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Part III
Turaida under Duke Christoph of Mecklenburg during
the Collapse of Livonia
1556–1565
The history of Turaida Castle and the last years of the Archbishopric of Riga in general were
closely associated with Duke Christoph of Mecklenburg, the successor or coadjutor of the Arch
bishop of Riga. He arrived in the Archbishopric of Riga at the age of 17 and on the 25
th
November
entered Riga on horseback, escorted by the Archbishop’s vassals. The Archbishop divided with him
the lands that were part of the so-called archbishop’s table, and granted Turaida Castle to the young
duke in tenure, but later more castle districts of the archbishopric came into the latter’s hands.
The Livonian Master refused to accept Christoph as the Archbishop’s successor, because the
appointment of a coadjutor of noble origin violated the agreements reached in Livonian landtags.
Thus the last war between the Order and Archbishop, called the Coadjutors’ Conflict (1556–1557)
broke out. During a brief military clash, the Archbishop of Riga and his coadjutor were captured
in Koknese Castle and the Order quickly occupied the entire territory of the archbishopric. The
Archbishop was taken to Gaujiena (
Adsel
) as a captive and later transferred to Rauna, but the
captured Christoph was first kept in the residence of the Livonian Master von Galen in Cēsis, then
transferred to Turaida where he spent almost a year as the Order’s captive. There, under the super
vision of the Teutonic Brethren, he met the envoys of the King of Denmark and the Duke of Prussia
and exchanged letters with the Dukes of Prussia and Mecklenburg and with the Kings of Denmark
and Poland.
King of Poland Sigismund II Augustus and King of Denmark Christian III demanded the Order
to release their relatives – the Archbishop of Riga and his coadjutor. Their release was achieved
after long negotiations that took place in Lithuanian town Pasvalys and in September 1557 resulted
in an agreement on the restitution of Wilhelm of Brandenburg and Christoph of Mecklenburg to
their respective positions. On the same occasion the Livonian Master signed an additional agree
ment with the King of Poland that later served as a pretext for the Tsar of Muscovy to launch war
on Livonia.
The Livonian War (1558–1583) started with devastating invasions by the Russian troops that
made the Livonians look for allies and sign a protection treaty with the King of Poland and the
Grand Duke of Lithuania. Lithuania became engaged in the Livonian War without delay, but Po
land took its time. Already at the outset of the Livonian War the knighthood and towns of Northern
Estonia surrendered to the King of Sweden. In 1559, the Bishop of Courland and Saare-Lääne sold
both of his bishoprics to the King of Denmark who handed them over in tenure to his brother Duke
Magnus of Holstein (who subsequently also won the titles of the Bishop of Tallinn and even that of
the King of Livonia (Latin:
Divines Gratia Rex Livoniae Dominus
Esthoniae
at
Littiae) 1570–1577).
At that time Turaida was in the hands of Christoph of Mecklenburg and there, in spite of the
dangers of the war, he was visited by his mother, widow of the Duke of Mecklenburg Anna (1507–
1567). She came to Livonia via Klaipeda (
Memel
) in 1559.
35
Both the Archbishop of Riga and the
Duke of Prussia reprimanded her for travelling without her court and without her guardians’ ap
proval, noting that a noble lady’s trip to a foreign land without an escort was an unusual and
35
Bergengrün, Alexander (1898).
Herzog Christoph von Mecklenburg, letzter Koadjutor des Erzbistums Riga. Ein
Beitrag zur livländischen und mecklenburgischen Geschichte
. Reval, Verlag von Franz Kluge, S. 3, 118.
TuraidaDokumentos_no 300 IVdb.indd 377
22.07.14 9:58:35