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Sigulda Medieval Castle
Sigulda Medieval Castle ruins are located on the edge of the Gauja valley in Latvia. The original castle was built in 1207 as a castellum type fortress, later rebuilt into a convent type building. The residence of the Land Marshal of the Livonian Order since 1432. Due to its importance as a tourist attraction, the old castle walls have been fortified many times in the 20th century. The castle reopened its walls to visitors in 2012 and now encourages everyone to step back in time and enjoy the surroundings that bore witness to many historical events. It is possible to climb up the North Tower, the Main Gate Tower and enjoy the medieval aura. History Sigulda Medieval Castle was built by the Livonian Brothers of the Sword who were later incorporated into the Teutonic Order of the castle, thus the castle eventually became the property of the Livonian Order. The Livonian Brothers of the Sword, officially known as The Militia of Christ of Livonia, was a military order compos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Livonian Order
The Livonian Order was an autonomous branch of the Teutonic Order, formed in 1237. From 1435 to 1561 it was a member of the Livonian Confederation. History The order was formed from the remnants of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword after their defeat by Samogitians in 1236 at the Battle of Schaulen (Saule). They were incorporated into the Teutonic Knights and became known as the Livonian Order in 1237. In the summer of that year, the Master of Prussia Hermann Balk rode into Riga to install his men as castle commanders and administrators of Livonia. In 1238, the Teutonic Knights of Livonia signed the Treaty of Stensby with the Kingdom of Denmark. Under this agreement, Denmark would support the expansion ambitions of the order in exchange for northern maritime Estonia. In 1242, the Livonian Order tried to take the city of Novgorod. However, they were defeated by Alexander Nevsky in the Battle on the Ice. Fortresses as Paide in land ceded by Denmark in the Treaty of Stens ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhymed Chronicles
The ''Livonian Rhymed Chronicle'' (german: Livländische Reimchronik) is a chronicle written in Middle High German by an anonymous author. It covers the period 1180 – 1343 and contains a wealth of detail about Livonia — modern South Estonia and Latvia. The old Chronicle The ''Rhymed Chronicle'' was composed to be read to the crusading knights of the Livonian Order during their meals. Its primary function was to inspire the knights and legitimise the northern Crusades. As such, it is infused with elements of romance and exaggerated for the purpose of drama. However, this is debated by A. Murray. He suggests that during mealtimes the knights were read sections of the Bible or the word of God, so that they could 'receive spiritual as well as corporal nourishment'. There was little of this in the ''Chronicle''. There is also the fact that the ''Chronicle'' is written in high German, and the majority of the knights who were in Livonia at that time would have spoken low German. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been described as a ''sui generis'' political entity (without precedent or comparison) combining the characteristics of both a federation and a confederation. Containing 5.8per cent of the world population in 2020, the EU generated a nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of around trillion in 2021, constituting approximately 18per cent of global nominal GDP. Additionally, all EU states but Bulgaria have a very high Human Development Index according to the United Nations Development Programme. Its cornerstone, the Customs Union, paved the way to establishing an internal single market based on standardised legal framework and legislation that applies in all member states in those matters, and only those matters, where the states have agreed to ac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Browne (soldier)
George Browne (russian: Юрий Юрьевич Броун, ga, Seoirse de Brún, german: Georg Reichsgraf von Browne, french: Georges de Browne), Count von Browne in the nobility of the Holy Roman Empire (15 June 1698 – 18 February 1792), was an Irish soldier of fortune who became full general in the Russian service. Browne was descended from a family that could trace its descent to the time of William the Conqueror, and had settled in Ireland at a very early period. His immediate ancestors were the Brownes of Camas, Limerick, where he was born 15 June 1698. He was educated at Limerick diocesan school. A Catholic and a Jacobite, Browne, like several of his other relations, sought scope for his ambition in a foreign military career (Flight of the Wild Geese). In his twenty-seventh year he entered the service of the Electoral Palatinate, from which he passed in 1730 to that of Russian Empire. He distinguished himself in the Polish, French, and Turkish wars, and had risen to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Lacy
Peter Graf von Lacy (russian: link=no, Пётр Петро́вич Ла́сси, tr. ; en, Pierce Edmond de Lacy; ga, Peadar (Piarais Éamonn) de Lása; 26 September 1678 – 30 April 1751) was an Irish-born soldier who later served in the Imperial Russian army. Considered one of the most successful Russian Imperial commanders before Rumyantsev and Suvorov, in a military career that spanned half a century he claimed to have participated in 31 campaigns, 18 battles, and 18 sieges. He died on his private estate in Riga, where he served as governor for many years. One of his sons was Count Franz Moritz von Lacy, who went on to serve in the Imperial Habsburg Army, while his nephew George Browne (1698-1792) was also a general in the Russian army. Life Family Peter Lacy was born Pierce Edmond de Lacy on 26 September 1678 in Killeedy near Limerick into a noble Irish family. In an autobiography preserved by his descendants, Lacy claimed that his father Peter was the son ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Northern War
