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3 6 6 TUR A I DA 1 3 . – 1 6 . GAD S I MTA DOKUME N TOS
Part I
Evidence about the Stone Castle of the Archbishop
of Riga in Turaida in the First Half of the 13th Century
in Chronicles and Parchment Documents
1214–1252
Part I of this book, covering the times of Bishops of Riga Albert (1199–1229) and Nicholas
(1230–1253), begins with information about the launching of the construction of Fredeland fort
(castellum ), the core of the future Turaida stone castle. It contains texts, all of which were originally
written in Latin, including four parchment documents issued in Turaida. The first in the row are
several excerpts from the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia (completed around 1227) and a fragment
from a work by a Cistercian monk describing the history of Turaida and the origins of the stone
castle there. In the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia the name of Turaida (Thoreyda, Thoreida) is men­
tioned 47 times. It refers to an inhabited district, a site by the Gauja River, and in some places along
with the Livs of the Daugava River basin the chronicler mentions inhabitants of Turaida or the
Gauja Livs (de Duna et in Thoreyda; tam Thoredenses quam Veinalenses ; tam Thoredenses quam
Dunenses, 1215 – Thoredenses Lyvones) who had timber forts in Turaida district.18
The published excerpts from the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia give a slight insight into the con­
struction history of the castle: the first to be built was the castellum , three years later followed by a
stone fort, referred to as a castle, which until 1218 was called Fredeland, but from then on Turaida.
In archaeological excavations it has been established that as of the second half of the 11th century
Turaida hill had been constantly covered with timber structures and the stone castle, which was
built there in the 13th century, more or less covered the plateau of the Liv timber fort, which had
preceded it there. Archaeologist Jānis Graudonis has drawn the conclusion that this, most likely,
had been Kaupo’s grand castle, which was mentioned in the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia as having
been burnt down in 1212.19 In the first construction period of the stone castle, at the beginning of
the 13th century, the construction of bergfried – a freely standing defence tower – was launched and
the castle yard was surrounded by a defensive wall. On the western side of the hill fort a fortified
dwelling, the so-called “strong house” with approximately 10 m wide and 13 m long foundations
was built into the defensive wall. To enter the fortified territory, one had to cross a moat with a
drawbridge over it.
Almost at the very time as the construction of the stone castle was started, in Turaida there ar­
rived the sons of the ruler of Latgallian land Tolova to convert from the Greek Catholic (Orthodox)
faith to the Roman Catholic faith and to become vassals of the Bishop of Riga, by this act laying
out the eastern border of Livonia and subsequently that of Latvia and even more so – moving the
westernmost border of the Western Christendom further to the east.20 The next time that an issue of
importance for the whole of Livonia was handled in Turaida was in 1239 when the Bishop of Riga
18 Chronicle of Henry of Livonia: XIV, 12; IV, 4; X, 6; X, 13; XIX,1 et al.
19Graudonis, Jānis (2003), 25.–31. lpp.
20Zemītis, Guntis (2013). Agrīnā valstiskuma veidošanās problemātika Latvijas teritorijā [The issue of the development
of early statehood in the territory of Latvia]. In: Stradiņš, Jānis (ed. in chief). Latvieši un Latvija [Latvians and Latvia].
Vol. 2: Jundzis, Tālavs; Zemītis Guntis (ed. in chief). Valstiskums Latvijā un Latvijas valsts – izcīnītā un zaudētā
[Statehood in Latvia and the State of Latvia: the achieved and the lost one]. Rīga: Latvijas Zinātņu akadēmija, 13.–
51. lpp. (here – 47. lpp.).
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