Livonian Knighthood Explained

The Livonian Knighthood (German: Livländische Ritterschaft, Estonian: Liivimaa rüütelkond, Latvian: Livonijas bruņniecība) was a fiefdom that existed in Livonia (now Southern Estonia and Northern Latvia). It was formed in 1561 by Baltic German nobles and disbanded in 1917 in Estonia, and in 1920 in Latvia. Like other Baltic knighthoods, the Livonian also had semi-autonomous privileged status in the Russian Empire.

History

Within the individual territories Old Livland the vassal genders joined forces to defend and maintain their rights and possessions into knighthoods. These corporate organizations were already provided with sovereign rights in the 14th century and were officially recognized.

The privileges of the knighthood were each confirmed by changing sovereigns, so happened in 1561 by the King of Poland Sigismund II August, 1629 by Gustav II Adolf, the king of Sweden, and in 1710 by the Russian Tsar Peter I.

Through the agricultural legislation of the years 1816 to 1819, the landowning nobility of the Baltic governorates were given the right and duty to set up elementary schools (also called "peasant schools") in the estate districts and villages belonging to them.[1] For instance, issues of education of the rural population in the Livonian Knights' Landtag repeatedly gave rise to debates the Conservatives and Reformers in the Livonian nobility, as well as in the Livonian provincial synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.[2]

In the wake of the October Revolution in Russia in 1917 and the turmoil of World War I, Estonia declared its independence from Russia on February 24, 1918, and Latvia on November 18, 1918, as republics. Attempts by the German Empire to bring the Baltic politically under German sovereignty with the creation of the United Baltic Duchy failed in November 1918 finally. The Livonian Knighthood was subsequently dissolved as statutory corporation.

In 1920, the Livonian Non-profit Association was founded in Riga, and the members of the Knights, who had emigrated to the German Reich, founded the Association of the Livonian Stammadel in Rostock. These associations continued the tradition of knighthood. In 1949, the present Association of Baltic Noble Corporations e.V. founded in which the Livonian knighthood is integrated together with its three sister Nobel communities.[3]

The coat of arms of the Livonian knighthood

The coat of arms of the Livonian knighthood was awarded by the King of Poland in 1566 on the occasion of the real union between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Duchy of Livonia. It is the coat of arms of the Livonian administrator and commander Jan Hieronimowicz Chodkiewicz with the initials of King Sigismund II Augustus.

Land Marshals of the Livonian Knights

From 1695 to 1710 there were "Landtag directors" and from 1783 to 1797 "Marshal of Nobility".[4]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Vija Daukšte: Education as a political factor in the history of Latvia. The Peasant School and Education Policy of the German Baltic Knights in the 19th Century . In: Imbi Sooman, Stefan Donecker (ed.): The "Baltic Frontier" revisited. Power structures and cross-cultural interactions in the Baltic Sea Region . Vienna 2009,, pp. 107-120, here pp. 110-111.
  2. Vija Daukšte: Education as a political factor in the history of Latvia. The Peasant School and Education Policy of the German Baltic Knights in the 19th Century . In: Imbi Sooman, Stefan Donecker (ed.): The "Baltic Frontier" revisited. Power structures and cross-cultural interactions in the Baltic Sea Region . Vienna 2009,, pp. 107-120, here pp. 112-115.
  3. http://www.baltische-ritterschaften-en.de/ Verband der Baltischen Ritterschaften e.V.
  4. C. von Rautenfeld: The Livonian Landmarshals from 1643 to 1899 . With an introduction by Friedrich Bienemann. In: Baltische Monatsschrift 47, 1899, pp. 145-212; Georg von Krusenstjern: The Landmarschälle and Landrats of the Livlander and the Öselschen Ritterschaft in portraits. Hamburg 1963.

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