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Swedish Livonia Svenska Livland | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1629â1721 | |||||||
Baltic provinces of Swedish Empire in the 17th century. | |||||||
Status | Dominion of the Swedish Empire | ||||||
Capital | Riga | ||||||
Common languages | Swedish, Estonian, Latvian, Livonian, Low German (Latin as lingua franca) | ||||||
Religion | Lutheranism | ||||||
King of Sweden | |||||||
âą 1611â1632 | Gustav II Adolf | ||||||
âą 1720â1751 | Frederick I | ||||||
Governor-General | |||||||
âą 1622â1628 | Jacob De la Gardie | ||||||
âą 1696â1702 | Erik Dahlberg | ||||||
Legislature | Diet | ||||||
History | |||||||
âą Conquered by Sweden | 1621 | ||||||
âą Truce of Altmark | 25 September 1629 | ||||||
âą Treaty of Oliva | 23 April 1660 | ||||||
âą Great Northern War | 1700â1721 | ||||||
1713 | |||||||
âą Treaty of Nystad | 30 August 1721 | ||||||
| |||||||
Today part of | Estonia Latvia |
Swedish Livonia (Swedish: Svenska Livland) was a dominion of the Swedish Empire from 1629 until 1721. The territory, which constituted the southern part of modern Estonia (including the island of Ăsel ceded by Denmark after the Treaty of Brömsebro) and the northern part of modern Latvia (the Vidzeme region), represented the conquest of the major part of the Polish-Lithuanian Duchy of Livonia during the 1600â1629 Polish-Swedish War. Parts of Livonia and the city of Riga were under Swedish control as early as 1621 and the situation was formalized in the Truce of Altmark 1629, but the whole territory was not ceded formally until the Treaty of Oliva in 1660. The minority part of the Wenden Voivodeship retained by the PolishâLithuanian Commonwealth was renamed the Inflanty Voivodeship ("Livonian Principality"), which today corresponds to the Latgale region of Latvia.
Riga was the second largest city in the Swedish Empire at the time. Together with other Baltic Sea dominions, Livonia served to secure the Swedish dominium maris baltici. In contrast to Swedish Estonia, which had submitted to Swedish rule voluntarily in 1561 and "where traditional local laws remained largely untouched," the uniformity policy was applied in Swedish Livonia under Karl XI of Sweden: serfdom was abolished, "peasants were offered education as well as military," administrative/ecclesiastical careers. And nobles had to transfer domains to the king in the Great Reduction.
The territory in turn was conquered by the Russian Empire during the Great Northern War and, following the Capitulation of Estonia and Livonia in 1710, formed Riga Governorate. Formally, it was ceded to Russia in the Treaty of Nystad in 1721, together with Swedish Estonia and Swedish Ingria.
Governors-generalâ»
The dominion was ruled by appointed governors-general, but retained its own diet.
- Jacob De la Gardie (1622â1628)
- Gustaf Horn (1628â1629)
- Johan Skytte (1629â1633)
- Nils Assersson Mannersköld (1633â1634)
- Bengt Oxenstierna (1634â1643)
- Herman Wrangel (1643)
- Erik Eriksson Ryning (1644)
- Gabriel Bengtsson Oxenstierna (1645â1647)
- Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie (1649â1651)
- Gustaf Horn (1652â1653)
- Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie (1655â1657)
- Axel Lillie (1661)
- Bengt Oxenstierna (1662â1665)
- Clas Ă kesson Tott (the younger) (1665â1671)
- Fabian von Fersen (1671â1674)
- Krister Klasson Horn (1674â1686)
- Jacob Johan Hastfer (1687â1695)
- Erik Dahlberg (1696â1702)
- Carl Gustaf Frölich (1702â1706)
- Adam Ludwig Lewenhaupt (1706â1709)
- Henrik Otto Albedyll (1709)
- Niels Jonsson Stromberg af Clastorp (1709â1710)
Militaryâ»
Swedish infantry and cavalry regimentsâ»
- Infantry regiments
- Garnisonsregementet i Riga (Garrison Regiment in Riga)
- Guvenörsregementet i Riga (Governor's Regiment in Riga)
- LivlÀndsk infanteribataljon I (Livonian Infantry Battalion I)
- LivlÀndsk infanteribataljon II (Livonian Infantry Battalion II)
- LivlÀndsk infanteribataljon III (Livonian Infantry Battalion III)
- LivlÀndsk infanteribataljon IV (Livonian Infantry Battalion IV)
- LivlÀndskt infanteriregemente I (Livonian Infantry Regiment I)
- LivlÀndskt infanteriregemente II (Livonian Infantry Regiment II)
- LivlÀndskt infanteriregemente III (Livonian Infantry Regiment III)
- LivlÀndskt infanteriregemente IV (Livonian Infantry Regiment IV)
- LivlÀndskt infanteriregemente V (Livonian Infantry Regiment V)
- Cavalry regiments
- Laurentzens fridragoner (Wolter Wolfgang von Laurentzen's Free Dragoons)
- Lewenhaupts frikompani (Adam Ludwig Lewenhaupt's Free Company)
- Adelsfanan i Livland och Ăsel (Livonian and Ăselian Banner of Nobles)
- LivlÀndsk dragonskvadron I (Livonian Dragoon Squadron I)
- LivlÀndsk dragonskvadron II (Livonian Dragoon Squadron II)
- LivlÀndskt dragonregemente I (Livonian Dragoon Regiment I)
- LivlÀndskt dragonregemente II (Livonian Dragoon Regiment II)
- Ăselska lantdragonskvadronen (Ăselian County Dragoon Squadron)
Temporary cavalry regiments:
- LivlÀndska stÄndsdragonbataljonen (Livonian Rank Dragoon Battalion)
- Ăselska stĂ„ndsdragonbataljonen (Ăsel Rank Dragoon Battalion)
See alsoâ»
- Rise of Sweden as a Great Power
- Swedish Empire
- Realm of Sweden
- Duchy of Estonia (1561â1721)
- Estonia under Swedish rule
- Bishopric of Ăsel-Wiek
Referencesâ»
- Andrejs Plakans, A Concise History of the Baltic States, Cambridge University Press, "2011," pp. 105ff
Further readingâ»
- Heikki PihlajamĂ€ki. Conquest and the Law in Swedish Livonia, ca. 1630â1710: A Case of Legal Pluralism in Early Modern Europe. Northern World Series. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2017
56°58âČ00âłN 24°08âČ00âłE / 56.9667°N 24.1333°E / 56.9667; 24.1333