Krāslava Old Palace ( , , ) was a Krāslava Manor house in the historical region of

Latgale Latgale (; ; ; ; ; ; Belarusian Latin alphabet, Belarusian Latin: ''Łathalija''; ), also known as Latgalia or Latgallia, is one of the Historical Latvian Lands. It is the easternmost region of the country and lies north of the Daugava River. Wh ...

, in eastern

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

. Only barely visible ruins remaining. The building housed the Plater family library after the construction of their new palace.

History

The

hillfort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...

on the waterway Düna - Dnepr, was already inhabited in the 9th century. In the

saga Sagas are prose stories and histories, composed in Iceland and to a lesser extent elsewhere in Scandinavia. The most famous saga-genre is the (sagas concerning Icelanders), which feature Viking voyages, migration to Iceland, and feuds between ...

s of the

Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

the place appears as "Dynasaiforgarðr", one of the settlements in

Garðaríki (anglicized Gardariki or Gardarike) or was the Old Norse term used in the Middle Ages for the lands of Rus'_people, Rus'. According to ''Göngu-Hrólfs saga'', the name (also used as a name for Novgorod Land, Novgorodian Rus') was synonymous ...

. The

Livonian Brothers of the Sword The Livonian Brothers of the Sword (; ) was a Catholic Church, Catholic Military order (monastic society), military order established in 1202 during the Livonian Crusade by Albert of Riga, Albert, the third bishop of Riga (or possibly by Theode ...

took the place in 1209. However, Duke of

Jersika The Principality of Jersika (; ; ) was a medieval Latgalian principality in the east of modern-day Latvia, and one of the largest medieval states in Latvia before the Northern Crusades. The capital of Jersika was located on a hill fort southea ...

Visvaldis Visvaldis was a Latgalian nobleman and the prince of Jersika in the 13th century. In the '' Livonian Chronicle of Henry '', he is called king (''rex''). Biography Visvaldis's date of birth is unknown. His origins, too, are unclear: some sch ...

got the place back as a

fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

. The year when the castle was built is unknown, but it is mentioned in documents in 1558, when the Master of the Livonian Order Johann Wilhelm von Fürstenberg dedicated it to his vassal Engelbrecht Plumper.

Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland The Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland and other Slavic Countries () is a monumental Polish gazetteer, published 1880–1902 in Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns ...

br>page 616, Tom IV
/ref> During the

Livonian War The Livonian War (1558–1583) concerned control of Terra Mariana, Old Livonia (in the territory of present-day Estonia and Latvia). The Tsardom of Russia faced a varying coalition of the Denmark–Norway, Dano-Norwegian Realm, the Kingdom ...

, Kraslava was captured by Russian troops. Kraslava Castle was not mentioned in the 1582 Truce of Yam-Zapolsky, later after the conclusion of the treaty the Krāslava castle district was included in the territory of

Duchy of Livonia The Duchy of Livonia, also referred to as Polish Livonia or Livonia, 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 northe ...

. In 1626 Kraslava Manor was bought by von Lüdinghausen-Wolff's family, then it belonged to Čapsky. In 1729,

Jan Ludwik Plater Jan Ludwik Plater (died 1736) was a Inflanty Voivodeship, voivode of Inflanty and a Polish language, Polish writer. He was born c. 1690 as a son of voivode of Inflany Jan Andrzej Plater and Ludwika Maria née Grothus. In 1698 he was named cupbeare ...

bought Kraslava for 1400

thaler A thaler or taler ( ; , previously spelled ) is one of the large silver coins minted in the states and territories of the Holy Roman Empire and the Habsburg monarchy during the Early Modern period. A ''thaler'' size silver coin has a diameter o ...

s, and

Plater family The Plater family is a German nobility, German noble family originating in Westphalia, whose members first settled in Livonia and later in Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Lithuania and Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Poland.https://worldhistory.de/wnf ...

owned Kraslava for the next two centuries.

References

External links

*
Krāslava Old Palace
Krāslava Palaces in Latgale Plater family {{Latvia-castle-stub

History

See also

References

External links