Berthold of Hanover (died 24 July 1198) was a German Cistercian and Bishop of Livonia, who met his death in a crusade against the pagan Livonians.
Berthold of Hanover (died 24 July 1198) was a German Cistercian and Bishop of Livonia, who met his death in a crusade against the pagan Livonians.
He was abbot of the Cistercian Loccum Abbey in Hanover. At the death of Saint Meinhard, the first Bishop of Livonia (c. 1196), Hartwig of Uthlede, Archbishop of Bremen, to whose province belonged the newly converted countries along the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, appointed Abbot Berthold successor. Damberger asserts [1] that when Meinhard came to Bremen in 1186 to obtain help with his mission in Livonia, Berthold joined the band of missionaries who accompanied him there.
The Livonian pagans were fanatically opposed to Christianity. Berthold's predecessor, assisted by merchants from Bremen and Lübeck and a few converts, had built fortifications along the River Düna, where Christians held their religious services and could protect themselves. Following in the footsteps of his predecessor, Berthold tried to gain confidence and good will by kindness. At first the pagans appeared to become less hostile, but soon their old hatred revived. When Berthold attempted to bless the Christian cemetery at Holm, they decided either to burn the bishop together with his church at Holm or to drown him in the Düna. The Christians fled to their strongholds at Üxküll and Holm, while the bishop escaped in a ship to Lübeck.
Pope Celestine III, shortly before his death, was preparing to send a fleet of crusaders to protect the Christians of the Baltic Provinces, and his successor, Pope Innocent III, continued the work. Berthold gained the financial assistance of Archbishop Hartwig and many merchants of Bremen and Lübeck. In a short time a large fleet was ready for departure, well equipped and loaded with crusaders and many German peasants who were to settle permanently in Livonia. It put to sea at Lübeck and crossed the Baltic, entering the River Düna from what is now called the Gulf of Riga. Near the mouth of the Düna the German peasants landed with the purpose of making their homes in the vicinity, and laid the foundations of the city Riga. Berthold, accompanied by the crusaders, sailed up the river as far as Holm, where the Livonians had gathered with the intention of attacking the fleet.
Having failed to come to a peaceful agreement with them, Berthold and his companions sailed some distance down the river, with the Livonians in pursuit. The pagans agreed to a truce, to gain time, but they attacked the Christians who ventured outside their fortifications, and hostilities were resumed. The crusaders were victorious, but Berthold's horse became intractable and galloped into the midst of the fleeing Livonians. A pagan by the name of Ymaut [2] (wrongly read as Ymant) [3] thrust his lance into Berthold's back, inflicting a wound that caused speedy death.
The bishop's body was buried by the crusaders at Üxküll, and was later transferred to Riga by Albert of Riga, whom Archbishop Hartwig of Bremen had appointed Berthold's successor. After the death of Berthold some of the conquered pagans asked to be baptized. The final conversion of Livonia was effected by Bishop Albert, who was assisted in by the newly founded Order of the Brothers of the Sword, which in 1237 was affiliated with the Teutonic Order.
Livonia or in earlier records Livland, is a historical region on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It is named after the Livonians, who lived on the shores of present-day Latvia.
The Northern Crusades or Baltic Crusades were Christianization campaigns undertaken by Catholic Christian military orders and kingdoms, primarily against the pagan Baltic, Finnic and West Slavic peoples around the southern and eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, and also against Orthodox Christian East Slavs.
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The Livonians, or Livs, are a Balto-Finnic people indigenous to northern and northwestern Latvia. Livonians historically spoke Livonian, a Uralic language closely related to Estonian and Finnish. Initially, the last person to have learned and spoken Livonian as a mother tongue, Grizelda Kristiņa, died in 2013, making Livonian a dormant language. In 2020, it was reported that newborn Kuldi Medne had once again become the only living person who speaks Livonian as their first language. As of 2010, there were approximately 30 people who had learned it as a second language.
Albert of Riga or Albert of Livonia was the third Catholic Bishop of Riga in Livonia. In 1201, he allegedly founded the city of Riga, the modern capital of Latvia. The building of the Riga Cathedral started during his tenure there in 1221.
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Ikšķile is a town in Latvia, in Ogre Municipality. It was the first capital of the Roman Catholic Bishopric of Livonia, known by the German name of Üxküll. Saint Meinhard was the first bishop of Üxküll. In 1197, Berthold of Hanover, a Cistercian abbot of Loccum, was made the second bishop of Üxküll. Those days the town was the center of the upcoming crusading activities in the Livonian area. Bishop Berthold moved the episcopal see to Riga, before being killed by the Livs in battle.
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Hartwig of Uthlede was a German nobleman who – as Hartwig II – Prince-Archbishop of Bremen and one of the originators of the Livonian Crusade.
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Berthold". Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company. The entry cites: | International | |
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