Lords and Ladies of the Manor

1287

King Erik VI Menved of Denmark’s letter regarding some possessions and privileges of the Cistercian Convent of St Michael in Tallin – at that time, Palmse was one of the villages in the convent’s possession. In this period, Palmse developed into a manor.

HISTORY OF LANDLORDS

1510

Bertram Junge

Bertram Junge

The convent’s Abbess Elisabet Brincke exchanged Palmse manor for Bertram Junge’s Nabala manor. Junge also held in his possession Nabala and Sausti manors in Harju County and plots in Tallinn.

1522

Dyrick Metztacken

Dyrick Metztacken came from Hulja manor, which was not very far from Palmse. He married Bertram Junge’s daughter and bought Palmse manor from his father in law in 1522. After his wife died, he remarried to Dorothea Fircks. From the two marriages, he had four sons – Marcus, Dietrich, Robert, and Jürgen – and at least one daughter.

1545

Dorothea Metztacken

After Dyrick Metztacken’d death, the manor went to his widow Dorothea, who gave it to her son.

1560

Marcus Metztacken

Marcus Metztacken became the lord of the manor in a troubled time. The Livonian War had started two years before, and he spent most of his time on the battlefield. He served under Duke Magnus until 1572, and then switched to the service of the King of Sweden. In 1576, Marcus was killed in a gunpowder cellar explosion in Vigala fortress.

1598

Arend Metztacken

Marcus Metztacken’s son, who arrived at the manor in 1607, did not find a single intact building there. He started rebuilding the manor after the Treaty of Altmark in 1629. In the same year, he was elected the head of the Estonian Knighthood. In the period of 1631 – 1649, he held the position of District Administrator. He managed the establishment of national postal service and the renovation of churches destroyed during the war.

1650

Reinhold Metztacken

Reinhold Metztacken was Arendt Metztacken’s nephew. He died during the plague epidemic in 1657.

1657

Arend Dietrich Metztacken

1646 – 1676

He inherited the manor when he was still a minor. For most of the time, he travelled in Europe visiting Holland, France, England, Germany, and Italy. Arend was killed by a sniper during the siege of Landskrona in Skåne. He was only 30 years of age. He was the last of the Metztacken male line.

1677

Gustav Christian von der Pahlen

1648 – 1736

He became the lord of the manor through his wife Margaretha Dorothea Metztacken (1656 – 1681), who was the younger sister of Arendt Dietrich. He was a major in the Ingrian Nobility Regiment, District Magistrate of Estonia, and a judge in the Male Court. In 1679, Charles XI of Sweden raised Gustav Christian and his brothers into the status of Freiherr von Astrau.

1702

Arend Dietrich I von der Pahlen

1675 – 1710

He came to his homeland from Holland just before the outbreak of the Great Northern war and claimed the ownership of Palmse manor in 1702. He also spent most of his time on the battlefield. In 1710, he died of plague in the Daugavgrīva Castle near Riga. He had a son from his marriage to Margareta Charlotta Wachtmeister af Björkö.

1710

Arend Dietrich II von der Pahlen

1707 – 1753

Having escaped from Russian troops to Sweden as a child, he first came to Palmse in 1722, but soon left for Germany. He studied mathematics, fencing, and languages at the University of Halle, and in 1727, he returned to Estonia and married Magdalena Elisabeth von Derfelden. Together they started rebuilding Palmse manor.

1753

Magdalena Elisabeth von der Pahlen

After Arend Dietrich’s death, the manor went to his widow. In 1763, her son Gustav Friedrich returned from the army to help her out, and in 1773, her second son Hans returned as well.

1775

Hans von der Pahlen

1740 – 1817

He was the real state councillor of the Russian empire. He spent a lot of time with his troops in Prussia and Poland and with his fleet near Çeşme, where he was grievously wounded. He married with Beate Ulrika Sophia von Stenbock of Kolga manor (1759 – 1845).

1817

Carl Magnus von der Pahlen

1779 – 1863

He inherited the manor from his father in 1817. When he was only five years old, he was listed as the Quartermaster of the Cavalry of the Guard, but real service did not start until 1797 when he became the Ensign of Riga’s Dragoon Regiment. In the years 1806 – 1807, he participated in the battles of Jankov, Landsberg, and Eylau. For his services in these battles, he received the St. Vladimir Order, 4th Class. This was the beginning of his great military career, which culminated with the rank General of the Cavalry in 1843. He voluntarily retired in 1818, but continued his governmental work. He was the District Magistrate of Estonia in the years 1821 – 1828, Governor-general of the Baltic provinces and the Military Governor of Riga in the years 1830 – 1845. In 1831, he led a unit of 2,000 to help crush the November Uprising – this gained him the Order of Alexander Nevsky. In 1847, he submitted a request to retire from governmental duties because of ill health, and he was granted a pension of 6,000 roubles a month.

Carl Magnus von der Pahlen was first married to Elisabeth Dorothea (born von Essen), but after his wife’s unfortunate death, he remarried to Katharina Arvelius.

1864

Alexander von der Pahlen

1819 – 1895

He was the only son of Carl Magnus von der Pahlen. In addition to Palmse manor, he also owned the manors of Vaida, Aruvalla, and Abavere. He was the head of the Estonian Knighthood and the state councillor from 1862 until 1868. As the President of the Baltic Railway Company, he spent a lot of his time and organisational skills for developing the Baltic Railway, and as a result of his endeavours, a railway connection in between St. Petersburg, Tallinn, and Paldiski was opened in 1870. For this service, he became Tallinn’s honorary citizen. The railway line in between Tapa and Tartu was completed in 1876.In addition to his governmental duties, he also took great interest in natural sciences, particularly in geology.

lexander von der Pahlen was married to Olga von Grote (1826 – 1888), and they had three sons and six daughters.

1895

Magnus Hans Alexis von der Pahlen

1850 – 1925

Alexis von der Pahlen studied Law and Palaeontology at the University of Tartu, and when he was still a student, he discovered the oldest known fossilised sea urchin, which can be found under the name of Bothriocidaris pahleni in most palaeozoology textbooks.

He was married to Lubi Stael von Holstein (1857 – 1902), and they had four children.

1907

Arend Dietrich von der Pahlen

1878 – 1945

In 1907, Alexis passed the ownership of the manor to his eldest son Arend Dietrich, who was not interested in managing it and, in turned, passed the manor to his brother Gustav Christian.

1909

Gustav Christian von der Pahlen

1883 – 1914

After a short time as the lord of the manor, he went to the war that had started in 1914 and was killed in Eastern Prussia. Gustav von der Pahlen was the lord of the Palmse manor. He was married to Katharina (Kitty) (born von Buxhövden), and they had two sons.

1914

Katharina Marie Nathalie von der Pahlen

1887 – 1938

Katharina (Kitty) von der Pahlen remained in Palmse for a few years after her husband’s death, but the manor’s economy was managed by Karl von Schubert, Seward of the Manor. In the autumn of 1917, she moved to Tallinn along with her sons and from there they moved on to Germany.

Skip to content