TheNorthern Crusades[1] orBaltic Crusades[2] were military campaigns undertaken byCatholic Christianmilitary orders and kingdoms in an effort toChristianize thepaganBaltic,Finnic, andWest Slavic peoples around the southern and eastern shores of theBaltic Sea.[3] In some cases, such as with theWendish Crusade, the campaign was partly motivated to control the rich resources found in the lands.[1]
The most notable of these campaigns were theLivonian andPrussian Crusades. Some of these wars were explicitly regarded, during the Middle Ages,as crusades; for example, the military venture against theEstonians—and the "other pagans in those parts"—authorized byPope Alexander III's 1171crusade bull,Non parum animus noster.[4][5] However, others—such as the (possibly mythical) 12th-centuryFirst Swedish Crusade and several subsequent incursions, undertaken by Scandinavian Christians against the then-paganFinns—were dubbed "crusades" only in the 19th century, byromantic nationalist historians.
At the outset of the northern crusades, Christian monarchs across northern Europe commissioned forays into territories that comprise modern-day Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Russia. The indigenous populations of Pagans suffered forced baptisms and the ravages of military occupation. Spearheading, but by no means monopolizing these incursions, the ascendantTeutonic Order profited immensely from the crusades, as did German merchants who fanned out along trading routes traversing the Baltic frontier.[6]
The official starting point for the Northern Crusades wasPope Celestine III's call in 1195,[7] but the Catholic kingdoms ofScandinavia,Poland, and theHoly Roman Empire had begun moving to subjugate their pagan neighbors even earlier (seeChristianization of Pomerania).[8] The non-Christian people who were objects of the campaigns at various dates included:
Armed conflict between theFinnic peoples,Balts, andSlavs who lived by the Baltic shores, and theirSaxon andDanish neighbors to the north and south, had been common for several centuries before the crusade. The previous battles had largely been caused by attempts to destroy castles and sea trade routes to gain an economic advantage in the region, and the crusade basically continued this pattern of conflict, albeit now inspired and prescribed by thePope and undertaken by Papal knights and armed monks.
The campaigns started with the 1147Wendish Crusade against thePolabian Slavs (or "Wends") of what is now northern and easternGermany. The crusade occurred parallel to theSecond Crusade to theHoly Land, and continued irregularly until the 16th century.
The Swedish crusades were campaigns by Sweden againstFinns,Tavastians, andKarelians during the period from 1150 to 1293. The wars with the Eastern OrthodoxNovgorod Republic also had a religious aspect.
The Danes are known to have made at least three crusades to Finland. The first mention of these crusades is from 1187, when crusaderEsbern Snare mentioned—in his Christmas-feast speech—a major victory over the Finns.[9] The next known crusades were made in 1191 and in 1202; the latter was led by the Bishop of Lund,Anders Sunesen, with his brother.[10]
JournalistMatts Dumell explains that there was a rivalry between the churches in Denmark and Sweden. This led them to compete, which amongst other things took the form of conquests, gaining of adherents to Christianity and propaganda wins against the other. The possibility that Finland was part of Sweden in the mid-1100's to early 1200's is virtually impossible due to this and Sweden saw civil strife from within in this period as well, which took the form of several battles, assassinations between several strongmen fromHouse of Sverker andHouse of Erik. Only in 1216, would the Pope change his preference that the Finnish areas should not be part of the Danish king, but now be under the Swedish king's 'protection'. However, only in 1165 did the Roman Catholic Church start to "expect" bigger territorial gains and adherents from the Danes in missionary work Finland and Estonia, this despite Finland had seen some conversion to Christianity before 1165 already. There is scholarly debate over how successful the Danes were in the end and if they gained any permanent foothold or territory in Finland before the Swedes begun their efforts. Dumell debates if places like an fort in Saxby nearPorvoo could be a product of this Danish presence, possibly built during their crusade in 1191.[11]
Dumell lists several possible crusades by Denmark to Finland:
By the 12th century, the peoples inhabiting the lands now known as Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania formed a pagan wedge between increasingly powerful rival Christian states – theOrthodox Church to their east and theCatholic Church to their west. The difference in creeds was one of the reasons they were able to resist being forcibly converted to a different religion. During a period of more than 150 years leading up to the arrival ofGerman crusaders in the region, Estonia was attacked thirteen times by Russian principalities, and by Denmark and Sweden as well. Estonians for their part made raids upon Denmark and Sweden. There were peaceful attempts by some Catholics to convert the Estonians, starting with missions dispatched byAdalbert, Archbishop ofBremen, in 1045–1072. However, these peaceful efforts seem to have had limited success.
