The Livonia reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004
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Livonia

This article is about the region in Europe. For other uses see Livonia (disambiguation).

Livonia is the historical region on the eastern coasts of the Baltic Sea in present-day Latvia and Estonia. Its frontiers are Riga Bay and Finnish Bay in the north-west, Pejpus Lake and Russia to the east, and Lithuania to the south. It was called Лифляндия (Liflandiya) in Imperial Russia and Inflanty in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

In the Middle Ages Livonia was inhabited by various Baltic and Finnic tribes. Originally, Livonia meant the land of Livonians, a Finno-Ugric tribe. Later, the meaning changed to denote a much broader territory controlled by Livonian Order.

From the 12th century Livonia was an area of economic and political expansion of Denmark and Germany and especially of the Hanse Cities Union presided by Lübeck and of the Cistercian order. In ca. 1160 traders of Lübeck established their trading post in the place of future Riga. From the 13th century Livonia was confederation of lands ruled by the Order of the Sword Knights (established 1202, joined with the Teutonic Knights in Prussia 1237) and the territories belonging to the archbishop of Riga and bishops of Couronia (Piltyn), Ozylia, Revel (Tallinn) and Dorpat.

In 1561 Livonia fell to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Organisation of Livonia in the Commonwealth:

Next: wars between Poland, Sweden, Denmark and Russia for control of Livonia.

The Livonian language is still spoken in parts of Latvia, but is understood to be fast approaching extinction.

Neil Gaiman, in his comic book The Sandman, portrayed the last sinner in Hell as being a 10th-century mass murderer from Livonia, who was too proud of the magnitude of his sins to accept forgiveness.

"...but I am Breschau of Livonia! This is my sin!"

"No one cares any more, Breschau. No one remembers. I doubt one mortal in ten thousand could even point to where Livonia used to be, on a map."

Polish Livonia was the remainder of Livonia, that was kept Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth after the Treaty of Oliva in 1660. Livonia, which had been a common territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1561, was conquered by Sweden in 1620s, in the course of the Polish War, and conquest of the majority was completed by 1629. Under Swedish rule of the country became known as Swedish Livonia, which was formally recognised in Oliva, 1660.

See also: Courland, Swedish Livonia, History of Poland, History of Lithuania