The Baltic Crusades are a fascinating period of history, traditionally overshadowed by the crusades in the Middle East (or Outremer as the Franks called the Latin Kingdoms in the Levant), over which many hundreds of non-fiction books and novels have already been written. The crusades in the eastern Baltic differed significantly from those in Outremer because the local tribes were not in control of any holy sites, nor were they a threat to Christians pilgrims. It was therefore harder for the Latin Church to justify. In order to attract people willing to undertake the hardships of life on the eastern frontier of Christendom, Pope Celestine III authorised full crusading privileges to anyone willing to make a pilgrimage to Livonia and this was confirmed by his successor Pope Innocent III in 1198. Thousands of volunteers travelled every year to this far-flung region to campaign and fight, predominantly Germans, but also Danes, Swedes, Slavs and Frisians. Eric Christiansen’s excellent The Northern Crusades details their history and was the first book that got me initially interested in this little-known period.
However, the principal first-hand source is The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia, which was written by a priest, Henricus des Lettis, probably around 1229. The chronicle deals with events in the eastern Baltic between 1180 to 1226. Hardly surprisingly, it is written from the German point of view and describes the role of the Latin Church in colonising and spreading Christianity to the local pagan tribes. His chronicle is a highly detailed account, rich in human history, and he provides eye-witness testimony of the events at this time, depicting not only the military campaigns but interesting facts about the local people themselves. This is particularly valuable as there is practically no other first-hand evidence of the events of the early Christian settlement in what is now Latvia and Estonia.
But it is Bishop Albert von Buxhöveden who holds the central place in Henry’s account. As a canon from Bremen cathedral, Albert was ordained as the third Bishop of Uexküll (Ikšķile in Latvian) in 1199. He was one of the most energetic, charismatic and relentless empire builders of his time. Albert came to Livonia to conquer land in the name of the Church and to convert the inhabitants, by force if necessary. One of his first acts was to move the seat of the bishopric from Uexküll, which was considered too far up the Düna river, and found the new town of Riga on the site of an old Liv fishing and trading port in a sheltered natural harbour where cogs could anchor. From the chronicle, Henry’s admiration of Bishop Albert is clear, and he probably came to Livonia as a young man in 1205, working as a scholar in the bishop’s household. In 1208, the bishop ordained him as a priest and gave him a parish to administer, where he lived among the Letts, remaining in the country until reaching old age. Bishop Albert returned to Germany every year to preach the crusade until 1224, travelling around Northern Germany drumming up support for his mission. In this story, Albert has only a very peripheral role, but he will feature prominently later.
A further achievement of Bishop Albert was sanctioning the formation of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword (Latin: Fratres militiæ Christi Livoniae, German: Schwertbrüderorden), although this was probably accomplished by Abbot Theoderic, who as in our story did arrive with the Livonian chief Caupo on the three ships in September 1204 after visiting and getting sanction from Pope Innocent III in Rome. This new monastic Order of warrior monks was given the same rule as the Knight Templars and the first master was Wenno von Rohrbach. But more about that in the next book! The Order was under the command of Bishop Albert, but unlike the more prestigious and larger organisations like the Teutonic Knights, the Swordbrothers were always considered second-class – smaller, poorer and with less prestige. Nevertheless, whereas prior to their formation crusader armies would arrive in the spring and campaign over the summer, now the mission could be protected all year round. The Swordbrothers built castles, protected missionaries and acted as a military force to compel the local tribes to convert. But they were always impoverished, depending on the land they conquered and the tithes they needed in order to survive. This led them into dispute with Bishop Albert, with whom they would later fall out over the division of new lands and spoils. The Swordbrothers themselves appear to be of very mixed origins, many of them from the ministeriale class, earning their living from service rather than by the resources of their own lands, and who made up the bulk of German knighthood at this time. Others were the sons of merchants and hardly noble at all, and some were criminals, although Volkwin von Naumburg zu Winterstätten was probably the son of the count of Naumburg. The Order had a reputation for being unrefined and hard to control, and by the end of their short history there were few crimes of which they had not been accused. Nonetheless, they successfully endured the severe hardships of the frontier and were triumphant in most of the battles they fought, mainly due to their superior weapons and the use of heavy knights, which despite being unsuitable in the marshy, forested terrain, proved devastating against the more lightly armed pagan tribes.
However, the problems for the Swordbrothers were mounting, as were their enemies. Pope Honorius III rebuked them for squeezing too much money from their peasants to help fund their wars, causing an uprising, and when they seized the king of Denmark’s land in Estonia, defying a papal legate, their legal disputes only increased. The Swordbrothers were getting a bad reputation and Volkwin tried to solve the issue by enlisting the help of the Teutonic Knights to admit his men into their Order as knights-brethren. After a tour of inspection, the latter were unimpressed by the lack of discipline, and when they reported back to their chapter meeting the Teutonic Knights decided to reject the request. Hartmann von Heldrungen wrote that the Swordbrothers, ‘were people who followed their own inclination, and did not keep their rule properly, and merely wanted to be given carte blanche, and not have their conduct looked into unless they agreed to it’. It was this rough-and-ready attitude that interested me most about the Swordbrothers in the first place and ignited my study of this little-known period.
