Tallinn’s Brotherhood of the Blackheads was guild for unmarried merchants and shipowners.
Illustrative photo by Toomas Tuul
There is no clear answer as to the founding of the brotherhood. The oldest original document mentioning the Blackheads is the brotherhood’s contract with the Tallinn Dominican monastery from March 28, 1400. This contract affirms the Blackheads’ right to the religious paraphernalia they had deposited at the Dominican St. Catherine’s Church. It is surmised, that the contract, an important occasion for the Brotherhood, must have been entered into shortly after the brotherhood was formed. Therefore the founding date of the brotherhood has been set a few months earlier, in the year 1399.
Illustrative photo by Indrek Arula
Illustrative photos by Tiina Tammiste and Indrek Arula.