The Northern Crusades, or Baltic Crusades, were military campaigns conducted by several Catholic kingdoms and military orders in an effort to Christianize all the pagans (Balts, Finns, and West Slavs) around the southern and eastern shores of the Baltic Sea.Lock, Peter. The Routledge Companion to the Crusades. United Kingdom, Taylor & Francis, 2013, pp. 216-218 The most notable of these campaigns were the Prussian and Livonian Crusades, the latter of which also fought against the Orthodox Christian states of Novgorod and Pskov. In some cases, such as with the Wendish Crusade, the conflicts were partly aimed at controlling the rich resources found in these lands. The Swedish Crusades were fought against Finns, Tavastians, and Karelians.
Some of these wars were explicitly regarded as crusades during the Middle Ages. For example, the war against the Estonians and the "other pagans in those parts" was authorized by Pope Alexander III's 1171 crusade bull, Non parum animus noster (Our mind is deeply [troubled/distressed]).Christiansen, Eric. The Northern Crusades. London: Penguin Books. p. 71
Background At the start of the northern crusades, Christian monarchs across northern Europe commissioned forays into territories that comprised modern-day Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Russia. The indigenous populations of pagans suffered forced baptisms and the ravages of military occupation. The ascendant Teutonic Order, a German military religious order founded as a hospital around 1190 and established as a military order in 1198, spearheaded these incursions and profited immensely from the crusades, as did German merchants who fanned out along trading routes traversing the Baltic frontier.Pluskowski, Aleksander, "Crusading into the medieval Baltic: Stanford Humanities Center Q&A with Aleks Pluskowski" Stanford Humanities Center Dec 12, 2016
The official starting point for the Northern Crusades was Pope Celestine III's call in 1195,Christopher Tyerman, God's War: A New History of the Crusades, (University of Harvard Press, 2006), 488. but the Catholic kingdoms of Scandinavia, Poland, and the Holy Roman Empire had begun moving to subjugate their pagan neighbors even earlier (see Christianization of Pomerania). The non-Christian peoples who were objects of the campaigns at various dates included: The Polabian Wends, Sorbs, and Obotrites between the Elbe and Oder Rivers (by the Saxons, Danes, and Poles, beginning with the Wendish Crusade in 1147). The Finns proper in the 1150s in the First Crusade by the Swedes; by the Danes in 1191 and 1202; Tavastia in 1249 in the Second Crusade by the Swedes; and Karelia in 1293 in the Third Crusade by the Swedes. Christianization in these areas, however, had started earlier. Livonians, Latgallians, Selonians, and Estonians (by the Germans and Danes, 1193–1227). Semigallians and Curonians (1219–1290). Old Prussians (1219 and 1222). Lithuanians and Samogitians (by the Germans, unsuccessfully, 1236–1410).
Armed conflict between the Finnic peoples, Balts, and Slavs who lived by the Baltic shores, and their Saxon and Danish neighbors to the north and south, had been common for several centuries before the crusade. The previous battles had been caused largely by attempts to destroy castles and sea trade routes in order to gain economic advantage in the region. The crusade followed this pattern of conflict, albeit now inspired and prescribed by the pope and undertaken by papal knights and armed monks.
Wendish Crusade
The campaigns started with the 1147 Wendish Crusade against the Polabian Slavs (or Wends) of what is now northern and eastern Germany. The crusade occurred parallel to the Second Crusade to the Holy Land and continued intermittently until the 16th century.
Swedish Crusades
The Swedish crusades were campaigns by Sweden against Finns, Tavastians, and Karelians during the period from 1150 to 1293. The wars with the Eastern Orthodox Novgorod Republic also had a religious aspect.
Danish Crusades
The Danes are known to have made at least three crusades to Finland. The first mention of these crusades is from 1187, when crusader Esbern Snare mentioned a major victory over the Finns in his Christmas-feast speech. The next known crusades were made in 1191 and in 1202, the latter led by the bishop of Lund, Anders Sunesen, with his brothers.
Journalist Matts Dumell explains that there was a rivalry between the churches in Denmark and Sweden that led to competition between the two countries, mostly in the form of conquests which gained adherents to Christianity and propaganda wins against each other. Thus there is virtually no possibility that Finland was already part of Sweden in the mid-1100s to early 1200s. Sweden had civil strife from within during this period as well, in the form of several battles and assassinations between several strongmen from the House of Sverker and the House of Erik. Only in 1216 would the pope declare that the Finnish areas should no longer be part of the Danish kingdom but instead be placed under the Swedish king's "protection."
It was not until 1165 that the Roman Catholic Church started to "expect" bigger territorial gains and adherents from the Danes in missionary work in Finland and Estonia, the latter having undergone some conversion to Christianity before that date. There is scholarly debate over how successful the Danes ultimately were and whether they gained any permanent foothold or territory in Finland before the Swedes began their efforts. Dumell debates whether places such as a fort in Saxby near Porvoo could be a product of this Danish presence, possibly built during their crusade in 1191.
