The Livonian Rhymed Chronicle (Livländische Reimchronik) is an anonymous account of the Livonian Crusade written in Middle High German, covering the years between 1143 and 1290. It is one of the chief written sources concerning the Livonian Crusade, significant in that it was written by a member of the crusading orders, and it is notable for its rhyming form, unusual among chronicles.
The Rhymed Chronicle records the events of the Livonian Crusade, a campaign in which Christian military orders from Western Europe invaded the eastern shores of the Baltic (an area later called Livonia). The chronicle follows the orders engaged in the Crusade: the Swordbrothers and, later, the Teutonic Knights. Whilst the alleged aim of the Livonian Crusade was to protect German settlers in the area and spread Christianity, there were evident political and economic incentives at play, too.
Written by an anonymous member of the Teutonic Order, the Rhymed Chronicle seeks to legitimise, justify, and glorify the crusade, and thus historians have treated the source cautiously. The Rhymed Chronicle depicts the victims of the crusade as stereotypically violent and uncivilised, a rhetorical device often employed by chroniclers when writing of their enemies. Despite its clear bias, the source remains valuable, being the only primary source covering the years of the Livonian Crusade between 1267 and 1290, and a rare account of the crusade in a crusader's own words.
The Livonian Crusade was itself part of a wider crusading movement. The dawn of the 1200s saw numerous crusades both outside of Europe and within: the Fourth Crusade to Constantinople, the Fifth Crusade to Egypt, the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars in France, and the Spanish Crusades. The Livonian Crusade was one of the campaigns that composed what are now known as the Baltic Crusades (or Northern Crusades), a series of campaigns that saw fighters from Northwestern Europe, such as Germans, Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians, pushing east into the lands of the Baltic in order to attack and subdue the native populations.
The Livonian Crusade lasted for roughly a century, from around 1180 to 1290. The eastern shores of the Baltic, at the time, were inhabited by Finns, Estonians, Livs, Latvians, Lithuanians, and Prussians. It was the lands inhabited by the Livs, Latvians, and Estonians that would later be called Livonia. Little is known of the indigenous political structure during this period, but it is believed that whilst the natives were not organised into nations or states, clear political and territorial entities did exist, entities that have been labelled as "provinces" (Smith and Urban, x).
In the late 12th century, German eastward trade was increasing, and an early mercantile centre developed near the mouth of the Daugava River. This settlement ultimately became Riga, modern Latvia's capital. Missionaries followed the traders, presenting German clergymen with the opportunity to establish new bishoprics in the Baltic. As the natives resisted these encroachments, military protection arrived from Western Europe. This military presence provided further opportunity for the settlers to expand their activities, and their political, economic, religious, and military interests soon intertwined.
A series of German clergymen are recorded as first establishing missions in Livonia, beginning with a friar named Meinhard in 1186, who summoned a military force from Visby in an attempt to threaten local Livs into accepting baptism and paying taxes. He was followed by Berthold, a pastor who received official permission to preach a crusade. His crusaders arrived in 1197 and began to coerce the Livs into baptism by force of arms. Despite their successes in scattering the natives and devastating their lands, Berthold died amidst the conflict. He was succeeded by bishop Albert Buxhoevden, a man "more than any other… responsible for the success of the Livonian Crusade" (Smith & Urban, xi). It was during his time as bishop, in 1202, that the Order of Swordbrothers, also known as the Fratres militiae Christi Livoniae (Militia of Christ of Livonia), was established, the chief perpetrators of the Livonian Crusade.
From 1205 onward, the Swordbrothers engaged in numerous battles as they fought to gain control of the Baltic's eastern shore. Following the disastrous Battle of Saule in 1236, in which the Swordbrothers were defeated at the hands of a Lithuanian force, the remaining knights of the order were absorbed into the Teutonic Knights, with the former being officially incorporated into the latter by Pope Gregory IX in 1237 (reign 1227 to 1241). The Teutonic Knights continued the Livonian Crusade with the dual aims of unchallenged military supremacy in the region, and the removal of native political independence. In 1290, following the the destruction of the Semigallian stronghold at Sidrabene, these aims had broadly been met. The surviving Semigallians fled to Lithuania, and despite ongoing resistance from the Samogitians, the boundaries of the Order's Livonian project - with Lithuania to the south, Novogrod to the East, and Estonia to the north - had been fixed, and the Livonian Crusade was over.
Two chronicles serve as chief written sources for the Livonian Crusade: the Rhymed Chronicle and the Heinrici Chronicon Lyvoniae (Henry's Livonian Chronicle). The latter focuses more on religious and missionary activities, whereas the Rhymed Chronicle is almost exclusively concerned with military actions.
One of the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle's most striking features is its rhymed structure. Whilst other verse or rhyming chronicles are not unheard of, the Livonian Chronicle's form is exceedingly rare. Composed of rhymed couplets and featuring chronologically-ordered but often undated episodes, the Livonian Chronicle sets itself apart from similar contemporary records.
Each of the chronicle's lines holds three or four stressed syllables, each line paired to form a rhymed couplet. The chronicle's opening lines (lines 1 to 4) provide a clear example:
Got, der himel und erden
zu dem ersten liez gewerden
und allez daz dar inne ist
geschuf in vil kurtzer vrist.
The chronicle was written in Middle High German, a medieval form of German that was the conventional form in German literature at the time. Some examples of Middle Low German can be found within the chronicle's first 2,000 lines, which could indicate that one of the earlier written sources upon which the chronicle's first half was based may have been composed in Low German.
