SALOMON HENNING'S CHRONICLE
OF
COURLAND AND LIVONIA
translated and edited by
Jerry C. Smith, William Urban and Ward Jones
Wisconsin Baltic Studies, 3
Valdis Zeps, editor
Baltic Studies Center 1992
A Chronicle
of
LIVONIA AND COURLAND
for the years 1554 to 1590 A.D.
An account of memorable events
of the long Muscovite and other wars,
of the far-reaching changes in the government
and social organization of Livonia,
and of the reign of the last Master
and first Duke of Courland and Semgallia in Livonia
authored
by
SALOMON HENNING
of
Vina,
ducal counsellor in Courland and pastoral inspector
With a Preface
by
David Chytraeus
Cum Privilegio
Printed in Leipzig
in the year 1594 A.D.
[Ia] To the illustrious, noble-born princes and lords, Lord Friedrich (Friderich) and
Lord Wilhelm, dukes of Courland (Curland) Semgallia (Semigallen), etc., my gracious
lords:
The eternal, divine majesty, sovereign of all kings and princes, with particular forethought and
great wisdom did Himself ordain and establish secular government, exalting the sovereigns of
kingdoms and principalities far above other men so that they might be representatives and proxies for
God, the ultimate liege lord, and so that they might in true knowledge of, and devotion to, God and our
Savior Jesus Christ serve as the divine instruments of wisdom, justice and other virtues. Just as the
beautiful order of nature - the course of the stars and of heaven, the light of the sun, year and day,
summer and winter - is God's work and creation, so too is the social order in accord with divine law,
whereby certain individuals rule their subjects as sovereigns and lords according to divine and other
sensible custom, so that these subjects may lead honorable and upright lives. The rulers also protect and
assist the pious and punish the disobedient and evil and thus preserve the general peace. God Himself
ordained this so that men might recognize and revere God's wisdom, kindness, and justice in laws and
judgments - protection of the pious and punishment of the wicked - and so that in peace and tranquility
the true doctrine of God and of our Savior Jesus Christ might be widely propagated among human
societies, so that many people might be brought to true knowledge of God, and so that an eternal church
on earth might be established and preserved for God.
Just as the laws (which distinguish between good and evil) and the courts and judgments give
clear witness to God's wisdom and justice, likewise is witness given to God's presence in secular
governments by the fact that the beloved rulers and a few true sovereigns are preserved and protected
[Ib] in a manner miraculous and beyond human hope in the midst of so many of the devil's destructive,
evil and raging deeds and those of his minions and tyrants who attempt to devastate and overthrow
everything. Everyone who knows anything of government and who observes the great changes
occurring in the world must acknowledge and confess that secular rule is filled with miraculous and
divine acts which give open testimony that God preserves the state, sometimes in prosperity and peace,
sometimes in scarcity and unrest, just as in one year the earth is more fruitful than in others.
In states too some times are more tumultuous than others on account of the previously
accumulated transgressions of the rulers and subjects. Ezechial, for example, did not have victories as
magnificent as David and yet nonetheless God rendered him miraculous assistance, even though the
enemies wrought great devastation throughout the entire country.
God entrusts His church to such God-fearing sovereigns, for they are the especially blessed
instruments of God through which He restores the piteous lands, graciously heals the great devastation
and restores and propagates public morals, justice, punishment of vice, fear of punishment, love of
virtue, the church, correct dogma and other essential and beneficial gifts of the Almighty. As is written
in Ecclesiasticus, "The power of the earth is in the hand of the Lord and in due time he will set over it
one that is profitable."1 Whether this ruler succeeds is likewise in God's hand.
Just such a god-fearing, capable and laudable sovereign was the illustrious and esteemed prince
and lord, Gotthard (Gothardt), Duke of Courland and Semgallia in Livonia of blessed memory. He was
a special divine blessing through whom God graciously healed the enormous disorder and dreadful
destruction and devastation which had been brought about through the many sins of the past. Through
him God sought to restore the provinces after such long travails and to re-establish the fallen social
order, true religion, public morals and justice. God Himself specifically summoned him to be the
Instrument of His Glory. [IIa] He faithfully aided him in arriving at a true understanding of his mission
and helped him and his subjects achieve nobility of purpose, justice and a blessed sense of obedience.
He endowed him with great intelligence, wisdom, generosity, kindness, a sense of justice and other
virtues befitting a sovereign. He graciously stood by him, led him through dangers and perils which
defy human comprehension and brought his undertakings and deeds to happy conclusion.
When the arch beset the neighboring provinces of the Transdüna (überdünisch) year after year
with constant attack, plundering, arson and murder and when King Stephen besieged Danzig (Dantzig),
about to completely swallow it up, having already seized all the other cities and castles, the pious and
esteemed prince was in a state of great dread, anxiety and alarm. And yet, through the special grace and
providence of a kind God, his majesty's land was protected from the devastation and destruction of the
Muscovite, not through the sword and the bow, but rather through the vigilance of God and His holy
angels. This was done so that the church of God might find safe refuge in the bosom of his majesty's
domain - a church which his majesty restored and tended like a beautiful garden and divine paradise
wherein the young flowers of heaven might truly know, acknowledge and praise God.
Let us rejoice in the many obvious examples of divine presence, protection and grace during
this pious and esteemed sovereign's difficult and often perilous reign and not only pay honor to the
memory of this Christian and blessed sovereign, but also render thanks from our heart and soul to our
Lord God who in a special act of grace chose him for the succor and salvation of wretched Livonia and
of other downcast peoples, preserving him miraculously beyond all human hope. Let us spread the
news of this extraordinary act of God among many people and also leave record of it for future
generations, for God Himself commands in the Psalms: "This shall be written for the generation to
come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the lord."2
Indeed this blessed and laudable prince's entire life was a mirror and model of all Christian and
princely virtues, a life in which there shone a true knowledge and trust of God and of our Savior Jesus
Christ; a true reverence of God; good faith and steadfastness toward God and man; and a proper
obedience to God. He not only sought to rule and guide his subjects in true awareness of God, but
rather made his own self his starting point, having diligently heard, read, pondered and accepted in faith
the pure doctrine of the Gospels. Through them the Holy Spirit guided him and brought him to a true
knowledge and trust of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, and comforted, preserved and strengthened him
in the midst of so many great dangers, perils and trials of war. Thus was he able with joyous heart and
mind to place his trust in God's presence, grace and protection and to rely on God in times of setback
and defeat in the expectant hope of gracious succor and aid. For without this divine assistance it would
have been impossible for his majesty to have survived the unbearably great attacks, dangers and perils
and to have endured all in faith and patience. How often have the hearts of great and splendid princes in
similar circumstances either renounced God altogether (as Pompey said to Cratippo after a lost battle:
things fall out wily-wily and there is no divine plan) or fall into despair and blasphemy of God (Saul,
whom we mentioned above, after he had been defeated by the Philistines and disenthroned, said that
God had disavowed him for all time.)
But David, Jonathan and this pious prince in Courland realized that the power of the earth is in
the hand of God, which He gives to whomever He chooses and they knew that they owed obedience to
God even if He occasionally beset them sorely, for as Peter says: "Humble yourself therefore under the
mighty hand of God"3 which has the almighty power not only to punish and cast down but also to save
and exalt. Paul says: "The peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and
minds through Jesus Christ."4
Yet the unthinking, intoxicated, comfortable world does not understand how difficult it is to
preserve this faith, humility, patience and peace of heart toward God through such travail. Yet David
composed his most spiritual and consoling psalms under just such circumstances during the very period
when he was being persecuted and beset by Saul for ten whole years, often attacked by other
neighboring enemies and finally driven out of his own home and kingdom by his very own son.
[IIIa] The difficult and often dangerous reign of this pious and laudable prince in Courland is an
everlasting instruction in Christian faith, trust and patience and this lord's court was a true church
wherein the word of God was daily read, heard and pondered, where God was worshipped with prayer
and thanksgiving, and where all Christian virtues were practiced.
It is this splendid, blessed, supreme worship which your majesties now propagate throughout
your entire land, not only for yourselves, but for your subjects, for your majesties know that God placed
you in this authority and that rule is entrusted in a sovereign through His Word and Will so that the
sovereign might make wide the gate in his lands for the entrance of the King of Glory, who shall live
and be present in him and his subjects through His Word, Sacrament and Holy Spirit. He shall make
them his dearly beloved children and heirs, indeed co-heirs with our Lord Jesus Christ. This has all
come about so that your majesties, acting in God's stead, might preserve the people in knowledge of
God, virtue and peace - a peace which is not to be used to insure a frivolous and complacent way of life,
one given over to indecent joys and sinful lusts, but rather lead to an improvement of the churches and
secular government.
His majesty, as soon as God granted some peaceful times and respite from the long and difficult
wars, turned all his efforts toward laudable reforms and improvements of the churches and schools as
evidenced by his published pastoral instructions which direct that the pure doctrine of the Gospels be
preached in the churches, that false doctrines and idolatrous worship be forbidden and abolished, and
that the Gospels, Cathecism, Lutheran exegesis, the Psalms and other hymns be translated into the
vernacular for the benefit of your non-german subjects.
He had superintendents proficient in both languages and other capable men visit all churches
during a general inspection, implement the pastoral instructions according to the needs of each locality,
inquire as to the doctrine and behavior of the pastors and congregations, admonish the people to listen
attentively to the word of God and to memorize the cathecism, restore the old disused parish churches
and increase their revenues, and, since the churches are too far apart, have new ones built. His majesty
endowed these out of his own treasury and provided for all necessary and legitimate needs. He most
diligently implemented this and whatever else was recommended by the inspectors.
His majesty commanded, subsequently, that a certain locality in the country be inspected each
year by the supervisors of the pastoral reform and several times he himself was present during the
examination of the non-German populace. He presented those who had memorized their cathecism and
hymns with money, cloth for clothes and the like to reward their diligence and to encourage others.
The pious Christian prince had begun reforms of the churches and schools even before your
majesties began your reign after the great changes in governance in Livonia. Long ago, before anyone
had any premonition of the attack of the Muscovite tyrant, while the Order5 still flourished and
exercised authority, he made diligent efforts to improve the churches and schools under the control of
the Order. (This was something with which previous masters had little concerned themselves.) Some
thirty years ago, for example, when he was the master's6 envoy to Lübeck and castellan at Dünaburg, he
made contact with me through his deputy, the noble, honorable, most capable Sir George von Syborg,
at the time castellan at Riga, now ducal Jülich counsellor and captain at Blankenstein. As soon as the
difficulties with the archbishop which were occurring at that time should be resolved,7 he had intended
to urge the master and the commanders of the Order to establish a good school or gymnasium at Pernau
(Parnaw). Along with rhetoric and foreign languages, the cathecism and Christian doctrine were to be
taught and instruction given to the non-German Estonian, Lettish and Courish children in the Latin
language and in the Christian doctrine so that they might be prepared for the ministry. I was to have
served as rector of this school.8
As everyone knows, the dreadful Muscovite war began shortly 9after the castellan's return to
Livonia. [IVa] God began to punish the entire country for the earlier multitude of sins of the rulers and
subjects and the enemy everywhere enjoyed surprising and unexpected success and yet in spite of
everything the commander showed himself to be undaunted, of good cheer and skilled in the ways of
war. Considering the extreme danger and peril confronting the country and the fact that the most
important bulwarks of the country, Narva (Nerva), Dorpat (Derbt) and others had been lost and all
supplies exhausted, the old master Wilhelm von Fürstenberg resigned his office and the entire order
chose from among its members none other than this man to be their supreme lord and master of the
order. It was he who constantly exhibited diligence, prudence and steadfastness to the highest degree
humanly possible and unceasingly sought aid and rescue from his supreme lord, the emperor and the
Holy Roman Empire and from other neighboring kings. He also pawned several important castles and
districts of the Order in order to gain the aid of neighboring potentates in an effort to keep the country
within the Roman Empire.
But he was abandoned by those from whom he had the most right to expect assistance. In Judea,
after King Nebuchadnezzar had conquered Jerusalem and led the most prominent citizens into captivity
in Babylon, those remaining in the country, Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, Johann, son of Careah, and
Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, began new feuds and wars among themselves.10 So it was also in Livonia:
the dreadful arch had conquered the most important castles and cities along the border, led countless
people away to captivity in Moscow and advanced farther day by day and yet some rebellious
inhabitants renounced their proper sovereign, the master, and allied themselves with another, one who
later had the Muscovite proclaim him King of Livonia. On the other side King Eric of Sweden had
occupied the city of Reval (Revel) and the surrounding district. Nothing whatsoever came of the
hoped-for aid from the Holy Roman Empire. And the King of Poland was reluctant to become further
involved for the sake of the pawned castles, some of which the Muscovite had captured, unless the
remaining provinces placed themselves completely under his royal protection.
The extreme, pressing, irresistible peril forced his majesty to come to terms with the Crown of
Poland for the sake of security. Thanks to the grace and favor of God things went well as long as his
majesty governed [IVb] the remaining provinces on behalf of the Crown of Poland. Relative peace and
tranquillity prevailed in those provinces and the city of Pernau and others were reconquered.
Later some in Transdüna rebelled, like Rehum, Shimsai and Sanballat and desired their own
governor.11 This new governor left the country as soon as the Muscovite invaded in force and
abandoned the poor subjects in their peril and panic and let the Muscovite dreadfully murder them or
lead them away into perpetual captivity.
However, these worldly events, the Muscovite, Polish and Swedish wars in Livonia and the
piteous devastation of the country have been described in detail in other long-since published histories12
and so I for my part shall dwell no further on these matters. I rather wish to continue my account of the
piety and other laudable and princely virtues of this pious and Christian prince of Courland.
During that Christian reign his majesty not only exhorted his subjects to observe the proper,
god-ordained form of worship by means of his princely edicts and through the instruction of capable
preachers, but rather also through his own example and that of his blessed, royal spouse inspired them
and caused them to love and revere the holy ministry. As is written in Psalms, the best and most blessed
state is where "the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the Lord."13 And in Psalms
47: "The princes of the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of Abraham; for the
shields of the earth belong unto God: he is greatly exalted."14 When Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah and Josiah
ruled, the people had true religion, divine protection and justice and they saw how the wondrous works
of God miraculously preserved these rulers from their enemies and brought protection and peace. It was
a great glory to God that the rulers were so pious, since the people came to know God and they saw that
God bestowed great blessings upon them on account of their god-fearing rulers and they praised these
gifts with thanksgiving. So too did God cover and protect with the shadow of His hand this haven for
his church: Courland and Semgallia under the rule of the pious prince.
[Va] This prince was also wise in his conduct of the secular government, chancellery and justice
system of his country. He himself, as far as was possible, heard the subjects and the most important
cases. (Just as now his majesty's son, Duke Friedrich, follows his father's example and presides in
person at the high court of justice.) He also on occasion pronounced strict punishments and yet he
always tempered the severity of the law with mercy and kindness in keeping with Proverbs: "Mercy and
truth preserve the king and his throne is upholden by mercy."15
Just as in God Himself mercy and compassion shine brighter than all the other divine virtues (it
is written that mercy prevails over justice and that the Lord's compassion transcends all his other
works), so too in the case of the pious and godly princes who are God's deputies and (as Psalms calls
them) gods on earth, administering divine decrees in God's stead, do mercy and kindness always
achieve more in bringing the people to a knowledge of God, preserving peace and public morals,
establishing justice, protecting the pious and punishing the evil-doers, than does application of the strict
letter of the law.
These are the good examples of God's law which the secular powers should set for their
subjects, so that they might conduct themselves accordingly: to work untiringly in government, justice
and war; to hear issues and either be reconciled or set matters aright; to protect widows and orphans; to
severely punish evil-doers; to valiantly fight for the Christian religion and the fatherland; to revere the
proper worship, that most pleasing to God and much greater and more holy than ostentatious ceremony.
If this is done then true knowledge and devotion to Christ will shine forth from your heart and God
shall be merciful to you for the sake of His Son and you shall faithfully execute the duties of your
position to the glory of God and in the service of justice.
This pious prince conducted the tasks of government which God set before him in just this
fashion, following the light of his faith, to which also belonged trust in God, great diligence, effort and
patience. Certainly one might have preferred to lead the peaceful, easy, idle life of a monk - regardless
of how strict the order might be - than that of a prince, warrior and head of family!
[Vb] But this laudable and highly intelligent prince knew that true service to God is something
ordained by Him and assigned to each according to his own office; that God has placed all manner of
obligations on mankind so that in human communities knowledge of God might shine forth; and that
God desires that we practice belief in Him and love of justice through our deeds. This laudable prince
followed the example of Ezra and the people of Israel who, having returned from Babylon, built the
temple in Jerusalem with one hand while warding off their hostile neighbors, Sanaballath, Reum and
Simsai, with the other. This prince, especially at the beginning of his reign, both governed the country
and either waged war or was in a constant state of readiness to respond to attacks. He gave evidence of
his faith and of the fact that he was committed to the preservation of correct Christian doctrine and
knowledge of the Savior Christ and to the protection of his subjects, of peace and of all virtuous women
and children and that he was ready to risk his own life in confrontation with the enemy out of love and
devotion to God and to justice. During this time of unremitting danger he earnestly prayed to God and
gave strength and inspiration to others through his faith and prayers, just as other Christian warriors like
SS. Mauritius, Attalus (Astericus) and Cornelius (even those serving under non-Christian emperors)
and many Christian kings and princes like Constantine, Theodosius, Charlemagne and Otto, called
upon God during times of war and waged their battles in order to preserve and spread true knowledge
of Christ.
Our Lord God also assigned to his majesty as loyal assistants bold, upstanding and loyal
counsellors who loved truth and peace, and also some experienced men who were able to serve him
with advice and deeds - men who helped his majesty bear the heavy and difficult burden of
government, both during times of peace and of war.
In his will his majesty also commended to the laudable young sovereigns and to their mother,
his illustrious and highborn princess, old, experienced, capable and esteemed counsellors, respected
men of the nobility such as the sirs Wilhelm von Erfferd (burgrave), Gerard Nolde of Hasenpoten,
George Vivir (castellan at Goldingen), George von Tiesenhausen (chancellor), Berthold Butler
(general), Salomon Henning, Christian Schröder, etc. These men also [VIa] faithfully shared the burden
of government with him during his lifetime and were loved and honored by him as brothers. His
majesty always conducted himself toward all servants and subjects like a kind, well-meaning, friendly
and good-hearted father, rather than like a severe and cruel master. He demonstrated this with his
words, deeds and many acts of kindness.
Plato says that the best way to govern people is not to command and order, but rather to let
them see that the ruler himself does that which he expects and requires of them and makes manifest in
his life, deeds and conduct.
Just so did this pious prince serve as a shining example of all virtues for his family, household
and entire country. He diligently heard, read, pondered and accepted in faith the divine teachings. He
earnestly and daily prayed to God and exercised all virtues in the true light of faith. He was truly and
completely loyal and obedient to his king, kind and gracious to his subjects, patient and diligent in all
aspects of government, and modest, circumspect and temperate in his private life. He loved honor and
good breeding. He honored as a Christian his marriage to the illustrious, highborn princess, Lady Anna,
born duchess of Mecklenburg, etc.
God graciously and especially blessed the pious and Christian prince and his people and country
with this devout, intelligent and praiseworthy princess, who was a true helpmate, comfort and crown of
honor for her lord and husband and who was and still is the generous benefactor of the church and the
poor, mother to the subjects and the country in general. Like the beautiful and charming saying of
Ecclesiasticus: "The sun when it appeareth, declaring at his rising a marvelous instrument, the work of
the Most High,"16 so too is this Christian and capable princess a marvelous instrument throughout her
entire principality, and not only a crowning glory for her beloved lord and husband, but for her entire
country. She sincerely loved her beloved and pious lord and husband as her greatest possession and
treasure on earth. Her conduct toward him was unfailingly filled with loving and humble respect and
affection. She had eyes for him alone. She looked to him for all peace and joy. She happily and
steadfastly provided him with all that was dear and pleasing to him. When the prince [VIb] was
exhausted by the affairs of state or when he was downcast and depressed by these and other matters and
concerns, she brought him out of his melancholy and refreshed him with sweet and charming
conversation. Her dearest and happiest thoughts lay in him. It was of him she liked best to speak. Along
with all this went her concern for her lord's health. She often gave evidence of this and never spared
effort or travail in assuring her lord's well-being. When conflicting reports influenced him or led him
astray, the princess, like the sensible Abigail, or Placilla, wife of the great Theodosius, or Pulcheria,
wife of Emperor Martian, respectfully and humbly reminded her lord and husband at some appropriate
time of what was most beneficial to the glory of God, the flourishing of the church and peace, and unity
among the country's estates. She was devoted to her own subjects and to those of her young lords and
sons like the mother of the entire country. Now as well these subjects revere her kindness: she helps the
churches and schools, gives generously to the poor and is a splendid treasure house of many virtues,
which the everlasting Son of God, the shining sun of justice and the fountain and wellhead of all
wisdom and virtue ignited in her majesty's heart and caused to shine forth to illuminate His divine glory
and to comfort and benefit many other people. May God in His divine pleasure graciously preserve this
praiseworthy princess for a long time to come for the sake of her young lords, her daughters and her
subjects. May His divine light forever guide and keep her to the honor of God and the well-being of
many people and of the entire country.
In company with this laudable princess the pious and Christian prince educated the young
masters and the daughters in all the virtues and in a true knowledge of and devotion to God and Lord
Jesus. They improved the condition of the churches and schools in the entire land. Shortly before his
demise he had the beautiful palace church at Mitau restored and at its dedication, after a Christian
sermon was given in German, he had the young lord Duke Friedrich deliver an oration in Latin. This
was a source of special joy and pleasure for the old father, the praiseworthy and pious prince, and for
the lady mother. [VIIa] In a word, this lord's entire life was a model and mirror of all piety and princely
virtues.
This pious Christian life ended in a blessed Christian death, one reminiscent of what has been
written of the demise of King Christian III of Denmark. During his illness his majesty was daily
soothed by his Christian faith and joyfully comforted and refreshed by God's promises. He commended
his soul to Lord Christ. It was clear that God Himself, through His Son and the Holy Spirit, instilled
eternal joy in this soul and that this lord, Duke Gotthard, is to be counted among those of whom it is
written, "they are blessed who die in the Lord" and "he who remains steadfast unto death shall be
blessed." This lord's life and death is a model from which we should learn both virtue in life and
blessed departure from this vale of tears.
Since your majesties' father gave witness to divine grace in his life and death, we should all find
strength in his faith. Your majesties, especially now that you have been appointed by God to assume
your father's ducal government, should be heirs and successors not only to his land and subjects, but
also to his Christian piety and other princely virtues. I also hope that this unadorned and brief account
of the Christian virtues which shone in your majesties' father will be a pleasant and fitting guide and
example for your majesties. You have indeed observed, treasured and honored these virtues in praise of
God and out of respect for your father and you have followed his example in your own government by
praying to God and placing your trust in Him and therefore have every reason to expect divine support
and guidance.
God Himself commands in Psalms 78: "I will utter dark sayings of old: which we have heard
and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the
generation to come the praise of the Lord and his wonderful works that he hath done."17 [VIIb]
Doubtlessly it will be pleasing and profitable to your majesties, to all intelligent and pious people and to
future generation that the following chronicle clearly records and recollects details of the astonishing
and great transformations which took place during the reign of your father of laudable and kind
Christian memory; and of the obvious, clear and splendid signs of divine providence and presence, both
in the dreadful and great destruction which punished the country and in the way in which your
majesties' father was protected and preserved in the midst of so many and varied difficulties, burdens of
war and other all but unbearable travails. Your majesties and future generations in this and other
countries can read this chronicle and have constantly before you, as in a mirror, examples of God's
severe and unrelenting anger toward sin, an anger made manifest in the great punishments which befell
this country. Reading it will awaken and strengthen in you an humble turning toward God and a proper
fear of God, which recoils from sin out of fear of His anger, which in childlike awe of His wrath and
justice avoids sin, and which with true humility is obedient to God and all His commandments.
Both the miraculous preservation of your majesties' father and of his land and people and the
healing of the country's distress was not, contrary to appearances, something which was accomplished
suddenly and easily. One must acknowledge that the ultimate salvation was God's fatherly grace, mercy
and kindness, a God who heard your majesties' father and others when they fervently called upon Him
in time of indescribably great danger and peril and who placed their trust in His divine kindness and aid
in true faith, patience and hope. He protected them and finally rescued them from all peril.
Just as the holy and most laudable King David, anticipating the teaching of the Holy Cross, for
many years placed his hope of salvation in God, giving an example to others and urging them to seek
comfort in God (Psalms 34: "This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his
troubles."18), so too your majesties and others have an example in your father, who trusted in God,
relied upon Him and who in return was miraculously preserved and protected by Him. In thanks to God
for this kindness [VIIIa] he restored the true doctrine of God and of our Savior Jesus Christ and the
proper, God-ordained, blessed form of worship and to ensure that these things would be preserved for
future generations, he wrote and published Christian pastoral instructions and instituted constant
supervision and yearly inspections. He himself set a shining example of piety, devotion, patience and
other Christian virtues for his subjects.
