| 1240–1241 Votia campaign | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Local Votian leaders[1] |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Henry of Ösel |  Aleksandr Yaroslavich of Suzdal(late 1241[2]) | ||||||
The1240–1241 Votia campaign was a military conflict occurring in the winter of 1240 to 1241 inVotia (in the western parts of modern-dayLeningrad Oblast). An alliance of theBishopric of Ösel–Wiek, theLivonian Order (the formerLivonian Brothers of the Sword, which had recently been incorporated into theTeutonic Order), as well as Estonians (calledChud' in Rus' sources), marched into Votia, defeating what little resistance it met, likely supported by several local Votian leaders,[1] and establishing a fortress atKoporye.
Surviving sources suggest the invading coalition, particularly bishop Henry of Ösel, was primarily interested in converting the localFinnic peoples from their forms of paganism to Christianity, as well as acquiring more territory to be divided amongst the Livonian gentry (the former Sword Brothers). Possibly, some knights with nominal fealty to kingValdemar II of Denmark (died March 1241) participated as well. Reportedly, they also plundered the countryside, attacking merchants and possibly theNovgorodiantown of Luga, which caused a Novgorodian force under theSuzdalian princeAleksandr "Nevsky" Yaroslavich to launch an assault on Koporye later in 1241, ousting the allies, and compelling them to withdraw to Livonia in 1242.
In 1227, theLivonian Brothers of the Sword took advantage of Denmark's weakened state and seized control of theDuchy of Estonia.[citation needed]King Valdemar II of Denmark attempted to recover the duchy by appealing to theRoman Curia. However, the Curia's response was greatly delayed, and it was not until February 1236 thatPope Gregory IX finally decided in favour of Denmark. However, the Brothers of the Sword refused to comply, until the Brothers were themselves weakened by theBattle of Saule in 1236. They were compelled to merge with theTeutonic Order and subsequently became theLivonian Order. TheTreaty of Stensby in 1238 returned all of Estonia to Denmark, with the exception ofJärva. Additionally, the king of Denmark would receive two-thirds of all future lands conquered from pagans in the region, while the Brothers would receive one-third.[3]
By 1240,[citation needed] Denmark underValdemar II,Sweden underBirger Jarl, as well as theLivonian Order, were resolved to initiate a crusade againstVotia andNovgorod.[4][page needed] According to Russian sources only, the Novgorodians defeated a Swedish fleet in theBattle of the Neva in the summer of 1240.[5][page needed]
A force consisting of Germans and Estonians invaded Votia in the winter of 1240–1241.[2][6][page needed] They occupied the city ofKoporye and built a stone castle in order to secure the territory.[7][8][9]
Further to the south, the villages of Tesov and Sablia were also captured, which only lay 30versts (roughly 30 km) fromVeliky Novgorod.[7] It is reported in theNovgorod First Chronicle that theVotians suffered greatly from the campaign.[9][6][page needed]
The primary motive seems to have been that the Livonian Order regarded Votia as a pagan territory to be conquered and converted, unlike Novgorod, which they appeared to have no military or religious designs against.[10] Nevertheless, the move was probably also done in order to cut off Novgorodian access to the southern side of theGulf of Finland, which would severely impactits foreign trade.[11][12] The 1241 treaty between bishop Henry of Ösel-Wiek and the Teutonic Order established legal and economic regulations in the newly acquired area, and mentions that campaign participants were given fiefdoms and other benefits in Votia.[13]
According to Fonnesberg-Schmidt (2007), "Votia, the lands north-east of Lake Peipus" (...) "weretributary to Novgorod".[14] On the other hand, Selart (2015) stated that "it is not clear how secure Novgorod's control was in Votia at the time (...) There are a number of references to Votia's dependence on Novgorod from the second half of the 13th century. It is nevertheless unknown how much of Votia fell within this dependencyc. 1240."[15]
There is no indication that Denmark was involved with this campaign.[a] Moreover, on 28 March 1241, king Valdemar II died,[12] causing asuccession crisis in Denmark between his sons Eric and Abel over the question of who should succeed Valdemar.[16] This situation made it impossible for the Danes to launch any kind of crusade in Estonia, let alone beyond Estonia.[b] In theory, it is possible that some nominal vassals of Valdemar II took part in the Votia campaign, such as Dietrich von Kivel and Otto von Lüneburg, as they appeared to have interests around Koporye later, perhaps stemming from enfeoffments made to campaign participants during the brief takeover of Votia; but those would have been conducted under the authority of the Bishopric of Ösel–Wiek and the Teutonic Order, not the Danish king.[13]
