History
Ancient and early medieval times
The cool climate posed less of a problem for people when they enveloped themselves in animal pelts. Humans were able to start living in areas that the cold climate had thus far prevented them from settling. It is believed, however, that it was only around the time of the Roman Iron Age that central and northern European settlers first started sewing hides together like fabric. To this point, animal hides had simply been draped over the body. Over time, new, less restrictive forms of overclothes emerged - fur or fur-lined coats.
In the now-extinct Gothic language, skraha meant fur. In the Baltic Finnic languages, this word lives on today in the form and meaning of "raha" ("money" in Estonian and Finnish). Fur was the gold of the North and the basis for economic relationships that changed little over centuries. The commercial value of fur was great in ancient Greece, Egypt, Rome, in Baghdad's glory days in the reign of Harun-al-Rashid, even in India, where an astronomical price was paid for ermine fur. Fashions changed, but fur continued to be in high demand in major cultural capitals over the years.
With regard to Germanic peoples, Tacitus noted in Germania in 98 AD that fur played a very important role in their attire: besides coats, borders, muffs and hats, they even wore fur pantaloons and shoes. Archaeologists have dated a coat worn by a 14-year-old girl back to the pre-migration era (4th to 6th century AD). Found in a peat bog in a Germanic settlement area, it was sown together from four strips of deer skin and the cut of the collar was reminiscent of modern-day coats. The extensive use of fur in central and northern Europe meant that specialists - furriers - had to be employed early on.
The guild period in Tallinn 14th to 19th century
Women' s overcoats and fur coats began to be made in Tallinn by the 14th century, and earlier in Western Europe. The attire worn by a wealthy Estonian woman in winter was typically a white coat of tanned sheepskin with the wool side facing in. It was modelled after the long traditional peasant coat of the individual's home parish. Estonian women did not wear a fabric layer, which was adopted only in the second half of the 19th century. Coats were decorated with leather strips and leftovers and pieces of finer fur, often squirrel or fox as fringe, called a puhk, which is also the source of the vernacular word for furrier, "puhksepp", the other word, "köösner", was borrowed from the German Küschner (korze, kursewerter).
The names of furriers began appearing in the earliest written documents, for example in 1310, the Tallinn furrier Conradus pellifex (pellifex being the Latin for furrier) is mentioned, while by the late 14th century, tax records contain dozens of names. Going by the names, it appears that these master craftsmen were Germans or Swedes. In 1397, Riga's furriers received their guild charter and Tallinn's furriers reportedly obtained the same status. The oldest guild charter of the Tallinn furriers dates from a much later period - 1453. Unlike in Riga, there were no ethnic restrictions placed on guild membership. In Tallinn, everything hinged on the furrier's mastery and skill. Thus 16th century sources have very many different Estonian terms for the speciality, such as kassecksep, kassiksepp, kasep, kaskiseppe etc).
Squirrel fur was the most widely worn in Tallinn, known by its Middle Low German name grauwerk. The grey winter pelt being the most highly prized. Other common furs included marten, weasel and ermine. Sable was much rarer, imported by Russian merchants for a dear price. Tallinn's town councilmen are said to have debated whether to forbid the wearing of sable fur, in fears that Russian merchants would draw away too much of Tallinn's gold and silver. As can be concluded from the special guild documents issued in 1786 and 1811, the furriers' work also included tanning fox, bear, wolf, lynx and squirrel pelts and turning them into marketable fur goods. Tanning sheepskin and sewing peasant coats was left to those dwelling outside the city walls and other non-Germans.
Admission to the guild was decided by the production of a test-piece, with which the craftsman demonstrated his competence. The guild charter of 1453 stipulated as a condition the "impeccable" manufacture of four fur items, such as a coat lining of the underside of squirrel pelts, a coat lining of the topside of squirrel pelts, a lining of grey and red mottled squirrel pelt and finally, a women's sheepskin coat in an urban style. Either the oldermann or the guild had to provide the person making the test-piece 5 timmers (1 timmer= 40) squirrel skins and 3 dekkers (1 dekker = 10) sheepskins, and the finished work went to the person whose material it was made of. The work had to be performed under watch in the house of the oldermann, a guild official, and 14 days were granted. A fine was assessed for each day over the limit just as it would be in real life, if a craftsman overran a deadline promised to a customer.