Doubtlessly your majesties will daily look into the mirror of virtues which was your father and
follow his example, steadfastly upholding all that he did in praise and gratitude to God and diligently
administering those laudable and Christian ecclesiastical reforms he began, governing just as he did,
with propriety, kindness and wisdom, in the service of public peace, morals and justice.
Inaccurate rumors have been spread about in this country and in others regarding the change of
government in Livonia. The following clear account of all the events which took place during this time
makes it evident that the changes in the country and its organization came about not out of scheming
self-interest, but were rather forced upon the country and were undertaken out of pressing and
unavoidable necessity. Had this not been done and were it not for the grace of God alone, the true
Christian religion, German freedom and the inhabitants themselves of this poor, forsaken province
would have perished. They would have been oppressed, eradicated and swallowed by the Muscovite
tyrant.
Therefore all intelligent people would do well to admire the diligence and honesty of the noble
and most honorable Salomon Henning, senior servant and counsellor of the esteemed ducal house of
Courland, and to praise him for giving an accurate account of events in Livonia from 1554 to the
present, most of which he was either directly involved in or witness to. He writes neither to flatter nor
defame, but rather follows truth alone to the best of his knowledge. He has faithfully collected, recorded
and published this chronicle of the major events from the above-mentioned year (and of some earlier
events) [VIIIb] to the Christian demise of his blessed lord, Duke Gotthard of Courland and the
coronation of King Sigismund III of Poland.
I was asked to prepare a preface for the chronicle and have thus respectfully written this essay in
praise of the illustrious and laudable prince and lord Gotthard, Duke of Courland and Semgallia in
Livonia, in honor of the fame and memory of your majesties' father. I most respectfully dedicate it to
your majesties, who are not only heir to your father's country and subjects, but also to his Christian and
princely virtues. I hope there is nothing here which might displease you.
Since all virtues and all laudable Christian sovereigns are gifts from God, I give ultimate thanks
to the Almighty, the Father of our Savior Jesus Christ, for graciously granting poor threatened Livonia
this praiseworthy and pious prince during the recent perilous times. ("The power of the earth is in the
hand of God and in due time he will set over it one who is profitable.")19 God, working through this
duke's piety, great intelligence, wisdom and goodness, graciously soothed the country's great travail,
resurrected the greater part of Livonia and restored the collapsed social order, true faith, public morals
and justice. I beseech God from my heart that He also grant henceforth peace, pious and God-pleasing
governments, and sustenance to your majesties' country and to others; that He graciously allow your
majesties to rule with the blessed guidance and support of His Holy Spirit; that your majesties might
long champion your country and people to the benefit of the Christian churches and your subjects,
following the laudable example of your father; and that you live eternally in God, praising and exalting
Him. Amen. Dated, Whitsuntide, 1590, in the city and university of Rostock,20 in the province of Duke
Ulrich of Mecklenburg (Meckelnburg), your dearest mother's brother.
Your majesties'
Most obedient,
David Chrytaeus21
To the Most Illustrious
PRINCES AND LORDS
Lord Friedrich and His Brother Lord Wilhelm
Dukes and Lords Most Merciful in
Livonia, Courland and Semgallia, etc.
Greetings.
It is a form of devotion pleasing to God that children mirror the virtue of their parents and pursue
honorable deeds. You, being like your father, you, most illustrious hearts, brothers, you, hearts dear to
the highest God, approve my memorial which I present, of the praiseworthy deeds of your father, a
memorial which is also going to be a source of praise for you and yours. Felicitous brothers, you,
renowned lights of your native land, be like your father, be Godlike (as you are).22
Most illustrious
Highnesses, farewell and farewell
Your most obedient,
Johann Frederi23
To the Memory
of the Most Illustrious and Best
Prince and Lord,
Lord Gotthard
Duke in Livonia, Courland, Semgallia, etc.,
Who was piously and peacefully called
from this life on May 17,
in the year 1587.
Piety will preserve the name and fame and glory of Prince Gotthard, who is resplendent with
the eternal praise of his virtues, since indeed he, gleaming with illustrious benevolence and good faith
and renowned in the gifts of the mind and of war and peace, through divine dispensation fell to the lot
of our age.24 With him as leader, God mercifully mollified in Livonian territory the many evils, which,
while the Muscovite enemy thundered, heaped up public losses in a time that resounded with woe. This
best prince, diminishing these losses, with great danger, in mighty disturbances, in grim wars, restored
the Maenalian world25 which was shaken by varying disaster and renewed the disturbed situation and
the honor of our common life - loving the word, by which we approach the stars, and learning, by
which, since it is alive, life is fostered, and Themis, who gleams more beautifully than a beautiful star.
Therefore, prince Gotthard, the model of a good prince, worthy of a poem which will live,
rightly deserves a eulogy, since he may be properly called the memorable gift and, through his
illustrious deeds, the illustrious instrument of God. His highest praise was to know the highest parent
and to behold the peoples subject to himself in peace and to adorn them with good works than which
nothing is better for the world; that is, to establish churches, to foster schools, to nurture those who
need nurturing and to destroy blasphemous religious worships like that of Achasides,26 so that the
genuine knowledge of God, which alone offers salvation, might instruct minds and bless hearts so that
prayers directed to the true divinity might rule hearts and tongues27 and so that the sweet reputation of
good morals and the brightness of justice and the modesty of the righteous life might grow and flourish
both in his own mind and in his scepter, for all citizens and for the nations bound to him by oath. This
is greater praise, this is greater glory than the capture of Troy for a leader, for whom all the others
adornments of mind have produced at the same time the favor of kings, nobles, and people: a varied
experience with affairs, holy wisdom breathing its balsamy odor, a humane clemency worthy of a
prince, a comeliness and august gravity without disdain, and a constancy standing firm against a
thousand misfortunes. Turning aside a harsher fate and conquering by enduring, he was brave enough
to pour out his sweet life for his country if the situation should so demand: but when Christ is the
leader of a people, they are safe in the midst of arms. As a result of his life and rule piety, laws and
learning, schools and the blessings of fortune await and adorn his descendants.
True is the honor, true is the praise, of the leader who offers such things. The highest rewards
await such a leader in highest heaven. Often also on earth his glory follows the righteous and offspring
enjoy the Piety and Faith of a parent.
God knows a thousand ways and a thousand methods and arts of helping. Hence also was the
marriage of Prince Gotthard increased. By this marriage he joined to himself a heroine who was
provided with an excellent dowry, and he declared her to be his own. She truly most beautiful in
appearance and most excellent of mind, Anna, descendant of the royal dukes of Mecklenburg, produced
both daughters and sons. The excellent glory of these consoles and restores their widowed parent.
The brothers Pollux and Castor are bright stars on Olympus; the lords of the earth are the stars
of the world. Thus the renowned Friedrich gleams in his father's world along with his brother Wilhelm.
The Arts of Pallas and the love of Piety and the seemly charm of the Graces joined these brothers to
themselves from a tender age. So, therefore, Gotthard left behind for God by divine gift, worshippers
and good princes and lovers of peace - Gotthard whom peacefully, whom piously gentle fates bore
away where the well established Castle of Mitau gleams brightly.
To depend upon God alone and to firmly embrace Christ as the rock of salvation is the safest
virtue and the true life: here the road cannot deceive anyone. Hence let us rejoice that Duke Gotthard
gleams more brightly than the eastern light (Christ was his one hope and breath of salvation and God
was his firm rock and the one life of his life; thus in the case of this man who trusted in God alone and
strongly clung to him, his name was quite properly also an omen.28) among the heavenly princes and
blessed kings and that his pious sons flourish in their father's territory and are heirs of their father's
virtue.
Let mutual concord make strong magnanimous brothers. Let true faith and heroic success
encompass them, so that these ages may see that the descendants of Prince Gotthard have been
increased by a long line and so that future ages may sing of them.
The ornaments and virtues of good leaders are worthy to be sung so that the present age may
think about them and posterity may know them. God is the greatest prince of the world and the duke of
dukes, and the king of kings. Let us vie with one another in offering prayers that He will give to the
people princes worthy of affection. He establishes scepters when He wishes; He changes them and as
the just claimer of lands, takes them away. He likewise protects excellent leaders and kingly heroines
and He helps and strengthens the offspring of pious heroes. Thus Friedrich, most illustrious leader,
presented as a successor to your father, you hold the renowned scepters of state and you continue the
gifts of your father with praise. May your most excellent mother Anna, rejoicing that you are such,
rejoice in her joys through Sybiline years. To her Piety is a concern and all things worthy of a hero.
She was praised previously; by no means will she ever be praised sufficiently.
A wise and learned circle of noble men29 in our country is proving itself to be faithful to your
father, our country30 and you, standing at your side and advising most correct courses of action. May
they be prosperous while they are faithful both to our country and you.
O fortunate the leaders to whom the best things are dear, who join to themselves best hearts
surrendered to Christ. They are men to whom eloquence, Themis and prudence are sources of praise.
May the omnipotent ruler of the lands and the supreme leader who, being the greatest, governs
with eternal majesty, who sees to it that at the end of the world heroes will be present for those who are
dying, some to some, others to others, whose gift is heroic prosperity, prosper in good health you,
Prince Friedrich, you endowed with gifts of mind and body together with your country and your entire
household and your dear relatives and may He direct you in good fortune.
VIRTUE LIVES AFTER THE GRAVE
[1a] PART ONE
The major events of the years 1554 to 1562,
during the princely reign of
the last Master of the Order in Livonia
and first Duke of Courland
No one is unaware of the fact that the Muscovite31 has constantly and from the very beginning
been an archenemy of these Livonian provinces as well as of all Christendom.32 Thus the inhabitants of
this humble land have been in a constant state of war with that barbaric and monstrous foe ever since
the time when they first conquered, settled and christianized the country. Now and then both sides
exhausted themselves and concluded armistices in order to somewhat rebuild their forces, but even then
the armistices were either short-term or not observed for very long.33 Matters stood thus until the year
1501 when, through God's gracious support and assistance, the Master of the Teutonic Order in
Livonia, Walther von Plettenberg34 of illustrious memory, defeated said archenemy35 in a pitched battle
in which almost 40,000 Russians died on the field.36 This great defeat and the considerable losses
forced the enemy, the grandfather of the present Muscovite, to acquiesce to a long-term armistice of
fifty years. This armistice was also carefully observed and maintained during the lifetime of the next
Grand Duke.37
But after the latter's death, his son and successor, Grand Duke Ivan Vasilovich (Iwan
Wassilowitz), began to enjoy great success against his neighbors. He waged mighty wars against a
number of them, imposed his will upon them [1b], and also subjugated the Kazan (Cassan) and
Astrakhan (Astrakan) Tatars, bringing their domains, which they called empires, under his control.38
His bloodthirsty nature and his insatiable youthful desire to rule far and wide led him to ponder how he
might also set upon this province of Livonia and break thorough this bastion of Christianity. Then he
would have an excellent opportunity to advance farther, extend his borders and expand his rule over
additional Christian lands and peoples. To this end he diligently sought to import from other nations,
but above all from the German Empire, all manner of skilled masters, soldiers and artisans (his own
countless subjects were ignorant barbarians), as well as artillery and war materiel. With their help,
co-operation and direction he hoped to be better able to carry out his plan. Through his legate Hans
Schlitten,39 he sought an imperial concession from Charles V,40 the most illustrious Roman Emperor of
Christian and blessed memory, which would allow said legate to enlist artisans and soldiers and bring
them from the Holy Roman Empire to Moscow. The decree which grants this reads as follows:41 .
With this document we graciously bestow upon said Hans Schlitten permission to seek
out and enlist everywhere in the Holy Roman Empire and its territories, in our
hereditary principalities, provinces, domains and regions, doctors and masters of the
liberal arts, bell founders,42 miners, goldsmiths, harbor masters, carpenters and
stonemasons (especially those able to build splendid churches), waterwork masters,
papermakers, physicians and others skilled in similar crafts. He also has permission to
bring them to the above-mentioned grand duke of Russia, unimpeded by all and sundry.
This is in return for the good will which his father, Vasilovich,43 Grand Duke of Russia
of illustrious memory [2a], bore toward us and our predecessors, and which said Duke
Ivan still bears toward us in like degree. We also grant this in the hope that the son
might do that which we wished his father had done, namely, accept the Roman Catholic
Church. We do, however, stipulate that under no circumstances shall he or those
persons he shall import enter Turkey, Tatary, or other infidel countries on the pretense
of going to Russia. Nor shall they teach those infidels their crafts, much less allow them
to be used against us and our subjects.
At the time when Schlitten was proceeding with these plans and was about to make transit of
Livonia, the lords of the Order of Teutonic Knights and others of the country's nobility, recognizing the
danger this posed not only to them but to all Christians of these regions, wrote His Illustrious Imperial
Majesty a full account of these dangers and asked him, most respectfully, to revoke and rescind the
above-mentioned decree granting free transit. His Imperial Majesty responded to their vital and salutary
request by means of an imperial golden bull, the original of which is still extant. The following extract
of this imperial letter is directed to the Master in Livonia and refers to the safe-conduct pass granted the
above-mentioned Schlitten:44
Your Reverence: You have ignored our safe-conduct pass and denied transit to persons
travelling from the Holy Roman Empire to Moscow and other lands. You have had
reports sent to you of anyone who would dare try to sneak through your country under
the authority of our safe-conduct decree. You have seized those persons, including the
above-mentioned Hans Schlitten himself, along with our safe-conduct pass and other
documents which he showed us. We solemnly command you to now write us, or in our
absence, our dearly beloved brother, the Roman King, a detailed report of the present
status of those persons, as well as of all other particulars, and to await our and his
decision on the matter.
[2b] And so the treacherous, arrogant and powerful foe, rather than changing his ways, began,
even while the armistice was still in effect, to raise all manner of suspicions and distrust of this humble
land. This was not only most distressful in and of itself, but it also led to the destruction of the entire
country. In this, his illicit undertaking, he was considerably aided and encouraged by a number of
foreigners, ignobly pursuing their own self-interest.
From all this it was quite apparent and inescapably obvious that he would not agree to a further
peace agreement after the expiration of the armistice (subsequent events proved this to be all too true),
unless it turned out that his above-mentioned ploy to spread destructive suspicion gained him favor and
he was granted everything he wished from this province.45 And yet, after the demise of the blessed
Walther von Plettenberg the succeeding sovereigns virtually acquiesced in the above-mentioned
successes of the Muscovite. They used the fifty years of peace which had been achieved more for
complacent luxury and for grievous sins and vices than for preparations and precautions against future
attacks. They gave no heed to God's word or to the maintenance and support of the churches. They
forgot Christian charity, and devoted all their efforts and energies to worldly display, debauchery and
gross gluttony and drunkenness.46 For this the Lord God suddenly beset them with His just punishments
of famine and plague and countless people starved and perished. Nor did this lead them to change their
ways, rather, out of insatiable greed each coveted that which belonged to his neighbor. This was
especially true of the leaders who instigated internal strife, employing whatever resources and soldiers
they could muster not against the archenemy, the Muscovite, but rather against each other. In this way
they depleted the country to no purpose, as can be seen from the example of those things which took
place on Ösel (Ozel).47
[3a] Thus there arose all manner of misunderstanding bad faith among the estates, followed by
discord and even civil war, so that all good will among the estates vanished, and each schemed against
the other. In a word, protracted deliberation, internal enmity and self-interest, these are what desolated
the Kingdom of the Hungarians.48
Unfortunately, internal distrust and self-interest also prevailed here, as mentioned above. Many
landtage, herrentage, assemblies and councils were held, but little was accomplished.49 Often one left
them no wiser than before. The greatest concern and issues at many of these gatherings was how one
might entertain and amuse his fellows in princely fashion. Whatever the leaders left undone, their
servants would undertake and so there was such excessive gluttony and drunkenness that in their
swaggering arrogance one would drink a toast to the other, swearing to kill one Russian for each
tankard he drained. The lords and their lackeys (especially the untried, worthless, drunken indoor
warriors who prided themselves on being the country's pillar and post) had the impropriety of such
drunken vainglory brought home to them through their own piteous death and destruction. They not
only disgracefully turned tail and ran from the sound of a shaken leaf as described in Leviticus 26,
"They shall flee ... when none pursueth",50 but were also slain mercilessly in inhuman and dreadful
fashion: staked, stretched, broken on the wheel, bled, hanged, drowned and roasted.
After the end of the chaos on Ösel, which we mentioned briefly above, all the sovereigns and
estates held a landtag at Wolmar in 1546. Among other matters pertaining to the common good, they
also introduced a provision, which they finally passed [3b], signed, sealed and solemnized with oaths. It
stipulated that henceforth no foreign-born prince would be elected, appointed and installed by any one
estate, be it as archbishop, bishop or master in Livonia, without the unanimous consent of all the
estates. This brought down upon them the hatred and enmity of foreign potentates, princes and
sovereigns. This provision reads, word for word as taken from the above-mentioned compact, as
follows:51
So that all these provinces, the sovereigns, the estates of the dioceses and of the Order,
nobleman and subject, men of high and low estate, may fully preserve their authority,
freedoms and privileges, pass them on to future generations unchanged, and maintain
them within the Holy Roman Empire and Christendom in general, we have
unanimously adopted, accepted and agreed to the following, considering it necessary
and proper: henceforth and forevermore the election of an archbishop, bishop or master
shall be held in keeping with worthy custom and tradition, acknowledging the freedoms
and privileges enjoyed by each party, in particular in accord with the provisions of the
Bulla Habitus.52 Nor shall any of us or our successors, along with the members of the
cathedral chapters, the commanders in the Order, and the other estates, at any time
allow an archbishop, bishop or master to change the government of his domain and turn
it into a principality.53 Furthermore, no foreign prince or lord is to be elected or
appointed to a coadjutorship or to any other office or be allowed to enter this country
for that purpose in any shape, manner or form whatsoever without the unanimous,
complete and free consent and agreement of all estates of the land, the most exalted as
well as the more lowly.
It is one thing to insist on one's freedoms and privileges, but at the same time it is more foolish
than wise to be so stubborn and mulish in this regard, especially in time of dire peril, that one destroys
oneself, land and people, wife and children [4a]. You should endure and you should not find fault with
what you cannot change.54
For some time all the estates held to this Wolmar Compact. But then Margrave Wilhelm, the
archbishop of Riga,55 felt burdened by the agreement as he approached old age. So he sought every
means of establishing Duke Christopher of Mecklenburg as his coadjutor so that he might become his
undisputed successor as archbishop.56 In order that this plan be more quickly put into effect and its goal
achieved, the archbishop appealed for assistance to the King of Poland, Sigismund Augustus,57 who
was his uncle and who had for countless years been protector of the archdiocese of Riga, having been
appointed same by the popes and by Church councils.58 The King had his legates, especially Jaspar
Lanski (Lontzki),59 commend Duke Christopher most highly to the master and the other estates,
promising all manner of royal favors and neighborly cooperation. The estates, and especially Master
Heinrich von Galen, should give more thought to the friendship of the king and of the two illustrious
electoral houses of Brandenburg and Mecklenburg than to the above-mentioned Wolmar Compact.
They should consider this and receive Duke Christopher into their country and accept him as the
archbishop's coadjutor. I must say, truly and openly, that the legate Lanski praised and extolled Duke
Christopher's skills and virtues just as a fine, young bachelor portrays a pretty, sweet maiden, painting
her in colors of his choosing.60
[4b] This introductory recapitulation has been necessary for our historical account, but now we
come, in God's name, to the actual subject at hand.
Abbreviations for Endnotes
ABD
Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (Leipzig: Duncker und Humblot, 1876).
Archiv
Archiv für die Geschichte Liv-, Esth-, und Kurlands (ed. F.G. von Bunge. Reval: Kluge,
1857).
Briefe
Briefe und Urkunden zur Geschichte Livlands in den Jahren 1558-1562 (ed. Friedrich
Bienemann. 5 vols. Riga: Kymmel, 1865-1873).
Codex
Codex diplomaticus regni poloniae et Magni Ducatus Litvanae (ed. Matthias Dogiel. Vilna,
1758).
Cruse
Karl Cruse, Curland unter den Herzögen (Mitau: Reyher, 1833).
Dohna
Editiones
Die Selbstbiographie des Burggrafen Fabian zu Dohna (1550-1621) (ed. Christian
Krollmann. Leipzig, 1905).
Elementa ad Fontium Editiones. Res Polonicae ex Archivo Regni Daniae (ed. Leon Koczy,
Carolina Lanckoronska, George Jensen. Rome: Polish Institute, 1964-1971).
Fabricus
Dionysus Fabricus, Livonicae Historiae (ed. Gustav Bergmann) in Scriptores rerum
Livonicarum (Riga und Leipzig: Frantzen, 1848), II.
Fletcher
Fletcher, Russia at the Close of the Sixteenth Century. Comprising the Treatise "Of the
Russian Common Wealth," by Dr. Giles Fletcher and the Travels of Sir Jerome Horsey,
Knt. (New York, Burt Franklin, n.d.).
Grefenthal
JBS
Kallmeyer
Klot
Kruse
Bartholimaius Grefenthal's Livländische Chronik (ed. Friedrich Georg von Bunge) in MLA,
V. see Fletcher.
Journal of Baltic Studies
Lifflendische churlendische chronica von 1554 bis 1590, und Bericht in
Religionssachen...mit Erläuterungen und versehen von Theodor Kallmeyer (Riga: Kymmel,
1857).
Burchard von Klot, "Jost Clodt und das Privilegium Sigismund Augustus," in Beiträge zur
baltischen Geschichte (Hannover-Döhren: Hirschheydt, 1977).
Elert Kruse's, Freiherrn zu Kelles und Treiden, Dörpischen Stiftvogt's Wahrhafftiger
Gegenbericht auf die Anno 1578 ausgegangene Lieflendische Chronica Balthasar Russow's
(ed. August Buchholz. Riga: Häcker, 1861). Citation of pages refers to the translation in
Russow.
Kurbsky
Prince A.M. Kurbsky's History of Ivan IV (trans. J.L.I. Fennell. Cambridge: University
Press, 1965). The Correspondence between Prince A.M. Kurbsky and Tsar Ivan IV of
Russia, 1564-1574 (ed. J.L.I. Fennell. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1955). It
should be noted that Edward Kennan believes the exchange of letters was forged in the
1620's, The Kurbski-Groznyi Apocrypha. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1971).
Lenz
Wilhelm Lenz, Riga zwischen dem Römischen Reich und Polen - Lithauen in den Jahren
1558-1582. Wissenschaftliche Beiträge. Marburg/Lahn: J.G. Herder Institut, 1968).
MLA
Monumenta Livoniae Antiquae (3 vols. Riga, Dorpat, and Leipzig: Frantzen, 1835-42).
Massa
Nuntiatur-
Isaac Massa, A Short History of the Beginnings and Origins of These Present Wars in
Moscow under the Reign of Various Sovereigns down to the Year 1610 (trans. G.E.
Orchard. Toronto: University of Toronto, 1982).
berichte
Nuntiaturberichte
aus Deutschland. 1533-1559. (Tübingen: Niemeyer). (1st series
1533-1559. 17 vols. Tübingen, 1892-1970) (2nd series 1566-72. 7 vols. Wien, 1897-1952)
(3rd series 1572-85. Berlin, 1892-).
NQU
Neue Quellen zur Geschichte des Untergangs der livländischen Selbstständigkeit (ed. Carl
Schirren. 3 vols. Reval: Kluge, 1883-85).
Possevino
The Moscovia of Antonio Possevino, S.J. (ed. Hugh Graham, Pittsburgh: University Center
for Russian Studies, 1977).
QU
Renner
Rude and
Quellen zur Geschichte des Untergangs Livländischer Selbstständigkeit (ed. Carl Schirren.
8 vols. Reval: Kluge, 1881)
Johann Renner, Livländische Historien (ed. Richard Hausmann and Konstantin Höhlbaum.
Göttingen: Vandenhöck und Ruprecht, 1876). New edition ed. Peter Karstedt,
Veröffentlichungen der Stadt Lübeck, New Second Series, 1953.
Rude and Barbarous
Barbarous
Kingdom
Kingdom. Russia in the accounts of sixteenth-century English
voyagers (ed. Lloyd Berry and Robert Crummey. Madison: University of Wisconsin,
1968).
Russow
Balthasar Russow, Chronicle of the Province of Livonia. (trans. Jerry Smith, Jürgen Eichhoff
and William Urban. Madison, Wisconsin: Baltic Studies Center, 1988). The original was
published in Barth, 1584 (3rd edition). Translations of Kruse and Tiesenhausen are included
as appendices.