Moving in the wake of German merchants who were now following the old trading routes of theVikings, a canon namedMeinhard landed at the mouth of theDaugava river in present-day Latvia in 1180 and was made bishop in 1186. PopeCelestine III proclaimed a crusade against the Baltic pagans in 1195, which was reiterated by PopeInnocent III, and a crusading expedition led by Meinhard's successor, BishopBerthold of Hanover, landed in Livonia (part of present-day Latvia, surrounding theGulf of Riga) in 1198. Although the crusaders won their first battle, Bishop Berthold was mortally wounded and the crusaders were repelled.
In 1199,Albert of Buxhoeveden was appointed by the ArchbishopHartwig II of Bremen to Christianise the Baltic countries. By the time Albert died 30 years later, the conquest and formal Christianisation of present-day Estonia and northern Latvia was complete. Albert began his task by touring the Empire, preaching a Crusade against the Baltic countries, and was assisted in this by apapal bull which declared that fighting against the Baltic heathens was of the same rank as participating in a crusade to theHoly Land. Although he landed in the mouth of the Daugava in 1200 with only 23 ships and 500 soldiers, the bishop's efforts ensured that a constant flow of recruits followed. The first crusaders usually arrived to fight during the spring and returned to their homes in the autumn. To ensure a permanent military presence, theLivonian Brothers of the Sword were founded in 1202. The founding by Bishop Albert of the market atRiga in 1201 attracted citizens from the Empire and economic prosperity ensued. At Albert's request, Pope Innocent III dedicated the Baltic countries to theVirgin Mary to popularize recruitment to his army and the name "Mary's Land" has survived up to modern times. This is noticeable in one of the names given to Livonia at the time,Terra Mariana (Land of Mary).
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In 1206, the crusaders subdued the Livonian stronghold inTuraida on the right bank ofGauja River, the ancient trading route to theNorthwestern Rus. In order to gain control over the left bank of Gauja, the stone castle was built inSigulda before 1210. By 1211, the Livonian province ofMetsepole (nowLimbaži district) and the mixed Livonian–Latgallian inhabited county of Idumea (nowStraupe) was converted to the Roman Catholic faith. The last battle against the Livonians was the siege of Satezele hillfort near to Sigulda in 1212. The Livonians, who had been paying tribute to the East Slavic Principality ofPolotsk, had at first considered the Germans useful allies. The first prominent Livonian to be christened was their leaderCaupo of Turaida. As the German grip tightened, the Livonians rebelled against the crusaders and the christened chief but were put down. Caupo of Turaida remained an ally of the crusaders until his death in theBattle of St. Matthew's Day in 1217.[15]
The German crusaders enlisted newly baptised Livonian warriors to participate in their campaigns againstLatgallians andSelonians (1208–1209),Estonians (1208–1227), and againstSemigallians,Samogitians, andCuronians (1219–1290).
After the subjugation of the Livonians, the crusaders turned their attention to theLatgallian principalities to the east, along the Gauja andDaugava rivers. The military alliance in 1208 and later conversion fromGreek Orthodoxy toRoman Catholicism of the Principality ofTālava was the only peaceful subjugation of the Baltic tribes during the Nordic crusades. The ruler of Tālava,Tālivaldis (Talibaldus de Tolowa), became the most loyal ally of German crusaders against the Estonians, and he died a Catholic martyr in 1215. The war against the Latgallian and Selonian countries along the Daugava waterway started in 1208 with the occupation of the Orthodox Principality ofKoknese and the SelonianSēlpils hillfort. The campaign continued in 1209 with an attack on the Orthodox Principality ofJersika (known asLettia), accused by crusaders of being in alliance with Lithuanian pagans. After the defeat, the king of Jersika,Visvaldis, became the vassal of the Bishop of Livonia and received part of his country (southernLatgale) as a fiefdom. The Selonian stronghold of Sēlpils was briefly the seat of aSelonian diocese (1218–1226), and then came under the rule of the Livonian Order (and eventually the stone castle ofSelburg was built in its place). Only in 1224, with the division of Tālava andAdzele counties between the Bishop of Riga and theOrder of the Swordbearers, did Latgallian countries finally become the possession of German conquerors. The territory of the former Principality of Jersika was divided between the Bishop of Riga and the Livonian Order in 1239.
