Livonian Crusade

Part of a series on the
History of Estonia
Ancient Estonia Kunda culture Narva culture Aesti Chudes Baltic Finnic peoples Ancient counties
Medieval Estonia Oeselians Viking Age Livonian Crusade Danish Estonia Old Livonia Baltic Germans
Swedish Estonia Livonian War Duchy of Estonia (1561–1721) Polish Livonia Swedish Livonia Great Northern War
Russian Estonia Russian Estonia Russian Livonia National awakening German occupation
Modern Estonia Declaration of Independence War of Independence Interwar period Era of Silence World War II Soviet occupation Singing Revolution Restoration of independence Contemporary Estonia
Chronology
Estonia portal
v t e

Part of a series on the
History of Latvia
Ancient Latvia Kunda culture Narva culture Corded Ware culture Amber Road / Aesti Vends ) Balts Latgalians Curonians Selonians Semigallians
Middle Ages Principality of Jersika Principality of Koknese Tālava Livonian Crusade Livonian Brothers of the Sword Livonian Order Archbishopric of Riga Bishopric of Courland Terra Mariana Baltic Germans
Early modern period Livonian War Kingdom of Livonia Duchy of Livonia Inflanty Voivodeship Swedish Livonia Polish–Swedish Wars (1600–1629) Second Northern War Great Northern War Duchy of Courland and Semigallia Couronian colonization
National Awakening Governorate of Livonia Courland Governorate Vitebsk Governorate The First Latvian National Awakening New Current
Modern Latvia Latvian Riflemen German occupation United Baltic Duchy Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic War of Independence 1934 Latvian coup d'état 1940 Soviet occupation Nazi occupation The Holocaust in Latvia 1944 Soviet re-occupation Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic Popular Front of Latvia Singing Revolution Restoration of Independence 2008 Latvian financial crisis
Chronology
Latvia portal
v t e

The Livonian crusade

.

On 2 February 1207,^[3] in the territories conquered, an ecclesiastical state called Terra Mariana was established as a principality of the Holy Roman Empire,^[4] and proclaimed by Pope Innocent III in 1215 as a subject of the Holy See.^[5] After the completion of the crusade, the Teutonic- and Danish-occupied territory was divided into six feudal principalities by William of Modena.

Wars against Livs and Latgalians (1198–1209)

By the time the first

, some of the natives had already been baptized.

in 1186. In those days the riverside fortified settlement of Üxküll was the center of the missionary activities in the Livonian area.

The indigenous Livonians had often been under attack^[6] by their southern neighbours, the Semigallians, who at first had considered the Saxons (Germans) to be useful allies. The first prominent Livonian to be converted was their leader Caupo of Turaida, who was baptized around 1189.

arrived with a large contingent of crusaders in 1198. Shortly afterwards, Berthold was killed, and his forces were defeated in a battle by Livonians.

To avenge Berthold's defeat, Pope Innocent III issued a bull declaring a crusade against the Livonians. Albert von Buxthoeven, consecrated as a bishop in 1199, arrived the following year with a large force, and established

to aid in the conversion of the pagans to Christianity and, more importantly, to protect German trade and secure German control over commerce.

As the German grip tightened, the Livonians and their christened chief rebelled against the crusaders. Caupo's forces were defeated at Turaida in 1206, and the Livonians were declared to be converted. Caupo subsequently remained an ally of the crusaders until his death in the Battle of St. Matthew's Day in 1217.

By 1208 the important Daugava trading posts of

rivers meet, replacing the wooden castle of Latgalians.

In 1209, Albert, leading the forces of the Order, captured the capital of the Latgalian Principality of Jersika, and took the wife of the ruler Visvaldis captive. Visvaldis was forced to submit his kingdom to Albert as a grant to the Archbishopric of Riga, and received back a portion of it as a fief. Tālava, by then already weakened in wars with its Finnic and East Slavic neighbours, became a vassal state of the Archbishopric of Riga in 1214, and was completely divided up between the Archbishopric and the Order in 1224.

• 
  Baltic tribes

  , c. 1200.
• 
  Lands of Tālava
• 
  Lands of Lotigola

Wars against Estonians (1208–27)

Conquest of the Estonian hinterland

By 1208 the Crusaders were strong enough to begin operations against the

in what is now southern Estonia. The Estonian tribes resisted the attacks from Riga and occasionally sacked territories controlled by the crusaders.

In 1208–27, war parties of the different sides rampaged through Livonia, Latgalia, and northern Estonian counties, with the Livs, Latgalians and troops from the East Slavic

(Fellin) on 21 September 1217, but Lembitu was also killed, and the battle was a crushing defeat for the Estonians.

The Christian kingdoms of

in 1220. By that time the entire northern Estonia came under the control of the king of Denmark.

During the uprising of 1223, all Christian strongholds in Estonia save Tallinn (Reval) fell into Estonian hands, with their defenders killed. By 1224, all of the larger fortresses were reconquered by the crusaders, except for

Tartu was finally captured by the crusaders in August 1224 and all its defenders were killed.

Early in 1224 Emperor

for Livonia, Prussia, and other countries.

In 1224 the Livonian Brothers of the Sword established their headquarters at Fellin (Viljandi) in Sackalia, where the walls of the Master's castle are still standing. Other strongholds included Wenden (Cēsis), Segewold (Sigulda), and Ascheraden (Aizkraukle).

