Livonia
This article is about the region in Europe. For other uses see Livonia (disambiguation).Livonia (
Latvian:
Livonija;
Estonian:
Liivimaa;
German:
Livland;
Swedish:
Livland;
Polish:
Inflanty;
Russian: Лифляндия or
Lifljandija; ) once was the land of the
Finnic Livonians, but came in the Middle Ages to designate a much broader territory controlled by the
Livonian Order on the eastern coasts of the
Baltic Sea in present-day
Latvia and
Estonia. Its frontiers are the
Gulf of Riga and the
Gulf of Finland in the north-west,
Lake Peipus and
Russia to the east, and
Lithuania to the south.
Livonia was inhabited by various Baltic and Finnic peoples ruled by an upper class of
Baltic Germans. Over the course of time some nobles were
polonized into the Polish
szlachta or
russified into the Russian
Dvoryanstvo.
Beginning in the 12th century Livonia was an area of economic and political expansion by
Danes and
Germans, particularly by the
Hanseatic League and the
Cistercian Order. Around 1160 Hanseatic traders from
Lübeck established a trading post at the future site of
Riga. The
Chronicle of Henry of Livonia from the 1220s gives a firsthand account of the Christianization of Livonia, granted as a
fief by the
Hohenstaufen King of Germany
Philip of Swabia to
Albert of Buxhoeveden, nephew of the
Archbishop of Bremen, who sailed with a convoy of ships filled with armed crusaders to carve out a Catholic territory in the East during the
Northern Crusades. Albert founded Riga in 1201, built a cathedral, and became the first
Prince-Bishop of Livonia.
Thus, from the early 13th century Livonia became a confederation (
Livonian Confederation) of lands ruled by the
Livonian Order (founded by Albert in 1202, which joined with the
Teutonic Knights in Prussia in 1237) and the spiritual territories including the Archbishopric of Riga and the Bishoprics of
Courland,
Ösel-Wiek, and
Dorpat, where Albert's brother Hermann established himself as the prince-bishop. The conquest of Livonia by the Germans is described in the
Livonian Rhymed Chronicle.
|
Outline of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with its major subdivisions as of 1619 superimposed on present-day national borders, Livonia marked in yellow |
In 1561 during the
Livonian War Livonia fell to the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania, with
Russia recognizing
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth control of Livonia only in 1582. The organization of Livonia in the Commonwealth as of 1598 was:
*
Wenden Voivodeship (
województwo wendeńskie,
C"sis / Wenden)
*
Dorpat Voivodeship (
województwo dorpackie,
Tartu / Dorpat)
*
Parnawa Voivodeship (
województwo parnawskie,
Pärnu / Pernau / Parnawa)
Sweden gained control over the northern Estonian and central Latvian regions of Livonia, including Riga, after fighting the
Polish-Swedish War during the 1620s, and incorporated it into the Swedish realm as the
dominion Swedish Livonia. The portion of Livonia remaining in the Commonwealth after the
Treaty of Oliva in 1660 was known as Polish Livonia, or
Inflanty. It consisted mainly of the southern Latvian region
Latgale within the
Livonian Voivodeship with the capital of
Daugavpils, or
Dyneburg. This division of Livonia was codified in the
Treaty of Oliva in 1660.
The
Russian Empire conquered Swedish Livonia during the course of the
Great Northern War and acquired the province at the
Treaty of Nystad in 1721. Russia then added Polish Livonia in 1772 during the
Partitions of Poland. Livonia remained within the Russian Empire until the end of
World War I, when it was split between the newly independent states of Latvia and Estonia. In 1918-1920 both
Soviet troops and German
Freikorps fought against Latvian and Estonian troops for control over Livonia, but their attempts were defeated. The historical land of Livonia as been split between Latvia and Estonia ever since.
The native
Livonian language is still spoken in parts of
Latvia, but is understood to be fast approaching
extinction.
*
Courland*
Swedish Livonia*
History of Estonia*
History of Latvia*
History of Poland*
History of Lithuania*
Battle of Kircholm*
Great Northern War*
List of Estonian rulers*
Deutsch-Baltische Ritterschaften in Livland, Kurland, Estland, Oesel*
Die Geschichte der Deutschen im Baltikum*
Die Livländische Ritterschaft*
Joann Portantiuse Liivimaa kaart 1573. aastast*
Karten*
LETTLAND: GESCHICHTE*
ЛИФЛЯН"ИЯ*
Liivimaa kaart*
Livland*
Livonian History by Uldis Balodis*
Vana-Liivimaa riigid 1238-1346