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By 1208, the Germans were strong enough to begin operations against the Estonians, who were at that time divided into eight major and several smaller counties led by elders with limited cooperation between them. In 1208–1227, war parties of the different sides rampaged through the Livonian, Northern Latgallian, and Estonian counties, with Livonians and Latgallians normally as allies of the Crusaders, and the Principalities ofPolotsk andPskov appearing as allies of different sides at different times. Hillforts, which were the key centres of Estonian counties, were besieged and captured a number of times. A truce between the war-weary sides was established for three years (1213–1215) and proved generally more favourable to the Germans, who consolidated their political position, while the Estonians were unable to develop their system of loose alliances into a centralised state. The Livonian leaderKaupo was killed in battle nearViljandi (Fellin) on 21 September 1217, but the battle was a crushing defeat for the Estonians, whose leaderLembitu was also killed. Since 1211, his name had come to the attention of the German chroniclers as a notable Estonian elder, and he had become the central figure of the Estonian resistance.
The Christian kingdoms of Denmark and Sweden were also greedy for conquests on the Eastern shores of the Baltic. While the Swedes made onlyone failed foray into western Estonia in 1220, the Danish Fleet, headed by KingValdemar II of Denmark, had landed at the Estonian town of Lindanisse[16] (present-dayTallinn) in 1219. After theBattle of Lindanise, the Danes established a fortress, which was besieged by Estonians in 1220 and 1223, but held out. Eventually, the whole of northern Estonia came underDanish control.
The last Estonian county to hold out against the invaders was the island county ofSaaremaa (Ösel), whose war fleets had raided Denmark and Sweden during the years of fighting against the German crusaders.
In 1206, a Danish army led by the kingValdemar II andAndreas, the Bishop of Lund, landed on Saaremaa and attempted to establish a stronghold without success. In 1216, theLivonian Brothers of the Sword and the bishop Theodorich joined forces and invaded Saaremaa over the frozen sea. In return, theOeselians raided the territories in Latvia that were under German rule the following spring. In 1220, the Swedish army led by kingJohn I of Sweden and the bishopKarl of Linköping conqueredLihula inRotalia in Western Estonia. Oeselians attacked the Swedish stronghold the same year, conquered it, and killed the entire Swedish garrison, including the Bishop of Linköping.
In 1222, the Danish kingValdemar II attempted the second conquest of Saaremaa, this time establishing a stone fortress housing a strong garrison. The Danish stronghold was besieged and surrendered within five days, with the Danish garrison being returned toRevel, leaving bishopAlbert of Riga's brother Theodoric, and few others, behind as hostages for peace. The castle was razed to the ground by the Oeselians.[17]
A 20,000 strong army under Papal legateWilliam of Modena crossed the frozen sea while the Saaremaa fleet was icebound, in January 1227. After the surrender of two major Oeselian strongholds,Muhu andValjala, the Oeselians formally accepted Christianity.
In 1236, after the defeat of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword in theBattle of Saule, military action on Saaremaa broke out again. In 1261, warfare continued as the Oeselians had once more renounced Christianity and killed all the Germans on the island. A peace treaty was signed after the united forces of theLivonian Order, theBishopric of Ösel-Wiek, andDanish Estonia, including mainland Estonians and Latvians, defeated the Oeselians by conquering their stronghold at Kaarma. Soon thereafter, theLivonian Order established a stone fort atPöide.
