Editing History of Estonia (section)

==Estonian Crusade: The Middle Ages==<!-- This section is linked from [[Estonian language]] -->
[[File:Ancient Estonian counties.png|thumb|upright=1.2|left|[[Ancient Estonia]] until 21 September 1217]]
[[File:Danmarks flag 1219 Lorentzen.jpg|thumb|[[Flag of Denmark|Dannebrog]] falling from the sky during the [[Battle of Lyndanisse|Battle of Lindanise]], 1219]]
{{Main|Livonian Crusade}}

Estonia was one of the last corners of medieval Europe to be [[Christianity|Christianized]]. In 1193 [[Pope Celestine III]] called for a crusade against [[paganism|pagan]]s in Northern Europe. The [[Northern Crusades]] from northern Germany established the stronghold of [[Riga]] (in modern Latvia). With the help of the newly converted local tribes of [[Livonians|Livs]] and [[Latvians|Letts]], the crusaders initiated raids into part of what is present-day Estonia in 1208. Estonian tribes fiercely resisted the attacks from Riga and occasionally themselves sacked territories controlled by the crusaders. In 1217 the German crusading order the [[Livonian Brothers of the Sword|Sword Brethren]] and their recently converted allies won a major battle in which the Estonian commander [[Lembitu]] was killed.