| |||||||
| Capital (and largest city) |
Riga | ||||||
| Other cities | Dorpat, Leal, Hapsal, Arensburg, Wolmar, Treiden, Kokenhusen, Piltene, Goldingen, Kokenhusen | ||||||
| Language official |
Latin | ||||||
| others | Low German, Estonian, Latvian, Livonian | ||||||
| Religion | Roman Catholic | ||||||
| Ethnic Group | Baltic, German | ||||||
| Grand Master | Albert von Brandenburg, Walter von Cronberg, Wolfgang Schutzbar | ||||||
Teutonic Knights can be traced to the German crusaders, but their main importance was with the Prussian Crusade and eventually an establishment of their State of the Teutonic Order. At the head of the state was the Grand Master. After a disastrous campaign against Sigismund I of Poland, the nation was cracked to pieces by a Lutheran uprising.
History[]
Formerly Terra Mariana was a name for only a half of the Teutonic States, but when the grandmaster Albert von Brandenburg became Protestant and took Prussia as agreed with Sigismund, only their Livonian lands remained. In 1527 Charles V made clear that Walter von Cronberg would become the new grand master. Officially the order remained in Königsburg. He wanted to prevent the break up of the order, but many took to Protestant beliefs, anyway. After that Wolfgang Schutzbar became the last to rule the lands of Livonia. In 1559 king Christian III of Denmark paid 30,000 thalers to Johann von Münchhausen for the Bishoprics of Ösel-Wiek and Courland, no action was taken and this only undermined Schutzbar's authority. Then in 1560 king Eric XIV of Sweden landed in Reval, the capital of the Duchy of Estonia and again Schutzbar didn't act. Now the Livonian Order had enough, on the Livonian Diet they anonymously voted for the dissolution of the Teutonic State and asked Sigismund II of Poland to become their protector, but many parts had been taken by Denmark and Sweden.