Although theCuronians had attacked Riga in 1201 and 1210,Albert of Buxhoeveden, considering Courland a tributary ofValdemar II of Denmark, had been reluctant to conduct a large scale campaign against them. After Albert's death in 1229, the crusaders secured the peaceful submission of Vanemane (a county with a mixed Livonian,Oselian, and Curonian population in the northeastern part of Courland) by treaty in 1230. In the same year, the papal vice-legate Baldouin of Alnea annulled this agreement and concluded an agreement with the ruler (rex) ofBandava in the central CourlandLammekinus, delivering his kingdom into the hands of the papacy. Baldouin became the popes's delegate in Courland and bishop of Semigallia; however, the Germans complained about him to theRoman Curia, and in 1234, PopeGregory IX removed Baldouin as his delegate.
After their decisive defeat in theBattle of Saule by the Samogitians and Semigallians, the remnants of the Sword Brothers were reorganized in 1237 as a subdivision of theTeutonic Order, and became known as theLivonian Order. In 1242, under the leadership of the master of the Livonian OrderAndrew of Groningen, the crusaders began the military conquest of Courland. They defeated the Curonians as far south asEmbūte, near the contemporary border with Lithuania, and founded their main fortress atKuldīga. In 1245, Pope Innocent IV allotted two-thirds of conquered Courland to the Livonian Order, and one third to theBishopric of Courland.
At theBattle of Durbe in 1260, a force of Samogitians and Curonians overpowered the united forces of the Livonian and Teutonic Orders; over the following years, however, the Crusaders gradually subjugated the Curonians, and in 1267, concluded the peace treaty stipulating the obligations and the rights of their defeated rivals. The unconquered southern parts of their territories (Ceklis and Megava) were united under the rule of theGrand Duchy of Lithuania.
The conquest of Semigallian counties started in 1219 when crusaders from Riga occupiedMežotne, the major port on theLielupe waterway, and founded theBishopric of Semigallia. After several unsuccessful campaigns against the pagan Semigallian dukeViestards and his Samogitian kinsfolk, theRoman Curia decided in 1251 to abolish the Bishopric of Semigallia, and divided its territories between the Bishopric of Riga and the Order of Livonia. In 1265, a stone castle was built atJelgava, on the Lielupe, and became the main military base for crusader attacks against the Semigallians. In 1271, the capital hillfort ofTērvete was conquered, but Semigallians, under the DukeNameisis, rebelled in 1279, and the Lithuanians underTraidenis defeated Livonian Order forces in theBattle of Aizkraukle. Duke Nameisis' warriors unsuccessfully attacked Riga in 1280, in response to which around 14,000 crusaders besieged Turaida castle in 1281. To conquer the remaining Semigallian hillforts, the Order's masterVillekin of Endorpe built a castle calledHeiligenberg (lit. 'Saints' Hill') right next to the Tērvete castle in 1287. The same year, the Semigallians made another attempt to conquer Riga, but again failed to take it. On their return home, Livonian knights attacked them, but were defeated at theBattle of Garoza, in which the Orders' master Villekin and at least 35 knights lost their lives. The new master of the OrderKonrad von Hattstein organised the last campaigns against the Semigallians in 1289 and 1290; the hillforts ofDobele,Rakte, andSidabre were conquered, and most of the Semigallian warriors joined the Samogitian and Lithuanian forces.
From 1147, the Polish Duke of Mazovia, Boleslaw the Curly, led many expeditions against pagan Prussia, with some of them being successful and resulting in the conquest of parts of the Prussian territories.[18]
Konrad I, the Polish Duke ofMasovia, unsuccessfully attempted to conquerpagan Prussia in crusades in 1219 and 1222.[19] Taking the advice of the first Bishop of Prussia,Christian of Oliva, Konrad founded the crusadingOrder of Dobrzyń (orDobrin) in 1220. However, this order was largely ineffective, and Konrad's campaigns against theOld Prussians were answered by incursions into the already captured territory of Culmerland (Chełmno Land). Subjected to constant Prussian counter-raids, Konrad wanted to stabilize the north of the Duchy of Masovia in this fight over the border area of Chełmno Land. Masovia became part of Poland in the 10th century, but native Prussians,Yotvingians, and Lithuanians were still living in the territories north of Masovia, where no settled borders existed. Konrad's military weakness led him, in 1226, to ask the Roman Catholic monastic order of theTeutonic Knights to come to Prussia and suppress the Old Prussians.