Schlichting
Hugh Graham, trans. and editor, "A Brief Account of the Character and Brutal Rule of
Vasilievich, Tyrant of Muscovy (Albert Schlichting on Ivan Grozni)," Canadian-American
Slavic Studies, 9(1975), 204-72.
Staden
Heinrich von Staden, The Land and Government of Muscovy, A Sixteenth Century Account
(trans. Thomas Esper. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1967).
Stämmler
Klaus Dietrich Stämmler, Preußen und Livland in ihrem Verhältnis zur Krone Polen
1561-1586 (Marburg/Lahn: Herder, 1958). Nr. 8 in Wissenschaftliche Beiträge zur
Geschichte und Landeskunde Ost-Mitteleuropas.
Tiesenhausen
Heinrich Tiesenhausen, "Begangene Irrthümbe und Fehler dess liefländischen
Chronickenschreibers Balthesaris Russowens," (ed. Carl Schirren), Archiv, VIII, pp.
293-313. The citations refer to the translation in Russow.
Vetera
Wappenbuch
ZfO
Vetera Monumenta Historica Poloniae et Lithuaniae. (ed. August Theiner. Rome, 1861).
Der Adel der russischen Ostseeprovinzen (Estland, Kurland, Livland, Ösel), vol. 24 of
Siebmacher's großes Wappenbuch (Neustadt an der Aisch: Bauer und Raspe, 1980).
Zeitschrift für Ostforschung.
The year 1554
In 1554 all the estates once again held a landtag at Wolmar, on Epiphany,61 and elected
Gotthard Kettler castellan of Dünaburg.62 In accepting this office, he turned his chief attentions to how
he might establish good relations with King Sigismund Augustus; with Nicholas Radzivil (Radziwill),
the worthy and famous palatine63 of Vilna, Duke of Olica, grandmarshal and chancellor of the Grand
Duchy, and exemplary luminary of that country;64 and with other prominent Lithuanian lords. In doing
this, he did not exceed the bounds of his proper obligations and loyalties, but rather achieved lasting
peace and tranquility between himself and his neighbors. Would to God that similar relations with all
neighboring potentates, kings and princes had been observed throughout all of Livonia. If that had been
the case, subsequent animosities and hostilities would have been fewer.65
Gotthard Kettler came from a race and family of esteemed, valiant and chivalrous people. He
was sent to Livonia when he was approximately twenty years old and in recognition of his worthy birth,
family and demeanor he was immediately accepted into the Teutonic Order in Livonia.66 From his very
arrival his conduct toward many, of high or low estate, was so seemly that he was held in great esteem
and favor not only by all the lords and subjects of the Order, but by the officials of the archdiocese and
dioceses as well. He was given preference over others and assigned duties and offices in spite of his
youth. Soon afterwards he was dispatched to Germany [5a] to several electors and princes of the Holy
Roman Empire on business of the Order. On his outward journey he was shipwrecked at sea and barely
escaped with his life. Nonetheless he faithfully and skillfully executed his appointed tasks.67 Pleased
and delighted at his return, the master and the commanders of the Order appointed him to one of the
most important castellanies, that in the district of Dünaburg on the border with Lithuania.68 This was in
recognition of his steadfastness and loyalty. (Good and faithful conduct receives its proper due.) Nor
was this castellany of Dünaburg by any means insignificant, but was rather quite notable on account of
its many splendid manors, districts and inhabitants. At the beginning of the new regime and upon his
entry into those areas bordering Lithuania he paid no heed whatsoever to the suggestion that he, the lord
castellan appointed by the master and the estates of the Order, should defer to the King of Poland on
important matters concerning those areas. On another occasion he once again preserved his good
reputation in the Order by refusing to have anything to do with an undertaking of Heinrich von Dolen
(Thülen), the former castellan of Fellin who was then living in retirement at the castle of Tarwest.
Heinrich had wanted to provide Gotthard with all manner of provisions, breast plates, horses, silver
table services, splendid golden necklaces and clothes worth several thousands, to honor the beginning
of a new regime and more especially because a legation from Poland was soon to arrive. The master
and the commanders were not at all pleased with this.69
The year 1555
The following summer, 1555, Duke Christopher of Mecklenburg entered Livonia and came to
Kokenhausen, one of the archbishop's major castles and courts. Then all the estates of the archdiocese
assembled there and accepted him as legally appointed coadjutor,70 ignoring the question of whether the
master and the Order might find him acceptable [5b] or not. And so great suspicion, mistrust and
misunderstanding gained more ground. This is the way it always happens at courts where distrust and
ignorance act as secret counsellors, take things in hand, and are raised to prominence; and when their
sisters, simple-mindedness or, what is worse, stupidity, gullibility and attendant secret suspicions,
accompany them as handmaidens. And so Master Galen and his counsellors and commanders decided
at a herrentag at Wenden to secretly dispatch the castellan of Dünaburg to Germany to seek out and
enlist soldiers and to send them to the country in the event of an emergency.71 For it is better to make
the first move than to be the victim of it.72
The year 1556
He departed from Dünaburg a few weeks before Shrove Tuesday, 1556, travelling by way of
Lithuania, Poland, Silesia, Saxony and Lübeck.73 He encountered all manner of misadventures at
Brugge (Brigge) and Brussels (Bressel) and things would have gone very badly for him if the purpose
of his mission had been found out.74
During this same Lent the huge and fearsome comet, in shape not unlike a broom, was seen and
it was as though it pointed a finger at the disaster which was subsequently to befall Livonia.75 Rumors
of the castellan's secret mission to Germany spread here and there and were a cause of concern to the
archbishop and his coadjutor. And so each side tried to take care of its own interests.
The archbishop secretly sent a dispatch to Prussia with encoded letters informing his brother,
the duke,76 of these [6a] military preparations of the Order and earnestly requesting him to quickly and
unobtrusively transport soldiers to Pernau, Dünamünde, Salis, etc., by ship. This dispatch, along with
the letters, was seized in Courland and after a secretary laboriously decoded them, news of their content
spread everywhere like wildfire. And so Master Galen and the other estates of the country agreed to
wage war on the archbishop and made all the necessary military preparations for it. They also elected
Wilhelm von Fürstenberg, the castellan of Fellin, the master's coadjutor.77
They also sent an urgent report of the situation in Livonia to Lübeck to the castellan of
Dünaburg, instructing him to dispatch soldiers immediately. The castellan quickly and energetically
implemented the order to dispatch several companies of foot soldiers78 to the country from Lübeck and
he sent four strong and select companies as a vanguard, dispatching them by ship from Travemünde. In
Riga Berndt von Schmerten,79 the advocate of Jerwen, and the other appointed recruitment officers
gave them a lavish and generous month's pay in advance, the equal of which the German foot soldiers
had scarcely ever before received from other potentates.80 Perhaps they thought this treasure chest, that
is, the Order's wealth, was inexhaustible.
The election of Fürstenberg as coadjutor was opposed by Jaspar von Münster, the
landmarshal.81 He argued that next to the master himself he was the senior commander in the Order and
that he should not have been so humiliatingly passed over in this election. This was highly demeaning
to himself and to his entire family and name. Even so, his argument was not that the office should be
given to him, but rather that someone other than Fürstenberg should be chosen. He asserted that
Fürstenberg was not the man to best serve the country, pointing out that when he, Fürstenberg, had been
castellan of Dünaburg, his relations with his neighbors along the border with Lithuania had been such
as to greatly displease the King of Poland82 [6b] and all the estates of the Grand Duchy, to say nothing
of other groups within Livonia itself. He and several other commanders nominated the present castellan
of Dünaburg, who was just then out of the country, but they were unable to achieve his election.
Had he prevailed, subsequent events would have shown him to have a been a true prophet after
all. While publicly denying it, he directed his efforts toward an attempt to seize and gain sole control of
the fortress of Dünamünde, which had formerly been under his jurisdiction as landmarshal and as
castellan. To this end he and his men-at-arms advanced on Dünamünde from Segewold (Segewalden)
where he had his court. But the castellan there, Jürgen Brabeck, had been forewarned by the master and
so denied him the castle. From there he advanced on Ascheraden (Ascherade), likewise one of his
castles, situated on the River Düna, but he met the same reception there and had to withdraw.83
From Ascheraden he went to visit the archbishop at Kokenhausen, doubtlessly to seek his
assistance in the matter of the castles to which he had been denied entry. The archbishop sent him to
Vilna (Wilde) to the King of Poland with all manner of letters of preference and commendation.
Subsequently he also went to Königsberg to the Duke of Prussia. There is no doubt that in both places
he argued the justice of his cause and thus further incited the king and the duke against the province and
especially against his Order.84 What else he achieved through his bizarre machinations and how this
affected him for the rest of his life, until his death, will be told later in its proper place.85
Now that the situation appeared critical, all trust and good will having vanished, the advocate of
Rositen, Werner Schall of Bell,86 was ordered to keep watch with a number of horsemen at the manor
of Setzen on the route from Lithuania to Kokenhausen. When the King of Poland's legate, the
above-mentioned Lanski tried, on the advice of Stentzel Vodt, to secretly slip past on his way to
Kokenhausen [7a], Werner Schall and his men took him by surprise, treated him harshly, beat him,
captured his men and wounded him so severely that he died after two or three days as a result.87 This
caused the king to side so much the more with the archbishop against the Order. The king condemned
that act of violence with a pronouncement:
that his royal majesty was so seriously offended on account of the killing of an envoy of
his majesty, contrary to the laws of all nations, that he even wished to avenge that
injury by the sword and blood, except that Ferdinand, the most excellent King of the
Romans, interceded.88
Civil war, third of the chief plagues which can beset a country, broke out on June 16, the
Tuesday after the Feast of Ss.Vitus, Modestus and Crescentia, a day certainly foreboding of the disaster
that followed89 and the precursor of all the subsequent devastating Polish, Danish, Swedish and
Muscovite wars. On this day Hermann von Wesel, Bishop of Dorpat (Dörpt),90 Johann von
Münchhausen (Monnichhausen), Bishop of Ösel and Courland,91 and Master Galen, acting in the name
and on behalf of all the estates, sent their declaration of hostilities to the lord archbishop at
Kokenhausen.92 The men of Riga also revoked their oath of allegiance. His lordship received each of
the servants and legates of the above-mentioned lords honorably, but he was not at all cordial toward
those from Riga.
On the 18th of this month George Taube, a prominent man from the archdiocese of Riga, was
shot at sea near Salis as he was embarking on a mission given him by his lord, the margrave, taking
appeals and documents to Prussia.93 On this date the castellan of Segewold also captured and plundered
the cathedral chapter's castle of Cremon. [7b] Soldiers of the master advanced on Ronenburg from
Wenden and stormed and burned it on the 19th. It surrendered on June 21.94
On June 28, the Sunday after the Birthday of St.John the Baptist, the lord coadjutor, Wilhelm
von Fürstenberg, arrived before Kokenhausen with the Order's forces, horsemen and foot soldiers.
Commissioners from the city of Riga arrived with their squadrons on the 29th. Duke Christopher von
Mecklenburg rode out to their encampment and received permission to leave Kokenhausen on the 30th.
He took his servants and several supply wagons with him and received an escort of fifty horsemen
almost as far as Wenden. Master Galen then had several horsemen escort him into that city and on his
departure honored him with gifts of stallions and golden goblets.
From Wenden he was escorted to Treiden where he had to remain until the conclusion of the
hostilities. Even so, the Livonian estates agreed to let him send legates to Poland, Prussia and
Mecklenburg, asking them to act as mediators in the dispute so that these damaging hostilities might be
settled and resolved.
On this same June 30 the lord archbishop rode out of Kokenhausen and surrendered to the
coadjutor, Wilhelm von Fürstenberg, turning over the keys of the castle gate to him.95 It shames one to
describe how several unnamed brothers stupidly set upon him and stole some of his possessions, acting
in a most reprehensible manner and ignoring his advanced age and his ancient and princely family and
descent. The supplicant must not be violated. Let him be thought sacrosanct.96
He was first escorted to Schmilten by a hundred horsemen. Then he was taken to Adzel (Atzel)
which was then under the control of Phillip Schall of Bell,97 the castellan of Marienburg. Control of
Sosswegen (Sesswegen) and Schmilten, which lay in the archdiocese, was turned over and assigned to
Schall, so that he might better provide for the maintenance and well-being of his prisoner, the
archbishop.
[8a] A rumor spread far and wide that the lord archbishop was mortally ill or that he had already
died while imprisoned. This led the king to send a delegation to the country with letters inquiring as to
the condition of the two lords. The estates directed the Polish delegation to go to Duke Christopher at
Treiden. Several noblemen were also ordered to be present at all audiences and to carefully observe
what the king was conveying to Duke Christopher, and vice versa, either orally or in writing. They
subsequently did just this, to the considerable annoyance and displeasure of the above-mentioned duke
and his retinue. The delegation was then allowed to proceed to the lord archbishop at Schmilten. Letters
explaining the causes of this civil war and the country's distress were sent to the Holy Roman Emperor;
to a number of electors, princes, cities and estates of the empire, e.g., Cologne, Jülich and Münster, as
well as to Lübeck, Hamburg, Lüneburg, Bremen, etc.; and most importantly of all to the German
Master,98 whose subjects and vassals earned their livelihood in Livonia through commerce and trade.
Citing their knightly freedoms and privileges as noblemen, they asked the above-mentioned parties not
to abandon the Livonian provinces now that the situation had become dangerous, with Prussia,
Mecklenburg and the King of Poland planning to seize the imprisoned princes since they were their
kinsmen.99 Nothing came of all this aside from some reassuring words and the dispatch of several
legates from the Holy Roman Emperor and others.100 The men of Lübeck did, however, raise soldiers
from their territories and send them to Livonia, the ships embarking from their own harbors and rivers.
This has been mentioned above and will soon be discussed further.
Even though many appeals were made to the German Master as head of the Order, he offered
very little assistance. [8b] Finally, however, he did dispatch an esteemed legate, Hans Wilhelm Nothoff,
the castellan of Mergentheim, and one of the von Beverns to Livonia. When they had gotten only as far
as Lübeck, they encountered the Livonian delegation, i.e., the castellan of Dünaburg and Georg
Sieburg. What took place then and how they turned back and returned home will be described below.
On August 15 legates of the Duke of Pomerania arrived at Wenden. They were the castellan of
Blumenthal (a knight of the Order of Malta), Doctor Matthias Böss and Johann Wulf. They hoped to
settle and resolve the war which had arisen between the different estates. They conferred with both
sides, with the master as well as with the archbishop, whom they visited at Schmilten on August 21, but
the only thing they were able to achieve was the agreement of both sides that the dispute should be
referred to the King of Poland, the Elector of Brandenburg, the two princes of Pomerania, the Duke of
Jülich and the Council of the free, imperial city of Lübeck, and that those parties should act as
mediators. Soon after this, in October, legates from the King of Denmark arrived in the country. They
were Otto Krump, Johann Ochse, Elert Krabbe (a knight) and Dr. Johann Strubbe. After much difficult
negotiation, encountering objections first from one side and then from the other, they did achieve an
agreement that the archdiocese of Riga should be placed in trusteeship and consigned to the bishops of
Dorpat and Ösel, subject, however, to the approval of the King of Poland and the Duke of Prussia.
It was to this end that they then went from Livonia to Vilna to the king, who was already on the
march with a mighty army.101 They were unable to negotiate a settlement which would convince him to
suspend the campaign. This only came about when the war was finally settled and ended by a peace
treaty negotiated, through the help and grace of God, by legates of Emperor Ferdinand and the Holy
Roman Empire, namely N. Petrovich, Valentin Saurmann, Hennig von Walde and Dr. Lorentz Otto. In
accordance with the treaty102 [9a] the archbishop and his coadjutor were released on October 5 and
restored to all that was theirs. At that time Master Fürstenberg and his army were encamped at Bauske
(Bausschke).103 (The old lord Galen had resigned and taken up retirement at Tarwest.) The master,
along with the archbishop and Duke Christopher, went in person to Pozvol (Passwalde), thirty-five
miles from Bauske, to the king on December 12. There, on the following day and in the presence of the
above-mentioned imperial legates, they accepted the peace agreement and bound themselves to it with
oaths. On December 17 they exchanged handshakes in the king's tent and lay aside all their disputes.104
At the very time that the above-mentioned Danish delegation, along with a legate from the
master who had been assigned to accompany them, were in Vilna in Lithuania, a severe fire broke out
in the city. It seemed too large to be accidental and everyone suspected the innocent Livonian of having
set it. He was so threatened and endangered that he secretly took refuge among the monks of a
monastery.
One of the other stipulations included in the peace treaty was that the advocate of Rositen,
Werner Schall of Bell, whose men had slain the Polish legate Lanski near the manor of Setzen, present
himself in person before the king at Vilna in order to confess his guilt and make recompense to the slain
legate's brothers, who had most earnestly appealed to the king for justice in this matter. In the interests
of harmony the master directed him to go to the imperial legates and to one of his own secretaries who
had arrived in Vilna previously. When he arrived there, however, neither were able to give him much
assistance. But, thank God, he was able to enlist the support of a number of Polish and Lithuanian
ecclesiastical and secular noblemen who pled his desperate cause before a large public hearing and [9b]
before the palatine of Vilna, Duke of Olica, etc.,105 who had been appointed to judge the case. Out of
consideration for the castellan of Dünaburg, with whom he had especially cordial and friendly relations,
he managed to get the king and the other lords to agree that the advocate, who was not able at that time
to make restitution to the Lanskis for their slain brother, be allowed to leave after giving solemn
promises to return as soon as possible with recompense for the injured parties. Earlier they had wanted
to arrest him and hold him prisoner until complete recompense had been rendered. He left there in high
spirits and travelled toward Dünaburg on his way back to his district of Rositen. As he crossed over the
border, he proclaimed that if he could not expect any more aid and assistance than this from his
gracious lords and superiors and from the master in such pressing circumstances, then neither the latter
nor the former would ever prevail upon him to return to Lithuania.106
Thus the misunderstandings between the King of Poland and Livonia, which had led to war and
the launching of a mighty campaign, were peacefully settled through the prodigious efforts of the
excellent delegation dispatched from the Holy Roman Empire. At this same time these commissioners
and peace negotiators achieved an eternal compact and confederation against the Muscovite, to go into
effect upon the expiration of the present armistice between him and these parties. The King of Poland,
as well as Master Fürstenberg and the estates of the Order and of the country then present, swore to this
on their sacred oaths at Pozvol in 1557, and the agreement was solemnly recorded and ratified.107 All
this, however, took place in the absence of the castellan of Dünaburg who was still in Germany at the
time, exposed to considerable perils to his life and person. In the course of his mission one Johann
Oversch [10a] stealthily captured one of the castellan's servants not far from Hamburg in the district of
Pinnenberg which belonged to the Count of Schauenburg.108 Oversch received his proper punishment:
his head was first cut off, then his body was placed on the wheel, and then his head was set on a pike.
He had publicly confessed to his crime under torture and interrogation, but even aside from this, he, as a
proclaimed enemy of the master and the entire Order, deserved death for previous crimes. He and one
of his companions, Franz Bonnis by name, had attacked two Livonian brothers as they lay asleep in
their beds at night. This took place at Sellenhof (in der Sellen Hoffe) in Semgallia on the Lithuanian
border.109 They mercilessly shot one of them and took the other away as their prisoner. They refused to
release him until he paid them a ransom of 1500 thalers. Yet these two had never done anything to
those people. The only thing was that another Bonnis and several others had had a dispute with them
regarding a separate matter. Later they also struck down several Rigan merchants near the fair River Aa
and robbed them. When Johann Oversch saw the executioner coming to put his head on the block, he
sighed and sorrowfully said: How wondrously are the guilty dragged to punishment. Although late,
nevertheless, punishment comes on silent feet.110
At about this same time and shortly before the peace treaty was concluded at Pozvol, the legates
of the German Master came to the Livonian delegation in Lübeck, as mentioned above. When they
discovered the purpose of their mission, they realized that behind the diplomatic trappings there was
nothing but empty words which offered no consolation or hope of aid in their present distress and
danger. And so they responded to them, saying that their hollow words and vague promises [10b]
would serve only to dishearten and distress their friends who placed, next to God, their highest trust in
their lord, the head of the Teutonic Order, and to encourage and cheer the abominable enemies.
Whether they then cancelled their trip to Livonia as a result of these observations or for some other
reasons is uncertain. When the legates returned to the German Master and reported to him, and after so
many messengers had come to him passionately begging and pleading for aid, one might have hoped
that he would have taken all this more to heart and responded sooner, recognizing from the start that he
was under a proper obligation to render aid. Had he done this, not only would the subsequent forceful
overthrow of the old order have been avoided, to the extent that God wished it to be and rendered His
aid, but the lives of countless thousands of poor, innocent people, young and old, women and children,
would have been saved and they would have been spared the inhuman barbarities and atrocities of the
archenemy. In the subsequent Muscovite war, which came hard on the heels of the Polish war and the
Livonian civil wars, some of those people were mercilessly struck down, even as they raised their hands
in surrender. Others were led away like dumb beasts into barbaric slavery. All this will be described
later in more detail and in its proper place.
The Grand Duke of Moscow was not only highly suspicious of the Pozvol peace accord, after
the conclusion of which all the soldiers were cashiered and discharged and peace and tranquility were
to prevail everywhere, but when some deserters informed him of the secret and sworn compact and
confederation between the Livonians and Lithuanians which was to go into effect after the expiration of
the armistice, he found this quite intolerable. Since the old Master Heinrich von Galen, with whom he
had negotiated the armistice for a specified number of years,111 had died and gone to his Maker the
previous May 3rd, he now [11a] directed all his efforts toward launching a surprise attack on the
provinces and striking the first blow, which is worth a month of successes. As a pretense for all this he
used the so-called Dorpat tribute. He claimed that he had been promised an amount based on the
number of each and every inhabitant, young and old.112 The people of the diocese agreed only to
undertake an investigation to determine whether they were indeed committed to render him such
tribute. Later, at Wenden, they publicly explained their position to the Grand Duke's legates and
protested his demands.
All the country's estates, in particular the Teutonic Order, directed their utmost efforts toward
appropriate attempts to dissuade the Muscovite from his evil and illicit undertaking. They sought to use
money to avoid imminent war and to preserve the sacred, blessed peace. In high hopes they dispatched
a legation to Moscow with a considerable sum of money. But this accomplished nothing.113 Not only
were the legates dismissed with hostile pronouncements, having achieved nothing, but the Muscovite
invaded Livonia without warning114 with a fearsome army before the delegates even returned home.
This was in winter, on January 22, 1558, fourteen days before he sent the country a declaration of
war.115 He committed terrible atrocities and ravaged the diocese of Dorpat and the district of Wierland
(Wyrland) as far as Narva, plundering, slaying and burning. At this very time the nobility of the
provinces of Harrien and Wierland had exuberantly gathered in Reval with all their military might, men
and horses, for a splendid wedding.116 The sudden invasion, death and destruction took them
completely unawares.
Thus the sole hopeful response the people of Dorpat could make toward the estates117 and
toward the Grand Duke himself was an attempt to mollify the latter with a sum of money and thus spare
the provinces all the devastations of war. Subsequently they sent Elert Kruse (Krause), the diocese's
advocate, and some others to Moscow, but they took no money with them and thus only further enraged
the Grand Duke, making him feel deceived and betrayed.118 If from the beginning they had taken but a
few thousand thalers [11b] and offered them to the Grand Duke, the country would never have been
exposed to such irremediable devastation. One knows this to be true from the testimony of his privy
counsellors, chancellor and others involved in the negotiations.119 But greed often beclouds prudence. It
makes one sick at heart that this opportunity was irrevocably lost.
During this time the castellan of Dünaburg returned to the country from Germany and was
elected castellan of Fellin at the following landtag in Wolmar.120 The master was in Fellin at the time
and he did not shut his eyes to the sudden invasion. He quickly mobilized whatever forces he could and
pursued the enemy, hoping he could at least recapture the booty and prisoners. But the effort was in
vain, for the enemy returned to his own country, crossing over the River Narva to Ivangorod
(Iwanogrod).121
The commander-in-chief of his campaign was a self-proclaimed emperor of the Tatars, Shigaley
(Zerigaley),122 who raged and pillaged during this invasion and committed inhuman atrocities. He
hacked pregnant women in two and impaled their foetuses, as well as other small young children
already born, on fence stakes. He struck down young and old, slit open their sides, poured in
gunpowder, lit it and mercilessly blew the poor people apart. He slit the throats of countless people and
then left them lying with half-severed necks, drowning in their own blood until, in great anguish and
pain, they gave up their souls to God. Many were smeared with thick pine pitch, bound and burned to
death. One after another, like dogs, they raped the women and girls. Those who did not die from all this
were led away as prisoners, driven as one would not even drive cattle. Some were raped, some kept to
be sold into slavery to the Tatars. They tore young nursing infants from their mother's breasts, chopped
off their hands, feet and heads, gutted them, stuck the bodies on spits, roasted or [12a] baked them and
ate them, thus sating their diabolical, bloodthirsty hunger. But who can describe all the atrocities of this
Tatar monster?123 The pain of recollection is too great. Even worse, perhaps, Shigaley later wrote to the
Livonian estates from Moscow, like the crocodile more deceitful than well-meaning, saying that he was
sorry for what had happened in Livonia. They should realize that this was God's way of punishing them
for their sins since they had lied to his master, the Grand Duke. They should now humble themselves,
bow their heads, render the tribute, and beg for mercy. He would then hopefully be able to intercede for
them and still the Grand Duke's rage and bring peace once more.124
Following this deceitful communique, in the spring of that year, after Holy Eastertide, a
delegation was once again sent to negotiate peace. They sought release from the so-called Dorpat
tribute in exchange for 40,000 thalers.125 During this same period, in the spring, the Grand Duke's
forces besieged and bombarded the city of Narva on April 9. On May 12 they stormed and captured it
along with its harbor126 and when the Grand Duke received the news, he bade the Livonian legates
leave with their money. Once again they had accomplished nothing.
