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3 6 8 TUR A I DA 1 3 . – 1 6 . GAD S I MTA DOKUME N TOS
Part II
Turaida Stone Castle: Administrative and Judicial Centre
in the Archbishopric of Riga
Chapter 1
The reflections of the struggle between the Archbishop of Riga and the Livonian
Master in Turaida and the papal curia in the second half of the 13th century and
in the 14th century
Albert Suerbeer (in office 1253–1273) was the first Archbishop of Riga. He was granted the title
of the Archbishop of Prussia, Livonia and Estonia in 1246 when there was still a Bishop of Riga in
office.25 After the death of Bishop Nicholas of Riga in 1253, Riga became the metropolis of arch­
bishop and in 1255 the Pope of Rome approved of its status, declaring that henceforth the entire
ecclesiastic province and its archbishop should carry the title of Riga. The first archbishop of Riga
functioned as the pope’s apostolic legate not only in his own archbishopric, but also in Gotland, RÖ­
gen, Holstein and Russia.26 All the bishoprics of Livonia and Prussia were subject to his ecclesiastic
authority. However, in Lithuania, where King Mindaugas had accepted Christianity in 1251, his
authority was not supported: on pope’s command Bishop Christian of Lithuania revoked his suffra­
gan’s oath to the Archbishop of Riga since the Bishop of Lithuania was declared to be subordinated
directly to the pope.27
The territory of the Archbishopric of Riga, same as that of the other bishoprics of Livonia, be­
came stable by the end of the 13th century and from then on for almost three centuries the Arch­
bishop together with his Cathedral Chapter governed the approximately 400 km2 large territory of
the Archbishopric of Riga as its secular and ecclesiastical lord; at the same time the Archbishop
was the ecclesiastical lord of the Ecclesiastical Province of Riga, which included seven bishoprics in
Livonia and Prussia. The Archbishop’s field of ecclesiastical competence included consecration of
churches, ordination of priests, adoption of canon law, litigation of ecclesiastical disputes, supervi­
sion of bishoprics and priests of Riga Ecclesiastical Province, collection of ecclesiastical taxes and
management of church property as well as the founding, transformation and abolition of the lowest
ecclesiastical offices. As a secular lord he had the right to manage the land reserves, found towns,
mint money etc. The relations between the first Archbishop of Riga and his successors with the
Teutonic Order in Prussia and Livonia were fraught with conflicts that at times escalated even to
the capturing of the Archbishop and seizure of his castles by the Order as well as warfare.
Turaida was the administrative and judicial centre of the Liv-inhabited part of the Archbishop­
ric of Riga and the seat of the reeve of Turaida. The period from the late 13th century to the middle
of the 14th century is regarded as a separate phase in the construction history of the stone castle
as this period saw the expansion of the castle. On the eastern side of the yard there begun the con­
struction of a building consisting of a large hall, a semi-basement, a hot-air stove, dwelling prem­
ises and a chapel on the second floor. Stone staircase on the side of the yard led to a timber gallery
on the second floor level – it was a guards’ passageway from which one could enter the building. To
25Goetze, Peter von (1854). Alberts Suerbeer, Erzbischof von Preussen, Livland und Ehstland: geschichtliche Darstellung.
St. Petersburg: Buchhandlung von W. Gräff, nr. II, S. 170.
26Goetze, Peter von (1854), No. XII, S. 188.
27LUB I, No. 272.
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