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).

Yaroslav's campaigns and ousting (1228–1230)

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). The Novgorodian troops were disaffected by prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, a quarrel broke out within the army and the troops refused to fight. In the same year, Yaroslav tried to militarily overrun the rebellious town of Pskov (possibly because its throne was vacant), but the Pskovians closed their gates in time and denied him entry. 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). 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. 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. 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. 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.

Pskovian–Livonian alliances

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

Internal conflicts in Livonia (1229–1233)

The January 1229 death of Albert of Riga caused a diocesan feud in the Archbishopric of Riga, as two rival candidates were elected as his successor: Albert Suerbeer by prince-archbishop Gerhard of Bremen and Hamburg, and Nicholas of Nauen by the cathedral chapter of Riga. Pope Gregory IX tasked cardinal Otto of Tonengo of San Nicola in Carcere with resolving the dispute; in turn, Otto appointed Baldwin of Alna as papal legate to go to Riga in July 1230. By October 1230, Otto decided in favour of Nicholas, who arrived in Riga summer 1231. Meanwhile, Baldwin managed to get the Curonians to submit themselves to the Bishopric of Riga in the winter of 1230–1231 in exchange for food aid addressing the famine raging in Livonia (and Novgorod); however, due to disputes arising over the division and baptism of Courland, he had to flee to the monastery of Dünamünde. In early 1232, Baldwin left Livonia, but then the pope appointed him as bishop of Semigallia, with authority of papal legation throughout much of Livonia, after which Baldwin returned by 1233. He set up his base in Wiek in western Estonia, and in summer 1233 demanded in name of the pope that the Sword Brothers hand over the castle of Reval (modern Tallinn). The Brothers refused, and in subsequent fighting in c. August–September 1233 they defeated Baldwin, who excommunicated the Sword Brothers in retaliation.

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. Previous generations of historians have argued that Baldwin attempted to make the whole Baltic region an ecclesiastical state, but Manfred Hellmann (historian) (1993) refuted this idea as "fanciful speculation". Similarly, the traditional assertion that Baldwin had extensive plans to conquer and convert eastwards into parts of Rus' (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. Therefore, no Livonian faction was allowed to form an alliance with an external power, be they pagan or Rus', to prevent the internal conflict from spilling over and threaten Livonia's external security.

Internal conflicts in Novgorod

  The Novgorod Republic in 1237

  Suzdalia in 1237

The famine in Novgorod continued, and in 1230 another popular revolt erupted against supporters of the brand new prince Michael of Chernigov. 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. Next autumn, Yaroslav took Novgorodian troops on a campaign to Chernigov against his rival Michael. In 1232, there were anti-Yaroslav rebellions in Novgorod and Pskov, but only the latter was successful in chasing the Suzdalians out of town.

Soon, a split occurred among the Novgorodian nobles. Expelled from the city, the nobles and the Knights captured Izborsk in 1233, but soon were expelled from the city by the Pskovian 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 the Battle of Saule with the 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.