In the province of Estonia the usual means of payment was a bushel of rye or barley, in Livonia a bushel of rye. On average, work for the needs of one farm took the smith a couple of days a year. In about the middle of the 19th century there emerged (especially in South Estonia) a separate group of parish smiths with whom the parish concluded a contract.
The parish smith did his work at a some what lower rate but was exempted from conscription to the army (also during his apprenticeship). He had to work in the parish for an agreed term.
Blacksmith skills were passed from father to son (in Northern Estonia these skills were more often learned at home, in Southern Estonia the skills were usually learned at both the village and manor smithy). On average the apprenticeship lasted three years.
In Southern Estonia smithery became a trade in its own right, in North Estonia and on the islands it remained a domestic trade (every farmer was able to do minor smith-work himself). From the beginning of the mid nineteenth century many new tools were taken into use (the drill, the vice, the file, factory made anvils). Great changes have taken place in this century due to new tools on the one hand and collectivisation on the other.