Shortly before the capture and conquest of the city and castle, the castellan of Reval, Franz von
Segehafen, surnamed Anstel (Atzel), and other commanders brought a praesidium, composed primarily
of foot soldiers from Riga and Reval, into the city and installed it there. They themselves, however,
along with some artillery pieces and horsemen, primarily knights from the districts of Harrien and
Wierland, made camp some twenty miles from the city, so that they would be able to come to the relief
of the people in the district of Narva should the enemy attempt to advance farther and threaten them.127
News shortly came which no one had in the least expected. At noon, during lunch, a man from the Riga
officers came riding quickly from the city to the encampment reporting that the city was in direst peril
due to a fire and to the Russian assault.128 We in the camp could even see this fire in the bright mid-day.
Immediately drums and trumpets gave the alarm and a vanguard was dispatched. [12b] The lords
followed on its heels with the remaining forces and with some field pieces and a few hundred
horsemen. Some of the heavy cannons were left behind in the encampment with a few soldiers. We
spent the afternoon thus advancing until after sundown, and then some of the men from Harrien and
Wierland who were more familiar with the terrain and area than others, advised against advancing any
farther in the dark. They recommended that we return to the encampment since the situation at Narva
might be only a decoy, the enemy's ploy for luring us out of the defensive position of the encampment
so that he might then advance from the direction of Neuschloss and attack us from the rear. Then we
would be blocked in with the enemy both in front of us and behind. While the lords were considering
this, wishing they could know how matters stood in the city, our vanguard returned in the dead of night
and reported that they had been within two miles of the city and had received reliable reports that the
city and castle were in no danger, for the fire had broken out by itself and had now been
extinguished.129
Thereupon we returned to the encampment and had barely lay down to rest when, just at dawn,
the soldiers and townspeople came streaming into our encampment, bringing with them their poor little
children and wives, some of whom were pregnant or ill. After realizing his victory, the enemy had
allowed them to depart.130 God have mercy on their misery and sorrow! We took them along with us as
we moved in the direction of Wesenberg, lamentably forced to abandon a seventy-five-mile stretch of
the splendid district of Narva to the enemy, along with Neuschloss which he conquered soon
afterwards.131 It must have been that God Himself had willed it so and made us blind. We, with seeing
eyes, became blind and unmoved, neither perceiving nor grasping what had been taking place in the city
and castle of Narva at that time.
It was believed132 that several of the members of the Council of Narva had been in league with
the Russians, i.e., Joachim Krumhausen, who had long ago received the Grand Duke's golden seal
allowing him to trade freely throughout all of Russia, and Arnd von Deden. These men, acting out of
self-interest, remained in the city with the enemy.133 Naked greed will stop at nothing. Nor could the
advocate of Jerwen be either coaxed or forced to enter the city with his men prior to the attack. Yet the
advocate of Jerwen, from days of old, had always been assigned the defense of Narva. Such was the
fine loyalty the master enjoyed from his commanders in the Order.134 A summation of our plight: And
these Salvation herself, even if she had wished, could not have saved.135
[13a] Thus fell the ancient city of Narva to the conquest of the bloodthirsty enemy, a fortress
which had been a bulwark of the region and which had held out against the onslaught of all Russians
for several centuries.
That enemy now invaded a good part of the province with a huge army, devastating it with
plunder, fire and killing. Along with Narva, he also captured several other castles in Wierland, as
mentioned above. Since he intended to continue his ravaging of the country, he established an
encampment in the diocese of Dorpat. The master, as well as the archbishop and his coadjutor, Duke
Christopher, along with other of the country's estates, mobilized all the forces at their command for
defense. They established their field encampment at Kirienpol (Krimpey) in the diocese of that name
and at neighboring Schwanenburg.136 One hoped to drive the enemy back and to put a check to his
atrocities.
After a few skirmishes and attacks it became obvious that the Livonian forces' counterattack
against this arrogant foe was much too weak and inadequate. Fortune had never once betrayed him,
rather he had enjoyed complete success in his subjugation of several neighboring peoples, e.g., the two
Tatar kingdoms of Kazan and Astrakhan, and now he directed all his might and attacks toward the
breaching of the bulwark and outer defenses of Christendom. And as though this were not enough in
itself, the resources or treasury of the Order had been so depleted and exhausted by the recent civil war,
the Polish war,[13b] and now this Muscovite war, that one could not enlist any additional German
soldiers. One could no longer even provide pay or maintenance for those who were already in the
country. Moreover, some of these had been recruited on the assumption that the financial assistance,
which had been promised by the Holy Roman Empire, would be forthcoming.
The enemy now besieged Neuhausen, one of the bishop's castles, and bombarded it so heavily
that one could hear almost every shot at Kirienpol. Finally, when it received no reinforcements, it was
conquered.137 It was at this time that the estates sent their legates from the above-mentioned field
encampment at Kirienpol into the city of Dorpat, there to confer with each other and discuss by what
means one of the neighboring potentates might be moved to come to their defense, following the prior
consent of the Holy Roman Emperor. But they could reach no consensus, since everyone suggested
different rulers, ones toward whom they were personally well-disposed. They disbanded without having
accomplished anything.138
Just as they were leaving, the mayor himself, Tonnies Tile, a pious, honorable and Christian
man, stepped forth and in the presence of all the lords earnestly and tearfully lamented the piteous
condition of the country. One had now spent several days seeking some remedy, but, God have mercy,
nothing had been achieved. They should consider this: it did not matter whom they decided upon, be he
from northwest, northeast or south. That person would not wage war against the Muscovite out of love
for us. Rather, he would expect something in return. The best and most reasonable thing to do, since
there were numerous honorable and decent people in the country who, along with their wives and
children, had substantial wealth in money, golden necklaces, jewels, jewelry, etc., would be for all this
wealth to be brought together and used to enlist soldiers in the best interest of the country.139 This was
what had been done in other places. This, in his opinion, would be their best defense, next to God's
merciful aid and assistance. All forces would have to be assembled at one place to offer battle to the
enemy [14a] and not, as had been the case in the past, each guarding only his own territory. This had
made it easy for the enemy to weaken the country's forces, picking them off singly, one after another.
For valor united is stronger than valor divided.140
Would to God such unity had been achieved. If it had been, the devastation might never have
gone so far, but the tale was being sung to a deaf man141 and there were few who paid heed to this
suggestion.
At Kirienpol there was a rumor that the people of Dorpat had sent their legate, Lustfert, to the
Grand Duke with letters offering to become his subjects. Several people were questioned142 under
torture regarding this. Mistrust was intensified by the fact that the people of Dorpat had done little or
nothing about the siege and attack of Neuhausen. Indeed, when the lords of the Order planned to try
their luck against the enemy with a night attack before Neuhausen, they were not even able to obtain a
knowledgeable scout to lead them to the Russian camp. Moreover, since the people of Neuhausen had
voluntarily surrendered to the enemy, the people of Dorpat began to think of surrendering so that they
might be allowed to withdraw in peace.143 This is just what they later did. And when they were warned
to be on their guard against the enemy and be ready to defend themselves, they answered: "There is no
need for that. We will look after ourselves."144
To avoid all manner of imminent and serious dangers the master had to disengage his army and
retreat toward Walk (Walcke) in the Order's territories.145 During the withdrawal, as the
above-mentioned castle and camp were being put to the torch, the master and most [14b] of the soldiers
led the way. Only the castellan of Fellin146 and a very few of his horsemen remained behind in the
rearguard. When they were ten miles behind the main army, the Russians from Neuhausen came after
them in hot pursuit and a sudden and unexpected skirmish ensued. The castellan of Fellin and his horse
went down and he came very close to being shot or falling into the hands of the enemy. But his men,
along with God, saved him. The master turned around and came back and fought all day with the
enemy. The heat was so incredibly great that many of the Russians, and not unimportant ones, fell from
their horses and died.147
Toward evening we disengaged from the enemy in good order and made camp in a felled
clearing where there was a small lake, not far from Oltzen in an area belonging to a von Tiesenhausen.
Horses and men both ran and dashed toward the water just as does the hurt or wounded stag. The
Russians came after us in hot pursuit and if we had not torn down several bridges and if God had not
done other things to prevent the enemy's attacking us in our camp, it would have been all over for
Livonia.
The following day the army moved as far as Walk and there, for the first time, offered the
enemy serious resistance. At this time the plight of Livonia and especially of the Order was desperate:
the enemy daily advanced farther and farther, doing just as he wished, while, on the other hand, people
in those areas of the country not yet attacked all but despaired, growing not only fearful, but paralyzed
and panic-stricken.148 During this period in the above-mentioned field encampment the suggestion was
made that a coadjutor be chosen who could assume the administrative burdens of the mastership from
the rather aged and infirm Fürstenberg and who could help carry out other actions during the war
emergency. In regular and customary election the commanders and nobles unanimously elected the
castellan of Fellin, Gotthard Kettler, to said office. A young man, Kettler had never given any thought
to such lofty office. [15a] To the contrary, he was most reluctant to accept this position which would
make him the probable successor to the mastership. Like Demonsthenes, the orator nonpareil of the
Greeks, he would rather fall and meet his death in noble, honorable combat with the enemy than
enmesh himself in the odious task of governance. He had more than a few reasons to feel this way, as
any intelligent person can easily imagine. Finally, after he was strongly reprimanded for his reluctance,
he obeyed the rules of the Order and reconciled himself to providence and to God's gracious favor.
Against his own will,
indeed weeping, he had to assume this heavy and odious burden. Many an honorable man who was
present at the time can bear witness on his conscience and honor before God and man to the truth of
this. This took place on July 9 at approximately 7 a.m.149
When he assumed the leadership of the Order he did not come into possession of wealth and
money and other things essential to the great undertaking of a massive war against such a powerful
archenemy of Christendom. This was aside from the fact that many districts and populations from
which money for the undertaking could have been raised had already been mortgaged away. When he
assumed the mastership at Wenden, he found not a single heller, much less a gulden, in the Order's
treasury. The few old, insignificant objects in it, those having to do with every-day affairs,150 were of no
worth.
Aside from God's own mercy and compassion all quests for aid are in vain. This was also true
in this time of direst peril. The Livonian estates did all they could to appeal for military and financial
aid from the Holy Roman Empire; from their brothers and kinsmen in the Teutonic Order abroad and
from their superior, the German Master;151 and from the King of Denmark and other neighboring
sovereigns. Meanwhile, as mentioned above, Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, responded to their
repeated and impassioned pleas [15b] by immediately dispatching several legates with instructions as to
what they should do in the emergency.152 The words of the instructions, incorporated into a second
golden bull, read as follows:
In light of the imminent danger that the Muscovite will attack Livonia in full force, the
Livonians should seek assistance in this matter from the King of Sweden and from
others who would be most directly affected by the Muscovite's undertaking. Such
advice is based on the information contained in your appeal. Although we and the
estates of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation would gladly wage war
against the infidels everywhere, it is beyond our resources to rise to the aid of
Christendom on each and every front, while at the same time defending it against the
Turks.
While one was occupied at Walk with the election of the coadjutor to the mastership and with
the dispatch of legates to the King of Denmark153 and to the Holy Roman Emperor154 and while the
nobility of Harrien and Wierland and the city of Reval decided and agreed in this time of direst peril to
send their legates to the Teutonic Order seeking comfort, aid and assistance from it as they had in ages
past,155 a new and much greater disaster than ever before struck, suddenly and unexpectedly: the large
and powerful army of the Grand Duke of Moscow advanced on the city of Dorpat and besieged it with
a magnificent artillery [16a] and every other weapon of war. On July 19 it voluntarily, needlessly and
wantonly surrendered and thus it and the entire diocese fell into his hands and control.156 This forced
the master, coadjutor and the other lords of the Order to abandon the field encampment at Walk and
retire to the fortresses. One might have been tempted to hurl the small handful of soldiers assembled
there down the throat of the enemy, sacrificing them to the slaughter. But an even greater disaster
would have attended such a course of action, in that the enemy, having destroyed all the forces in the
field, would have then been able, in the ensuing panic, to easily conquer the entire province along with
its unmanned fortresses, thus inflicting irremediable loss and defeat upon all of Christendom. As it was,
the common people had already become incredibly panic-stricken when the advocates of Narva,
Wesenberg, Weissenstein and Tolsburg, along with the castellan of Reval, abandoned their castles,
doubting their ability to defend them.157 Such panic, fear and dread, like the terror of Pan from which
even the children of the gods flee,158 spread throughout the country so that almost everyone gave
themselves up for lost and took to flight. And so the beautiful and splendid province and mercantile city
of Dorpat came under the control of the Muscovite during the reign of a bishop named Hermann.159 He
had previously been a wealthy and prosperous abbot at the monastery of Falkenau (Falckenow) and had
been elected to the bishopric for the sake of his money. He himself said during his election: "I arise now
a rich abbot and will sit back down a poor bishop." A long time before another bishop of the same
name had first begun construction of the city and castle.160 Something similar had happened in the case
of Reval and the provinces of Harrien and Wierland: a king of Denmark by the name of Waldemar161
had first conquered these regions from the heathens and another Waldemar, likewise a king of
Denmark, had turned them over to the Order.162
A Danish officer in Wiek (Wick), Christopher von Münchhausen,163 recalled how the city of
Reval and the provinces [16b] of Harrien, Wierland and Jerwen had, countless years before, been
transferred to the Order by one King Waldemar by the double right of purchase and donation.164 In his
opinion the illustrious Crown of Denmark still had a claim to these regions.165 Following his duty as he
saw it, he occupied the castle of Reval on behalf of the King of Denmark and supplied it with artillery,
shot, powder and supplies. This followed negotiations with the castellan, negotiations which he was
totally unauthorized to undertake in the absence of approval from the head of his Order.166 Christopher
also appropriated the Order's company of foot soldiers stationed at the cathedral compound and enlisted
them in the service of Denmark, requiring them to swear allegiance to same. He was confident that he
had done the right thing.167 Yet subsequently King Christian (and he was just that in fact as well as in
name) gave the following regal, kind and memorable reply to the Livonian legates who asked him that
it be restored to them:168
His Royal Majesty already has sufficient lands and subjects and hopes from the bottom
of his heart but to rule and govern them in keeping with God's will. Nor does he wish to
enrich himself with the castles of his friend and neighbor, the lord master and his order.
For affliction must not be added to one already afflicted.169 It is thus his wish that the
castle of Reval be given up and returned. Furthermore, His Majesty cedes all claim to
whatever he has there in the way of artillery, shot, powder and supplies. Nor is any
blame or censure to be attached to Christopher Münchhausen, for his motives have not
been dishonorable.
What noble and Christian words from this Christian and illustrious king!170
This same summer the other estates again mobilized and once again advanced into the diocese
of Dorpat with their meager forces. In the absence of the archbishop's coadjutor, Sir Friedrich
Volkersam, the cathedral provost, served as the commander-in-chief of the archbishop's forces.171 He
later met a chivalrous death fighting the enemy on the battlefield at Tirsen [17a] and received Christian
burial in the cathedral church at Riga. Aside from the capture of the castle of Ringen and a few
skirmishes, nothing much was accomplished on this campaign. Afterwards the soldiers dispersed,
taking up winter quarters here and there, while the coadjutor went to Reval on account of the weakness
of his forces. There, in the absence of Christopher Münchhausen, he used the soldiers stationed at his
Order's castle of Reval to take it away from the Danish subjects Dietrich Behr172 and Heinrich Üxküll
of Vickel (Uxkulen von Ficklen) and bring it back under his control.173 The abbot of Padis also stepped
down and turned that monastery over to him. Then the coadjutor went back to Riga, to the archbishop
and to the other commanders in the Order, to confer with them as to what they should undertake next in
response to the desperate plight of the provinces.
During that campaign a severely wounded Russian was taken captive on the battlefield during
an engagement.174 He was a prominent and handsome individual, intelligent and experienced. He said
that he had visited Germany and other countries. He was not at all uneducated, something which is rare
indeed among that nation of peasants. Among other things he also said the following, in Latin: "I
beseech Your Excellency to intercede on my behalf with your lord, the exalted Master in Livonia,
asking him to send me to a doctor in his city, for I have been gravely and mortally wounded."175 But his
condition worsened and he died while we were treating him.176
Once again the emperor offered no concrete assistance in response to the request for aid which
was sent from Walk, aside from several documents and instructions which he sent to the surrounding,
neighboring kings and to the cities of Lübeck and Hamburg regarding the extremely harmful and
damaging export trade to Narva.177 The King of Denmark was also reluctant to become involved in the
Livonian war against the Muscovite, doubtlessly influenced by the cautions and warnings of his good
lords and kinsmen.178 For it could easily come about that His Majesty might be beset not only by the
dreadful Muscovite foe, but also by two others as well, from the south and from the north, and have to
wage war with them as well. When not even Hercules fought against two enemies, much less against
three at a time.179
And so the king rejected the legates' suit to gain his aid and protection based on the plan to
convey to him the city of Reval as well as the provinces of Harrien, Wierland and Jerwen. Nonetheless,
out of Christian affection, he did show generous concern for the poor country: he sent a grand
delegation, composed of Claus Uhr, Wasslaff Wobesser, Peter Bilder and Dr. Hieronymus Thenner, to
Moscow to conduct peace negotiations.180 They were, however, unable to achieve anything other than a
truce for half a year. After the return of this delegation the illustrious king departed this life for the glory
of God the Lord.181 His blessed, Christian and regal passing, as well as the demise of a number of
prominent and mighty individuals, can be found described in the little treatise Learn How to Die,182 a
work full of consolation and value for every pious Christian. When some legates, seeking to do him
honor, set golden necklaces and jewels before him, he allegedly said, "Away, away with this filth!", just
like our great apostle Paul who said that all our temporal accomplishments, however great they may be,
are but excrement when weighed against eternity.
The year 1559
After the expiration of the half-year-truce, the following winter, on February 1, the archenemy
once again attacked other districts of the country with a huge horde of 130,000 savagely raging soldiers.
He183 passed by the city of Riga and advanced through Courland up to the [18a] borders of the Grand
Duchy of Lithuania, totally unhindered and unopposed. Were it not for the fact that Duke Christopher
of Mecklenburg, the archbishop's coadjutor, who had earlier gone to Prussia and Mecklenburg as part
of the Pozvol agreement, was now returning and approaching Courland with a few hundred horsemen
(rumor, however, spread among the Russians that he had many thousands), the enemy would have
probably advanced still farther and stormed across all of Courland, going as far as Memel in Prussia.184
Even so, no one who witnessed the agonies the Muscovite caused can recount them without great grief
and bitter tears. He slew, murdered, slaughtered, raped, plundered and abducted, sparing neither unborn
infants nor old men and women and he once again inflicted atrocities upon all those who had not taken
refuge in the remaining fortresses. After he withdrew, one went along all the highways and byways
picking up the poor, innocent, little children, taking them off the fence stakes and loading them onto
many wagons and sleds so that they might be brought into the cities or to other places for burial. Their
heads, arms and legs had been hacked off and their entire bodies dreadfully and monstrously mutilated.
Not even in the accounts of the Turks and other heathens, or in those of the most dreadful tyrants, does
one find mention of such atrocities. Those who are far removed from such catastrophes and who live in
peaceful tranquility are little moved by them and can neither know, believe nor imagine what the
Muscovite, Turks, Tatars and similar savage monsters do when they win an upper hand over Christians.
One is reminded of a certain prince who said: "What a churlish fellow must this Muscovite be to do
such naughty things in Livonia."
After the successful conclusion of this unopposed campaign and after committing his
indescribably bestial atrocities, he went back to his own country in the early spring, taking with him
huge spoils of people, livestock, etc.
[18b] This dire calamity took place in winter when all the sea lanes were blocked and so one
could expect neither aid nor assistance from the German lands or elsewhere. Consequently, the
archbishop, master and coadjutor conferred and decided to send a delegation185 to the King of Poland,
since he had been Livonia's protector from days of old and was now, according to the Pozvol
agreement, an ally in the new alliance. He was also the closest neighboring Christian potentate, one
whose own interests were closely bound to the imminent and threatened conquest of that province.186
At that time he was holding a reichstag at Petrikov (Peterkaw), but after its conclusion he received the
above-mentioned legates at Cracow.
Before they left to make the long journey back to the disconsolate and desperate people of
Livonia, the archbishop, master and all the commanders and lords of the Order found it advisable to
also dispatch Gotthard Kettler, the Order's coadjutor, to the king in person, in order to expedite the
negotiations.187 He readily agreed to this and set off for Cracow with a number of individuals and
advisors from the Order and with complete instructions and full powers of negotiation.
Before he left the country, hopeful encouragement arrived from Sweden and so a delegation188
was dispatched to inquire as to the possibility of a loan of a substantial sum of money or of there being
peace negotiations undertaken with the Muscovite. Upon leaving Reval they first went to Turku
(Abaw), to the royal prince of Finland,189 presently the reigning king, in order to ask him to assist them
in these undertakings by intervening on their behalf with his dear and gracious father. They asked him
to do this for the sake of the master, his friend and neighbor. He approved of their mission, since he
himself was eager to wage war against the Muscovite on account of his atrocities and hoped to gain the
key to his father's great treasury for this purpose.190 He received them most cordially and regally,
provided them with all manner of provisions, and sent them on to Stockholm [19a], the royal capital
and residence, with his commendations. His Majesty the prince did this in spite of the fact that he was
somewhat annoyed at the manner in which the king was referred to in their documents, for the Livonian
chancellery had addressed his father, perhaps inadvertently, as "His Most Illustrious Highness" and not
as "His Most Serene Highness",191 as was customary for other kings. He asked, "What means this
'illustrious?' Enlightened? Not that the King of Sweden, by the grace of God, is so much in the dark
that he has need of enlightenment from the Livonians."192 This is what happens when one is not
addressed in the manner befitting him.
At Stockholm the legates were well received by officials left in charge in the king's absence, in
particular by Lorentz Fleming, a man well acquainted with foreign affairs and later the first Swedish
governor of Reval, dying there in peace. He also took them out to a river island to see some Laplanders
with their reindeer. The men and the animals were almost all of the same size and both were covered
with thick fur193 and when they called to their herd in voices as sweet and musical as that of the
nightingale, it reminded one of an illustration from Aesop's fables .194
From there they followed the king to Söderköping (Surkoping) in Ostergötland (Östiueland) and
presented their documents. But the king was not at all receptive to their requests and gave a number of
reasons: earlier the Livonian estates had asked the king to join them in a confederation against the
Grand Duke of Moscow, but then, after he agreed to this and was making military preparations at land
and at sea, they had concluded a shaky truce with the Muscovite, one highly disadvantageous to the
Crown of Sweden. He would therefore be totally justified if he repaid the Livonians in kind and left
them in the lurch without aid or assistance. Yet, out of Christian charity, the king would attempt to
begin negotiations with the enemy through his own legates and to do whatever was appropriate in the
best interests of the Crown. As regarded the loan of money, he could make no commitment in the
absence of his sons, the princes of the realm Erik and Johan, and of his chief counsellors. All these
obstacles were in addition to those the king cited in connection with the then current Dithmarschen
campaign.195 [19b] And so the legates were asked to remain in the kingdom until the matter could be
deliberated and decided upon.196 Since it appeared this would take a long time, they received the king's
generous permission for one of them to go back to Livonia.197 The other one, however, was to remain
and wait for a decision. Such conditions were attached to the loan of money that nothing came of it and
at the same time the promised attempt to negotiate peace with the Muscovite was also postponed.
