Livonian campaign to Novgorod

Livonian campaign to Novgorod
Part of the Northern Crusades
The Battle of the Ice. Miniature from the 16th century.
Date 1240–1242 Location Novgorod Republic and Livonia Result Novgorodian victory Territorial changes Withdrawal of Livonian forces from the Novgorodian lands
Belligerents
Livonian Order Bishopric of Dorpat Medieval Denmark	Novgorod Republic Vladimir-Suzdal
Commanders and leaders
Andreas von Velven Hermann of Dorpat Dietrich von Grüningen	Alexander Nevsky Andrey Yaroslavich Gavriil Aleksic Domash Tverdislav
Units involved
10,000–12,000 people	15,000–17,000 people

The Livonian campaign to Novgorod was a military campaign that lasted from 1240 to 1242, 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.

Origins of the conflict

The conflict between Novgorod and Teutonic Knights began in 1210, when the knights attacked the Estonians. Novgorod campaigned against the Livonians in 1217, 1219, 1222, and 1223, facing repeated failure. In 1224, the knights captured Dorpat (now Tartu). Soon after the capture of Dorpat, an internal conflict arose in Novgorod. The townspeople refused to help in the fight against the knights. Soon, a split occurred among the Novgorod nobles. Expelled from the city, the nobles and the Knights captured Izborsk in 1233, but soon were expelled from the city by the Pskov army. A year later, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich of Novgorod returned to the Livonian lands and devastated the outskirts of the town Odenpa, triumphing over Emajõe and forcing the Livonians to sign a peace agreement.

In 1236 the Great Master of the Order of the Sword Volquin von Winterstein was killed in a battle with Lithuanians and Pope Gregory IX gave his consent to the Union of the Order of the Sword with the Teutonic Knights. The master of the Order was Hermann von Balk. 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 in June 1238 in collaboration with the Swedes. The Rus' lands were weakened by the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus'.

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.

First stage, 1240–1241

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.

End of the campaign

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.

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.

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.

Results

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.

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'. 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. 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. The two opposing alliances included Catholic and Orthodox powers on both sides. 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.'

Bibliography

Primary sources

• Livonian Rhymed Chronicle (LRC, c. 1290s).
  • 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

• Fonnesberg-Schmidt, Iben (2007). The popes and the Baltic crusades, 1147–1254. Brill. ISBN 9789004155022.
• Ostrowski, Donald (2006). "Alexander Nevskii's 'Battle on the Ice': The Creation of a Legend". Russian History/Histoire Russe. 33 (2/4). Brill: 289–312. doi:10.1163/187633106X00186. ISSN 0094-288X. JSTOR 24664446.
• Selart, Anti (2001). "Confessional Conflict and Political Co-operation: Livonia and Russia in the Thirteenth Century". Crusade and Conversion on the Baltic Frontier 1150–1500. Routledge. pp. 151–176. doi:10.4324/9781315258805-8. ISBN 978-1-315-25880-5.
• Selart, Anti (2015). "Chapter 3: Livonia and Rus' in the 1230s and 1240s". Livonia, Rus' and the Baltic Crusades in the Thirteenth Century. Leiden/Boston: BRILL. pp. 127–170. doi:10.1163/9789004284753_005. ISBN 978-90-04-28475-3.
  • Conedera, Sam (2012). "Review: Livonia, Rus' and the Baltic Crusades in the Thirteenth Century (East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450–1450, 29) by Anti Selart". Archivum Historiae Pontificiae. 50. Gregorian Biblical Press: 221–224. ISSN 0066-6785. JSTOR 44627101. Retrieved 5 November 2024.