Livonian Brothers of the Sword: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|MilitaryCatholic military order founded by Bishop Albert of Riga in 1202(1204–1237)}}

|image=[[Image:SwordBrothers.svg|100px]] [[Image:Zakon Kawalerów Mieczowych COA.svg|110px| ]]

|notable_commanders={{ubl|Master [[Wenno]]<br>|Master [[Volquin]]}}

The '''Livonian Brothers of the Sword''' ({{lang-la|Fratres militiæ Christi Livoniae}}, {{lang-de|Schwertbrüderorden}}<!--, {{lang-fr|Ordre des chevaliers Porte-Glaive}}, [[Polish language|Polish]]: Zakon Kawalerów Mieczowych-->) was a [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[Military order (monastic society)|military order]] established in 1202 during the [[Livonian Crusade]] by [[Albert of Riga|Albert]], the third [[bishop]] of [[Riga]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Christiansen |first=Eric |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/38197435 |title=The northern Crusades |date=1997 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=0-14-026653-4 |edition=2nd |location=London, England |pages=x |language=en |oclc=38197435}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> (or possibly by [[Theoderich von Treyden]]d). [[Pope]] [[Pope Innocent III|Innocent III]] sanctioned the establishment in 1204 for the second time. The membership of the [[Crusades|crusading]] [[Military order (religious society)|order]] comprised [[Germanswarrior monk|Germanwarrior]] "warrior [[monk]]s", mostly from northern Germany, who fought [[Baltic peoples|Baltic]] and [[Baltic Finnic paganspeoples|Finnic]] [[Polytheism|polytheist]]s in the area of modern-day [[Estonia]], [[Latvia]] and [[Lithuania]]. Alternative names of the Order include '''Christ Knights''', '''Swordbrothers''', '''Sword Brethren''', '''Order of the Brothers of the Sword''',<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Order of the Brothers of the Sword {{!}} German organization of knights|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Order-of-the-Brothers-of-the-Sword|access-date=2020-09-29|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref> and '''The Militia of Christ of Livonia'''. The seal reads: ''+MAGISTRI ETFRM (et fratrum) MILICIE CRI (Christi) DE LIVONIA''.

Following their defeat by the [[Samogitians]] and [[Semigallians]] in the [[Battle of Saule|Battle of Schaulen (Saule)]] in 1236, the surviving Brothers merged into the [[Teutonic Order]] as an autonomous branch and became known as the [[Livonian Order]].

The grandmaster served for life in the order. He chose a council and a military chief for each district castle, where the order's knights were living.<ref name=":0" /> [[Wenno von Rohrbach]] was the first master of the order (1204–1209),<ref>{{Cite book|last=Venning, Timothy|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/908389545|title=A chronology of the Crusades|others=Frankopan, Peter.|date=May 2015 |isbn=978-1-317-49643-4|location=London|oclc=908389545}}</ref> followed by [[Volkwin]] Schenk von Winterstein, who died in the [[Battle of Saule|Battle of Schaulen]] in 1236.

In the beginning, the main duty of the Livonian Brothers was to protect priests and missionaries.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Turnbull, S. R. (Stephen Richard)|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/52783454|title=Crusader castles of the Teutonic Knights. 2, The stone castles of Latvia and Estonia 1185-1560.|date=2004|publisher=Osprey|isbn=1-84176-557-0|location=Oxford|oclc=52783454}}</ref> The characteristics of the territory brought a moral challenge for the crusaders due to the fact thatbecause the land of the Livs and Letts had not previously been Christian. Therefore, they did not have any justification to attack them. The division of conquered territory also was a problem faced by the order. Swordbrothers were to garrison the built castles to maintain the control along the [[Daugava]]. However, garrison duties did not imply ownership. Albert of Riga established that one-third of any new territory could be retained by the order. Meanwhile, the rest of the territory was handed over to the bishop.<ref name=":1" />

