Sēlpils

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Basic data

State :

Latvia

Landscape:

Semgallia ( Latvian : Zemgale )

Administrative district :

Salas novads

Coordinates :

56 ° 35 ' N , 25 ° 39' E Coordinates: 56 ° 34 '48 " N , 25 ° 39' 1" E

Residents :

Area :

Population density :

Height :

City law:

since 1621 - 18th century

Website:

www.selpils.times.lv

Post Code:

ISO code:

Sēlpils or Sēlpils (German: Selburg , Latin : castrum Selonum ) is a town in eastern Latvia, which had city rights in the 17th century, and the center of the old Sēlija (German: Oberlettland ) was formed.

history

Plan of the Selburg ruins (around 1880)

Archaeological evidence shows that Sēlpils, 17 km west of modern Jēkabpils , was a larger settlement between the 10th and 13th centuries. It was used by the Selenium or Selonians and their Lithuanian allies as a base for raids on Latgalian and Liv territories. The chronicle of Henry of Latvia ( Latin : Heinrici Chronicon Lyvoniae ) describes his conquest in 1208 by the Order of the Brothers of the Swords under Albert von Buxhoeveden and their Christianized Liv allies. 1218–1226 Sēlpils was temporarily the seat of a Selonian diocese under the leadership of Bishop Bernhard , after which it came under the rule of the Livonian order , who built fortifications there for the bailiff of the order.

As part of the Duchy Semgallen Selburg 1621 received from Friedrich Kettler the town charter . During the Great Northern War , the castle was blown up by Swedish troops in 1704 , today only remains of the foundations are visible. After the plague epidemic in 1711 , the place was depopulated.

The center of today's Sēlpils municipality is in the neighboring Sala .
Georg Mancelius was pastor in Selburg from 1620 to 1625. From 1766 to 1796 Gotthard Friedrich Stender , known as the Old Stender, held this office.

literature

Arveds Švābe (Ed.): Latvju enciklopēdija. Trīs Zvaigznes, Stockholm 1952–1953.
Edgars Andersons (Ed.): Latvju enciklopēdija 1962–1982. American Latvian Association, Lincoln 1983-1990. ("Sēlija" entry online at historia.lv , accessed on February 25, 2006)
Hans Feldmann , Heinz von zur Mühlen (Hrsg.): Baltic historical local dictionary, part 2: Latvia (southern Livland and Courland). Böhlau, Cologne 1990, ISBN 3-412-06889-6 , pp. 576-577.
Astrīda Iltnere (ed.): Latvijas Pagasti, Enciklopēdija. Preses Nams, Riga 2002, ISBN 9984-00-436-8 .

Web links

Vytautas Kazakevičius: Selonian archaeological sites in Lithuania , accessed February 26, 2006