Doubtlessly the latter was also due to the fact that the King of Denmark had, as mentioned above,
already dispatched prominent spokesmen to Moscow on Livonia's behalf. They had first arrived in Riga
and then continued their journey by way of Reval.198
On the above-mentioned Polish mission the coadjutor, aided by that which the other legates had
accomplished earlier with the help of the Lord God, moved the king to Christian charity and to
undertake whatever assistance necessary and proper in the ongoing Muscovite affair.199 The king
himself went from his kingdom to his Grand Duchy of Lithuania to confer with the estates of that duchy
which, because of its proximity to Russia, was most directly threatened. With their cooperation and
consent plans could be finalized and put into effect.200
The coadjutor in the meanwhile was on his way to the reichstag in Augsburg in order to bring
word of these negotiations to the emperor and the estates of the empire and also to reiterate and
emphasize the repeated, impassioned and most respectful pleas of his Order's legates, namely, that the
Polish offer of assistance presented an opportunity they should not let slip by.201 (The royal Polish
defensive alliance with Livonia was completely contingent upon the cooperative assistance of the Holy
Roman Empire.) Nor should they abandon subjects of the German Empire in that distant province and
outer bulwark and allow them to come under the effective control of the archenemy.
[20a] On rather short notice the coadjutor was directed to appear at Vilna on June 24 for the
final negotiation of the defensive alliance.202 Thus it was impossible for him to be present both there
and at the reichstag in Augsburg. Moreover, he also received news from the commanders and lords of
the Order back home that the Muscovite was once again undertaking military action against Livonia,
the half-year-truce negotiated by the Danish legates having now expired. Therefore he turned back after
travelling as far as Vienna in Austria and directed his companions to go on and to openly and
emphatically present these matters to the Holy Roman Emperor, the electors and princes and all the
estates of the empire and especially to the head of his order, the German Master, and the commanders
accompanying him.203 The coadjutor would have liked to have done all this in person.
In Vilna he, with the help of God, labored diligently to negotiate the defensive alliance. Part of
the agreement stipulated that several of the castles of the Order and of the archdiocese were to be turned
over to Poland. This was to be done legally and in no way to the detriment of the Holy Roman Empire.
These holdings, or utile dominium, would be redeemed upon payment of a specified sum of money, i.e.,
those expenses incurred in the defense of Livonia. This defensive alliance was ratified on September 3
by the king and the coadjutor, along with both parties' estates and vassals.204 He sent a detailed,
accurate and written account of the ratified agreements and compacts to the emperor and to almost
every prominent elector and prince of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.205 There was
nothing in these agreements detrimental or injurious to the empire, nor was any aspect of his
negotiations subject to criticism or censure. The King of Poland's sole concern in all these negotiations
was only with how he might aid that neighboring province and defend and preserve said province's true
Christian faith [20b] and German liberty in obedience to the Holy Roman Empire. Indeed, the king
promised in writing to restore those castles to their former status, to return them to the master and the
Order, and to withdraw their garrisons as soon as the Muscovite war was concluded and he had
received the agreed upon sum to cover the expenses incurred by said war. The following clause was
included in the agreements:
Moreover, when the Muscovite war has been finished or when peace has been
arranged with the Russians by certain fixed conditions, if the reverend master himself
or his successors will have wished to have or to attain from us or our successors the
afore-mentioned castles which are to be handed over to us: they will first count out to
us or to our successors a sum under the heading of war expenses, that is, six hundred
thousand florins, twenty-four Lithuanian grosses, counting by individual florins. When
this money has been finally counted out, the afore-mentioned castles and lands without
any difficulty and delay must be released to them by us or our successors in the same
state in which we received them.206
After the conclusion of this defensive alliance and after promises of aid and assistance arrived
from the emperor and the Holy Roman Empire, the country's survivors were much encouraged, feeling
their salvation was finally at hand. The subjects of the Order and those free cities and castles yet
unconquered by the Muscovite all swore oaths of allegiance and obedience to the coadjutor, as the
properly chosen master, their God-ordained sovereign, and a prince of the Holy Roman Empire, thus
renewing the earlier oaths which had bound them to his predecessors. After these professions of
allegiance and after the manor of Kegel207 had been mortgaged to the people of Reval for a certain sum
of money, the lords of the archdiocese and of the Order once again took to the field and moved into the
diocese of Dorpat during a bitterly cold autumn. On St.Martin's Eve208 they attacked the enemy near
Nücken and put him to flight.
The enemy unexpectedly sallied from the city of Dorpat and a sharp encounter ensued near the
city's walls and under its guns. [21a] It was quite a serious, hard-fought exchange and there is no doubt
that if the attack had been foreseen and if our side had been a bit stronger, God would have worked His
providence on the city.209
Since winter was approaching and nothing more could be accomplished during this season,
Duke Christopher, the archbishop's coadjutor, and all the forces of the archdiocese withdrew from the
field.210 The master and his men advanced on the castle of Lays. They invested, besieged and
effectively bombarded it and stormed it twice in quick succession, losing many fine, valiant soldiers,
especially officers and men from Riga and Reval. But the enemy in the castle showed great bravery and
determination and all attempts to take it failed. And so they withdrew, downcast by defeat, and had to
move away toward Oberpahlen (Overpal).211 The difficulty and travail caused by transporting the heavy
artillery over wretched roads unable to bear its weight can best be imagined only by those who were
actually involved in this arduous undertaking.
At Oberpahlen the foot soldiers followed their earlier custom and once again began to grow
restless and threaten mutiny on account of their pay. They were mollified with words and assigned to
their winter encampments.212
During this same time an imperial legate or chamberlain, Zacharias Hoffmann by name, came
to old Master Fürstenberg at Tarwest. He had been dispatched with letters regarding Livonia from the
emperor to the Grand Duke of Moscow.213 For this reason and others the master likewise went to
Tarwest. As he was passing through Fellin, he received a most amicable and reassuring letter214 from
the archbishop, consoling him for the failure and defeat before Lays and giving him great comfort in his
time of discouragement. These events were but turns of fortune, the archbishop wrote, and one must
endure them in patience and trust in God. He went on in most amiable and friendly fashion to explain
why it was best for him, the archbishop, to undertake to defend his and the Order's city of Riga and
suggested [21b] that the master might wish to do likewise with Reval. Better for the country to be
destroyed than defeated. But as long as the two chief cities of Riga and Reval, along with their harbors,
were kept out of the hands of the enemy, there was, with God's merciful assistance, nothing to fear.
From these two places the overblown arrogance of the proud and vain enemy could be broken and
reduced. But because of the arrival of legates from the King of Poland, Stanislaus Markowscy (Stanislai
Narkuski), the provost of Vilna, and Nicholas Paulowicz Narusewicz (Nicholai Narussowitz), treasurer
of Lithuania, the master was unable to go to Reval at this time. Instead he had to go from Fellin to
Riga.215
The year 1560
During this same winter the border castle of Marienburg was surrendered by its castellan.216
This castellan was confined at the castle of Kirchholm and died there.
The above-mentioned Polish legates were received and heard at Riga. Immediately they and the
master's own legate were dispatched to the king to inform him of the fall of Marienburg. The king had
the royal vice-chancellor, Phillip Padenffski, and the palatine of Vilna, Nicholas Radzivil, Duke of
Olica, confer with that Livonian legate at length regarding the stationing of Polish and Lithuanian
garrisons in the castles.217 Since that legate had no powers of negotiation, the above-mentioned palatine
came to Livonia in person. He went first to Selburg (Sehlburgk)218 and was joined there by the
archbishop, the coadjutor Duke Christopher, the master, and the landmarshal, along with their
counsellors. They negotiated and concluded an agreement regarding the garrisons.219 Soon thereafter
troops were dispatched to take over and garrison several fortresses of the archdiocese and the Order in
those areas closest to the enemy. There was no other alternative, for those areas were dreadfully
impoverished and helpless. Also, the king's armistice with the Muscovite [22a] had not yet expired and
so he was not able to attack the enemy out of his own domains. The garrisons were furnished at the
king's own expense, something which he would have gladly been spared had the Livonians themselves
been able to provide for the manning, supply and defense of the fortresses. This action was
accompanied by a document providing for the eventual return of said fortresses. According to the terms
of the agreement, the king was granted no possessions in the province aside from the utile dominium,
i.e., those castles and districts which had been placed under his control according to the terms of the
defensive alliance. After the conclusion of these negotiations at Selburg the above-mentioned palatine
went from there by boat to Ascheraden, Kirchholm, Riga and Dünamünde to inspect conditions at those
places. From Dünamünde he returned to Lithuania. An article of this agreement reads, word for word,
as follows:
We provide therefore, through the present letters, that we will keep our garrisons in the
same castles and towns no longer than this war which is between them and the
Muscovite shall last. But when this war either has been repulsed or finished by arms or
settled by conditions or ended by purport of a treaty in whatever way, we are going to
make as new the former right and power of the most reverend and illustrious lords, the
archbishop and his coadjutor and the reverend and magnificent master and their
successors - the rights of all the foregoing and of the estates - and we are going to
return the same properties to them. And we promise on behalf of ourselves and our
successors, that those things which we have provided by these letters of ours
concerning freely restoring and letting go of their castles and towns, we are going to
preserve unimpaired and we are not going to go against them for any reasons.220
According to the custom of the Order the old Master Fürstenberg had chosen to take up
retirement and residence for the remainder of his life at the castle and city of Fellin. He thus reigned
over that city and the other castles and manors of the district, the finest and most advantageously
situated in the entire country. [22b] There he kept the Order's heavy and light field artillery and other
materiel along with a company of foot soldiers and his own men-at-arms.221
The new master, by contrast, was responsible for the remainder of the devastated and depleted
country and for the undermanned, and for the most part poorly supplied, castles, as well as for the
actual governance of the Order. These castles were held by German soldiers. They had been given no
pay and refused to render their services until they received it. Not only that, but the countryside was so
totally devastated that it could not only offer nothing toward payment of the mercenaries, but in its
poverty and deprivation it was no longer able to even meet its own proper obligations, that of providing
horses.
One tried most diligently and earnestly to find any possible means of retaining the services of
the mercenary cavalry and other German soldiers from abroad until they could be paid and mollified
with money from the empire and with some funds expected from Sweden in return for certain
guarantees of repayment mentioned above.
When they realized that nothing was forthcoming from either of these two sources, some of them
withdrew with flags furled and went elsewhere, thus bringing new calamities upon the poor, greatly
beset fatherland. Misfortunes never come singly.222
In addition to this one lived in the constant fear and expectation that the other unpaid foot
soldiers, who remained in and controlled the fortresses, might undertake actions which could lead to the
country's final defeat.223 Indeed just such action took place at Fellin,224 as will be related later in its
proper place. Confronted by these dangers, the master once again had to appeal to the above-mentioned
King of Poland as the Christian head of the defensive alliance and ask him for the loan of a
considerable sum of money. He was granted this in return for several castles in Courland, i.e.,
Goldingen and Windau, which were to be held as utile dominium. Similarly [23a] he received financial
assistance from the Duke of Prussia in exchange for Gröbin.225 With these funds he was then able to
pay the malcontented soldiers.226
On April 16, during Eastertide, Duke Magnus of Holstein unexpectedly arrived at Arensburg
(Arnburg) on Ösel and demanded that Bishop Johann Münchhausen and the lords of the diocese turn
the island over to him.227 In return for his yielding of the diocese, Münchhausen received a substantial
sum of money, nearly 20,000 thalers,228 from Duke Magnus' mother, the old Queen of Denmark. And
so he abandoned the fray and returned to his home in Germany. He did this in spite of the fact that he
was totally unauthorized to cede or turn over said diocese to anyone without the knowledge and consent
of the lords of the Order. This had been stipulated by the above-mentioned Treaty of Wolmar and then
also in a separate guarantee which he had sent the master (which is still extant in its original and
authentic form) when the Teutonic Order first entrusted him with said diocese, district and people at the
request of his namesake and kinsman, Sir Ernst von Münchhausen, castellan of Goldingen.
Furthermore, because many secret schemes had been and were still being directed against all these
districts during these times of unrest, he and his cathedral chapter swore that in the future they would
not accept anyone, foreign or otherwise, as lord of the diocese without the consent of the master and
other concerned parties. The master humbly requested the emperor to confirm this compact, which he
did on May 4, 1561.229
At the time of Duke Magnus'230 arrival the master was in Reval and he was rather pleased that
he had come, especially since his person had been so highly commended by his brother, the illustrious,
then reigning King of Denmark. The master immediately dispatched a prominent delegation231 to him
to wish him well and to offer cordial and neighborly regards. But when this delegation was received,
something quite unexpected happened: all manner of new and [23b] clamorous counsellors232 had
gathered together and entered into secret schemes which they later put into effect and Duke Magnus, at
the instigation of these evil people and for the most trivial reasons, made hostile demands upon the
master.233 He did this at the most inopportune time possible, for the Russian was even then advancing
with a strong and fresh army. He thus impeded the necessary defensive actions against the enemy.234 In
order to resolve this internal strife the archbishop and his coadjutor went to New Pernau in person.235
Through the transfer of the monastery of Padis (Padies) they brought about a peace agreement on
August 6.236
During this conference at Pernau, convened to settle internal disorders to which the desertion of
the above-mentioned mercenary cavalry had also contributed, the following disaster occurred: mounted
forces of the archbishop, the Teutonic Order and others had taken to the field in expectation of
assistance from the Holy Roman Empire and of active Polish support.237 Sir Phillip Schall of Bell, an
honorable and pious man and landmarshal of the Teutonic Order, along with other castellans and
prominent noblemen, took part in the expedition. They were defeated by the archenemy, the Muscovite,
who once again launched a huge invasion of the country.238 Most of the forces were slain near the
Order's castle of Ermes (Ermss) and the manor of the blessed Walther von Plettenberg in a battle on
August 2.239 A large number were also taken away as captives and were later tortured and murdered in
most atrocious and brutal fashion. Among the captives were: the landmarshal, Phillip Schall of Bell, the
highest ranking lord of the Order next to the master himself; his brother, Werner Schall of Bell,
castellan of Goldingen; Heinrich von Galen, advocate of Bauske; Christoph Sieburg, advocate of
Kandau (Candaw); a prominent nobleman of the archdiocese by the name of Reinhold Sasse240; and
other noblemen and officers. The Muscovite led them around with him as captives in a triumphal
procession, first toward Fellin and then elsewhere. Finally, however, he lashed the landmarshal and the
others up and down the streets of Moscow [24a] with metal scourges. Those who were no longer able
to walk and fell down exhausted were beheaded with a broadax and left lying dead and naked at the
place of execution for all to see. The dogs, birds and other beasts would have torn them apart and
devoured them had not some other captives (Christians who had earlier been taken prisoner in Livonia
and led away) had mercy on them and buried them in the earth.
Trustworthy reports say that the Grand Duke was very anxious to learn from the landmarshal of
the above-mentioned negotiations at Pozvol and elsewhere. He also ordered the landmarshal to allow
himself to be rebaptized in the Russian fashion. (They regard our way of baptizing as ineffectual and
meaningless since we do it in church under a roof and not in flowing water under the blue sky as did
John the Baptist in the Jordan when he first instituted the sacrament of baptism.) The landmarshal is
reported to have refused all cooperation with the Grand Duke. In recognition of his steadfastness and
independence, the tyrant sent word to the prison that, if he were not already dead, he should be spared
and allowed to live.241
After this victory in the field the Muscovite advanced on Fellin and besieged and bombarded
that strong castle and little town.242 The retired master Wilhelm von Fürstenberg and his men were
there, as explained earlier. This fortress, especially the castle, had such fine natural and man-made
defenses that it could have hardly been taken by force had not the men of that disloyal and treacherous
company of foot soldiers, with but a few exceptions, risen in armed mutiny and knavishly surrendered
the castle and their lord to the enemy. There was no compelling reason to do so, for there was no lack of
provisions, materiel necessary for the defense of the castle, or pay, for the above-mentioned lord
Fürstenberg had made up their unpaid wages by giving them jewels and silver services worth more than
the amounts due them.243 [24b] On August 22, the enemy gained control of this castle, the likes of
which in this country are few. The soldiers then departed, the enemy having granted them safety for
their lives and possessions. Later the master executed a number of them, whomever he captured,
including the main ringleaders of the mutiny. He broke them on the wheel and impaled them.244 But the
good, old, pious lord was led off into captivity in a foreign land with only a few of his attendants. After
several years he passed away there, along with Hermann, the bishop of Dorpat.245
In Moscow he and his men were led along in a triumphal procession which two captive Tatar
tsars of Kazan and Astrakhan were forced to watch. They gave him and his men a crude welcome. They
spat upon them and said: "Curses upon you Germans. You have received your proper due. You
yourselves placed the scourge in the Muscovite's hands with which he first smote us and which he now
lays upon your back." They were referring to the coastal smugglers who had sailed to Narva and
strengthened him with all manner of contraband armaments.246
Then the enemy divided his army into three groups and went with the artillery from Fellin to
Weissenstein. He besieged and bombarded it but was unable to accomplish anything, thanks to the
valor of those fine men and of Caspar von Oldenbockem (Jasper von Altenbokums), the governor.247
After a long and unsuccessful siege he had to withdraw in defeat.
The Muscovite now roamed at will in the country, bringing one castle after another under his
yoke, gaining some unopposed, through needless surrender, and others through treachery. Nor did he
have any intention of withdrawing until he had gained control of the entire country. Earlier Duke
Magnus' clamorous advisors248 had not rested content until he instigated that unjustified, divisive and
damaging confrontation with the master, as a result of which the Livonians were driven from the field
of battle [25a] and Fellin, along with everything in it and the old lord, came under the enemy's control.
Now they incited him to attempt to gain through schemes that which he had been unable to win through
force. He sought to encourage the defection of the master's remaining subjects. It was to this end that he
sent messages to the people of Reval, saying that they knew that their city's origin was to be traced back
to the Crown of Denmark.249 Thus in their present desperate plight they should once again place their
hopes and confidence in it. As if the city, along with the districts of Harrien, Wierland, Jerwen and the
dioceses, had not already earlier offered themselves to his esteemed father, but had not been accepted
for a number of reasons, some of which were described above!
Soon afterwards the King of Sweden, Gustav of blessed memory and now in heavenly repose,
sent his legates over to Wiek in three galleys and then on to Reval to graciously admonish them and
their subjects in the surrounding areas to observe their sworn oath of allegiance and to remain steadfast
and loyal to their lord, the master.250 They should neither allow themselves to be frightened by the
raging devastation of that dreadful monster, the Muscovite, nor should they let themselves be lured to
any improper course of action by flattery and empty promises. For His Majesty the King neither would
nor could tolerate any potentate whomsoever in that neighboring province aside from the master and
the Order. The king was prepared to place his entire kingdom at stake to prevent any such attempt. If
there were any shortage in the city of artillery, powder, shot, provisions or other supplies, the king
would graciously provide such. If it came to a siege of the city, they could send their wives, children
and anyone else not needed for the defense to the neighboring Duchy of Finland where they would be
protected and provided for as long as necessary. Truly a regal, Christian and generous offer, one
deserving of eternal gratitude.
Thereupon the spokesman of the King of Poland, Christopher Conarski, along with the master's
legates, accompanied the Swedish delegation back to the Crown of Sweden. [25b] They spent a full
four weeks at sea, confronted by considerable danger to their lives, before arriving at Stockholm where
they were in high hopes of achieving beneficial assistance for their poor, destitute country pursuant to
the royal Christian offer made to the people of Reval.
251
When they arrived in Stockholm, the king252 was unfortunately so ill, infirm and bedridden that
he was unable to grant the delegation an audience in person. They were instead received by his three
sons Johan, Magnus and Karl,253 princes of the realm, and by the most prominent counts, knights and
counsellors.254 At this time Duke Erik was at Neulosen about to set sail for England. The purpose of his
trip does not concern us here.255
The delegates were thus delayed in Sweden on account of the king's illness, but they did receive
some reassurances. The king died in a state of grace on St.Michael's Day256 of the above-mentioned
year. There was not only great public mourning and lamentation in the kingdom, but the legates also
had to remain almost an entire half year in Stockholm, to their great inconvenience and distress, until
King Erik returned.257 In their audience with him one thing, among others, which they earnestly asked
of him was that he forbid his subjects to engage in the damaging commercial voyages to Narva. The
Holy Roman Emperor had already amiably recommended such actions to all neighboring and
surrounding potentates.258 What the Muscovite was now inflicting upon Livonia could well later befall
his subjects as well. For your own property is in question when your neighbor's wall is on fire.259 This
annoyed him and he proclaimed that he was emperor and king in his own realm, fully independent, etc.
One was so occupied with preparations for the funeral and internment of the king's body and
that of his two earlier deceased queens which was to take place at Uppsala (Upsal), thirty-five miles
from Stockholm and at that time the seat of the archdiocese, that little or no attention could be paid the
legates and their requests. [26a] Nonetheless, King Erik did invite the legates from Poland and from the
Livonian master to attend the royal funeral which was held in regal splendor. He had also invited a
legate of the Grand Duke of Moscow, a hulking, crass rogue. Later the secretary, Christopher Schiefer,
was sent to the Polish legate, Sir Christopher Conarski, to inquire whether he would be annoyed if the
Muscovite were to be the first to be received by the king. This so pained and offended him that he
shouted out in his indignation that it was well that he had been forewarned, for had he not, when he
noticed during the audience that his lord, the King of Poland, was being insulted and shamed through
the preferential treatment shown the Russian, he would have been unable to bear it, but rather, to
defend the honor and reputation of his king, he would have assailed the Russian with his fists and
placed his own life in jeopardy. He also expressed amazement that King Erik should be so insensitive
as to make no distinction between an ordained, Christian king and a bloodthirsty savage, and a mere
grand duke at that. Thereupon all the legates were dismissed and left to remain in their quarters. From
this one can plainly see where King Erik's inclinations and sympathies even then lay in regard to the
King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Moscow.
At this same time legates from the people of Reval were also present in Stockholm: the
councilman Johann Schmedemann and Jost zur Hacken, the elder of the Great Guild.260 They had,
however, been ordered to enter into no negotiations without the advice and counsel of the master's
legates. They obeyed their instructions as long as the master's legates remained present there. King Erik
showed little concern for the generous and regal offers which his blessed father had made to the people
of Reval, as mentioned above. Rather, he turned his thoughts to other matters, as later events would
show. [26b] And so the legates from both Poland and the Livonian master were dismissed. After such a
long sojourn all their common and separate attempts had been totally unproductive and they left with
little joy. The legates from Reval were, however, allowed to stay.
In other regards, however, King Erik was to be esteemed for his personal qualities, his
intelligence, command of foreign languages and other God-given talents. But he let himself be led
astray by evil counsellors, especially by Jöran Persson (Jörgen Peersen).261 Thus kings, princes and
lords would do well to consider what manner of people they bring to their courts and to provide
themselves with counsellors such as those whom David described and recommended to his son
Solomon. They should also heed the following couplets which are inscribed in stone at the church in
Lübeck:
For if at times God mediates bitter penalties
against cities, he removes thence the outstanding men,
especially the old, skilled in mind, experience and age,
calm counsel and serious in judgement.
If the hot-headed offspring, the young men, succeed them,
swelling with hope, envy, hatreds, and ambitions,
then all things rush to the worse and are borne backward.
Whoever you are, learn from this to beware of your bane.262
An example of this is found in the case of King Solomon's son Rehaboam, who lost ten tribes of
Israel after his father's death as a result of ill-counsel.
[27a] The year 1561
The legates departed from Sweden on Epiphany263 in most bitterly and severely cold weather.
Here I must relate something which, though true, is almost unbelievable.264 The legates, wishing to
travel from Finland to Reval across the ice, paid eight Finnish fishermen who knew the route to take
them to Reval on foot. The fishermen took along a small fishing boat, about three or four fathoms
long.265 They pushed and pulled it over the ice, four on each side so that it would not tilt over and fall to
either the right or to the left. Often they would find a break in the ice, open water not completely frozen
over. Then they would launch the boat, all get in and work their way through the ice floes until they
again came to ice thick enough to bear the weight of the boat. Then the legates would once again
proceed on foot while the fishermen pulled their boat along. Now and then on this journey across the
sea they encountered huge compressed heaps of ice, or pack ice as it is called, several fathoms in
height. It was only with the greatest difficulty and travail that they were able to cross over these and
bring the boat along with them, especially since the cold was so terribly severe that the poor legates
were unable to lend a helping hand. If one of them had possessed his own kingdom, he would have
traded half of it for a warm room. Another fact: whenever the fishermen came with their boat to a place
where the sea was frozen over with smooth and level ice, and when there was also a breeze, they would
raise the sails on their boat to catch the wind. The boat was then driven so rapidly across the smooth ice
that it was all the natives could do to keep up with it, running along and supporting it on both sides.
Thus did one sail before a full wind across the ice.