Dumell lists several possible crusades by Denmark to Finland: King Canute VI (Knut Waldemarsson) led a "victorious" crusade to Finland in 1191, an expedition Dumell deems well attested to because of its mention in multiple ancient sources. The king would also later embark on crusades against Estonia in 1194 and 1196–1197. In 1202, Bishop Anders Sunesen and his brothers, Ebbe and Lars, are said to have conducted a crusade into Finland. Attestation to this crusade is very sparse and its veracity uncertain, however; and Dumell debates if it were confused with another expedition in 1206 to Ösel or was a real and distinct event. There was possibly a Danish crusade against Finland in 1209, but this is very poorly attested to and hard to confirm.
Livonian Crusade
By the 12th century, the peoples inhabiting the lands now known as Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania formed a pagan wedge between increasingly powerful, rival Christian states—the Orthodox Church to their east and the Catholic Church to their west. The difference in creeds was one of the reasons they were able to resist being forcibly converted to a different religion. During a period of more than 150 years leading up to the arrival of German crusaders in the region, Estonia was attacked 13 times by the Russian principalities and by Denmark and Sweden as well, and in turn Estonia raided Denmark and Sweden. Although there were peaceful attempts by some Catholics to convert the Estonians, starting with missions dispatched by Adalbert, Archbishop of Bremen, in 1045–1072, these peaceful efforts seem to have had limited success.
Campaign against the Livonians (1198–1212) Moving in the wake of German merchants following old Viking trading routes, Meinhard, a German canon later proclaimed a saint, landed at the mouth of the Daugava River in present-day Latvia in 1180 and six years later was made bishop. Pope Celestine III proclaimed a crusade against the Baltic pagans in 1195, which was reiterated by Pope Innocent III, and a crusading expedition led by Meinhard's successor as bishop, Berthold of Hanover, landed in Livonia (part of present-day Latvia, surrounding the Gulf of Riga) in 1198. Although the crusaders won their first battle, Bishop Berthold was mortally wounded and the crusaders were repelled.
In 1199, Albert of Buxhoeveden was appointed by Archbishop Hartwig II of Bremen to Christianize the Baltic countries. By the time Albert died 30 years later, the conquest and formal Christianization of present-day Estonia and northern Latvia was complete. Albert began his task by touring the empire, preaching a crusade against the Baltic countries, assisted in this effort by a papal bull declaring that fighting the Baltic heathens was of the same rank as participating in a crusade to the Holy Land. Landing at the mouth of the Daugava River in 1200 with only 23 ships and 500 soldiers, the archbishop's efforts helped Albert ensure that a constant flow of recruits followed. The first crusaders usually arrived to fight during the spring and returned to their homes in the autumn.
To ensure a permanent military presence, the Livonian Brothers of the Sword were founded in 1202. The founding, led by Bishop Albert at the market at Riga in 1201, attracted citizens from the Empire and economic prosperity ensued. At Albert's request, Pope Innocent III dedicated the Baltic countries to the Virgin Mary to popularize recruitment to his army, as is noticeable in one of the names given to Livonia at the time, Terra Mariana (Land of Mary). The name "Mary's Land" has also survived up to modern times.
In 1206, the crusaders subdued the Livonian stronghold in Turaida on the right bank of the Gauja River, the ancient trading route to Northwestern Russia. In order to gain control over the left bank of the Gauja River, a stone castle was built in Sigulda before 1210. By 1211, the Livonian province of Metsepole (now Limbaži district) and the mixed Livonian–Latgallian-inhabited county of Idumea (now Straupe) were converted to the Roman Catholic faith. The first prominent Livonian to be christened was their leader, Caupo of Turaida.
The last battle against the Livonians was the siege of Satezele hillfort near Sigulda in 1212. The Livonians, who had been paying tribute to the East Slavic Principality of Polotsk, first considered the Germans useful allies. As the German grip tightened, however, the Livonians rebelled against the crusaders and the christened chief was unseated. The German crusaders enlisted newly baptized Livonian warriors to participate in their campaigns against Latgallians and Selonians (1208–1209); Estonians (1208–1227); and Semigallians, Samogitians, and Curonians (1219–1290). Caupo of Turaida remained an ally of the crusaders until his death in the Battle of St. Matthew's Day in 1217.
Campaign against the Latgallians and Selonians (1208–1224)
After the subjugation of the Livonians, the crusaders turned their attention to the Latgallian principalities to the east, along the Gauja and Daugava Rivers. The military alliance in 1208 and later conversion from Greek Orthodoxy to Roman Catholicism of the Principality of Tālava was the only peaceful subjugation of the Baltic tribes during the Nordic crusades. The ruler of Tālava, Tālivaldis (), became the most loyal ally of German crusaders against the Estonians. He died a Catholic martyr in 1215.
The war against the Latgallian and Selonian countries along the Daugava waterway started in 1208 with the occupation of the Orthodox Principality of Koknese and the Selonian Sēlpils hillfort. The campaign continued in 1209 with an attack on the Orthodox Principality of Jersika (known as ), which crusaders had accused of being allied with Lithuanian pagans. After the defeat, the king of Jersika, Visvaldis, became the vassal of the bishop of Livonia and received part of his country (southern Latgale) as a fiefdom.