The constraints of writing the chronicle in rhyme produced a number of interesting features: unusual word order, syntax, and stock repetitions are occasionally deployed in order to force a rhyme. The phrase "daz ist wâr" (that is true) is a notable example, appearing over 50 times. Repeated examples of direct address also appear throughout the chronicle, specifically ir, the nominative plural of du (you), used when directly addressing a group. This fact has been used to argue that the chronicle was intended to be read aloud to an audience.
Little can be discerned about the author of the chronicle, besides the fact that he served amongst the Teutonic Order. In fact, the chronicle contains almost no descriptions of individuals, besides bishops and the order's masters. The chronicler does not refer to himself by name and presents the chronicle impersonally, relaying the actions of the order, but never directly inserting himself within them. Scholars have argued, however, that the chronicler's detailed descriptions of specific battles and locations strongly suggest he was a participant in at least some of the recorded events.
The uniformity of the chronicle indicates that it is the work of a single individual, recording, in the chronicle's latter half, recent events, and in the first half, events which occurred before his arrival in Livonia. It is entirely possible that some of the events in the chronicle's first half occurred before the author was even born. Thus, the first half must have been based on other (now lost) written sources and the order's orally transmitted history. Historian Lutz Mackensen suggested that this transition from repeated episodes to firsthand descriptions occurs roughly around lines 6500 to 7500, based on the following differences:
- The first half contains episodic narratives, whereas the second contains only military affairs.
- Battles in the second half are described in much greater detail.
- Place names with variant spellings occur with one variant in the first half, and another in the second.
These two distinct halves of the chronicle also represent a division in content: the first recording the arrival of Christianity and later the Teutonic Order in Livonia, and the second a more detailed record of the order's military activities. The overarching theme of both halves is an aim to legitimise the events they describe.
In the first half, the chronicler claims that the Germans, having heard of the dangers of the inhabitants, had no interest in making landfall, but were carried unwillingly into the river's mouth by strong winds (lines 149 to 158). The chronicle also claims that the establishment of the first trading outposts on the Daugava was at the invitation of the natives, and it details a number of early successes in converting members of the native population to Christianity. The chronicle presents these natives as belligerent tribes living in "ein heidenschaft vil sûr" – "a very bitter paganism" – (line 145). Such stereotypical presentations were often utilised by chroniclers writing of non-Christianised groups, and this was especially the case when the author sought to justify the colonisation of said groups.
The first clergymen active in the area are recorded along with their chief activities, notably Meinhard, Berthold, and Bishop Albert Buxhoevden. The reason given for the arrival of Germanic preachers is the desire of the traders to attend Mass, but scholars agree that territorial and economic incentives would have also been particularly motivating, especially for the bishops. Ultimately, the inception of the crusade is presented as the outcome of native violence against the Germans and newly converted Christians, spurring an embassy to Rome seeking an audience with Pope Innocent III (reign 1198 to 1216). When Innocent III decides to send a bishop, the chronicle states, Berthold arrives in Riga with a crusading army. Thus, far from the war of religious conquest that it was, the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle presents the crusade as a matter of self-defence.
The chronicle is in some places mildly confused, presenting details or chronologies that do not align with other primary sources (such as the Chronicle of Henry), likely a result of the first half having been written many years after the events described. In other places, the chronicle offers total falsehoods, such as the claim that upon hearing of Berthold's death in battle, Innocent III immediately founded a crusading order and granted them one-third of the area's land, a claim highlighted as "outright propaganda" (Smith and Urban, 9).
In the second half, the chronicle focuses far more on specific military engagements, describing the composition of armies, tactics employed, battlefield geography, and a brief analysis of the outcomes. Notably, the chronicle includes a description of the famous 1242 Battle on the Ice, in which the Teutonic Order was defeated by the Novgorod Republic.
Limited information on native Livonian culture can also be found in the chronicle, such as burial customs and spiritual practices.
It is clear from the chronicle's form and content that its chief purpose was to justify the crusade it records. The chronicle's rhymed structure and inclusion of direct address suggest that the work was intended to be orally performed to an audience, and who this intended audience was has inspired a number of theories.
Historians Smith & Urban suggested that the Rhymed Chronicle was a Tischbuch, a book read aloud during meal times. However, this perspective has recently been questioned by historian Alan Murray, who highlighted that the order's own statutes specified that mealtimes should be spent either in silence or listening to passages from the Bible. Murray presents the alternative perspective that the chronicle's audience were instead secular crusaders who had travelled to Livonia to fight alongside the Teutonic Order, and that the text served to celebrate and legitimise the crusade by highlighting the deeds and heroism of the order's knights. In this sense, the chronicle can be read as something akin to recruitment propaganda.
Whilst the Rhymed Chronicle is evidently a work heavily influenced and affected by the motives of the writer, it remains an instrumental source in understanding the Christianisation and colonisation of the people of the Baltics. This is especially true of the years between 1267 and 1290, which are not covered by any other extant source. Beyond the details of the Teutonic Order's foundation and accounts of some of its most notable engagements, the Rhymed Chronicle is perhaps most instrumental in providing an insight into the mind of a Teutonic Knight. Whilst the author's evident biases produce a record that must be treated cautiously, the source is invaluable in its depiction of the thoughts and motivations of a crusader and the order he was part of. It also provides a window into the religious motives and rationalisations used to justify the Germanic presence in the Baltic and the ensuing colonisation of the native population.