The Northern Crusades: Christianization of the Baltic

The Northern Crusades were a series of campaigns launched by the German and Polish nobility, with the support of the papacy, to convert the pagan peoples of the Baltic region — Prussians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, and Finns — to Christianity and to bring them under the authority of Christian rulers. The Northern Crusades were a major chapter in the Crusading movement, and they played a central role in the Christianization of eastern Europe and the Baltic region. The Northern Crusades were conducted by a variety of actors, including the Teutonic Knights, the Livonian Brothers of the Sword, the Danish kingdom, the Swedish kingdom, and the Polish and Lithuanian rulers.

The standard English-language treatment is Eric Christiansen, “The Northern Crusades” (1980; 2nd ed. 1997). The Chronicon Livoniae of Henry of Livonia (c. 1227) is the primary source for the Livonian crusade.

The Origins of the Northern Crusades

The origins of the Northern Crusades are rooted in the expansion of Christian Europe into the Baltic region in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The Christianization of eastern Germany (the Ostsiedlung) had brought the German and Polish frontiers closer to the pagan peoples of the Baltic, and the missionary efforts of the twelfth century had produced mixed results. The Prussians, Lithuanians, Latvians, and Estonians were pagan peoples who resisted the missionary efforts of the Christian churches, and the attempts to convert them by peaceful means were largely unsuccessful.

The papacy responded to the failure of the missionary efforts by calling for Crusades against the pagan peoples of the Baltic, in the same way that the papacy had called for Crusades against the Muslims of the Holy Land. Pope Celestine III declared a Crusade against the Prussians in 1193, and Pope Innocent III extended the Crusade to the other pagan peoples of the Baltic in the early thirteenth century. The papal declaration of the Crusade gave the campaigns a religious legitimacy and encouraged the participation of crusaders from across Europe.

The Christianization of Prussia

The Christianization of Prussia was the central project of the Northern Crusades, and it was carried out primarily by the Teutonic Knights. The Prussians were a pagan people speaking a Baltic language, closely related to the Lithuanians and the Latvians, and they were organized in tribal groups that resisted the German expansion eastward. The Teutonic Knights embarked on a long campaign of conquest and conversion that lasted from the 1230s to the 1280s, and the Prussians were gradually defeated, converted, and assimilated into the German-ruled monastic state of the Teutonic Order.

The Teutonic Knights invited themselves to Prussia in 1226, at the request of the Polish duke Konrad I of Masovia, who was struggling to contain the Prussian raids on his territories. The Knights built a network of castles across Prussia, conquered the Prussian tribes in a series of campaigns, and established a monastic state that covered the territory of modern Poland north of the Vistula, Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, and the southern Baltic. The Prussians were converted to Christianity and assimilated into the German-ruled state, and the Prussian language and culture survived in diminished form until the early eighteenth century.

The Christianization of Livonia

The Christianization of Livonia (modern Latvia and Estonia) was carried out by the Livonian Brothers of the Sword, a military religious order founded in 1202 and later incorporated into the Teutonic Order. The Livonian crusade was initiated by the bishop of Riga, Albert of Riga, who invited the Livonian Brothers of the Sword to assist in the Christianization of the Livonian peoples. The Livonian Brothers conquered the Livonian and Latgalian tribes in a series of campaigns in the early thirteenth century, and they established a military government that covered the territory of modern Latvia and Estonia.

The Livonian crusade was marked by brutal episodes and resistance from the native peoples. The Livonian and Estonian tribes resisted the crusaders stubbornly, and they launched a major uprising in 1223–1227 that was eventually suppressed with great brutality. The Livonian Brotherhood was eventually incorporated into the Teutonic Order in 1237, after the Livonian Brotherhood was defeated by the Lithuanians at the Battle of Saule in 1236. The Livonian branch of the Teutonic Order continued to govern Livonia until the sixteenth century, and the Livonian branch played a major role in the politics of the Baltic region.

The Lithuanian Resistance

The Lithuanians were the most difficult of the pagan peoples of the Baltic to convert, and they resisted the crusaders successfully for centuries. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was the last pagan state in Europe, and it successfully defended its independence against the Teutonic Knights and the Livonian Brotherhood until the late fourteenth century. The Lithuanian defense was successful because of the Lithuanian military abilities, the difficult terrain of the Lithuanian forests and swamps, and the support of Lithuanian allies in the region.

The Lithuanian defense culminated in the Battle of Grunwald (or Tannenberg) in 1410, in which a combined Polish-Lithuanian army defeated the Teutonic Order in a decisive battle. The Battle of Grunwald was a major setback for the Teutonic Order, and it marked the beginning of the decline of the Order in the Baltic region. The Lithuanians finally converted to Christianity in 1386, when the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Jogaila (known in Poland as Władysław II Jagiełło), married the Polish queen Jadwiga and became king of Poland. The conversion of Lithuania was a major event in the history of the Northern Crusades, and it marked the end of the pagan era in eastern Europe.

The Impact of the Northern Crusades

The impact of the Northern Crusades was profound and far-reaching. The Crusades resulted in the Christianization of the Baltic region, the colonization of the region by German and Polish settlers, the establishment of towns and bishoprics, and the integration of the region into the wider European economic and political system. The Crusades also resulted in the destruction or displacement of the native pagan cultures of the Baltic, and they left a legacy of tension between the German and native populations of the Baltic that persists to the present day.

The Northern Crusades also had a major impact on the development of the military religious orders. The Teutonic Order was the major actor in the Northern Crusades, and the Order developed a sophisticated administrative apparatus and a distinctive culture that combined military, religious, and economic functions. The Order was a major political force in the Baltic region until the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, and it continued to play a role in the politics of the region until the Reformation in the sixteenth century.

The Northern Crusades also had a major impact on the demographic and economic development of the Baltic region. The German and Polish colonization brought new settlers to the region, and the colonists established towns and villages along the Baltic coast and interior. The towns of Lübeck, Hamburg, Bremen, Riga, Danzig (Gdańsk), Thorn (Toruń), and Reval (Tallinn) became major centers of trade and manufacturing, and they played a major role in the Hanseatic League and the Baltic trade. The colonization also stimulated the agricultural development of the region, and the Baltic region became a major producer of grain, timber, fur, and other commodities for the European market.

The Legacy of the Northern Crusades

The legacy of the Northern Crusades is complex and controversial. On the one hand, the Crusades resulted in the Christianization of the Baltic region, the establishment of towns and bishoprics, and the integration of the region into the wider European economic and political system. The Crusades also contributed to the development of the Teutonic Order and the Livonian Brotherhood, and they played a major role in the politics of the Baltic region for centuries.

On the other hand, the Crusades were a conquering military force that destroyed or displaced the native pagan cultures of the Baltic, and they imposed German or Polish rule on non-German and non-Polish populations. The Northern Crusades were often brutal, and they provoked numerous revolts and resistance movements among the native populations. The legacy of the Northern Crusades continues to shape the politics of the Baltic region in the modern era, and it is a subject of ongoing historical and political debate.

Sources

Principal sources used in this article:

William Urban, The Teutonic Knights: A Military History (Greenhill, 2003).

Further reading:

Eric Christiansen, The Northern Crusades (Penguin, 1980; 2nd ed. 1997).

For a recent single-volume synthesis with full scholarly apparatus, see the relevant chapter of Barbara H. Rosenwein, A Short History of the Middle Ages (University of Toronto Press, 2014).