Page 382 - dok_krajums

3 8 0 TUR A I DA 1 3 . – 1 6 . GAD S I MTA DOKUME N TOS
Part IV
Turaida Castle and District in the Duchy of Livonia
1566–1599
In historical literature the collapse of Livonia is associated with the capitulation treaty
(Pacta subjectionis) concluded on 28 November 1561 by which the secularized Livonian branch of
the Teutonic Order came under vassal dependence on the King of Poland–Lithuania. For Turaida
Castle and district political and administrative changes of no lesser importance transpired in De­
cember 1566 when the estates of the Archbishopric of Riga decided on the unification of their land
with Lithuania; in the assembly of the estates of Lithuania in Grodno, on 26 December 1566, King
Sigismund II Augustus signed the certificate of union (Diploma unionis), which promulgated the
secularisation of the Archbishopric of Riga. Turaida became one of the four centres of the province
and the castle was given at the disposal of land court (Nos. 453–455). In 1564–1582, the function
of the land judges of the Duchy of Livonia was assigned to local landowners from the ranks of the
former members of Riga Cathedral Chapter and former vassals of the Archbishop of Riga who acted
under the supervision of the administrator of the Duchy of Livonia Jan Hodkevich who was granted,
in August 1566, the highest civil and military authority in the province. He took over the adminis­
trator’s functions from Gotthard Kettler. Identified information about the work of the land judges is
scarce, but the existing sources testify that in the third quarter of the 16th century the work of courts
followed the earlier traditions (No. 456).
In administrative terms Turaida drew increasingly near to Pärnu (Pernau). As of 1568, the
functions of the starosta of Pärnu and the castellan of Turaida were combined by one man: Baron
Otto von Ungern of Ungurpils (Nos. 457–459), who is mentioned as the castellan of Turaida as late
as 1577 (No. 469). At the end of the century, Turaida became an administrative unit, called sta-
rostwo in Pärnu voivodeship (No. 496).
In the second phase of the Livonian War (1562–1578), Sweden and Russia, as well as Lithuania
and Poland both of which in 1569 united and formed the so-called real Union of Lublin (Rzech­
pospolita) as opposed to the earlier personal union of the two states, all fought to carve up the
Livonian legacy. In the territory of Livonia, until 1577, warfare mostly took the shape of small-scale
raids by Russian, Lithuanian, Polish and Swedish as well as local Livonian units and mercenary
gangs.
In the history of Turaida Castle an important role was played by former noble and reeve of the
Bishopric of Tartu (1550–1560) Eilert (also Eilard/Eilart) Kruse (died in 1587), who co-operated
with the King of Poland–Lithuania and in 1571 received Turaida Castle in tenure (Nos. 463, 464).
During the Livonian War, Kruse joined in diplomatic struggles and facilitated the co-operation be­
tween Duke Magnus, the brother of the King of Denmark and the administrator of the Bishopric of
Saare-Lääne on one part and the Tsar of Muscovy on the other.38 He was granted the title of Baron,
owned Kelle manor and in 1577 wrote a report targeted against the Chronicle of Russow (Nos. 468,
474, 473, 476), but not a single document issued by him in Turaida has been identified. After the
Russian invasion in Northern Estonia, Johann (also Hans/Jan) Biering, Secretary of the adminis­
trator of the Duchy of Livonia Hodkevich, seized Turaida Castle using deceit, believing that Kruse
was going to surrender it to the Russians without a fight. Salomon Henning’s Chronicle describes
38Schiemann, Theodor (1885). Characterköpfe und Sittenbilder aus der baltischen Geschichte des sechszehnten
Jahrhunderts. Hamburg, Mitau: E. Behre’s Verlag, S. 1–30.
TuraidaDokumentos_no 300 IVdb.indd 380 22.07.14 9:58:36