Campaigns against Yotvingians and Lithuanians were also conducted in the years 1248–1282 by princes Bolesław the Chaste and Leszek the Black. They defeated the forces of pagans invading Mazovia, Kujawy, and the Lublin region. They also carried out several expeditions to Yotvingian territories.[20]
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The Northern Crusades provided both the rationale and the opportunity for the growth and expansion of theTeutonic Order, aGerman military religious order founded as a hospital in Acre around 1190 and established as a military order in 1198. DukeKonrad I of Masovia, a region in east-centralPoland, appealed to the Teutonic Knights to defend his borders and subdue the paganOld Prussians in 1226. In 1234, a significant expedition began in which Polish forces, allied with the Teutonic Knights, defeated the Old Prussians in a battle on the Dzierzgoń river.[21] While engaged in the decades-long subjugation of the Prussians, the Teutonic Knights also entered into conflict with theGrand Duchy of Lithuania.[citation needed]
When the Livonian Brothers of the Sword were heavily defeated bySamogitians andSemigallians at theBattle of Saule in 1236, coinciding with Estonian revolts, the remnants of the order were incorporated into the Teutonic Order in 1237, becoming its autonomous Livonian branch. This allowed the Teutonic Order, through its Livonian branch, to exercise political control over large territories in the Baltic region.Mindaugas, the ruler of Lithuania, was baptised with his wife around 1251 and crowned King in 1253 with papal approval, hoping this would help stop Crusader attacks, although it ultimately did not prevent further conflict. The Teutonic Knights failed to subdue Lithuania. The country began its officialconversion to Catholic Christianity following the marriage of Grand DukeJogaila toJadwiga, the young ruling Queen (crowned as King) of Poland, and Jogaila's own baptism in 1386; the formal Christianization of Lithuania commenced in 1387. However, even after Lithuania's official conversion, the conflict persisted, culminating in the pivotalBattle of Grunwald (also known as Tannenberg or Žalgiris) in 1410. In this battle, the allied forces of Poland and Lithuania, supported byTatar,Moldovan,Ruthenian, andCzech contingents, decisively defeated the Teutonic Knights.[citation needed]
In 1221,Pope Honorius III expressed concern aboutconflicts in the Finnish region involving Novgorod, after receiving alarming information from theArchbishop of Uppsala. He authorized the Bishop of Finland to establish atrade embargo against the "barbarians" described as threatening Christianity in Finland.[22] The specific identity or origin of these "barbarians", presumably cited from the Archbishop's letter, remains unclear and may not have been known precisely, even by the Pope. However, when the call for an embargo was renewed around 1229, it specifically targeted Russians (Novgorodians).[23][24] Based on Papal letters from that year,[30] theBishop of Finland requested that the Pope,Gregory IX, authorize or call for a trade embargo against Novgorodians to be implemented by Baltic Sea ports, includingVisby,Riga, andLübeck. In the following decade (specifically around 1232–1237), Pope Gregory IX also requested theLivonian Brothers of the Sword send troops to protect Finland from Novgorod incursions. Whether any knights were actually dispatched remains unknown.[31]
The Teutonic Order's attempts to conquerOrthodoxRussian lands (particularly the Republics ofPskov and Novgorod), an enterprise endorsed by Pope Gregory IX,[1] were a component of the Northern Crusades. One of the major setbacks for the eastward expansion into Russian principalities was theBattle of the Ice in 1242, where forces of Novgorod defeated the Livonian branch of the Teutonic Order. Separately, with or without explicit papal blessing for every campaign, Sweden also undertook severalcrusades against Orthodox Novgorod.[citation needed]
Missionary work and crusading activity in Estonia by the Livonian Order and other Catholic powers led to conflicts with Novgorod, which had its own interests in the region, including attempts to subjugate, raid, or convert the pagan Estonians. The Estonians, in turn, sometimes sought alliances with Novgorod against the Crusaders.[32]
Intermittent warfare between Novgorod and the crusader states in Livonia continued. These conflicts ultimately halted the eastward expansion of the Livonian Order, while Novgorodian attempts to gain control over Estonia and Livonia also failed. The region (Terra Mariana) remained under the complex political control of the Livonian Confederation, primarily the Livonian Order and powerful Prince-Bishops.
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