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Livonian campaign to Novgorod

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Livonian campaign to Novgorod
Part of the Northern Crusades
Date1240–1242[citation needed]
Location
Novgorod Republic and Livonia
Result
  • Novgorodian victory
Territorial
changes		 Withdrawal of Livonian forces from the Novgorodian lands
Belligerents
[citation needed]
[citation needed]
Commanders and leaders
[citation needed]
[citation needed]
Units involved
10,000–12,000 people[citation needed] 15,000–17,000 people[citation needed]

The Livonian campaign to Novgorod was a military campaign that lasted from 1240 to 1242,[citation needed] and was carried out by the Teutonic Knights of the Livonian Order with the aim to conquer the lands of Pskov and Novgorod and convert them to Catholicism.[citation needed]

Origins of the conflict

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Yaroslav's campaigns and ousting (1228–1230)

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Estonian historian Anti Selart (2015) traced the origin of the military events of the early 1240s to the failed 1228 Novgorodian campaign against the Tavastians in present-day southern Finland, as reported in the Novgorod First Chronicle (NPL).[1] The Novgorodian troops were disaffected by prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, a quarrel broke out within the army and the troops refused to fight.[1] In the same year, Yaroslav tried to militarily overrun the rebellious town of Pskov (possibly because its throne was vacant[2]), but the Pskovians closed their gates in time and denied him entry.[1] Yaroslav retreated to Novgorod, claimed no ill will towards Pskov, but raised another army supposedly for the purpose of attacking Riga (a stronghold of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword).[1] But the Pskovians distrusted him and allied with Riga instead, while the troop raising caused food prices in Novgorod to spike, stoking civil discontent against prince Yaroslav as well; opposition to the Suzdalian dynasty's power grew amongst citizens of both Pskov and Novgorod.[1] As they rejected support for his campaign against Riga, suspecting a ploy to seize Pskov along the way after the previous failed attempt, Yaroslav was forced to abandon his plans and disband his expensive army.[3] When a bad harvest exacerbated the famine,the Novogorodians rose in revolt against the prince, who fled with his family and supporters to Pereslavl-Zalessky.[2] With the Suzdalian princely threat gone, the Pskovians sent the Livonian auxiliaries home, while the veche elected Michael of Chernigov as Novgorod's new knyaz in 1230.[2]

The NPL notes that in subsequent years, Pskov remained allied with Riga and the Rigans, and later Dorpat (modern Tartu) and Odenpäh (modern Otepää).[4] Meanwhile, a son of the previous Pskovian prince Vladimir Mstislavich of Pskov [et] sought to leverage his family ties with the bishops Hermann of Dorpat and Albert of Riga (died 1229) to gain his father's throne.[4]

Internal conflicts in Livonia (1229–1236)

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Further information: Baldwin of Alna § In Livonia
Livonia in the 13th century

The January 1229 death of Albert of Riga caused a diocesan feud in the Archbishopric of Riga, as two rival candidates were elected.[5] Pope Gregory IX, through cardinal Otto of Tonengo, tasked Baldwin of Alna as papal legate to resolve the dispute.[6] After securing the submission of Courland, Baldwin soon found himself in conflict with various factions in Livonia, fleeing to Dünamünde and temporarily leaving Livonia in early 1232.[6] The pope made him bishop of Semigallia and gave him papal legation throughout much of Livonia, and Baldwin returned by 1233.[6] He tried to take the castle of Reval (modern Tallinn) from the Sword Brothers, but in c. August–September 1233 they defeated Baldwin, who excommunicated many Sword Brothers in retaliation.[7]

At that point, Livonia was divided into two camps: Baldwin's Bishopric of Semigallia, the Bishopric of Dorpat and the late Albert of Riga's Buxhöveden family plus several monasteries, most Estonians and Curonians, versus the Livonian Sword Brothers, Nicholas' Bishopric of Riga, and the city of Riga.[8] Previous generations of historians have argued that Baldwin attempted to make the whole Baltic region an ecclesiastical state, but Manfred Hellmann (historian) [de] (1993) refuted this idea as "fanciful speculation".[8] Similarly, the traditional assertion that Baldwin had extensive plans to conquer and convert eastwards into parts of Pskov and Novgorod do not stand up under scrutiny, showing that papal correspondence with Baldwin was primarily concerned with ending the internal conflict in Livonia on terms favourable to Rome.[9] Therefore, no Livonian faction was allowed to form an alliance with an external power, be they pagan or Novgorodian, to prevent the internal conflict from spilling over and threaten Livonia's external security.[9]

