Cesvaine () (german: Seßwegen) ) is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

Madona Municipality Madona Municipality ( lv, Madonas novads) is a municipality in Vidzeme, Latvia. The administrative center is Madona. The total area of the municipality is , and the population in January 2013 was 26,953.Madona municipality Population Register Of ...

, Vidzeme Region,

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

. It is home to the

Cesvaine Palace Cesvaine Palace ( lv, Cesvaines pils; german: Schloss Seßwegen) is located in the town of Cesvaine, Latvia in Madona Municipality. Next to the palace lies remains of the old bishop's castle. History Cesvaine Palace was built in 1896 for the Germ ...

, built in 1896 near the ruins of previous medieval castles.

History

During the period before the

Livonian Crusade The Livonian crusade refers to the various military Christianisation campaigns in medieval Livonia – in what is now Latvia and Estonia – during the Papal -sanctioned Northern Crusades in the 12–13th century. The Livonian crusade was cond ...

in the 13th century, the territory of modern Cesvaine was part of the

Principality of Jersika The principality of Jersika ( la, Gerzika, terra Lettia, german: Gerzika, Zargrad, russian: Ерсика, Герцике; also known as ''Лотыголa'') was an early medieval Latgalian principality in eastern modern-day Latvia and one of th ...

and was inhabited by ancient

Latgalians Latgalians (, nds, Letti, Lethi, modern ; variant translations also include Latgallians, Lettigalls or Lettigallians) were an ancient Baltic tribe. They likely spoke the Latvian language, which probably became the ''lingua franca'' in present-d ...

. It was first mentioned in written sources in 1209 (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

: Urbs Zcessowe) in the treaty between bishop

Albert of Riga Albert of Riga or Albert of Livonia or Albrecht (german: Albert von Buxthoeven, lv, Alberts fon Buksthēvdens; c.1165 – 17 January 1229) was the third Bishop of Riga in Livonia. In 1201 he allegedly founded Riga, the modern capital of Lat ...

and

Visvaldis Visvaldis (Latin: Vissewalde rex de Gerzika, Russian: Всеволод, Belarusian: Усевалад) was a Latgalian nobleman, Duke of the Principality of Jersika in the 12th-13th centuries. In the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia, he is called ki ...

of Jersika. In 1211 the

Bishopric of Riga The Archbishopric of Riga ( la, Archiepiscopatus Rigensis, nds, Erzbisdom Riga) was an archbishopric in Medieval Livonia, a subject to the Holy See. It was established in 1186 as the bishopric of Livonia at Ikšķile, then after moving to Riga ...

and the Livonian Brothers of Sword partitioned the lands of Jersika between themselves. The territory of Cesvaine fell under the control of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword, however in 1213 some of the lands were exchanged and Cesvaine became property of the Bishop of Riga. In the beginning of the 15th century, a stone castle was built in Cesvaine and the settlement started to grow. By the end of the 16th century there were already 80 houses in Cesvaine. During the

Livonian War The Livonian War (1558–1583) was the Russian invasion of Old Livonia, and the prolonged series of military conflicts that followed, in which Tsar Ivan the Terrible of Russia (Muscovy) unsuccessfully fought for control of the region (pre ...

in 1577, defenders of Cesvaine castle refused to surrender. Consequently, the Russian tsar

Ivan the Terrible Ivan IV Vasilyevich (russian: Ива́н Васи́льевич; 25 August 1530 – ), commonly known in English as Ivan the Terrible, was the grand prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547 and the first Tsar of all Russia from 1547 to 1584. Ivan ...

ordered that the castle and whole town be destroyed. After the war in 1582 Cesvaine became part of

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) ...

. In 1656 during the

Second Northern War The Second Northern War (1655–60), (also First or Little Northern War) was fought between Sweden and its adversaries the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1655–60), the Tsardom of Russia (Russo-Swedish War (1656–1658), 1656–58), Brande ...

Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 ''Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

again seized the castle and destroyed the town. A new period in the history of Cesvaine started in the year 1815 when the settlement and nearby lands were bought by the

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...

von Wulf. Cesvaine became centre of the manor and rapid development started in the second half of the 19th century. In 1932 Cesvaine became a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

in the

Republic of Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

. It was granted

town rights Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...

in 1991. Since 2009, the town has become the official administrative centre of

Cesvaine municipality Cesvaine Municipality ( lv, Cesvaines novads) is a former municipality in Vidzeme, Latvia. The municipality was formed in 2009 by reorganization of Cesvaine town with its countryside territory, the administrative centre being Cesvaine. In 2010 Ce ...

Notable people

Jakob Lenz Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz (23 January 1751, or 12 January in the Julian calendar – 4 June 1792, or 24 May in the Julian calendar) was a Baltic German writer of the ''Sturm und Drang'' movement. Life Lenz was born in Sesswegen (Cesvaine), ...

(1751–1792), writer

Twin towns — sister cities

Cesvaine is twinned with: *

Coulaines Coulaines () is a commune in the Sarthe department in the Pays de la Loire region in north-western France. Its sister city is Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, United States. Population See also * Communes of the Sarthe department * Treaty of Coulain ...

, France *

Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Dnipropetrovsk Oblast ( uk, Дніпропетро́вська о́бласть, translit=Dnipropetrovska oblast), also referred to as Dnipropetrovshchyna ( uk, Дніпропетро́вщина), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, obla ...

, Ukraine *

Lagardelle-sur-Lèze Lagardelle-sur-Lèze (, literally ''Lagardelle on Lèze''; oc, La Gardèla de Lesa) is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France. Population The inhabitants of the commune are called ''Lagardellois'' in French. Twinning ...

, France *

Märjamaa Märjamaa is a borough ( et, alev) in Rapla County, Estonia. It is the administrative center of Märjamaa Parish. Märjamaa has a population of 2,961 as of 29 November 2012, making it the largest settlement in the whole of Märjamaa Parish. Nota ...

, Estonia *

Volkhov Volkhov (russian: Во́лхов) is an industrial town and the administrative center of Volkhovsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the river Volkhov east of St. Petersburg. Population: It was previously known as ''Zvanka ...

, Russia *

Weyhe Weyhe is a municipality in the district of Diepholz, Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 15 km south of Bremen. History First mentioned in 860, when a sick girl from "Wege" travelled to the grave of Saint Willehad in Bremen ...

, Germany

Gallery

File:Cesvaines katoļu baznīca 2001-08-04.jpg, Roman Catholic church in Cesvaine File:Cesvaines piemineklis represētajiem 2003-04-18.jpg, Monument to victims of Soviet repressions in Cesvaine File:Cesvaines stacija 25.JPG, Cesvaine railway station File:Cesvaine Lutheran Church 05.JPG, Cesvaine lutheran church

References

{{Authority control Towns in Latvia 1991 establishments in Latvia Kreis Wenden Madona Municipality Vidzeme