In late 1241,Aleksandr Yaroslavich of Suzdal returned to Novgorod, leading an army into Votia that defeated the Livonian troops, taking some captive while releasing others.[2] The NPL tells that Aleksandr supposedly hanged "the Votian and Chud' traitors".[2] The following year, 1242, the NPL narrates that "German" envoys travelled to Novgorod (when Aleksandr was absent), agreeing to withdraw from "the land of the Vod people, of Luga, Pleskov, and Lotygola".[2][17]
Historian Alexander Basilevsky claimed that it had become clear to Novgorod, that the Crusaders, besides trade, were also interested in conquering new territories.[7] As a response to the fall ofPskov,Alexander Nevsky reassumed power.[18] The newly arrived prince took the Novgorodian citymilitia and set out for the occupiedVotians, and retook the Crusader castle ofKoporye.[7][19][11] Danish and German prisoners from the fortress were sent to Novgorod.[7] Nevsky, along with his brother,Prince Andrey of Suzdal, appeared outside of the Crusader occupied Pskov and quickly stormed the city. The Novgorodians crossed theVelikaya and began burning and pillaging the Crusader territory.[7][page needed] In response, the Crusaders raised an army inLivonia and Estonia, underHermann von Buxhoevden, and met the Russians at theBattle on the Ice.[18][11]
It is a matter of scholarly debate what the causes, purposes and effects of the Votia campaign were.[20] According to an older, influential historiographic tradition, the Oeselian–Livonian–Votian alliance should be regarded as part of a wider, co-ordinated effort that deliberately sought to attack and conquer the Novgorod Republic and the rest ofKievan Rus' in order to convert its population fromEastern Orthodoxy toCatholicism.[21] This tradition emerged from a local cult of veneration inVladimir at the end of the 13th century, which centred on the role ofAleksandr Yaroslav in the Novgorodian conflicts of the early 1240s.[22] By the 15th century, Aleksandr was given thesobriquet "Nevsky" in reference to the supposed Neva battle, and by the 16th century, he was regarded as a heroic defender of Rus', as well as the Orthodox faith, and the progenitor of theDaniilovichi clan ofMuscovy.[22]
In 1928 and 1929, Finnish historiansJalmari Jaakkola and especiallyGustav Donner [fi;se] expanded on this Nevskian hagiographic tradition by promoting the theory of co-ordination between various "Catholic" countries and military orders, organised by papal legateWilliam of Modena, of having a well-prepared plan to conquer and convert all of Rus' to Catholicism in the 1230s and 1240s.[23][24] In this vision, the 1240–1241 Votia campaign was only a small part of grandcrusade against Orthodox "Russia", closely linked to the alleged SwedishJuly 1240 Neva campaign, the Dorpat–Livonian–Vladimirovich September1240 Izborsk and Pskov campaign and the subsequent the April 1242Battle of Lake Peipus (which Nevskian tradition had transformed into the so-called "Battle on the Ice").[23] Donner and Jaakkola argued the fact that these campaigns all occurred around the same time, and especially that Aleksandr Yaroslavich participated in all three, could not be a coincidence; therefore, all three events were linked together.[22][24] Most Russian historians, as well as several western European historians, adopted Donner's theory of co-ordination.[24]
By the late 20th century, Donner's theory of co-ordination was increasingly questioned by modern scholars, pointing out that 'there are only indirect arguments in favour of treating the three campaigns as a single interrelated war',[25] 'nor does there seem to have been a papal 'master-plan' for a joint campaign against the Orthodox Russians.'[26] Historians such asJohn Fennell (1983)[27] and Evgeniya Nazarova (2001)[28] concluded that if the Neva battle happened, it should be regarded as part of theSwedish–Novgorodian Wars for control of Finland and Karelia, rather than that the Swedes collaborates with the Danes and Germans in Livonia.[24] Papal documents and treaties of the time only speak of conquering pagan lands and converting pagans to Catholicism.[25]
Anti Selart (2001, 2015) and many other historians have argued[29] that if the Votia campaign could be called a "crusade", as the older historiographic tradition would have it, it was merely 'a continuation of the process of Christianization already under way in Estonia. Its aim was to conquer the pagan territories and obtain rule over them by means of baptism. The campaign against Novgorod was launched because of the ties between Votia and Novgorod, but the crusade was not explicitly aimed against Christian Rus.'[10][29] If the Votian campaign merely sought to acquire and Christianise pagan lands, this might have unintentionally provoked a Novgorodian reaction that the crusading coalition did not expect.[30][26] The Livonian conquest of Votia might also have seriously harmed Novgorod's commercial interests by taking control of one of its nearby waterways, but whether that was one of its purposes, or consequences, is uncertain.[12] Finally, Iben Fonnesberg-Schmidt (2007) concluded that "thecampaign against Izborsk and Pskov was a purely political undertaking which had nothing to do with conversion of pagans."[31]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) (Reprint:Hildesheim 1963). Verses 2235–2262.