In 1234, the pope recalled Baldwin, and replaced him with William of Modena.[10] The pope did not give a verdict until April 1236, when the Sword Brothers were tasked to return Reval to the Danish king.[10] The terms of the agreement were not finalised until the Treaty of Stensby (7 June 1238), when the Livonian Sword Brothers, crushed at Saule and now submitted to the Teutonic Order, relinquished their claims to Reval and much of northern Estonia to Denmark, and to share future territorial gains with two-thirds for the Danish king and one third for the Livonian Order.[11]

Internal conflicts in Novgorod (1230–1235)

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Situation in 1237:
  Livonia (various factions)
  Lithuania (pagan)
  Novgorod Republic (with Pskov)
  Suzdalia (Yurievichi clan)
  Smolensk (Rostislavichi clan)
  Chernigov (Olgovichi clan)

The famine in Novgorod continued, and in 1230 another popular revolt erupted against supporters of the brand new prince Michael of Chernigov, including tysiatskii Boris Negochevich.[12] The desperate Novgorodian people asked for Yaroslav of Suzdal to return, which he did at the end of 1230, but the famine got even worse in spring 1231, until German merchants sailing from overseas were able to import sufficient amounts of grain and flour to relieve the Republic's hunger.[13] In autumn 1231, Yaroslav took Novgorodian troops on a campaign to Chernigov against his rival Michael.[13] In 1232, there were anti-Yaroslav rebellions in Novgorod and Pskov, but only the latter was successful in chasing the Suzdalians out of town.[13]

In 1233, Boris Negochevich and other Novgorodian nobles joined forces with Yaroslav Vladimirovich (pretender-prince of Pskov) and some Sword Brothers, occupying Izborsk in 1233, but they were soon expelled by the Pskovian army, while the pretender was captured, handed over to Yaroslav of Suzdal and imprisoned in Pereslavl-Zalessky.[14] In 1234, Yaroslav of Suzdal campaigned against the bishopric of Dorpat.[15] The 1234 peace agreement was based on that of 1224; it did not involve any territorial issues, but only a prisoner exchange and Dorpat's promise to stop supporting factions in Pskov and Novgorod that opposed Yaroslav of Suzdal.[16] Yaroslav went to Kiev in 1235, leaving his 15- or 16-year-old son Aleksandr Yaroslavich behind in Novgorod.[17]

Further events (1236–1239)

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See also: Battle of Saule and Treaty of Stensby

In September 1236, a coalition of Sword Brothers, Pskovians, Livonians and Latgallians were utterly defeated in the Battle of Saule against the pagan Samogitians and Semigallians. Grandmaster Volkwin was killed, and the Sword Brothers were so devastated that in May 1237, they agreed to reorganise under Hermann Balk as the Livonian Order, a branch of their long-time rival, the Teutonic Order.[18]

In December 1237, Pope Gregory IX proclaimed the second crusade against Finland. Danish king Waldemar II and the joint Masters of the Order agreed to divide Estonia and attacked Baltic Russia[clarification needed] in June 1238 in collaboration with the Swedes. The Rus' lands were weakened by the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus'.[citation needed]

In July 1240, the Swedish commanders Jarl Birger and Ulf Fassi attempted to invade Novgorod land under the pretext of exterminating the Gentiles. Having subordinated the Finnish tribes, the Swedes believed in a quick and easy victory over the Russians, whose troops had been defeated by the Mongols. However, Prince Alexander, without requesting assistance from Vladimir nor collecting all of the Novgorod militia, managed to intercept the Swedes at the mouth of the Izhora river. On July 15, 1240, Alexander's army camp was attacked by the Swedes. Known as the Battle of Neva, the Novgorod defeated the Swedes.[citation needed]

First stage, 1240–1241

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Further information: Danish campaigns to Novgorod

In August, the Livonian knights captured the town of Izborsk and arrived at the outskirts of Pskov, beginning a siege. The knights managed to bribe the Governor of the Pskov, Tverdila, and he opened the gates of the city. The townspeople tried to resist but, in the end, had to surrender.[citation needed]

