Livonian Knighthood

The House of the Livonian Noble Corporation in Riga, now used by the Saeima.

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 Grand Duke of Lithuania 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]

1643 0 0 0 0 0: Otto von Mengden
1643 0 0 0 0 0: Engelbrecht by Mengden
1645 0 0 0 0 0: Johann Eberhard von Bellingshausen
1646 0 0 0 0 0: Henry of Cronstians
1646 0 0 0 0 0: Ernst von Mengden
1648-1650: Hermann von Gordian
1650-1653: Gustav Adolf Clodt of Jürgensburg
1653-1660: Gustav von Mengden
1660-1664: Gustav Carl von Wulffen
1664-1667: Gotthard Johann von Budberg
1667-1673: Jacob Stael von Holstein
1669-1670: Johann von Buddenbrock
1673-1676: Otto Friedrich von Vietinghoff
1676-1680: Ernst Johann von Rosen
1680-1683: Otto Reinhold von Albedyll
1683-1690: Georg (Jürgen) Conrad von Ungern-Sternberg
1690-1693: Johann Heinrich Streiff von Lauenstein
1695, 1697: Gustav Ernst von Albedyll
1697 0 0 0 0 0: Ernst von Plater
1699-1700: Leonhard Gustav von Budberg
1710 0 0 0 0 0: Georg Reinhold von Tiesenhausen
1710 0 0 0 0 0: Johann Albrecht von Mengden
1710-1712: Magnus Gustav von Mengden
1712-1717: Magnus Johann von Plater
1715-1729: Berend Dietrich von Bock (Dorpater circle)
1720-1723: Woldemar Johann von Ungern-Sternberg (Dorpater circle)
1717-1721: Otto Christoph von Richter
1723-1727: Gotthard Wilhelm von Budberg
1727-1730: Gotthard Wilhelm von Berg
1730-1737: Caspar Friedrich von Buddenbrock
1737-1742: Johann Gustav von Budberg
1742-1747: Heinrich Gustav von Patkul
1747-1759: Gustav Heinrich von Igelström
1759-1765: Leonhard Johann von Budberg
1765 0 0 0 0 0: Adolf Heinrich von Anrep
1769-1775: Carl Gustav von Mengden
1775-1777: Caspar Heinrich von Rosenkampf
1777-1783: Franz Wilhelm von Rennenkampff
1783-1786: Leonhard Johann von Budberg
1786-1792: Moritz Friedrich von Gersdorff
1792-1797: Friedrich von Sievers
1797 0 0 0 0 0: Otto Johann Magnus of Richter
1798-1800: Christian Friedrich von Ungern-Sternberg
1800-1803: Gustav Johann von Buddenbrock
1803-1806: Carl Gustav von Samson-Himmelstjerna
1808-1809: Carl Johann von Numers
1809-1812: Andreas von Below
1812-1818: Friedrich Reinhold Schoultz of Ascheraden
1818-1822: Friedrich von Löwis of Menar
1822-1824: Otto von Richter (vicar)
1824-1827: Georg Carl von Jarmersted
1827-1830: Friedrich Johann von Löwenwolde
1830-1833: Friedrich von Grote
1833-1836: Carl Gotthard von Liphart
1836-1838: Eduard von Richter
1839-1842: Alexander of Oettingen
1842-1844: Ferdinand August Nikolaus von Hagemeister
1844-1848: Carl Reinhold Georg von Lilienfeld
1848-1851: Hamilcar von Fölkersahm
1851-1854: Gustav Fromhold of Nolcken
1854-1856: Christian von Stein
1857-1862: August Georg Friedrich von Oettingen
1862-1866: Paul von Lieven
1866-1869: Georg Carl von Lilienfeld
1869-1870: Gustav Fromhold of Nolcken
1870-1872: Nikolai Conrad Peter of Oettingen
1872-1884: Heinrich Anton Hermann von Bock
1884-1908: Friedrich von Meyendorff
1906-1918: Adolf Pilar von Pilchau
1918-1919: Heinrich Eduard von Stryk

References

^ 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, ISBN 978-3-9501575-1-2, pp. 107-120, here pp. 110-111.
^ 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, ISBN 978-3-9501575-1-2, pp. 107-120, here pp. 112-115.
^ Verband der Baltischen Ritterschaften e.V.
^ 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.

[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, ISBN 978-3-9501575-1-2, 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, ISBN 978-3-9501575-1-2, pp. 107-120, here pp. 112-115.

[eV-3] 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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Authority control databases
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History

The coat of arms of the Livonian knighthood

Land Marshals of the Livonian Knights

See also

References