In May 1708 - a couple years before Tallinn came under Russian control - Tallinn's non-German furriers and peasant tailors (Pelter und Bauerschneider) decided to establish their own trade, which the town council approved. This was the last trade instituted in Tallinn during the Swedish era. The initial copy of the charter of incorporation states: "Henceforth all fur-makers and peasant tailors who are honest and proper and well-versed in their speciality must be as masters." The test-piece for achieving master craftsman status - a sheepskin coat and overcoat - had to be finished within three days in the presence of the officials and master craftsmen of the guild. As can be concluded from the list of oldermanns, there was a surprisingly high proportion of Swedes and Finns working in this speciality, while one Wilhelm Berend Calpus may have been an Estonian.
There is also historical evidence of the furrier's dwelling areas in various parts of Tallinn. For some reason, their most concentrated settlement areas were historically the St. Nicholas city parish: Rataskaevu, Rüütli, Sepa, Kuninga and Dunkri streets. The first documented owner of Tallinn's oldest craftsmen's building, built in the 14th century (Raekoja pl. 12/Apteegi tn. 2) was the furrier (pellifex) Godekinus, who acquired ownership in 1367.
The guild system began breaking down toward the end of the 19th century and disappeared entirely with the changes in the social order brought on by the onset of World War I.
On the photo: Two gorgeous tanners from Viljandi (South Estonia) in 1910.
The patron saint
As in the case of any respectable trade, the furriers, fur coat makers and fur merchants had their own saint, St. Hubertus, who had lived from 656-727 in various places in Europe, serving as a bishop and known for his charity. The saint is better known as the patron saint of hunters and on 3 November of each year, his feast is marked in the Christian world by great hunts.
Peasant fur coats
A sheepskin coat is a very ancient and practical garment in Estonia's climate. It was worn from Michaelmas to St George's Day in outside work, while travelling, in church and at feasts, sometimes even as protection against the heat of summer. The abundance of the material in the garment was probably either due to following a fashion or used to emphasize one's wealth.
The coat was sewn by first cutting a rectangular piece from the skin, tailored to the customer's measurements, an opening for the head was cut in the middle and one side was slit slightly to create flaps. Then, pieces just as wide were added to the flaps and the back to extend the garment and triangular strips (gores) were added to the sides of the coat, between the extended parts. The coats were fastened at the waist and were open at the chest.
The local coats were decorated with red and greenish-black, tanned leather strips, called belts. Leather pieces adorned the coat's flaps, collar, shoulders, sleeves, the sides from the waist to the bottom border, and the bottom border. The ends of sleeves, edges of the flaps and side slits and the bottom edges were adorned by polecat hide strips. The decorating served two purposes: pure aesthetic reasons as well as concealment of more imperfections that occurred in the sewing of more complicated areas (seams, gore fastenings etc).
Village tailors sewed the coats. They were sewn at the customer's home, the tailor was taken in and provided board for that time. They were often considered eccentric and simple folk. Many jokes were told about them. "Is a tailor any sort of a man", it was said in Paistu, or "he sat on the table, legs under his bottom, licked the thread and slapped the yardstick". To obtain good fur, wool-giving sheep were fed well. They were given flour, their hay had to have alkaline properties and they were watered with pure water. For the skin, farms kept old sheep on hand, and the wool was allowed to grow out. The sheepskins were tanned in winter, around Candlemas, as this was a "quiet" time.
The fur sector in the early years of the interwar Republic of Estonia
Estonian soldiers in the War of Independence (1918-1920) had no reason to freeze - again warm Estonian sheepskin coats came to the rescue.
Here soldiers in the 5th Company of the Kalev brigade are seen taking a smoke break in Senno village on the Irboska line in February 1919.
Fur continued to be fashionable in the young republic. Here is an article (in Estonian) published in the Postimees newspaper on 18 July 1934 that illustrates these developments well.
To be continued ... (very soon, I hope!)
Sources:
Lennart Meri "Hõbevalge" (Silverwhite)
Küllike Kaplinski "Tallinn - meistrite linn" (Tallinn - city of master craftsmen)
Viljandi Museum`s website
Estonian Film Archive