[27b] This journey lasted two entire days and one extremely long winter night and the cold was
so incredibly severe that the legates were unable to consume a single bit of their food and drink until, by
the grace of God, they reached the island of Nergen, fifteen nautical miles from Reval, and spent the
night there. During that night a strong wind blew up from the east-northeast, drove away all the ice
between Finland and Reval, and left the sea completely open and clear. If they had remained on the sea
ice a few hours longer they would have had to pay for this long, difficult and dangerous journey with
their lives.266
For the sake of Christendom and of these northern regions all hearts might have wished and
earnestly beseeched God that the old, illustrious King Gustav, a splendid and wise sovereign, tested and
experienced in government, might have lived somewhat longer, or that the illustrious, present reigning
King of Sweden, Johan, might have immediately succeeded his gracious, beloved and godblessed
father. Had this been the case there is no doubt that the Swedes would have allied themselves with the
King of Poland to fight against the Muscovite on behalf of Livonia.267 Much misfortune, as well as the
later tragic war between Denmark and Sweden, would have been avoided. But things once done cannot
be undone.268 It was the will of God, punishment for our many sins.
Soon after the Polish legates and those from the Livonian master left Stockholm, one began to
work designs on the legates from Reval. The latter responded with most servile gratitude and promised
to do all they could to win over their lords and elders at a meeting of the Council and Assembly. They
also prepared the soldiers of both the city and the cathedral compound for the take-over by the Swedish
commissioners [28a], who in turn reached complete agreement with the noblemen and the town
regarding arrangements for the future.269
After this assistance had been gained from the Swedes, the people of Reval quickly dispatched
two of their number, Reinholt Lode and Johann Winter, to Mitau (Mytaw) where the old master lay
critically ill, to renounce their oaths of allegiance. Among other things they also said: "The present
course of action is now irreversible and your lordship should not imagine it otherwise."270
The master quickly sent his men271 with word of this to the King of Poland who, along with the
imperial legate Sir Valentin Sauerman,272 immediately wrote to Reval admonishing its people to remain
steadfast and loyal and asking them to await further communications from legates which they and the
master would soon be sending them. These legates, Sir Heinrich von Dohna (Dohn) among others,273
were instructed to arrange an armistice until such time as the King of Poland and the master could send
delegates to the King of Sweden to inquire as to the causes of this rebellious defection (Had heaven
itself fallen, it could not have been more unexpected) and to set right, for the good of Christendom, the
misunderstandings involved.274 Without waiting for the arrival of these legates, the nobility and town
swore allegiance to the King of Sweden on June 4,5, and 6, and thereby attached themselves to that
crown.275 They then immediately besieged the castle and cathedral compound for some six weeks. They
bombarded them and conquered them through starvation.276 Later they also captured the monastery of
Padis along with several other castles belonging to the diocese of Reval. All this was on account of that
above-mentioned shaky truce which the former master had entered into with the Muscovite.277 This had
greatly offended Sweden which had been assured of a confederation.278 There remains deep-seated in
her mind the judgment of Paris.279 Moreover, some pirates or freebooters from Reval had attacked and
plundered some Russians [28b] in Swedish ports and rivers and the Grand Duke had demanded proper
restitution from Gustav, the King of Sweden.280 Hesiod told his brothers that he did not wish to become
involved in a legal dispute with people more powerful than he. It would bring him only shame and
disgrace. Similarly, still nowadays, great lords will tolerate little from those less than they.
All this took place when those regions of the Order's territory were still directly subject to the
Holy Roman Empire, there having been no change in their status. They were at the time merely under
the protective custody of the King of Poland.281
And so it came about that the splendid corpus of the noble province was dreadfully torn and
split asunder. The Muscovite controlled the major and perhaps the best part: the territories282 of
Wierland, Fellin, Marienburg and the entire diocese of Dorpat along with all the lands of those districts,
up to the archdiocese of Riga. King Erik of Sweden had taken over the other major portion, i.e., the city
and castle of Reval, Padis, Borchholm (Borckholm) and Fegefeuer (Fegfewer). The dioceses of Ösel,
Wiek and Courland which Duke Magnus controlled now relied on the protection of Denmark. These
two mighty foes283 now armed themselves to the utmost in their own territories and advanced,
dreadfully pillaging and slaying, to bring those areas still subject to the archbishop and the master under
their control. As a result of unremitting enemy invasions and attacks over the course of so many years
past, those areas were so totally devastated and destroyed that they were not able to field more than five
or six hundred horsemen. It seemed that all was lost and that there was no choice but to become vassals
of the Muscovite or to acknowledge the sovereignty of King Erik.284
In this time of direst peril, when all hope and comfort had vanished [29a], the master still
encouraged and beseeched his subjects, however few there remained, to quietly and patiently await the
divine will for just a short and specified time longer and to wait to see if that assistance which the Holy
Roman Empire had so repeatedly promised might be forthcoming. He also sent letters to the emperor
and several electors and princes, emphatically telling them what additional disasters would occur
should relief and rescue not be provided within the time mentioned.285
To no less extent did he, along with the archbishop, appeal to the illustrious above-mentioned
King of Poland,286 most earnestly imploring him at all the reichstage and diets (those held at Cracow,
Petrikov, Warsaw, Parschoff, Lüblin, Lomsa, Vilna and Grodna) to provide the assistance called for by
the defensive alliance. Nor was there any lack of such assistance. On several occasions the king
mobilized the forces of the Lithuanian field commanders Sir Jan Chodkiewicz (Johann Kotkowitz)287
and Sir Nicholas Radzivil,288 the Duke of Birse (Bierze) and palatine of Trakai (Trock) who had
occupied Tarwest, and was prepared to launch them against the archenemy along with the oft-promised
support of the Holy Roman Empire. (The king needed this support so that he could assure the defense
of Poland proper.) When it turned out that no assistance whatsoever was forthcoming from the empire
and when it became known that the two above-mentioned enemies, King Erik and the Muscovite, were
acting as though they were sworn confederates,289 attacking in force and daily extending their domains
and capturing fortresses, the King of Poland was reluctant, and properly so, to engage two so powerful
enemies and endanger his assembled forces for the sake of what remained of Livonia, and that hanging
by a silken thread. The defensive alliance did not require the king to do so, [29b] for it called for action
only against the single enemy, the Muscovite, and that to be undertaken only with the support of the
Holy Roman Empire and with Livonian assistance, of which there was little to be offered at that
time.290
In spite of all this the king, as one greatly concerned lest this bastion of Christendom be
breached, destroyed or fall completely under the control of the Muscovite, acted in his capacity as a
neighboring Christian potentate and graciously vouchsafed to undertake whatever measures proper and
humanly possible to prevent the complete collapse of Livonia. So that this might be achieved in legal
and proper fashion the king gave plenipotentiary powers to the palatine of Vilna and Duke of Olica and
once again sent him along with a retinue composed of men of many nations291 to the surviving
noblemen of the archdiocese and the Order in assembly at Riga. He was to confer with them as to what
was to be done in this more than half and almost completely lost cause, and how the unconquered areas
of the country might be relieved as soon as possible and how those districts which had been lost might
be retaken with the help of God and with the cooperation of the Holy Roman Empire. One still hoped
that the empire would wake up and not abandon that country, now in its last gasps.
Every intelligent person can well imagine the difficult considerations which faced the noblemen
in these dire straits. They were no longer able to raise any forces whatsoever. Moreover, when the
above-mentioned time limit the master had set when he wrote to the empire asking for help for the last
time expired without anything having been gained aside from empty words, the impoverished,
surviving subjects refused to wait any longer and were about to let themselves be seduced into action
which would result in the loss of their temporal and eternal well-being.
And so, in the name of God, the noblemen and their lord and sovereign the archbishop
concluded that there was no other course left to them in this time of direst peril and danger but to
entrust themselves to the Christian king who had the greatest right to the rescue and preservation of that
province [30a] by virtue of his proximity and of old and recent treaties.292 During all the previous
turmoils of war the king had never been known to act out of self-interest or to conspire to achieve an
advantage over others.293 Just the contrary, several years past, when the king was compelled to wage
war and had gained almost total control of the country, he turned it back and yielded claim to it out of
respect for the Holy Roman Empire. When the Muscovite offered him half of Livonia in exchange for
marriage to his royal sister, he nobly and honorably rejected the idea and totally spurned said
archenemy.294
So it came about that the archbishop, master, commanders in the Order, noble landowners and
legates from the city of Riga went to the king in Vilna in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania on October
14,295 having received complete plenipotentiary powers of negotiation from all the noblemen and
commanders of the Order and the remaining dioceses. They were received at the castle on the 19th and
there they concluded, ratified and confirmed the unavoidable step of subjugation and transfer of
sovereignty.296
After the profession of allegiance had been made, the illustrious king took pity out of Christian
charity on these poor subjects who had been abandoned by all the world and took it upon himself to
rescue them, just as he would any of his subjects. The master, now released of his territory and subjects,
wanted to leave and return to his fatherland or somewhere else, there to remain and live according to
the will of God in a manner proper to his station.297 The only thing which dissuaded him from this
course of action was the fact that his counsellors, now likewise stripped of rank, pleaded and begged
him not to abandon and totally reject them in this time of change, constantly assailing his ears by word
and letter, with hot tears and gestures of grief. In keeping with the will of God [30b] he should remain
with them longer and accept whatever gracious plans the above-mentioned king had for him in regard
to his newly acquired subjects' temporal and eternal welfare, German form of government and
liberties.298
Their constant entreaties persuaded him to loyally acquiesce to the king and to accept as a
hereditary fief a part of those lands which had been yielded and transferred to the sovereignty of the
king.299 These lands, however, had become extremely burdened with debts during the long, ceaseless
war. Many thousands were still owed the King of Denmark, the Duke of Prussia, the city of Danzig and
other noblemen, and it had been necessary to hand over to them as security toward repayment many
select districts along with their inhabitants, most of which even today have not yet been redeemed. This
is not counting that which had to be turned over to a number of members of the Order and other
deserving people, native and foreign, pursuant to an agreement between the king and the duke. Some of
those lands were placed under the protection of the former, the rest, under that of the latter. Part of the
document which conveyed land to the master as an hereditary fief reads as follows:
We will bestow upon the illustrious lord master of Livonia the ducal title, like that of
the illustrious lord duke in Prussia, together with all dignity, insignia, and ducal
privileges. Thus let him be as our vassal and feudatory prince: as from the present
moment we have received his lordship as our vassal prince, so we will hold him
together with the following castles, districts and counties which with every right we
have granted in feud to his lordship, etc.
The diocese of Courland was also conveyed to him in exchange for Sonnenburg with these words:
[31a]
Furthermore, in the midst of all other things and this it is agreed by us and his lordship
that the illustrious grand duke of Holstein shall be content with receiving in exchange
for the diocese of Courland the castle of Sonnenburg and the manors of Leal, etc. To
this matter we have directed our attention for him so that his lordship may possess
along with the rest of Courland the diocese of Courland also.300
The palatine of Vilna sent his legates, along with some from Riga, to Duke Magnus on Ösel to
negotiate this exchange. The King of Poland, however, dispatched Achaz von Zehman (Achacius
Zehm)301 the younger to Denmark since Duke Magnus had no authority to conclude an agreement
without the consent of the King of Denmark. At first the latter was receptive to the suggestion for the
sake of maintaining good and friendly relations with his neighbor, but later certain conditions were
attached, as will be related later in the proper place. Meanwhile the Danish king sent the following
letter, among others, to the master:
In regard to the exchange of the diocese of Courland for Sonnenburg, your lordship has
doubtlessly learned of our feelings regarding this from our most recent letters on the
matter in which we explained that our legates would be dispatched to you at our earliest
convenience to negotiate a final agreement on the issue. We have likewise informed the
legates of the King of Poland of this. In the meanwhile, your lordship is to undertake no
action. Hopefully the delay will cause you no inconvenience. If there is anything we can
do at any time to demonstrate our friendly good intentions we are more than ready to do
so. Dated April 7, 1562, at our castle of Copenhagen.
The surviving noblemen of Livonia all rendered proper thanks to the King of Poland and could
never express their fullest gratitude, not so much because he had graciously [31b] bestowed temporal
holdings upon them (at this time they had none of their own, rather everything was under the control of
the king), but because he had agreed in royal and Christian fashion to defend them and to preserve this
bastion of all Christendom, even were that to cause him great difficulties and greatly endanger his own
kingdom and ancestral lands.
Unfortunately things turned out differently in fact and, when the war at the onset moved from
Livonia to the king's own realm, certain public events as well as secret schemes302 placed obstacles in
the way of His Majesty, thus preventing his undertaking the urgent and essential defense of Livonia.
After the treaty transferring sovereignty and allegiance had been concluded, ratified and sworn
to by all parties at Vilna on November 28, St.Günther's Day, the king dispatched the palatine of Vilna
for a third time. He arrived in the country on January 30 of that same winter and discharged his duties
on February 18.303 He delivered authenticated copies of the ratified and concluded treaty to the
archbishop, the master and the noblemen of the duchy. He thereupon received the Great Seal of the
Order, a number of documents, seals, and letters, and the keys to the castles and cities. He then
occupied them and had those subjects swear allegiance and fealty to the king.304
He also proclaimed the master Duke of Courland and Semgallia and royal governor of those
lands and commended him to his subjects. Now released of their former oaths and obligations to the
master and the Order,305 they swore allegiance to the king and his eventual successors306 as their
perpetual and legal sovereign, while swearing fealty to the Duke of Courland and all his direct
descendants through the male line307 [32a] as their hereditary lord. This took place in March, on the
Thursday after the Third Sunday in Lent.308
On the following day at the City Hall, in the presence of the lord archbishop and all the other
estates of the country, the city swore its allegiance to the king. It was then placed under the jurisdiction
of the duke and the keys to the castle and city were once again turned over to him.309
There was one proviso: the king was to intercede with the Holy Roman Emperor and especially
with the Grandmaster of the Order in German and Foreign Lands so that the Livonian estates might not
be condemned or outlawed or suffer any injury to themselves, their honor, or holdings as a result of this
unavoidable transfer of allegiance.310 This proviso and guarantee reads as follows:
[32b] Moreover, since this among other things is contained in the conditions of
subjection, that the aforesaid duke as well as his subjects and cities have demanded for
themselves that care be taken by us that that surrender and subjection which they, led
by extreme misfortunes and dangers, have offered to us as the King of Poland, as
Grand Duke of Lithuania and of our other realms, not be a source of loss or imposition
to them with respect to his Caesarean majesty and the other estates of the Empire in
Germany, we pledge in good faith that we will apply ourselves in this matter with all
our strength lest either the duke or his subjects suffer any loss either in honor or fame
or in goods and fortunes from this necessary surrender or lest they incur on this
account any conscription of empire or other burdens or if they have incurred these, we
nevertheless will provide that this shall not be an imposition to any person publicly or
privately.311
The king also solemnly swore to maintain the privileges, freedoms and legal rights of everyone
in the country of whatever class or estate he might be. The content of this royal oath reads as follows:
Oath of His Sacred Royal Majesty
I, Sigismund Augustus, by grace of God, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania,
Russia, Prussia, Masovia, Samogithia, and Livonia, etc., lord and heir, swear, pledge
and promise on these Holy Gospels of God that all rights, liberties, privileges, letters,
and immunities ecclesiastical and secular of the Province of Livonia, granted as well to
the churches and to their spiritual establishment, that is, to the archbishops, bishops,
princes, masters, chapters, rulers of houses, advocates, nobles, vassals, citizen
inhabitants, and whatever persons, being of whatever state and condition -- these rights
granted to this province and its estates by the Roman emperors, and any other kings,
dukes, princes, masters of the Teutonic Order, and other legitimate magistrates, I shall
maintain, preserve, guard, and attend to on all conditions and points. All things
illegally alienated from the same provinces or torn away from it through these
disturbances of the war with the Muscovite, according to my power and that of my
conjoined provinces, I shall recover and collect to the property of the same province by
arms or agreements. I shall not diminish the frontiers of the same province but
according to my power, if it has been diminished and reduced into the power of the
enemy, I shall defend those frontiers when they have been recovered312 and I shall
expand them, so help me God and these Holy Gospels.313
He also made the following specific promise in regard to German administration of the duchy:
[33a] Thirdly, we have obligated ourselves, just as we obligate ourselves by the present
letters, to leave the subjects of that province under the power of their own Germanic
magistrate and therefore to confer offices, prefectures, the position of count,
judgeships, burgraves and posts of this sort not upon others than individuals of the
German nation and tongue and in fact natives just as we have been accustomed to
confer these positions in the lands of Prussia.
Thus out of certain necessity and divine providence, as a result of our sins (although
self-preservation is a law of nature), and for the above-mentioned true and unchanging reason which
not even the Gates of Hell could withstand, this province of Livonia underwent a change and
transformation. This is to say nothing of the unimaginable expense, effort and travail repeatedly
expended on the delegations to the emperor and neighboring potentates, electors and princes and their
representatives and especially to the head of the Order, the German Master, in an effort to obtain the
financial assistance the empire had promised. All those still living to whom the Livonian legates often
appealed with warnings, admonitions and entreaties can testify to the truth of all this and, if need be,
such can also be demonstrated with written letters and documents. It remains to Almighty God alone to
know why all these appeals were contemptuously cast to the wind and why one withdrew the hand of
friendship and all means of help from this threatened province, denying it financial assistance and
relief.314
In this first part we have thus given the main causes of the events which took place in Livonia
during the reign of the last master, from 1554 to 1562. These causes, along with the countless great sins
and vices with which the country was lamentably full, resulted in the great change in the country and its
status.
As for events which took place in Harrien, Wierland, Jerwen, Wiek, Ösel, in and around Reval,
Pernau, etc., and the battles, especially those of the peasants [33b] and their leader Hannibal,315 and
other adventures, these things have been described at length and in detail in the accounts of those who
lived in or near the above-mentioned areas and who consequently are able to give more accurate and
detailed descriptions of them. The reader is thus referred to them. Lest others seem to have had the
labors and we seem to have carried off the honors.316
Preface
1.
. Eccl.10:4-5.
. Psalms l02:18.
3.
. 1 Peter 5:6.
4.
. Phil.4:7.
5.
. The Livonian Order was the descendant of two early crusading orders, the Brothers of the Sword and the Teutonic Knights. The Brothers of
the Sword were founded in the early thirteenth century by the Bishop of Riga and were absorbed by the Teutonic Knights in 1237. See James A.
2.
Brundage's translation, The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia (Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 1961) and became a
semi-autonomous branch of that religious-military organization. After the secularization of Prussia in 1525, it became completely autonomous,
but experienced great difficulties in recruiting knights and priests from the Holy Roman Empire or raising money there. The existence of a
Roman Catholic Order in the Protestant North was an anomaly that persisted because no one wished to disturb the fragile status quo.
6.
. Wilhelm von Fürstenberg succeeded Heinrich von Galen in 1557.
7.
. As will be described by Henning, Archbishop Wilhelm von Brandenburg and Heinrich von Galen almost went to war in 1556. The archbishop
was a Protestant holding a Catholic see, the master a Catholic worried about Protestants among his membership. The archbishop favored
secularization of church property and alliances with Protestant princes, the master, an alliance with Catholic Poland.
8.
. Establishing schools so that people could read the Bible for themselves was a common Lutheran practice. What is different here is the
avoidance of teaching religion in and translating the Bible into the native languages. That would have undermined German domination.
9.
. February, 1568.
10.
. 2 Kings 25:22-25.
11.
. Ezra 4:8; Neh. 2:19.
12.
. Russow, in 1578 and 1584, and Renner, 1562.
13.
. Psalms 102:18.
14.
. Psalms 47:9.
15.
. Proverbs 20:28.
16.
. Eccl.43:2.
17.
. Psalms 78:2-4.
18.
. Psalms 34:7.
19.
. Eccl.10:4-5.
20.
. Duke Wilhelm was studying in Rostock at this moment. That is, he was supposed to be studying law and theology, but he was doing much
better in beer and liquor. He was only sixteen.
21.
. Chrytaeus was responsible for the reformation of the University of Rostock. Assisted by Duke Johann Albrecht, he made it into the leading
educational institution on the Baltic shores. Every educated person would recognize his name as that of an intellectual giant.
Dedications
22.
. The dedication is in Latin verse in the elegiac meter.
. Professor and dean of the faculty of arts and sciences at the University of Rostock.
24.
. The entire eulogy is in Latin verse in heroic or dactylic hexameter, e.g.,
Principis aeterna virtutum laude nitentis
GOTHARDI nomen, Pietas, famamque decusque,
Servabit: siquidem nostro divinitus aevo
Contigit illustri fulgens bonitate fideque,
Inclytus et donis animi, martisque, togaeque:
25.
. Mt. Maenalus was a mountain in southern Greece sacred to Pan. The Maenalian world would be the tranquil world of shepherds and farmers.
26.
.?
27.
. The Latin of this memorial poem is characterized by some rather violent hyperbatons. Thus, "and so that prayers directed to the true divinity
might rule hearts and tongues" is in the Latin: Directaeque preces ad verum, pectora, numen, et linguas regerent.
28.
. Gott, god; hard, hard, firm, steadfast.
29.
. I.e., the Council of Regents. Alexander Berkis, The Reign of Duke James in Courland 1638-1682 (Lincoln, Nebraska, 1960), p. 17, notes
that both Friedrich and Wilhelm sought to increase their authority by appointing foreigners to their high offices. This plea is designed to forestall
that. In general, the introduction hopes to inculcate some morality and backbone to rather unpromising material (especially Wilhelm).
30.
. In the Latin, the poet plays with the root *patr-: In patria patri patriae...
23.
Part I
31.
Ivan IV "The Terrible" (1530-1584), Duke of Moscow, was crowned Duke of Moscow in January 1547 after a fourteen
year minority.
32.
Everyone who knew Ivan well was impressed by his contradictory personality, his talents, his vitality, his cruelty. See, for
example, Kruse, pp. 235-36.
33.
A vast exaggeration when referring to the dukes of Moscow, who did not conquer Livonia's neighbors, Novgorod and
Pskov, before the late fifteenth century. Livonian conflicts with Novgorod and Pskov were less important than the internal
conflicts or the crusade against the Lithuanians (which Henning ignores, now that Poland-Lithuania is an ally).
34.
1494-1535. Walther was a Westphalian who rose to prominence during the lowest point of the Order's prestige, restored
unity and discipline among the knights, ended the long quarrel with the Archbishop and citizens of Riga, defeated Ivan the
Great, and then led the country through the turbulence of the Reformation without civil war or excessive unrest. He becomes
the model against which his successors are measured, which is important for understanding Henning's portrayal of Gotthard
Kettler.
35.
Ivan III, "The Great" (1440 - 1505). He had conquered Novgorod in 1478 and married a niece of the last Byzantine
emperor, thus making Moscow dominant in Russia and the logical heir of Byzantium as leader of the Orthodox world.
36.
August 24 near Pskov; Renner, p. 14.
37.
Basil (1479-1533), ruled after 1505. He conquered Smolensk, Pskov and Kazan by 1517.
38.
Kurbsky, pp. 25-71, 93-105, 121-29; Massa, pp. 11-14.
39.
A Saxon who returned to Germany in 1547 and, with imperial approval, hired 123 experts in industry and mining. For
efforts to modernize the army, see Richard Hellie, Enserfment and Military Change in Muscovy (Chicago: University of
Chicago, 1971), p. 169.
40.
Charles V (1500-1558) was then struggling manfully to restore the unity of the Holy Roman Empire, but with notable lack
of success. In 1556, broken in body and spirit, he resigned his office and divided his empire between his son Phillip (Spain)
and his brother Ferdinand (Austria).
41.
Grefenthal, pp. 114-115
42.
Bell founders were also cannon makers.
43.
Basil III. He died of blood poisoning in 1533 when Ivan was three years old after a highly successful reign.
44.
Schlitten had been arrested in Lübeck in 1548 and his party dispersed.
45.
Among the favors, Ivan wanted to be recognized as King. He sent an envoy to the Emperor Ferdinand with this request in
1553, shortly after his conquest of Kazan and assuming the title of tsar. Nuntiaturberichte, XIII, 237.
46.
A favorite theme of the Protestant ministers which was directed at those nobles who remained Roman Catholic and the
Livonian Order. See Russow, pp. 50-62.
47.
This diocese had long been the scene of disturbances. The bishop ruled part of the island and the opposite mainland; the
Livonian knights held two areas, with the Sonnenburg fortress; the nobles strove to maintain their autonomy in the episcopal
lands, while the canons worked for their own interests, too. In 1534 Duke Albrecht of Prussia proposed making his brother,
Wilhelm, bishop of Ösel. This provoked international as well as local clamor. Nuntiaturberichte, (1st), I, 175, 186-88.
48.
Henning is very fond of inserting Latin quotations and proverbs into his text. He usually follows them with a translation
into German, often in verse and with some embellishment. We have attempted to translate the original quotes, rather than his
German renderings, as closely as possible. The Latin will be given in the footnotes. Longum consilium, intestinum odium,
privatum commodum desolarunt Ungarorum imperium. Hungary fell to the Turks in 1526, thus paralleling the fate of
Livonia in that Christian disunity and class interests hindered the national defense.
49.
Livonia's foreign policy was decided by the Livonian Confederation in landtage. Each city sent representatives, as did the
associations of nobles. These were joined by the bishops, abbots, and officers of the Livonian Order. Herrentage were
meetings of the hereditary associations of German nobles and the annual gathering of the officers of the Livonian Order
(usually at Wenden).
