Everything about Henry Of Livonia totally explained
The
Chronicle of Henry of Livonia (
Latin:
Heinrici Cronicon Lyvoniae) is a historic document describing the history of
Livonia and surrounding areas from
1180 to
1227. Apart from the few references in the Russian
Primary Chronicle compiled in
Kiev in the twelfth century, it's the oldest known written document about the history of these countries. For many episodes in the early stages of
Christianizing the peoples of the eastern Baltic, Henry's chronicle is the major surviving evidence aside of The
Livonian Rhymed Chronicle and the
Novgorod First Chronicle.
Background
Papal calls for renewed
holy war at the end of the twelfth century inspired not only the disastrous
Fourth Crusade that sacked
Constantinople in 1204, but also a series of simultaneous "
Northern Crusades" that are less celebrated in English-language popular history, but which were more successful in the long run. Before the crusades, the region of
Livonia was a mixed outpost, a pagan society where merchants from the
Hanseatic League encountered merchants of
Novgorod, and where Germanic, Scandinavian, and Russian trade, culture, and
cults all mingled. Scandinavian rulers and German military knightly orders led by the
Prince-Bishops conquered and settled the Baltic world and drew it into the Western orbit.
Content
The
Chronicle of Henry of Livonia provides eyewitness accounts of the events, with an invaluable and deeply human history. It provides insight, not into only military operations in the East during this tumultuous period, but also into the conflicted attitudes of an eyewitness; it reveals the complexities of religious motives enmeshed with political aims. The other famous early Livonian text, the
Rhymed Chronicle has less historical value, as it was essentially intended as a patriotic and Christian courtly entertainment.
The
chronicles consist of 4 books. The first two books, "On Livonia" and "On bishop Berthold", describe the arrival of the first two German bishops, Meynard and Berthold and their failed attempts to establish influence in Latvia. The third book, "On bishop Albert" describes the third bishop,
Albert of Buxhoeveden, the foundation of the Christian knightly order of the
Livonian Brothers of the Sword and the conquest of
Livonia. The fourth book, "On Estonia", describes the conquest of
Estonia by Albert and the Sword Brethren.
The original
manuscript of the chronicles hasn't been preserved. There are 16 different copies, dating from
14th to
19th century, the oldest of which is the
Codex Zamoscianus.
English online material on the chronicle is rather scarce, though there are some excerpts
(External Link
) and the image of a page from one of the copies can also be viewed
(External Link).
Author
The author of the chronicles is Henry of Livonia (
Henricus de Lettis ). The chronicles say that he was a Catholic priest who witnessed most of events described. Henry is thought to have been born between
1180 and
1188. Henry was probably German, bearing a German forename and consistently referring to Germans in the first person plural, but it's also possible he came from Livonia. He had a thoroughly German and Catholic education and as a youth was attached to the household of the
Prince-Bishop Albert of Buxhoeveden, was ordained a priest in
1208, founded a parish and lived out his life in peace.
His
Chronicles are written from the point-of-view that the history of the Church was the essential history of Livonia. The
Chronicles may have originated as a report to the papal legate
William of Modena, to whom he was assigned as interpreter in 1225 through 1227. The legate, one of the papacy's most able diplomats, was in Livonia to mediate an internal church dispute between the Livonian Brothers of the Sword, and the territorial claims of the Catholic bishops of Livonia.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Henry Of Livonia'.
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