Baltic Crusades

Abstract

In the context of the Baltic Crusades, the “Baltic” (“Livonian”) roughly corresponds to the territory of modern republics Estonia and Latvia. The region was settled by Finnic-speaking peoples (Estonian groups, Livs, and Finnic Curonians) in its northern and, to some extent also in its western part, and by Baltic-speaking groups (Letts, Semgallians, Selonians, Baltic Curonians) in the south. As the original center of the crusading conquest lay in the Liv settlement area, the toponym “Livonia” spread to the whole territory. During the thirteenth century, five ecclesiastic territories formed there. The most significant part of the country was controlled by the Teutonic Order, which started its activities here in 1237. The archbishop of Riga and bishops of Tartu, Saaremaa, and Curonia were, besides their ecclesiastical duties, territorial lords as well. Northern Estonia was part of the Danish realm until 1346, when it was sold to the Teutonic Order. Traditionally, the authors start their historical narrative of the Baltic Crusades in 1180/1200, when, according to the chronicle by Henry of Livonia, the activities of German missionaries on the lower reaches of the Daugava River started. However, this Germanocentric interpretation tends to shade the Scandinavian efforts to connect the attempt to control the Baltic areas with the crusading ideology which started a few decades earlier. Livonia was eventually conquered by 1300/1310. The crusading warfare continued until 1400 against Lithuania, first of all as the “Preussenreisen” (the expeditions of western European knights against Lithuania) organized by the Teutonic Order. Especially in the English-language publications, the whole history of the Livonian medieval bishoprics and the Livonian Teutonic Order until their dissolution during the Livonian War in 1558–1562 have been treated under the heading of Baltic Crusades, yet the crusading ideology had only sporadic and minor importance in Livonia after the fourteenth century.