50.
Leviticus 26:36-37.
51.
Grefenthal, pp. 111-12; the kings of Poland and Denmark were already concerned about the situation. Elementa, XXIV,
51-52.
52.
The Teutonic Knights had obtained a papal bull in 1395 allowing them to require all new canons admitted into the chapter
of the Rigan cathedral to join the Teutonic Order. This plan to incorporate the chapter met with great resistance and
ultimately failed.
53.
I.e., to make it into a secular state, as many contemporary churchmen had done by adopting the Lutheran reforms.
Plettenberg was offered this, but he refused.
54.
Feras non culpes, quod vitare non potes.
55.
Wilhelm von Brandenburg (1498-1563), son of Friedrich von Ansbach and Sophie of Poland (daughter of King Casimir).
His elder brother, Albrecht, the last grandmaster of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia, secularized that order in 1525 and
became the first Duke of Prussia. When named coadjutor to archbishop Thomas Schöning in 1529, many feared he would
secularize the Rigan see and become the Duke of Livonia. This led to many disputes, as Henning has already told us.
56.
Christopher (1537-92). The fourth son of Albrecht VII of Mecklenburg-Giestrow, he was destined for the church from his
youth. In 1554 he was administrator of the church at Ratzeburg. His training made him suitable for either a Protestant or a
Roman Catholic post. His mother was Anna of Brandenburg (1507-47) with a distant but still important relationship to
Archbishop Wilhelm. Grefenthal, pp. 116-17; Renner, p. 8; Fabricus, pp. 465 f.; Iselin Gundermann, "Grundzüge der
preussisch-mecklenburgischen Livlandpolitik im 16. Jahrhundert," Baltische Studien, 52 (1966), pp. 31-56.
57.
Sigismund II (1520-1572), monarch since 1548. Being childless, Sigismund was constantly pursuing new marriages, either
for himself or his five sisters (Jadwiga married the Elector of Brandenburg, Joachim II; Isabella, John Zapolya; Sophia, Duke
Heinrich of Braunschweig; Catherine, Johan III of Sweden; and Anna, Stephen Batory). He took a great interest in his other
relatives too, but it is said that he only made one decision in his entire life and that was to marry Barbara Radzivil (1520-51)
rather than the other candidates.
58.
This is an exaggeration to justify later Polish efforts to dominate the church in Riga.
59.
The Lanski family was prominent through its many sons educated in Italy who served the king as diplomats, chancellors
and churchmen.
60.
Renner about Lanski, p. 9.
61.
January 6.
62.
Not mentioned in the official report, MLA, V, 506-8, which is not surprising, since such appointments were made at the
annual assembly of the Livonian Order, not of the Livonian Confederation (the estates).
63.
64.
Weywoden, i.e., pol. wojewoda, literally, "warlord".
Nicholas Radzivil, "the Black," (1515-1565), the leader of the Protestant faction in Lithuania. Oscar Halecki, From
Florence to Brest (1439-1596) (2nd ed. Hamden, Conn.: Archon, 1968), pp. 131, 149, 155; and Borderlands of Western
Civilization (New York: Ronald Press, 1952), pp. 167-71. He was Palatine from June 1551 until his death May 28, 1565.
During that time he was the most important official in Lithuania.
65.
Russia and Sweden had gone to war in this year over mutual border infringements and made peace only in March of 1557.
That was yet another warning to the Livonians that Ivan was not a man to take insults lightly.
66.
Gotthard Kettler (1517 or 1518-1587) must have arrived about 1538. Westphalia was a breeding ground of recruits for the
Livonian Order, and although Kettler was partly Rheinfrankish and Hessian in descent, he fit well into the society of the
order. Being well-born, he naturally advanced quickly through the ranks.
67.
Henning met Kettler in Lübeck in 1553 and became his secretary, later a trusted diplomat, and finally chancellor of
Courland.
68.
Controlling the Düna River (Daugava) route from Riga to Polozk and the land route from Pskov to Lithuania, Dünaburg
was among the most important castles in Livonia. It had been the starting point for many crusader raids into Lithuania.
69.
The question is: with Livonia under Russian pressure, where should the Livonian Knights seek help? Poland, Lithuania
and Prussia were the first and most obvious potential allies, but neither would move except to benefit themselves. The former
marshal was throwing his lot in with the Poles quickly in hopes of securing some personal benefit.
70.
Renner, p. 9; a coadjutor was a special office, often used in the sixteenth century, by which a younger official was selected
to share the duties of an elderly office-holder, with the assumption that the younger man would eventually become the next
bishop, archbishop, master, etc., upon the death of the title-holder. A contemporary account of this episode is found in the
article by Wilhelm Lenz, junior, "Joachim Burwitz' Bericht über Livland aus dem Jahre 1555," ZfO, 20 (1971), pp. 708-29.
71.
Renner, p. 10.
72.
Melius enim esse praevenire quam praeveniri, followed by the German equivalent. Ironically, the papal nuncio wrote
September 4, 'che finisce hora la tregua con Moscoviti et non sanno quel che habia a succedere, se non ben di certo che il re
non sara il primo a muovere guerra," Nuntiaturberichte, XVII, 175.
73.
I.e., he embarked at Lübeck for the remainder of his journey to the Low Countries. The date of Easter that year was April
5, i.e., too early in the year to sail directly from Livonia.
74.
His intent seems to have included contact with Phillip II (1527-98), who had succeeded Charles V as ruler of the Spanish
part of the Hapsburg dominion. Afterwards, the Teutonic Knights dealt principally with Ferdinand (1503-64), who ruled the
Austrian lands and, after 1558, held the title of emperor. The actual governor in the Netherlands was Margaret of Palma,
Phillip's half sister. The Augsburg Convention had been agreed upon the previous year, resolving the religious issue in
Germany by requiring all citizens to adopt the faith of the local ruler. Phillip, who was invading the Netherlands, would not
want anyone competing for the supply of mercenary soldiers.
75.
Fred L. Whipple of the Astronomical Observatory of the Smithsonian Institution in Cambridge, Massachusetts identified
this as an unnamed comet in a parabolic orbit with a "perihelion distance 0.49 AU, inclination to ecliptic 32.4" Also
mentioned, QU, II, 132.
76.
Albrecht von Brandenburg and Ansbach (1490-1568). The last grandmaster of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia, he
introduced the Protestant Reformation in 1525 and became a vassal of the King of Poland. At this time he was not in good
health. Through his first wife, Dorothea of Denmark (died 1547), he had close ties to King Christian. His second marriage, to
Anna Maria of Braunschweig, had just produced the long-desired heir, Albrecht Friedrich, to the intense displeasure of
hard-line Roman Catholics in Poland who had looked forward to annexing the duchy and reforming the religion. Sigismund
Augustus was an old friend, however, and kept those elements in check, even when it became that Albrecht's heir was
feeble-minded.
77.
Grefenthal, p. 117; Renner, p. 8; Fabricus, p. 467; Wilhelm (c. 1499-1564) had come to Livonia from Westphalia as a
young knight. He served as castellan of Dünaburg until this election in April of 1556.
78.
Knechte. "Pikemen" is more accurate. See the Translators' Note for a short discussion of military terms.
79.
The recruiting of soldiers for war with Russia was announced in April of 1557.
80.
This is an exaggeration. Soldiers usually only demanded their pay on the eve of battle and otherwise were used to their
employers being in arrears, but the kernel of truth is that they lived off the people of the war zone more often than from their
pay.
81.
Grefenthal, p. 118; MLA, V, 670 (incorrectly numbered 669).
82.
The modern reader must remember that Sigismund Augustus, as Grand Duke of Lithuania, dealt with the problems of this
sovereign state separately from those of his kingdom of Poland. Henning misleads us when he implies the two states were
united. The Union of Lublin, 1569, created the united states with which his contemporary readers would have been familiar.
83.
Renner with more detail, pp. 10-11.
84.
Grefenthal, p. 119.
85.
This was never done. Henning often intimates that he knows more than he dares tell. And, indeed, he is frustratingly
discreet about matters which could affect the fortunes of the Kettler dynasty.
86.
Brother of Phillip Schall, castellan of Marienburg.
87.
Grefenthal, p. 118; Renner, pp. 12-13; Codex, pp. 196, 201.
88.
For Sigismund to threaten war was an extreme step indeed. At the moment, however, he was trying, in his patient and
forgiving way, to deal with his domineering mother, Bona Sforza, who has been accused of poisoning his first two wives and
had just gone back to Italy with the entire contents of the royal treasury!
89.
dies scilicet funestus secutae calamitatis.
90.
Hermann II (1552-58).
91.
Johann V (1541-60).
92.
Grefenthal, p. 118.
93.
He was carrying letters from Wilhelm to Albrecht. The Taubes were among the most prominent families of the
archdiocese.
94.
Possibly, "they abandoned it." Aufgeben can have either meaning. Renner, p. 12.
95.
Grefenthal, p. 118; Renner, p. 12.
96.
Non violandus erit supplex, sacer esse putetur.
97.
This time Bell proposed an alliance with Poland against Russia. QU, I, 1-2.
98.
He was the head of the German convents of the Teutonic Order. His seat of government in Bad Mergentheim can still be
visited today.
99.
Grefenthal, pp. 120-21.
100.
For letters, see Codex, pp. 203f., 209f. For the problems of the empire - rebellious Protestants, a sick and unpredictable
emperor who yearned to resign, the Turkish threat - see Paula Sutter Fichtner, Ferdinand I of Austria: the Politics of
Dynasticism in the Age of the Reformation (New York: Columbia, 1982), pp. 202-217.
101.
The Danes (Otto Krumpe, Eric Krabbe, Johan Straub) were in Königsberg September 12 and shortly thereafter in
Wenden. They were still in Vilna in April of 1557, but their proposals were rejected. Editiones, XXIV, 58-70. The
Lithuanian army was commanded by Nicholas Radzivil, The Red (1512-85), cousin of Nicholas the Black and brother to the
king's late beloved wife, Barbara. This army outnumbered the Livonians five to one. Renner, p. 13.
102.
September 14, 1557. QU, I, 1-19; August 12, Renner, pp. 13-14; Editiones, IX, 14-15, from Sigismund Augustus to
many princes, October 7, indicating peace had been restored.
103.
Reports of Russian mobilization were coming in regularly. QU, I, 6f., 17f.; QU, II, 32-41, 46-57; Briefe, I, 27-29 for
Fürstenberg's fear of an attack in October and November, 1557.
104.
Renner, p. 14.
105.
Nicholas Radzivil, The Black, had assembled a synod of Reformers in Vilna which founded a Calvinist church, the next
year printed Protestant books in Polish and Latin, and in 1563 received a guarantee of equal liberty of worship with Roman
Catholicism. Thomas Chase, The Story of Lithuania (New York: Stratford, 1946), pp. 103-109.
106.
QU, II, 57-59, 185-87, 212-14 showing him still in service in May, 1558.
107.
September, 1557. Codex, pp. 215f., 222.
108.
Otto IV (d. 1576). Such contacts with minor Holstein dukes resulted in material and diplomatic support later. See Sven
Tode, "Zu den Livlandbeziehungen Herzog Adolfs von Schleswig-Holstein-Gottdorf," Deutschland-Livland-Rußland, Ihre
Beziehungen vom 15. bis zum 17. Jahrhundert (ed. Norbert Angermann. Lüneburg: Nordost, 1988), pp. 159-74.
109.
The normal garrison of a border castle was two knights and their retinue.
110.
Quam mirabiliter trahuntur sontes ad supplicia sera tamen tacitis poena venit pedibus. This statement is a precise
quotation of the Latin elegiac poet Tibullus 1.9.3.
111.
Fifteen years, dependent upon the payment of the tribute from Dorpat within three years. Grefenthal, p. 114; MLA, V,
508-16.
112.
A copy of Ivan's letter is in NQU, I, 31-33, and in Russow, pp. 82-83. See also Kruse, pp. 281-83; QU, II, 4-29; NQU,
75-78; Briefe, I, 20f.; Briefe, III, 24f.; and Kurbsky, pp. 107-8.
113.
The diplomatic efforts to avoid war without granting Ivan his basic demands have been the subject of several notable
monographs. These are summarized in William Urban, "The Origin of the Livonian War, 1558," Lituanas, 29 (1983), pp.
11-25; a description of Moscow is in Rude and Barbarous Kingdom, pp. 55f.
114.
115.
Kruse, p. 184; Renner, p. 15; Fabricus, p.467; NQU, I, 1-30, 33-35.
Meaning without a declaration of war. Everyone in Livonia knew an attack was coming, QU, II, 67-79, although the
Bishop of Dorpat was afraid that mobilization would be a provocation. Fürstenberg expected war immediately, according to
his letter of January 1, 1558. Briefe, I, 36; QU, II, 87. Declaration of war arrived January 24. QU, II, 88-91.
116.
Hermann Zoye's. Renner, p.16. On January 28 the mayor of Narva wrote that the people had not listened to the warnings
about the impending war. Briefe, II, 36-37.
117.
I.e., they could not rely on their willingness or ability to defend the country.
118.
QU, I, 20-33 and NQU, I, 1-30; Russow, pp. 71-71. Kruse's own account of the embassy can be found on pp. 241-42.
119.
Kruse, p. 200; Briefe, I, 44f., 50f. Tielemann Bredenbach's contemporary account notes that the Bishop of Dorpat had
failed to honor previous promises to rebuild Russian churches. Archiv, I, 173-76. Thus the failure to pay even the minor
tribute went back many years - even to the previous century. MLA, V, 509-15. In 1554 Dorpat negotiators had promised to
resolve these matters within three years. George von Rauch, "Stadt und Bistum Dorpat bis zum Ende der Ordenzeit," ZfO,
24(1975), pp. 599-606. In the end the Germans decided to promise Ivan a great sum - more than the annual income of all the
nobles in Dorpat combined. Russow, p. 66. The plan was to appeal to the Holy Roman Emperor to forbid the payment!
When no money arrived at the appointed time, Ivan sent his armies into Livonia.
120.
Henning appears in the document, QU, I, 95, on February 18; Kettler is mentioned as being in Fellin on May 26, QU, I,
134; Henning quietly passes over the negotiations with Poland. Ibid., 74, 79-86, 96f. A full report by the Rigan delegation is
in Briefe, I, 67-100. Also, Wilhelm Fürstenberg was there. Kettler appears as castellan of Fellin in a document of March 28.
Ibid., 150.
121.
QU, I, 87-93; Briefe, I, 45f., 66f.; Briefe, II, 46-47, for the engagement at the longbridge over the Embach.
122.
I.e., Shah Ali (1505-1566). This immensely fat Tatar Khan had been Ivan's choice to rule in Kazan. A descendant of
Ghengis Khan, he ranked among the highest of Ivan's nobility. Staden, p. 78, identifies him as the Khan of the Crimea. He
was actually commander of the cavalry, with Mikhail Vasilevich Glinsky, Ivan Vasilevich Shermento, and Andrei
Mikhailovich Kurbsky in charge of the other units. See Kurbsky, pp. 38-39, 107. "Shigaley" mentioned in Briefe, I, 225; a
description of the army is in Rude and Barbarous Kingdom, pp. 27-29, 51.
123.
Such stories are also in Fabricus, pp. 474-76; Renner, p.16f, with great detail; Russow, pp. 72-73; QU, II, 156-57.
124.
His letters are in NQU, I, 46-47 and Briefe, II, 52-53.
125.
This was the money promised earlier, but not delivered. June 3-6, 1558. Russow, p. 74; Kruse, pp. 241-42; QU, II,
152-56, 191-93, 222-3; Renner, p.23. For Fürstenberg's own report of March 14, see Briefe, I, 102-4. There was a short
truce at this time, which caused Riga and other cities to release their mercenaries. Ibid, pp. 168ff.
126.
Renner, pp.23ff., May 11. The siege had begun in March. Briefe, II, pp. 68f, 73f., 81f., 100f.
127.
But their force was small. QU, II, pp. 195-96, 202-4; Briefe, I, 184f., 188; Briefe, II, 96, 98-99. Renner, p. 25, locates
Kettler as leader of this force, but he withdrew early.
128.
The assault was expected. QU, II, 205-7.
129.
Kruse made a similar report, p.244. Narva was so strongly fortified, the army could be expected to hold out. See Armin
Tuulse, Die Burgen in Estland und Lettland (Dorpat: Estnischer Verlag, 1942), pp. 173-79. Kurbsky, pp. 109-15, tells a
story of drunken Germans trying to burn an icon, which immediately exploded and set the town on fire.
130.
Kurbsky, p. 115.
131.
Renner, pp. 26-28.
132.
This paragraph appears in the first and second editions, but was deleted from the final edition. In 1594 the city of Riga
and King Sigismund III of Poland protested the publication of Henning's chronicle and urged its suppression. The king
claimed that Henning had violated historical accuracy, slandered the good name of persons living and dead, and had
especially maligned Poland and her kings. The publisher removed the pages with the offending passages (see also pp. 32b
and 83a), reprinted those pages with larger type to fill the sheet, and reissued the 2nd edition in this revised form (1595).
Kallmeyer, pp. 141-42.
133.
On May 1 Narva received promises of trading rights in Russia. NQU, I, 49-52; QU, II, 207-10; also text in Renner, pp.
24-25.
134.
Russow, p.74, agreed with this judgment. Non-combatants often fail to understand military decisions made under
conditions of stress, exhaustion, and incomplete information and condemn those which turn out to be mistaken.
135.
Quosque salus ipsa, etiam si voluisset, servare non potuisset. The thought is a commonplace of Latin comic drama. Cf.
Plautus, Mostellaria 2.1.4, Captivi 3.3.14 and Terence, Adelphoe 4.7.43.
136.
Kruse, pp. 244-46; Renner, p. 28; Kurbsky, p.117.
137.
Kruse, p. 245; QU, II, 230-31, 271-74, 284; Briefe, I, 190f., 233f.; Briefe, II, 117f.; Renner, p.29. Tuulse, Die Burgen,
pp. 306-8, has a map and pictures; Horsey, p.159, says that Michael Glinsky was the Russian commander.
138.
MLA, V, 523-535; QU, II, 311f.
139.
Tiesenhausen indirectly disagrees that there was such wealth available, p. 285; however, Russow, p. 77, concurs.
140.
Virtus enim unita fortior dispersa.
141.
sed surdo canebatur fabula. The Latin is proverbial. Cf. Terence, Heautontimorumenos 2.1.10.
142.
See Renner, p. 28, and Briefe, I, 246f., for the July report of the episcopal embassy to Russia. Kruse, p. 245, reported that
a riot had broken out in the city over the plans for putting the walls in a defensive condition. Tiesenhausen, p. 285.
143.
Renner, p. 31, accuses Elert Kruse of secret negotiations with the Russians. He mentions other traitors, p. 32.
144.
QU, I, 115-6, 147-51, 180-96. Dietrich Behr, who later became important in Öselian affairs, refused to serve as
commander at this time. QU, I, 154-55; QU, II, 274-75.
145.
Kruse reported, p. 245, that the archbishop's five hundred cavalry had failed to join the army as promised, leaving the
master with only fifteen hundred horsemen.
146.
Kettler.
147.
Kruse, p. 245; Renner, p. 32.
148.
Riga, for example, QU, III, 1-3, 10-13.
149.
QU, 220; QU, II, 322f; Renner, p. 32.
150.
zur teglicher Hausshaltung gehörig.
151.
MLA, V, 547-59; QU, I, 274-77. Recovering Prussia and Livonia was a major goal of the German Master until the
election of Maximilian von Hapsburg as coadjutor in 1585. Only after that date did the Order abandon its Baltic ambitions
and begin a long career as a supporter of the Hapsburg dynasty's foreign policy.
152.
On September 11, 1558, Ferdinand asked Gustav Vasa to help Livonia. QU. I. 254f. Fürstenberg had written in April.
QU, II, 180-82. Gustav then informed his son, Johan, in Finland of his plan to occupy Livonia. QU, IV, 63-78.
153.
NQU, I, 60-61, 115-21; Briefe, II, 144f., 171f. Henning was with this party. He was in Lübeck on September 28. QU,
III, 22.
154.
Henning was to lead this party. QU, I, 105-8.
155.
See QU, II, 325-6; NQU, I, 65-70; Briefe, II, 255f., for their report in March, 1559.
156.
Bredenbach's description of the desperate fighting was more accurate. Archiv, I, 184-91. Henning relies too much on
Russow, pp. 76-77. Kruse, pp. 246-49, objected strongly to this condemnation of the Dorpaters.
157.
QU, III, 61.
158.
Instar Panici terroris, quem etiam deorum liberi fugiunt.
159.
Hermann had resigned his office July 5 and named Magnus of Holstein his successor. Presumably this was an effort to
obtain Danish aid. NQU, I, 58-59. He wrote a letter in his defense in June of 1558. Renner, pp. 57-58. He was exiled to
Lyubin, a town near Kostroma. Staden, p. 72.
160.
Kruse, p. 252, calls this a blatant lie, as does Tiesenhausen, pp. 284-85. However, it is true that the previous bishop, Jost
von der Recke, had left his diocese in fearful financial straits.
161.
Waldemar II (1170-1241) in 1223.
162.
Waldemar IV (1321/4-1375) in 1347 for the sum of 19,000 gulden.
163.
Christopher Münchhausen was the brother of Bishop Johann of Ösel and Courland, who had sold his see to the King of
Denmark in 1559. These lands were then transferred to Magnus of Holstein. If Christopher could similarly obtain the
possession of Reval, it would be a coup for the kingdom and for Protestantism. QU,III, 295-300; NQU, II, 178-87; Renner,
pp. 42f.
164.
duplici iure emptionis et donationis.
165.
NQU, I, 66-74. For Reval politics at this point, see Klot, pp. 4-19.
166.
NQU, I, 76-78, 121-26. A Swedish officer, Henrik Classen Horn, witnessed these events. QU, I, 212-16. Also mentioned
in Briefe, II, 134f., 178ff.
167.
NQU, I, 80, seemed to confirm that, but a few days later, August 7, the king indicated his desire to avoid war. Ibid., p.
83. In September the king was ready to send help if he were given all of Estonia, Ibid., pp. 107-14. In January, 1559, the
king wanted to keep Reval. NQU, II, 17, 158-59.
168.
Renner, p. 37, quotes the reply in different words, but with the same intent. The incident catches Christian's personality
well. He was a careful administrator who valued sound finances above potential gains from war.
169.
Afflicto enim esse afflictionem addendam.
170.
Dietrich Behr and Heinrich Üxküll were severely criticized by the Danish diplomats for having given up the city. NQU,
II, 11-15. Plans were underway to bring all Estonia under Danish control. Ibid., 109-10. Behr defended himself well. QU,
III, 54-55.
171.
Mentioned in Briefe, I, 288, September 15. The September expedition is mentioned, Ibid., p. 279, 283; also in Briefe, II,
199f.
172.
Dietrich Behr had married Anna Münchhausen in Germany. In 1549 he moved to Estonia and became the governor of
Arensburg. Wappenbuch, p. 123.
173.
December 11, 1558, Renner, p. 48. See also NQU, I, 190-218, 250-55; QU, III, 77-78. The terms of the surrender are in
Briefe, II, 211ff.
174.
On St.Martin's Eve. See Russow, p. 84, who places the event in 1556; QU, I, 289-96 for the campaign.
175.
Rogo D. Tuam intercedat pro me apud Dominum suum Magnum Livoniae Magistrum, ut me in civitatem suam, ad
medicos mittat, qui graviter et lethaliter sum vulneratus.
176.
QU, I, 289.
177.
I.e., the sale of munitions, etc., to the Russians. See 24b, 25b. The hansatag was in August and September, 1559. QU,
III, 245f., 256-66, 187; Briefe, II, 229f., 233f.
178.
QU, I, 215. He was very ill and was planning the conquest of Dithmarschen, a free republic whose warriors had smashed
a Danish army in 1500 and whose existence was a hated embarrassment to each successive monarch. This invasion was
carried out by his successor, Frederick II, in the summer of 1559.
179.
Cum ne Hercules quidem contra duos, multo minus contra ternos.
180.
For reports concerning the delegation, see NQU, II, 55-107, 140-164; QU, III, 90, 97. See Briefe, II, 136f., for the
exchange of letters between Reval and the Russian commander at Dorpat, Prince Shuisky.
181.
January 1, 1559. Renner, p. 49.
182.
Disce Mori.
183.
Ivan was not present. A prisoner identified the commanders as Simon Mekolenski, Prince Vasilii, Prince Yuri
Serementov, and Mikita Romanov. NQU, I, 29.
184.
See Renner, p. 50, for a description of the Russian advance. Also, QU, III, 102-4; and Briefe, II, 245f.
185.
February, 1559.
186.
The governor of Lithuania had demanded the cession of Riga as the price of assistance. MLA, V, 567-8. This fact is
passed over in silence by Henning, who had certainly not forgotten it.