The Great Northern War (1700–1721) was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swedish alliance were Peter I of Russia, Frederick IV of Denmark–Norway and Augustus II the Strong of Saxony– Poland–Lithuania. Frederick IV and Augustus II were defeated by Sweden, under Charles XII, and forced out of the alliance in 1700 and 1706 respectively, but rejoined it in 1709 after the defeat of Charles XII at the Battle of Poltava. George I of Great Britain and the Electorate of Hanover joined the coalition in 1714 for Hanover and in 1717 for Britain, and Frederick William I of Brandenburg-Prussia joined it in 1715. Charles XII led the Swedish army. Swedish allies included Holstein-Gottorp, several Polish magnates under Stanislaus I Leszczyński (1704–1710) and Cossacks under the Ukrainian Hetman Ivan Mazepa (1708 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gabriel Gustafsson Oxenstierna
Baron Gabriel Gustafsson Oxenstierna (15 June 1587 – 27 November 1640) was a Swedish statesman. Born either in Tyresö, Sweden, or in Reval (modern Tallinn, Estonia), he was the son of Privy Councillor Gustaf Gabrielsson Oxenstierna and Barbro Axelsdotter Bielke. As such he was brother of, among others, Lord High Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna. Career Oxenstierna began studying in Uppsala. He continued to study abroad, in German towns Rostock, Wittenberg and Jena. After his return to Sweden, he was in the service of King Charles IX from 1604. From 1612 he was chancellor and chief adviser of Duke John, son of former King John III. Also in 1612, Oxenstierna was appointed governor of Estonia. In 1617 he became a Privy Councillor and a marshal of the court of King Gustavus Adolphus. Being a close confidant of older brother Axel Oxenstierna (Lord High Chancellor 1612–1654) as well as of the king, Gabriel Oxenstierna was used as a diplomatic representative on numerous occas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jan Hieronimowicz Chodkiewicz
Jan Hieronimowicz Chodkiewicz ( lt, Jonas Chodkevičius, be, Ян Геранімавіч Хадкевіч) (1537 – 4 August 1579) was a 16th-century Polish-Lithuanian noble. He was Grand Pantler of Lithuania 1559, general starost of Samogitia 1563, Elder of Samogitia 1564, starost of Telšiai and Plateliai 1566, Livonia Hetman and governor, Grand Marshal of Lithuania 1566, Kaunas starost 1569, Count on Shkloŭ 1568, Vilnius castellan 1574. Biography He was one of the most famous Polish-Lithuanian magnates of the 16th century. Raised a Calvinist he studied at the Universities of Königsberg, Leipzig, and Wittenberg, and entered in the service of Emperor Charles V from 1552 to 1555. After that he entered the service of the Grand Duke of Lithuania. In 1558 Jan Chodkiewicz was made Livonia Hetman and sent to defend Livonia against Tsar Ivan IV 'the Terrible' who was trying to enforce a passage to the Baltic Sea. With the help of Michael Radziwiłł, Great Chancellor of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Duchy Of Livonia
The Duchy of Livonia ( or ; lt, Livonijos kunigaikštystė; la, Ducatus Ultradunensis; et, Liivimaa hertsogkond; lv, Pārdaugavas hercogiste; german: Herzogtum Livland), also referred to as Polish Livonia or Livonia ( pl, link=no, Inflanty) was a territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that existed from 1561 to 1621. It corresponds to the present-day areas of northern Latvia and southern Estonia. History Livonia had been part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1561, since the Livonian Order was secularized by the Union of Vilnius and the Livonian Confederation dissolved during the Livonian Wars. Part of Livonia formed the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia while the south-west part of today's Estonia and north-east part of today's Latvia, covering what are now Vidzeme and Latgale, were ceded to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1566, it was declared the Duchy of Livonia according to the Treaty of Union between the landowner ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cēsis Medieval Castle
Cēsis (), (german: Wenden, liv, Venden, et, Võnnu, pl, Kieś) is a town in Latvia located in the northern part of the Central Vidzeme Upland. Cēsis is on the Gauja River valley, and is built on a series of ridges above the river overlooking the woods below. Cēsis was one of the candidate cities for the title of European Capital of Culture 2014 ( Riga was the Latvian city that won the title). Castle The oldest settlement in Cēsis is the hillfort on Riekstu hill, a fortified wooden castle built by a tribe known as the Vends. The mound with its partly preserved fortification system can still be seen in the Castle Park. This settlement was located near major trade routes from west to east and dominated the regional countryside. German crusaders known as the Livonian Brothers of the Sword began construction of a castle ''Wenden'' near the hill fort in 1209. When the castle was enlarged and fortified, it served as the residence for the Order's Master. In 1577, during ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wilhelm Of Modena
William of Modena ( – 31 March 1251), also known as ''William of Sabina'', ''Guglielmo de Chartreaux'', ''Guglielmo de Savoy'', ''Guillelmus'', was an Italian clergyman and papal diplomat. In: Salvador Miranda: The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. Website of . He was frequently appointed a legate, or papal ambassador by the popes and |
