Viljandi receives town privileges from the Livonian Order

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Strong hill fort stood in Viljandi already in the early Middle Age. After the Order had captured it in 1223, it started to build its own fort there. A trade settlement had stood near it for a long time, and it probably expanded after the Order's fort was finished.

In 1269, Viljandi is first mentioned as town (civitas). It probably had it's town privileges before that time, but the earliest document is form year 1283. From that time origins the oldest historical record of Viljandi's town privileges, by the Riga law.

Source: Viljandi ajalugu, juht ja linnaplaan. 1939.



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