187.
Renner, p. 54; MLA, V, 574-75; letter to the king, NQU, II, 114-18; instructions for Kettler, QU, III, 105-8, 131-35;
Lenz, p. 14.
188.
189.
In March. For letter of instruction to Rembert Gilsheim and Salomon Henning, see QU, II, 109-17, 125-30, 177f.
Johan, who was receiving reports about the weakness of Livonia offering an opportunity for Sweden to occupy the
country. NQU, III, 149-51. The petition to Johan is in QU, IV, 125-31. Kallmeyer emends 'auch F.D.' to 'an F.G.'.
190.
He had been reprimanded by Gustav for his childish enthusiasm in October of 1558. QU, IV, 106f., 166f. See Sture
Arnell, Die Auflösung des livländischen Ordensstaates. Das schwedische Eingreifen und die Heirat Herzog Johanns von
Finnland 1558-1562 (Lund: Lindstedt, 1937), p.36, quoting his representative to Reval, Henrik Classen Horn, "they will
open the door to whomever comes first."
191.
Ehrlauchtigsten und nicht Durchlauchtigsten.
192.
Quid significat, Ehrlauchten, Illuminare? Non esse Regem Suecorum, Dei gratia tam obfuscatum, ut illuminatione
Livoniensium opus haberet. Correct in the Latin. Oct. 16, QU, III, 302. The point of the anecdote is that Erik was mentally
unstable.
193.
The Lapps were of course dressed in reindeer skins.
194.
Presumably, "The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing."
195.
Renner, p. 59; description in QU, III, 203-7.
196.
Before August. QU, IV, 132f.; Gustav's letter of November 24 to Kettler, QU, IV, 1-4.
197.
Henning is in Hapsal by December. NQU, III, 208; Gilsheim appears in Prussia in March of 1569, as does Henning.
Briefe, V, p.xxxii; QU, IV, 263. Kettler wrote Reval a letter in January of 1561 testifying that Henning had not slandered
Fürstenberg while in Sweden! (As he had reason to do during his defense of Kettler's policies.) This was to ward off threats
against Henning's family, which was living in Reval, where he had a house. Briefe, III, 263. Fürstenberg complained in April
about the slander. Ibid., pp. 274f.
198.
NQU, II, 60-101.
199.
MLA, V, 577, indicates the king would only act if he were given Riga.
200.
MLA, V, 578-83.
201.
Renner, p. 60; Johann Albrecht of Mecklenburg delivered the address in Augsburg, April, 1559. QU, III, 161-66. The
reichstag was totally preoccupied with religious issue. Ferdinand worked to reform the Roman Church in ways that would
make reunion with the Protestants possible, but both Protestants and the Pope were objecting to every initiative. Ferdinand
finally brought a Church Council together at Trent again in 1562-63. Ferdinand also had an acute financial problem.
202.
QU, III, 197-99.
203.
They presented their petition to Ferdinand on August 18, 1559. MLA, V, 709f.; QU, III, 249-51, 255. For the visits to the
other princes, see QU, III, 169-74, 184-88, 251-55.
204.
Letter of July and from Kettler, QU, III, 229-30. Agreement of August 31, QU, III, 267-71; Renner, pp. 62-63.
205.
Renner, pp. 67ff. The title refers to the technical division of the Kingdom of Germany, which is elective, and the Holy
Roman Empire. The former coronation is at Aachen, the latter usually in Rome and was always performed by the pope.
206.
QU, III, 269-70. Renner, pp. 62-65, gives the entire German text of the treaty, whereas Henning quotes from the Latin
version.
207.
QU, III, 313-5.
208.
November 10.
209.
Kurbsky says, pp. 135-37, that Russians were being beaten by smaller forces of Germans because Ivan had sent his best
generals and experienced troops south against the Tatars, leaving unskilled and inexperienced men in their place. Dorpat was
the seat of the Russian administration. For details about Ivan's form of government, see Norbert Angermann, Studien zur
Livlandpolitik Ivan Groznyjs (Marburg/Lahn: Herder, 1972).
210.
More important was the lack of ammunition and other supplies, especially fodder. September, 1559, QU, III, 292, 294-5.
211.
A report to Johan of Finland summarized the fighting. QU, IV, 22-23; Renner, pp. 71-72. Henning was here in
December. Renner, p.73.
212.
QU, IV, 19f., 24f.
213.
MLA, V, 719-20. "Jeremias" Hoffmann in Renner, pp. 70-71, who gives texts of the letters, also pp. 75, 88. For the
report on his failure, May, 1560, see QU, V, 55-56.
214.
January 1, 1560. QU, IV, 150-52.
215.
Henning was meanwhile seeking to obtain possession of Wiek for Kettler, NQU, II, 206-14. He witnessed the Revalers
taking the oath of allegiance to the Livonian Order, Briefe, V, p. xxxv. See Codex, pp. 222f., for letter.
216.
Caspar von Syberg. The castle fell on February 14. Tiesenhausen, p. 337, says that the story of the surrender will come to
light at an appropriate time. Renner, p. 79, says that a breech had been made in the wall.
217.
February, 1560. Renner, pp. 79-80; NQU, III, 62-63; NQU, IV, 38f., 51f., 57f. See Codex, pp. 226f., for the royal
instructions to the legates; Lenz, pp. 15ff., for the Rigan objections. This led to a long series of meetings which Henning
neglects to mention.
218.
June 11. QU, V, 98.
219.
MLA, V, 603-610, in Kokenhausen, April 21; Renner, pp. 84-85.
220.
This problem was the subject of extensive correspondence. QU, VI, 21-24, 29, 46-47, 51f. This specific quote cannot be
verified.
221.
Renner, pp. 79, 82. Kettler and Fürstenberg were fierce enemies. Fürstenberg did not agree with Kettler's policies, which
he believed would lead to the dissolution of the Order, the introduction of Protestantism, and Polish domination. QU, IV,
231-32, 257-80, 282f., 306-14; Briefe, IV, 4f; QU, V, 85-86. Kettler wrote Fürstenberg that rumors of their quarrel were
disturbing the Poles. Theodor Schiemann, Historische Darstellungen und Archivalische Studien (Mitau: Behre, 1886), pp.
94f.
222.
Nulla calamitas sola. A report from March confirms this. QU, IV, 254-55; Renner, p. 75.
223.
In March the mercenaries were ready to turn the city over to Sweden. QU, IV, 274f. In April the soldiers in Wiek were
talking to the Danes. Ibid., pp. 327-8.
224.
In April 1560, the city council warned about unpaid soldiers. QU, V, 4-5, 17f.
225.
March 1560. Renner, pp. 85-86; QU, IV, 245f., 263; QU, V, 26f., 66ff. On May 20 Kettler wrote the mercenaries that he
had the Prussian money for their back pay. QU, V, 83-84.
226.
80,000 gulden according to Karl Cruse, Curland unter den Herzögen (Mitau: Reyher, 1833), I, pp. 29-30. On April 5,
1560, Kettler told his officers that if it were necessary to save the state, he should be free to leave holy orders, marry and rule
as a secular prince.
227.
Renner, p. 87; Fabricus, pp. 474f.; MLA, V, 583-84. QU, V, 46f., indicates Magnus' ambitions in Estonia. Magnus' own
description is in NQU, II, 240-43, 246-49, 260-66, 335-38. See Briefe, III, pp. 279, for Christopher Münschhausen's report.
Russow, pp. 84-85, reports that the Livonians rejoiced at the prospect of Danish help; Editiones, IX, 17-18 shows that
Sigismund Augustus did too.
228.
30,000 with half paid in June, 1560, according to NQU, II, 357-59. For Münchhausen's own story, see NQU, III, 237-40.
229.
Henning has '1541', which is incorrect.
230.
Magnus was the younger brother of the King of Denmark who had been sent to Ösel to replace Johann Münchhausen as
bishop of Ösel and Courland. He quickly secularized both sees and sought to make himself ruler of all Estonia. QU, III,
295-300; NQU, II, 178-97, 240, 260-66, 335-8. Kettler had gone to Pernau in July in hopes of preventing Magnus from
occupying the key points in the country, especially Reval. Russow, p.86.
231.
Henning, Clodt and Nulle represented Kettler when Fürstenburg refused to serve. QU, V, 88, 90-91, 201f.; Renner, p.96.
Frederik II (1534-1588) was a lazy, pleasure-loving monarch. He occupied himself with hunting, banquets, and heavy
drinking and left diplomacy to his officials. He had little interest in Livonia, preferring to send his younger brother there and
ignore the situation as much as possible. However, he found that impossible if he was to save his provinces from Erik and
protect trade. Dictionary of Scandinavian History, (ed. Byron Nordstrom. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood, 1986).
pp.172-174.
232.
Fabricus, p.475, repeats the charge and names Christian Schraffer. Magnus describes his appointments in NQU, III,
173-79. Christopher Münchhausen was replaced by Dietrich Behr, but Christopher's policies had not pleased Henning, nor
was Dietrich Behr new. Ulrich Behr was similarly well-known as prior. Johann Zöge zu Errestfer had been prominent before,
now he was put in charge of Lode. According to the Wappenbuch, pp.169-70, the Manteuffel family is descended from this
family.
233.
sich...zu dem Herrn Meister nötigte. To the contrary, NQU, III, 183-85, June 16, 1561. Dietrich Behr was most eager to
make peace. What upset Henning was Magnus' plans to make himself the secular ruler of the former bishopric territories
Henning wanted for Kettler. See especially NQU, III, 343f. Kettler vowed not to give up a foot of the Order's territory. QU,
V, 243; Renner, pp. 88f.
234.
Such was the archbishop's feeling. August 21, NQU, III, 19. The plans for the attack are in QU, V, 94-98.
235.
QU, V, 124-26, 198f, 241-44. Kettler remained in Dünamünde. The conclusion of the talks was accelerated by the news
of the defeat at Ermes. Ibid., 271-75, 279f. Text in Renner, p. 98f.
236.
Tiesenhausen, p. 337; Russow, p. 100; QU, V, 269-75; NQU, II, 9-12; MLA, V, 632-34.
237.
On July 5, the emperor suggested that Kettler approach the reichstag again. QU, V, 147-48. The same day, Chodiewicz
withdrew the Polish forces out of danger! Ibid., 149-50. Kettler appealed to him to send the army into Livonia. Ibid., 155ff.,
207-9, 214f. Finally Chodkiewicz agreed. Ibid., 225ff., 262f. However, the Poles did not arrive in time. QU, V, 269.
238.
Kurbsky, pp. 136-49.
239.
NQU, III, 185; Renner, p. 97. Kurbsky, pp. 141-43, indicates that the marshal had not realized the size of the army facing
him.
240.
Mentioned in Wappenbuch, p.192, as the founder of a prominent family.
241.
See Kurbsky, pp. 143-49, for Phillip Schall's own words.
242.
Russow, pp. 86-87.; QU, V. 269-75; Kurbsky, pp. 149-51. The siege had lasted four weeks.
243.
Kettler asked Chodkiewicz to proceed there immediately after hearing of the defeat at Ermes. Chodkiewicz did not, of
course. QU, V, 270-71. For the siege, see Ibid., 295f.; Renner, p. 98, 101f.; Briefe, IV, 41ff., 57f.
244.
The mutineers were known by name. QU, VI, 198-201.
245.
Staden, pp. 23, 72, claims to have been present at Fürstenberg's interrogation by Ivan. He says the master refused to serve
the Russian tsar and that he was exiled to Lyubim, a small town near Kostroma. Fürstenberg was determined to maintain his
knightly dignity. QU, V, 282-84, and VI, 228-29. See also Renner, p. 106 and Briefe, IV, 183.
246.
This is plausible. A Tatar delegation had visited Livonia in 1559 in hope of making an alliance against Ivan. QU, III,
277-8. Tatars served the Russians willingly, but they would have preferred to be independent again. Staden, p. 77, agreed that
the Tatars would join any force attacking Ivan.
247.
Russow, p. 88; Renner, pp. 106f.; QU, VI, 37-39, 80-83, 125-26, 142-44, 159-60.
248.
Russow, p.85: "Duke Magnus was nineteen years old when he came to Livonia and many Livonian nobles, young and
old, befriended him. From among them he chose a council whose advice he respected and followed. But this council led the
young lord astray and caused him to commit extraordinary folly." The reference is apparently to Dietrich Behr, the former
episcopal advocate and later royal governor of Ösel. His brother Ulrich Was the cathedral dean. NQU, III, 310-12.
249.
Russow, pp. 94-95; NQU, 56-57, 150f.
250.
Henning was in Reval in June and July. QU, V, 222-24. Negotiations had continued for an alliance with Kettler through
the summer. QU, V, 176-77. Also note reports from Reval, Ibid., pp. 189-94. Kruse, pp. 268-69, describes the situation in
Wiek. See also Arnell, Die Auflösung des livländischen Ordenstaates, pp. 87, 103-5, 126f.
251.
Henning with Jaspar Sieberg and Otto Taube in August of 1560. Briefe, IV, 2-83. He married Margareta von der Pahlen
in August. This was the first of his three marriages, from which three sons and a daughter survived.
252.
Gustav Vasa (1494-1560).
253.
Johan was now Duke of Finland, Magnus (1542-1595) later to be duke of East Gotland, and Karl (Charles, 1550-1611)
later to be the duke of Södermanland, Nerike and Värmland and finally (1604) King of Sweden. Gustavus Adolphus was his
son.
254.
Reval reported the progress to Kettler in October. Briefe, IV, 91f.
255.
He hoped to persuade Elizabeth to marry him. Johan had visited the English court in 1559-1560. Johan's intention seems
to have been to turn Erik's interests westward, which would leave him a free hand in Livonia. When Erik returned unmarried
he disappointed Johan's hopes.
256.
September 29, 1560.
257.
They presented their requests to him on November 7. QU, VI, 149. By December they had still not been received. Ibid.,
172-75. See Renner, pp. 111-12, for a summary.
258.
The Hanseatic League refused to cooperate. QU, III, 52-54. 244-24, 256-66, 287-89; Briefe, III, 148-80, 219-26.
259.
Nam tua res agitur, paries cum proximus ardet. This is an exact quotation of the Latin poet Horace, Epistles 1.18.84. The
meter is the dactylic hexameter.
260.
QU, VI, 16-18, 92-96; Briefe, IV, 104f. The stories they told about the corruption of the Livonian Order provoked Kettler
to order them arrested or killed. For family, consult Wappenbuch, III, 1, pp.187-88.
261.
Once a monk, then a married pastor, Jöran (1533-77) had worked briefly for Gustav Vasa before being exiled. At the
court of Erik, he became his evil genius. He was the king's personal secretary, a remarkable machiavellian figure who suited
the king's personality well.
262.
The meter is the elegiac.
263.
January 6. They took formal leave on December 29. QU, VI, 190f.
264.
Henning was present in person, having been in Stockholm. QU, VI, 222; QU, VII, 212.
265.
A fathom (Klaffter, Fadem) is equal to about six feet.
266.
Jost Clodt was a member of this delegation. Briefe, IV, 270-307; Klot, pp. 39-44.
267.
A letter of King Erik reflects his feelings in June, 1562. NQU, III, 311-24. He sent a message to Ivan in May of 1561.
QU, VII, 94-97, 104-115. The king's intention was not to have an alliance, but merely an understanding that each would keep
what he had taken. QU, V, 307ff.
268.
Sed facta non possunt fieri infecta.
269.
Clas Kristernsson Horn (1518-1566), the governor of Vyborg, with his father, Clas Kristernsson, and a small delegation
had arrived in Reval on March 25 to negotiate terms by which Reval would become a Swedish territory. QU, VI, 307-16;
Briefe, IV, 241f.; Renner, pp. 114f. 269.
270.
Renner, p.113. Briefe, IV, 241-51, 259-61, 307-48; Tiesenhausen, pp.338-39.
271.
Including Henning. Cruse, Curland, p.65.
272.
Briefe, IV, 256f., 293ff. Henning wrote on April 10 that he was expected soon. QU, VI, 342. Also see his letter of April
25, QU, VII, 86f. His wife meanwhile had been left, ill, in Reval. Ibid., VI, 336. In July Kettler presented Henning and his
wife a house in Riga. Briefe, V, p.ix. He was still living there in April of 1562. Ibid., p.xxi.
273.
Including Salomon Henning, NQU, III, 157; QU, VII, 124. Heinrich was the son of Peter von Dohna and Catherine,
daughter of Achaz von Zehman. Dohna, p.1. They went north by way of Kokenhausen. QU, VII, 205. p.205; Briefe, IV,
277-78, 305, 338.
274.
Briefe, IV, 327f., 351f.
275.
QU, VII, 311-324. Henning and the delegates had almost arrived. QU, VII, 275-77; Briefe, IV, 373f.
276.
The city was defended by a small Polish force and the German mercenaries led by Caspar von Oldenbockem, almost the
only hero of the earlier fighting. The garrison surrendered on June 6. QU, VII, 229-34; NQU, III, 164-70, 174-76. Russow,
p.95, gives the date as June 24.
277.
At the king's orders. QU, VII, 78f.; VIII, 24f., 49f.
278.
I.e., between Sweden and the Livonian estates against the grand duke. Sweden had been in the midst of military
preparations when the truce was concluded. See p.19a
279.
Manet alta mente repostum Iudicium Paridis. Quotation of Vergil, Aeneid 1.26-27.
280.
A deliberate policy of Kettler, who authorized freebooters to attack ships bound for Narva. QU, V, 16, 44-45, 60f., 88-89.
The question of Hanseatic ships sailing to Narva was less of a concern to Henning than to the Reval chronicler, but it was
important to undermine Russian trade. The letters between the kings of Poland and Denmark in Editiones almost always
brings up the issue of ships from Danzig and other cities being allowed to sail directly to Narva.
281.
There was no conflict between Ferdinand and Sigismund Augustus. The former had given two daughters as wives to the
Polish king and overlooked their extreme unhappiness. For his part, Sigismund Augustus was a quiet and peaceable man
wholly lacking in enthusiasm for glory or conquest, much less conflict.
282.
Fürstenthumb.
283.
I.e., King Erik and Ivan.
284.
Magnus agreed. The situation was so chaotic that opportunities abounded. NQU, III, 194f., 200-4.
285.
To Denmark, August, 1561. NQU, III, 208f. The nuncio noted these letters in his August 27 report. Nuntiaturberichte
(2nd), II, 27-29.
286.
On September 19 Kettler wrote his representatives in Vilna to make haste. QU, VI, 18-21; Ibid., 27-28.
287.
Chodkiewicz was the very unpopular governor of Polish-Lithuanian Livonia (1563-1579) who did not check the violence
of his troops or temper his religious fervor on behalf of the Roman Church. Chodkiewicz announced his march on Riga on
September 10, 1560. QU, V, 321. Briefe, IV, 66, notes how the Lithuanians under the young Chodkiewicz plundered the
countryside. Possession of Riga was always more important than fighting the Russians. Kettler thought so too and refused
Chodkiewicz entrance to the city. Ibid., 303, 323-25, 330-36; QU, VI, 25-26; Fabricus, p.476.
288.
Kettler wanted this Protestant to act in Livonia rather than Chodkiewicz, but did not dare say so except indirectly, as he
did to the king on September 24. QU, VI, 30-32. Radzivil had been moving north in July. QU, VII, 329-30, 336f. His forces
arrived shortly afterwards, Ibid., 41-43, and were permitted into Riga in small numbers, Ibid., 67-68, 123-24, 146-47;
Editiones, XXIV, 71-76.
289.
They signed a truce in August. QU, VIII, 179.
290.
Kettler's own explanation of his actions and another appeal for help from the empire, March 8, 1561. QU, VI, 129-32;
MLA, V, 740-48; NQU, III, 250-54. On November 10, 1561, Sigismund Augustus was seeking peace with Sweden. See,
Klot, pp. 48f. For the royal defense against accusations of doing too little, see Briefe, V, 4-31.
291.
Several thousand men, according to Russow, pp.97-98. He had been in Livonia all summer. The nuncio says the army
was not well organized ("poca obbedientia et gran desunione fra nobili"). Nuntiaturberichte, (2nd series), II, 28. Radzivil's
own report of September 8 is in NQU, III, 228-36; VIII, 102, he announced his intention to return to Lithuania. Kettler's letter
of September 22 is in Briefe, IV, 75. See Lenz, pp.19f., for the negotiations.
292.
293.
"Cautio prima Radzivilliana," QU, VIII, 89-99; Radzivil's speed, September, 1561, Briefe, V, 31ff.
Eric Tiberg, Zur Vorgeschichte des livländischen Krieges. Die Beziehungen zwischen Moskau und Litauen 1549-1562
(Uppsala, 1984), No. 134 of Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, gives a strikingly different interpretation. See English summary,
pp. 226-44.
294.
Tiesenhausen, p. 287. Kruse also praises Sigismund, p. 266. Russow, pp. 116-17, says the marriage negotiations
collapsed over the Polish demands that the princess's sons would inherit the crown instead of the sons of the late tsarina.
295.
Negotiations began in Prussia in September. QU, VIII, 111-23, 136-47, 152-57; Briefe, IV, 113ff., V, 56f., 61ff., 112ff. A
detailed study of the talks is in Lenz, pp.22-24. Radzivil cautioned Kettler to come to Vilna in October. Klot, pp.50f.; QU,
VIII, 157-61.
296.
Pacta subjectionibus. Codex, pp. 238-42f.; for a detailed analysis, see Stämmler, pp. 2-21; Cruse, Curland, pp. 31-32;
draft of the treaty, Briefe, IV, 120-23; V, 133f., 183f. For the report of the Rigan delegation, see Briefe, V, 131-344. In
November the negotiations continued regarding the interpretation of the agreement. Briefe, IV, 150-165; QU, VIII, 202f.;
also February 1562, Ibid., 276-303. Henning was still in Vilna in December, Briefe, V, 347.
297.
Schiemann, Historische Darstellungen, p. 96, disagrees fundamentally, as did most historians who in the nineteenth
century had the first opportunity to look at the documents for themselves, but he also, p. 98, praises what Kettler did for
Livonia.
298.
However, in NQU, III, 260f., December, 1561, the nobles of Courland wrote Magnus that they did not want any secular
lord, meaning Kettler. The nobles of Pilten had been essentially self-governing and preferred that to having a strong ruler.
Thanks to Magnus, they maintained their position for another two decades.
299.
NQU, III, 285-87, of March 11, 1562.
300.
Henning mentions this in order to support later claims of the Kettler dynasty on Pilten. Negotiations had been long
underway. NQU, III, 289, 294-301 (March - April, 1562); also 324-34; VIII, 248f., 262f.; Briefe, V, 358. The Teutonic
Knights had possessed territories on Ösel. The Danes had purchased Courland. The exchange would consolidate territories
for easier defense and administration as well as avoid confrontation. But in August of 1562 Magnus thought better of the plan
and decided to keep Courland, NQU, III, 341-47; then in September he began the negotiations again. Ibid., 352-70.
301.
The son of Achaz von Zehman, at the beginning of a distinguished career in Prussian service. See, Editiones, XXIV,
78-82, for his report; pp.84-94, for Sigismund's own view of the matter and Friedrich's reply.
302.
Reference is to the actions of Magnus and the King of Sweden, of course, but also to the desertion of Lithuanian nobles.
For Kettler's exchange of letters with Erik, see Editiones, XXIV, 204-218.
303.
He gave a speech to the landtag on February 11. Briefe, V, 365f.
304.
Renner, pp. 117-18; the nobles and the citizens objected strongly, Briefe, V, 385ff.; Lens, pp. 24-27.
305.
Briefe, V, 434f.
306.
suis successoribus mediate.
307.
ex linea mascula descendentibus immediate.
308.
The second Cautio Radziwiliana, March 17, 1562; Codex, pp. 255-56; Briefe, V, 447-53; Klot, pp. 58f.
309.
See Lenz, pp. 28f., about Riga's refusal to accept Kettler as administrator.
310.
This referred specifically to the German Master and the convent of knights in the Holy Roman Empire, who protested
vigorously against what they perceived as a violation of oaths. Already under pressure to give their estates to local rulers and
move to the Turkish frontier or join the Hospitallers, the German Master made such difficulties that in 1579 Chodkewicz
offered to give the Order lands north of the Düna for 60,000 gulden. Negotiations eventually failed because the German
Master lacked the resources to take on the responsibility.
311.
This clause is not in the surviving documents.
312.
Within the text is Kallmeyer's editorial note: "Dogiel has more correctly: 'I shall recover them.' "
313.
This document was omitted from the final edition of 1595.
314.
Hyperbole. The distance from the Holy Roman Empire, the mistrust between Protestants and Roman Catholics, political
strife with the French and the Turks, made it impossible for much help to come from Germany.
315.
Ivo Schenkenberg of Reval. See Russow, p.167.
316.
Ne alii habuisse labores, nos tulisse videamur honores.