End of the campaign

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In the winter of 1240/1241, the Novgorodians took Pereyaslavl-Zalessky. After, the Teutonic knights constructed the fortress of Koporye, where they kept all their supplies, and took the Novgorod city of Tesov, pillaging its merchants and ravaging the surrounding area. The Novgorodians, fearing a fate similar to that of Pskov, sent envoys to Prince Yaroslav. Yaroslav liked Alexander's younger brother Andrew as a leader, but Novgorod insisted on Alexander.[citation needed]

Alexander returned to Novgorod and commanded its army to Koporye in 1241. In the Spring of 1242, he recaptured Pskov. After this victory, Alexander decided to continue his campaign.[citation needed]

In 1242, the so-called Battle on the Ice took place at or on Lake Peipus, in which an allied Novgorodian–Suzdalian force defeated a coalition of the Livonian Order, the Bishopric of Dorpat and Danish Estonia.[citation needed]

Results

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The Germans withdrew from Pskov and Novgorod. Under the terms of the peace treaty, the Livonians pledged to return to Novgorod Luga, Latgale and the land of the Votes.[citation needed]

In later centuries, Alexander "Nevsky" Yaroslavich had become venerated as a saint (canonised by Macarius, Metropolitan of Moscow in 1547), and the idea emerged that there was a coordinated attempt by crusaders to subjugate and convert all Rus'.[19] Estonian historian Anti Selart has pointed out that the papal bulls from 1240 to 1243 do not mention warfare against "Rus'" (or "Russians"), but against non-Christians.[20] Selart also argues that the crusades were not an attempt to conquer Rus', but still constituted an attack on the territory of Novgorod and its interests.[21] The two opposing alliances included Catholic and Orthodox powers on both sides.[22] Lake Peipus 'did become the dividing line between Catholic and Orthodox worlds, but the place given to the Battle of the Ice as a significant event in world history is based purely on ideological concerns rather than historical evidence.'[23]

Bibliography

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Primary sources

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  • Livonian Rhymed Chronicle (LRC, c. 1290s).[24]
    • Meyer, Leo (1876). Livländische Reimchronik, mit Anmerkungen, Namenverzeichniss und Glossar herausgegeben von Leo Meyer [Livonian Rhymed Chronicle, with Annotations, Index of Names and Glossary, edited by Leo Meyer] (in German). Paderborn. Retrieved 3 November 2024.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) (Reprint: Hildesheim 1963). Verses 2235–2262.
    • Kleinenberg, I. E. (1966). "Старшая Ливонская Рифмованная Хроника" [The Older Livonian Rhymed Chronicle, translated to Russian by I.E. Kleinenberg]. Восточная Литература (Oriental Literature) (in Russian). Retrieved 5 November 2024.
    • Smith, Jerry C.; Urban, William L., eds. (1977). The Livonian Rhymed Chronicle: Translated with an Historical Introduction, Maps and Appendices. Uralic and Altaic series. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. p. 181. ISBN 978-0-87750-213-5.

Literature

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Selart 2015, p. 127.
  2. ^ a b c Selart 2015, p. 128.
  3. ^ Selart 2015, pp. 127–128.
  4. ^ a b Selart 2015, p. 129.
  5. ^ Selart 2015, pp. 129–130.
  6. ^ a b c Selart 2015, p. 130.
  7. ^ Selart 2015, pp. 130–131.
  8. ^ a b Selart 2015, p. 131.
  9. ^ a b Selart 2015, pp. 131–133.
  10. ^ a b Selart 2015, p. 138.
  11. ^ Selart 2015, pp. 142–143.
  12. ^ Selart 2015, pp. 133–134.
  13. ^ a b c Selart 2015, p. 134.
  14. ^ Selart 2015, pp. 134–135.
  15. ^ Selart 2015, p. 137.
  16. ^ Selart 2015, pp. 137–138.
  17. ^ Selart 2015, pp. 138–139.
  18. ^ Selart 2015, pp. 139–140.
  19. ^ Conedera 2012, pp. 222–223.
  20. ^ Fonnesberg-Schmidt 2007, pp. 219–220, Selart stresses, none of the papal bulls of 1240–43 mention warfare against the Russians. They only refer to the fight against non-Christians and to mission among pagans..
  21. ^ Selart 2001, pp. 151–176.
  22. ^ Conedera 2012, p. 222.
  23. ^ Conedera 2012, p. 223.
  24. ^ Ostrowski 2006, p. 291.
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