Another historian who has proven invaluable in my research is William Urban, especially his book The Baltic Crusades and his translation with Jerry C. Smith of the The Livonian Rhymed Chronicle. A professor of History and International studies at Monmouth College, Illinois, he is probably the foremost English-speaking historian who has devoted his career to studying this period and whose knowledge on the subject is considerable. Mr Urban was kind enough to read over and give his opinion on the first draft of this book.
The Livonian Rhymed Chronicle itself is written by an unknown member of the Teutonic Order in the late 13th century. It covers the years from 1180 to 1290 and is the only primary source from the years 1267-1290, differing from the The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia in that it deals almost exclusively on the military affairs of the Teutonic Knights. Urban and Smith speculate that perhaps it was used as a Tischbuch, a book that would have been read aloud to members of the brethren during mealtimes, although this is hard to know for certain.
Much of the book takes place in Lübeck, one of the most famous medieval cities in Germany. The city was the main point of departure for the Baltic Crusades, although in 1204 it was far from being the ‘Queen of the Hanseatic League’ that it would later become. The Hanseatic League (Hanse in German) was a trading organization that encompassed much of northern Europe, from the North Sea to the Baltic, acting as a commercial and a defensive confederation of cities. The actual word Hanse itself was not used until the middle of the 13th century. Most of the latter medieval buildings that now define Lübeck for tourists like the Holsten Gate (Holstentor), St. Mary’s Church (Marienkirche), St Peter’s Church (Petrikirche), the Salzspeicher, or even the brick-built gabled houses, were not built at the time of this book. Only the cathedral that still stands (Dom zu Lübeck) existed and was under construction although it was modified many times since and was almost completely destroyed in The Second World War. The Holstenbrücke (Holsten Bridge) was first mentioned in 1216 but it was conceivable that a bridge existed beforehand, although I have chosen otherwise. This would have been constructed from wood.
Throughout the book, I have generally (although not exclusively) kept to the German spellings of people and places. This is partly because Richard is fighting for a German Order and obviously speaking Low German which was the language of most of the crusaders. It is also intended to add to the atmosphere and help in the reader’s immersion, and hopefully it achieves that.
Very little is known about the battle that took place near Rodenpois (Ropaži in Latvian) around Lent 1205. Almost all of the available information is contained in The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia and it was a crushing defeat for the Lithuanians and the first real victory for the Swordbrothers. The chronicle states. Thus the army was assembled and the Lithuanians were dispersed on all sides of the road like sheep. About twelve hundred of them were cut down by the sword. Most of the thousand or so Estonian prisoners that the Lithuanians were taking home were butchered by the victorious Semigallians. The battle is a clear example of the crusaders’ strategy of divide and conquer, using the rivalry and hatred the pagan tribes had for each other in order to dominate them all. And in this they were very successful.
Prince Alexander Yaroslavich, better known as Alexander Nevsky, is one of the greatest heroes of Russian history. He was born around 1220 and spent most of his childhood and youth in the Principality of Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, ruled over by his father, with eight brothers and an unknown number of sisters. When his elder brother Fedor died, he became the most senior and was summoned by the people of Novgorod to be knyaz (prince) in 1236. After beating the Swedes at the battle of Neva in 1240 at the young age of nineteen, he received the name ‘Nevsky’ (of Neva), which helped cement his power but made him unpopular with some of the boyars or nobles. This culminated with him being banished by the city during the winter of 1240/41, for reasons unknown. However, two years later, he was recalled again and went on to beat the combined Danish, German and Estonian army in the famous battle on the ice at Lake Peipus. This is commemorated in the famous 1938 film by Sergei Eisenstein, Alexander Nevsky, a film beloved by Stalin. As mentioned in the book, his primary concern was the threat of the Mongols, who had already swept across Asia and Russia, sacking Kiev in 1240. Alexander realised their overwhelming power and submitted to them, using them as allies against any further possible western aggression. He has received criticism for this, but there is little doubt that this far-sighted and astute move saved Novgorod from the same fate of many other Russian cities. His loyalty was rewarded, and the Mongols allowed him to become Grand Prince of Vladimir (Veliki Knyaz), the supreme ruler of Russia in 1252, which he remained until his death in November 1263.
Alexander Nevsky was canonized by Orthodox Church in 1547, and in 1725 Empress Catherine I introduced the Imperial Order of St Alexander Nevsky, one of the highest decorations in Russia. He is probably best remembered for the line, ‘Whoever comes to us with a sword, from a sword will perish…’
Comments