The

.

• 
  Counties of Ancient Estonia
• 
  Dannebrog falling from the sky during the Battle of Lindanise, 1219.

War against Saaremaa (1206–61)

Bishopric of Ösel-Wiek and Oeselians at National Archives of Sweden

The last Estonian county to hold out against the invaders was the island country of Saaremaa (Ösel), whose war fleets had continued to raid Denmark and Sweden during the years of fighting against the German crusaders.

In 1206, a Danish army led by the king

in Western Estonia. The Oeselians attacked the Swedish stronghold later the same year and killed the entire garrison, including the Bishop of Linköping.

In 1222, the Danish king

In 1227, the Livonian Brothers of the Sword, the town of Riga, and the

, the Oeselians formally accepted Christianity.

After the defeat of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword in the

The treaty granted the Oeselians several distinctive rights regarding the ownership and inheritance of land, the social order, and the practice of religion.

Warfare erupted in 1261 as the Oeselians once more renounced Christianity and killed all the Germans on the island. A peace treaty was signed after the united forces of the

.

On 24 July 1343 the Oeselians arose yet again, killing all the Germans on the island, drowning all the clerics, and besieging the Livonian Order's castle at Pöide. After the garrison surrendered the Oeselians massacred the defenders and destroyed the castle. In February 1344 Burchard von Dreileben led a campaign over the frozen sea to Saaremaa. The Oeselians' stronghold was conquered and their leader Vesse was hanged. In the early spring of 1345, the next campaign of the Livonian Order ended with a treaty mentioned in the Chronicle of Hermann von Wartberge and the Novgorod First Chronicle.

Saaremaa remained the vassal of the master of the Livonian Order and the Bishopric of Ösel-Wiek until 1559.

Wars against Curonians (1242–67)

Following the defeat of the Estonians, the crusade moved against

.

In July 1210

Daugavgriva

and killed all the monks.

After the defeat of Estonians and Osilians in 1227, the Curonians were confronted by Lithuanian enemies in the east and south, and harassed by the Livonian Brothers of the Sword from the north; in the west, on the sea-shore, their arch-enemies, the Danes and Swedes, were lurking, waiting for an opportunity. In this hopeless situation, further aggravated by famine, the Curonians preferred to try to make peace with the Christian conquerors, inviting the monks into their country thereby escaping attacks by the Scandinavian nations.^[12] In 1230 the Curonians in the northern part of Courland, under their ruler (rex) Lammekinus [lv; lt], signed a peace treaty with the Germans, and the lands they inhabited thus became known as Vredecuronia or Peace Courland. The southern Curonians, however, continued to resist the invaders.

In 1260, the Curonians were involved in the

lands.

Curonian resistance was finally subdued in 1266 when the whole of Courland was partitioned between the Livonian Order and the Archbishop of Riga. The Curonian nobles, among them 40 clans of the descendants of the Curonian Kings, who lived in the town of Kuldīga, preserved personal freedom and some of their privileges.^[12][13]

Wars against Semigallians (1219–90)

According to the

from pagan rebels.

In 1219, the Semigallian–German alliance was cancelled after a crusader invasion in Semigallia. Duke Viestards promptly formed an alliance with Lithuanians and Curonians. In 1228, Semigallians and Curonians attacked the Daugavgrīva monastery, the main crusader stronghold at the Daugava river delta. The crusaders took revenge and invaded Semigallia. The Semigallians in turn pillaged land around the Aizkraukle hillfort.

In 1236, Semigallians attacked crusaders retreating to Riga after the Battle of Saule, killing many of them. After regular attacks, the Livonian Order partly subdued the Semigallians in 1254.

In 1270, the Lithuanian Grand Duke Traidenis, together with Semigallians, attacked Livonia and Saaremaa. During the Battle of Karuse on the frozen Gulf of Riga, the Livonian Order was defeated, and its master Otto von Lutterberg was killed.

In 1287, around 1400 Semigallians attacked a crusader stronghold in Ikšķile and plundered nearby lands. As they returned to Semigallia they were caught by the Order's forces, and the great Battle of Garoza began near the Garoza river. The crusader forces were besieged and badly defeated. More than 40 knights were killed, including the master of the Livonian Order Willekin von Endorp, and an unknown number of crusader allies. It was the last Semigallian victory over the growing forces of the Livonian Order.

In 1279, after the Battle of Aizkraukle, Grand Duke Traidenis of Lithuania supported a Semigallian revolt against the Livonian Order led by Duke Nameisis.

In the 1280s, the Livonian Order started a massive campaign against the Semigallians, which included burning their fields and thus causing famine. Semigallians continued their resistance until 1290, when they burned their last castle in

Rhymed Chronicle

claims that 100,000 migrated to Lithuania and once there continued to fight against the Germans.

The unconquered southern parts of Curonian and Semigallian territories (Sidabrė, Raktė, Ceklis, Mėguva etc.) were united under the rule of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Aftermath

In 1227 the

.

After the conquest, all of the remaining local population were ostensibly Christianized. In 1535, the first extant native language book was printed, a Lutheran catechism.^[14] The conquerors upheld military control through their network of castles throughout Estonia and Latvia.^[15]

The land was divided into six feudal principalities by

Battles

See also

• Livonian Chronicle of Henry
• Wendish Crusade
• Baltic paganism

References

External links

• Saaremaa 1100–1227