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Livonian Rhymed Chronicle: An Account of the Livonian Crusade

The Livonian Rhymed Chronicle (Livländische Reimchronik) is an anonymous account of the Livonian Crusade written in Middle High German, covering the years between 1143 and 1290. It is one of the chief written sources concerning the Livonian Crusade, significant in that it was written by a member of the crusading orders, and it is notable for its rhyming form, unusual among chronicles.

The Rhymed Chronicle records the events of the Livonian Crusade, a campaign in which Christian military orders from Western Europe invaded the eastern shores of the Baltic (an area later called Livonia). The chronicle follows the orders engaged in the Crusade: the Swordbrothers and, later, the Teutonic Knights. Whilst the alleged aim of the Livonian Crusade was to protect German settlers in the area and spread Christianity, there were evident political and economic incentives at play, too.

Written by an anonymous member of the Teutonic Order, the Rhymed Chronicle seeks to legitimise, justify, and glorify the crusade, and thus historians have treated the source cautiously. The Rhymed Chronicle depicts the victims of the crusade as stereotypically violent and uncivilised, a rhetorical device often employed by chroniclers when writing of their enemies. Despite its clear bias, the source remains valuable, being the only primary source covering the years of the Livonian Crusade between 1267 and 1290, and a rare account of the crusade in a crusader's own words.

Background

The Livonian Crusade was itself part of a wider crusading movement. The dawn of the 1200s saw numerous crusades both outside of Europe and within: the Fourth Crusade to Constantinople, the Fifth Crusade to Egypt, the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars in France, and the Spanish Crusades. The Livonian Crusade was one of the campaigns that composed what are now known as the Baltic Crusades (or Northern Crusades), a series of campaigns that saw fighters from Northwestern Europe, such as Germans, Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians, pushing east into the lands of the Baltic in order to attack and subdue the native populations.

The Livonian Crusade lasted for roughly a century, from around 1180 to 1290. The eastern shores of the Baltic, at the time, were inhabited by Finns, Estonians, Livs, Latvians, Lithuanians, and Prussians. It was the lands inhabited by the Livs, Latvians, and Estonians that would later be called Livonia. Little is known of the indigenous political structure during this period, but it is believed that whilst the natives were not organised into nations or states, clear political and territorial entities did exist, entities that have been labelled as "provinces" (Smith and Urban, x).

In the late 12th century, German eastward trade was increasing, and an early mercantile centre developed near the mouth of the Daugava River. This settlement ultimately became Riga, modern Latvia's capital. Missionaries followed the traders, presenting German clergymen with the opportunity to establish new bishoprics in the Baltic. As the natives resisted these encroachments, military protection arrived from Western Europe. This military presence provided further opportunity for the settlers to expand their activities, and their political, economic, religious, and military interests soon intertwined.

A series of German clergymen are recorded as first establishing missions in Livonia, beginning with a friar named Meinhard in 1186, who summoned a military force from Visby in an attempt to threaten local Livs into accepting baptism and paying taxes. He was followed by Berthold, a pastor who received official permission to preach a crusade. His crusaders arrived in 1197 and began to coerce the Livs into baptism by force of arms. Despite their successes in scattering the natives and devastating their lands, Berthold died amidst the conflict. He was succeeded by bishop Albert Buxhoevden, a man "more than any other… responsible for the success of the Livonian Crusade" (Smith & Urban, xi). It was during his time as bishop, in 1202, that the Order of Swordbrothers, also known as the Fratres militiae Christi Livoniae (Militia of Christ of Livonia), was established, the chief perpetrators of the Livonian Crusade.

From 1205 onward, the Swordbrothers engaged in numerous battles as they fought to gain control of the Baltic's eastern shore. Following the disastrous Battle of Saule in 1236, in which the Swordbrothers were defeated at the hands of a Lithuanian force, the remaining knights of the order were absorbed into the Teutonic Knights, with the former being officially incorporated into the latter by Pope Gregory IX in 1237 (reign 1227-1241). The Teutonic Knights continued the Livonian Crusade with the dual aims of unchallenged military supremacy in the region, and the removal of native political independence. In 1290, following the the destruction of the Semigallian stronghold at Sidrabene, these aims had broadly been met. The surviving Semigallians fled to Lithuania, and despite ongoing resistance from the Samogitians, the boundaries of the Order's Livonian project - with Lithuania to the south, Novogrod to the East, and Estonia to the north - had been fixed, and the Livonian Crusade was over.

Two chronicles serve as chief written sources for the Livonian Crusade: the Rhymed Chronicle and the Heinrici Chronicon Lyvoniae (Henry's Livonian Chronicle). The latter focuses more on religious and missionary activities, whereas the Rhymed Chronicle is almost exclusively concerned with military actions.

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