Bishopric of Courland

Infobox Former Country
native_name= Episcopatus Curoniensis
Bisdom Curland
conventional_long_name= Bishopric of Courland
common_name = Courland
continent= Europe
status=Vassal
empire=Holy Roman Empire
status_text=State of the Holy Roman Empire
p1= Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights
flag_p1= Teuton flag 55px.pngs1= Duchy of Courland and Semigallia
flag_s1= Herb Rzeczpospolitej Obojga Narodow.svg
year_start= 1234
date_start= February 11
event_start=
year_end= 1562
date_end= April 20
event_end=
event1=
date_event1=
title_leader= Bishop of Courland
leader1= Engelbert (1st)
year_leader1 = 1234-1236/37
leader2= Magnus (last)
year_leader2 = 1560-1583

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image_map_caption = Bishopric of Courland (light orange).
government_type= Principality
legislature =
common_languages= Latin, Low German, Curonian
capital= Pilten
currency= Ferding, Schilling

The Bishopric of Courland ( _la. Episcopatus Curoniensis, Low German: "Bisdom Curland") was a second largest (4500 km2) ecclesiastical state in the Livonian Confederation founded in the aftermath of the Livonian Crusade. During the Livonian War in 1559 Bishopric of Courland became a possession of Denmark and in 1562 was formed into Duchy of Courland and Semigallia as a vassal state of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=Ad3-xvwdjE4C&dq The Latvians: A Short History By Andrejs Plakans ISBN:0817993029; p. 19] ]

History

In ancient times the Curonians, a Baltic tribe, inhabited Courland. The Brethren of the Sword, a German military order, subdued the Curonians and converted them to Christianity in the first quarter of the 13th century. In 1237 the area passed into the influence of the Teutonic Knights owing to the amalgamation of this order with that of the Brethren of the Sword. During the Livonian War (1558–1582), under the increasing pressure of Muscovy, the Livonian Confederation dissolved. On the basis of the Union of Wilno, Livonia were ceded to The Grand Duchy of Lithuania and formed into the "Ducatus Ultradunensis" (Curonian: "Pārdaugawas hercogiste"). The land between the west bank of the Daugava River and the Baltic Sea formed another new region, The Duchy of Courland and Semigalia ("Kurzemes un Zemgales hercogiste"). It depended on the Grand Prince of Lithuania, later on The King of Poland and The Grand Prince of Lithuania. Gotthard Kettler, the last Master of The Livonian Brothers of the Sword, became the first Duke of Courland. Several parts of the Courland area did not belong to the bishopric. The Order of Livonia had already loaned the Grobiņa district (on the coast of Baltic Sea) to the Duke of Prussia. Another district, the Bishopric of Pilten, also called the "Bishopric of Courland" (on the Venta River in western Courland), belonged to Magnus, the King of Livonia. He promised to transfer it to the Duchy of Courland after his death, but this plan failed and only later Wilhelm Kettler did regain this district. After Magnus of Livonia died in 1583, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth invaded his territories in the Duchy of Courland and Frederick II of Denmark decided to sell his rights of inheritance. When Gotthard Kettler died in 1587, his sons, Friedrich and Wilhelm, became the dukes of Courland.

Chronology

*September 1234 : Bishopric of Courland (Bistum Kurland) established (formally declared in 11 February 1232), consisting of three separate enclaves after numerous distributions of the Curonian lands among the Bishops of Courland, and of Riga, and the Teutonic Order.
*1290 : The cathedral chapter is incorporated into the Teutonic Order lands, the bishopric is subjected to the Order.
*1341 : The bishops were also rulers of the island of Runö (now Ruhnu in SW-Estonia) from at least 1341.
*1520 : Made a sovereign principality (prince-bishopric) of the Holy Roman Empire (formally from Jan 1521), but style of prince not used.
*20 May 1560: Sold to the King of Denmark, given as an appanage (Stift Kurland) to Magnus Herzog von Holstein, the brother of the king Frederick II of Denmark.
*1578 : Bishop Magnus accepts sovereignty of The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (not ratified by the Sejm of Poland-Lithuania, or recognized by Denmark).
*20 April 1585 : Sold by Denmark to Poland-Lithuania.

Bishops of Courland

ee also

*Archbishopric of Riga
*Bishopric of Dorpat
*Bishopric of Ösel-Wiek
*Bishopric of Reval
*Courland
*Courland colonization
*Courland colonization of the Americas
*Duchy of Courland and Semigallia
*Kingdom of Livonia
*Livonian Brothers of the Sword

References

External links

* [http://www.jewishgen.org/courland/rosenthal.htm Courland by Herman Rosenthal]
* [http://www.jewishgen.org/Courland/geography.htm Courland Geography and Natural History]
* [http://www.baltische-ritterschaften.de/Ritterschaften/Kurland/Kurland.htm Die Kurländische Ritterschaft]
* [http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/5539/courland/courland.html Duchy of Courland, 1561-1795]
* [http://www.katedrale.lv/index.php?id=4196 Liepājas un Kurzemes bīskapa]