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Home / Periods / Teutonic Order and Baltic Crusades / Livonian Crusade and Sword Brothers

Phase

Livonian Crusade and Sword Brothers

1198–1237

The Livonian Crusade began around the turn of the thirteenth century as missionaries and crusaders sought to establish Christian rule around the eastern Baltic. Bishop Albert of Riga made Riga the centre of a new political and ecclesiastical order.

The Livonian Brothers of the Sword, founded in 1202, became the principal military force of the crusader state. Warfare expanded into Liv, Lett, Estonian and Lithuanian lands and repeatedly involved Denmark, Rus principalities and competing church authorities.

After severe losses at the Battle of Saule in 1236, the surviving Sword Brothers were incorporated into the Teutonic Order in 1237, ending the order as an independent institution.

Related people for Livonian Crusade and Sword Brothers

Albert of Rigac. 1165–1229 Valdemar II of Denmark1170–1241

Series

Series about Livonian Crusade and Sword Brothers (1 series)

Crusader Chronicles in Order

by Peter Darman 6 books 4.3(6,812)

The Crusader Chronicles are set in Livonia and the eastern Baltic during the first decades of the thirteenth century. Conrad Wolff, a young German exile, becomes entangled with Bishop Albert of Riga and the Livonian Brothers of the Sword as crusaders seek to conquer and convert the peoples…