Straupe () is a village in Straupe Parish, Cēsis Municipality in the

Vidzeme Vidzeme (; Old Latvian orthography: ''Widda-semme'', ) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands. The capital of Latvia, Riga, is situated in the southwestern part of the region. Literally meaning "the Middle Land", it is situated in north-centra ...

region of

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 ...

History

Before the village was founded, the area was a part of the ancient Idumea country. When the von Rosen family arrived, they first started building what would become the

Lielstraupe Castle Lielstraupe Castle (; ) is a castle in Straupe Parish, Cēsis Municipality, in the Vidzeme region of Latvia. It was originally built by the von :de:Rosen (Adelsgeschlecht), Rosen family in the 13th century and the village of Straupe began to deve ...

in the 13th century. By the 14th century the village of Straupe began to develop around the castle and later became the trade center. Due to its role along trade routes it became known in German as ''Roop'', and received its town privileges in 1374. During the fourteenth century, Straupe flourished as part of the mercantile

Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive network of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Growing from a few Northern Germany, North German towns in the ...

and was on its way to becoming a 'Hansa City'. However, the town was destroyed during the fierce fighting of the Polish–Swedish War (1600–29). While mostly rebuilt, Straupe had lost its trade significance and eventually reverted back to village status by the 17th century. During the

Latvian War of Independence The Latvian War of Independence (), sometimes called Latvia's freedom battles () or the Latvian War of Liberation (), was a series of military conflicts in Latvia between 5 December 1918, after the newly proclaimed Republic of Latvia was invade ...

, Straupe witnessed fighting between Estonian-Latvian and German Landeswehr forces in the Battle of Cesis (1919).

Origin of name

It is possible that Straupe name comes from the

Livonian language Livonian ( or ) is a Finnic language whose native land is the Livonian Coast of the Gulf of Riga, located in the north of the Kurzeme peninsula in Latvia but also used to be spoken in the Salaca River valley. Although its last known native ...

word ''raupa'', meaning "running water."

References

External links

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Municipal website
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Tourist information and the map of Straupe area
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The coin "Straupe" issued within the international coin programme "Hansa Cities" (2006)
Members of the Hanseatic League Valmiera county Villages in Vidzeme Populated places established in the 14th century Populated places in Cēsis Municipality {{Vidzeme-geo-stub

History

Origin of name

See also

References

External links