[[Albert of Riga|Albert]], Bishop of [[Riga]] (also called [[Prince-Bishop]] of [[Livonia]]) (or possibly Theoderich von Treyden)<ref>''The Discovery of the Baltic The Reception of a Catholic World-System in the European North (AD 1075-12251075–1225)'' Blomkvist, Nils. 2004 (p. 539) {{ISBN?}}</ref> realised that a standing- army in Livonia would be more useful than crusaders staying a short time. As rewards for secular knights in the Baltic area were not enough to ensure their long-termsterm stance, Albert founded the Brotherhood in 1202 to aid the [[Bishopric of Riga|Bishopric of Livonia]] in the conversion of the [[paganism|pagan]] [[Livonian people|Livonians]], [[Latgalians]] and [[Selonians]] living across the ancient trade routes from the [[Gulf of Riga]] eastwards.<ref name=":1" />

In 1205, the first battle of the Livonian brothers occurred. The [[Semigallians|Semigallian]] duke [[Viestards|Viesthard]] visited Riga to request the help of the Swordbrothers after a local Semigallian tribe was devastated by the [[Lithuanians]]. The brotherhood was reluctant to go to war due to the absence of the bishop Albert. However, Viesthard successfully persuaded the Swordbrothers. They prepared an ambush against the Lithuanians that were returning with the booty, where the Lithuanian leader was beheaded.<ref name=":1" />

Between 1211 and 1212, the Swordbrothers realised that winter was the best season for warfare due to frozen swamps, weak undergrowth, and difficulty of their enemies to cover their tracks. Also, the knights could use frozen rivers as high-speed paths. The Order used these advantages in their campaigns until 1218, when they conquered southern EstonianEstonia, meanwhile they beat off counter-attacks from Russians and Lithuanians.<ref name=":1" />

From its foundation, the indisciplined Order tended to ignore its supposed [[vassal]]age to the bishops.{{Citation needed|date=September 2020}} The desires of the Swordbrothers to expand to the north of the Daugava river, along the [[Gauja|Livonian Aa stream]], brought the Order into a confrontation with Bishop Albert. Albert wanted to extend to the south of the river and did not have an interest in [[Estonia]], previously promised to King Valdemar II of Denmark.

[[Pope Gregory IX]] asked the Brothers to defend [[Finland]] from the [[Finnish-Novgorodian Wars|Novgorodian attacks]] in his letter of November 24, 1232.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://193.184.161.234/DF/detail.php?id=80 |title=Letter by Pope Gregory IX |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070814083933/http://193.184.161.234/DF/detail.php?id=80 |archive-date=2007-08-14 }}. (In Latin) Hosted by the [http://www.narc.fi National Archive of Finland] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100915000053/http://www.narc.fi/ |date=2010-09-15 }}. See [http://www.narc.fi/Arkistolaitos/sahkoiset/ ''Diplomatarium Fennicum''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070608003759/http://www.narc.fi/Arkistolaitos/sahkoiset/ |date=2007-06-08 }}</ref> However, no known information regarding the knights' possible activities in Finland has survived. ([[Sweden]] eventually conquered Finland following the [[Second Swedish Crusade]] in 1249.){{Citation needed|date=September 2020}}

The Order was decimated in the [[Battle of Saule|Battle of Schaulen (Saule)]] in 1236 against [[Lithuanians]] and [[Semigallians]].<ref name="Plakans44">Andrejs Plakans, ''A Concise History of the Baltic States'', (Cambridge University Press, 2011), 44.</ref> This disaster led the surviving Brothers to become incorporated into the Order of [[Teutonic Knights]] in the following year, and from that point on they became known as the [[Livonian Order]].<ref name="Plakans44" /> They continued, however, to function in all respects ([[monastic rule|rule]], clothing and policy) as an autonomous branch of the Teutonic Order, headed by their own Master (himself ''de jure'' subject to the Teutonic Order's [[Hochmeister|Grand Master]]).

[[Category:Baltic-German peoplehistory]]