Page 38 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Estonia Latvia & Lithuania

36 INTRODUCING EST ONIA , LA T VIA AND LITHU ANIA

Germans in Estonia and Latvia Saaremaa, was subjugated in 1227.
After the papal declaration of the crusade, A fortress built in 1260 at its capital,
the Teutonic Knights, or the German warrior- Kuressaare, is the only one in the Baltic
monks who had previously called themselves region to be preserved largely as the
the Brotherhood of the Sword, began to Teutonic Knights built it. Livonia flourished
venture along the Baltic Coast. The phrase under the Knights, as they built cities
“Drang nach Osten” (“Thrust Eastwards”), throughout the region. After joining the
which would become notorious in World Hanseatic League, a trading confederation
War II, dates from this time. Religious and of German port-cities and merchants’
commercial zeal drove the crusa ders to associations, Tallinn and Rīga began to
establish colonies along the Baltic Coast. In thrive. The new social order, dominated by
1201, a bishopric was set up in Rīga, which the Germans, excluded the local inhabi-
became the basis for the Baltic conquest. tants not only from mercantile acti vities,
Expanding into Estonia from the south, the but also agriculture, where they could only
Knights created Livonia in 1207. Comprising be hired as serfs.
Latvia and Estonia, Livonia was recognized
as part of the Holy Roman Empire, with Polish Domination in Lithuania
Rīga as the capital. Estonia’s largest island, Lithuania has a very different history from
that of the area to its north. While
Christianity was dominant in much of the
Baltic region, Lithuania continued to be
reso lutely pagan until 1385, when
Duke Jogaila married a Polish prin cess,
embraced Christianity and assumed the
crowns of Poland and Lithuania. Long
before him, in 1251, Mindaugas had briefly
adopted Christianity so that he could be
crowned by the Pope. In 1410, Jogaila and
his cousin Vytautas (r.1410–30), Grand
Prince of Lithuania, decisively defeated the
Teutonic Knights in the Battle of Žalgiris, or
Grünwald. Under Vytautas, the Grand
Duchy of Lithuania (see pp216–17) emerged
as one of the largest states in Europe.
Eventually, however, it came increasingly
under the control of the Poles, with the
rela tionship culminating in the creation of
the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in
A 19th-century lithograph showing the Battle of Grünwald (1410) 1569. With the Polish takeover, the right to

1237 The Brotherhood of the 1372 German 1410 Lithuanians
1201 German Sword becomes Livonian Order replaces Latin and Poles defeat the
crusaders set as the official Teutonic Knights
up a bishopric 1260 Building of Kuressaare language in at the Battle of
in Rīga Castle starts Kuressaare Castle Rīga and Tallinn Žalgiris (Grünwald)
1200 1250 1300 1350 1400 1450
1230 Mindaugas 1385 Lithuania 1430 The Grand
unites the Grand 1282 Rīga joins the united with Poland Duchy reaches
Duchy of Lithuania Hanseatic League; Tallinn under Jogaila the Black Sea
1207 Livonia becomes part of follows three years later
the Holy Roman Empire