Landmaster in Livonia

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Livonian Confederation around 1260 with localization of the battles at Schaulen and on the Durbe
  • Ownership of the Brothers of the Sword or Teutonic Order (in Prussia)
  • Spiritual property
  • The seal of the Landmeister of the Teutonic Order in Livonia

    Landmeister in Livonia was a high office in the Teutonic Order . The Landmeister administered the Livonian commander of the Teutonic Order. These were the Order in 1237 by the inclusion of the former Sword Brothers fallen. Wenden Castle was the seat of the Landmeister . The function of the country Master in Livonia existed until 1561 when the Livonian War the last country champion Gotthard Kettler , the northern parts of the Meistertums ceded and most recently in the Treaty of Vilnius secularized his remaining part and the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia took a fief from the Polish king. The non-recognition of this act by the Pope , the Empire and the Grand Master of the Order had no factual effects.

    The office of the Livonian landmaster was the successor to the Lord Master of the Brothers of the Sword . With the integration of the remnants of the Order of the Brothers of the Sword, which was defeated in the Battle of Schaulen in 1236, into the Teutonic Order, the Landmaster of Prussia, Hermann Balk , took over this office for the first time in 1237. This procedure should subsequently remain the exception. Due to the geographical distance of Livonia from Prussia and regional peculiarities in the administration of the country, the Landmeister, elected by the Livonian General Chapter and only confirmed by the Grand Master, always retained a certain autonomy from the Order . Although from 1309 to 1525, due to the relocation of the Grand Master's seat to the Marienburg or to Königsberg , the center of the order's rule was in relatively close Prussia, the Livonian mastery always retained a special political and military status and was often referred to as the Livonian Order .

    In Livonia, in contrast to Prussia, there was a division of spheres of influence between the religious authority and various autonomous dioceses . This unusual power constellation went back to the Order of the Brothers of the Sword.

    In addition, there was the different origins of the cadres of the two branches of the order: While Prussia was predominantly ruled by Central and West German monarchs, the corps of the Livonian branch of the order was mainly recruited from North German and Danish knights. This reflected the country's ties to the traditions of the violent proselytizing of the Livs and Estonians at the beginning of the 13th century: Christianity was spread in the northern Baltic region via pre-Hanseatic sea connections from bases such as Lübeck and the Danish Zealand .

    Coordinated activities of both branches of the order in the war against the Grand Duchy of Lithuania remained the exception in view of this constellation. An outstanding example is the absence of the entire Livonian branch of the order in the decisive campaign of 1410, which led to the catastrophe in the battle of Tannenberg . The Livonian landmaster Conrad von Vytinghove invoked an armistice agreed with the Lithuanian Grand Duke Vytautas .

    The most important landmaster in Livonia was Wolter von Plettenberg (1494-1535), on the one hand due to his victories over the invading army of the Russian Grand Duke Ivan III. in the Battle of the Seriza in 1501 and in the Battle of the Smolina Lake in 1502, on the other hand because of his pragmatic approach when the Reformation was introduced in Livonia. Like his successors until 1561, he remained a Catholic even after the Reformation, but during his tenure in Livonia the Reformation prevailed among Baltic Germans , Estonians and Latvians . The Evangelical faith has been preserved in the states of Estonia and Latvia to this day .

    See also: List of landmasters in Livonia

    literature

    • Peter von Dusburg : Chronicon Terrae Prussiae (around 1326).
    • Nikolaus von Jeroschin : Di Kronike von Pruzinlant (transfer of the Chronicon Terrae Prussae into East Central German with additions, around 1340).
    • Hermann von Wartberge : Chronicon Livoniae (around 1378)
    • Wigand von Marburg : Chronica nova Prutenica (handed down in fragments, around 1400)
    • Johann von Posilge : Chronicle of the State of Prussia around 1420
    • Theodor Hirsch, Max Toeppen, Ernst Strehlke: Scriptores rerum Prussicarum . The historical sources of Prussian prehistoric times up to the fall of the order ; Volumes 1–5, Leipzig 1861–1874.
    • Klaus Scholz, Dieter Wojtecki: Peter von Dusburg. Chronicle of the Prussia. Translation and explanation . Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1984, ISBN 3-534-00604-6 ( selected sources on the German history of the Middle Ages , volume XXV).
    • Ēvald Mugurēvičs: Hermanni de Wartberge Chronicon Livoniae. ; annotated translation by Chronicon Livoniae . Rīga 2005.
    • Juozas Jurginis: H. Latvis, H. Vartbergė. Livonijos kronikos. ; annotated translation by Chronicon Livoniae . Vilnius 1991.
    • Erich Maschke : The German Order State - shaping its great masters ; Hamburg-Wandsbek 1935/1942, Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt AG
    • Jürgen Sarnowsky : The German Order ; Beck, Munich 2007. ISBN 978-3-406-53628-1
    • Hermann Schreiber : Prussia and the Baltic States under the crusaders. The history of the Teutonic Order ; Casimir Katz Verlag, Gernsbach 2003, ISBN 3-925825-83-5
    • Wolfgang Sonthofen: The German Order ; Weltbild, Augsburg 1995, ISBN 3-89350-713-2
    • Dieter Zimmerling: The German Knight Order ; Düsseldorf, Vienna, New York 1988 (ECON), ISBN 3-430-19959-X

    Individual evidence

    1. ^ Wolfgang Sonthofen: The German Order ; P. 98
    2. ^ Wolfgang Sonthofen: The German Order ; P. 100