Wenden

57 ° 18'47 ″ N. 25 ° 16'29 " E.

The castle of the Baltic Vendian tribe was located on the Riekstukalns (Walnut hill). In 1206, the Vendians were baptized and began to serve the German knights, together with them they opposed the pagans of the Estonians. A German garrison under the command of the knight Berthold is located in their settlement. The Wenden fortress becomes a stronghold of the knights in the region. In 1213, opposite the Walnut Hill, the knights, by order of the Master of the Order of the Swordsmen, Vinno von Rohrbach, began the building of their castle. In 1218 the castles were besieged by Novgorodians for two weeks under the command of Prince Vsevolod Mstislavich, in 1221 the Novgorodians' attack was repeated. In 1261 Wenden was attacked by the ruler of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania Mindovg.

After the unification of the Order of the Swordsmen and the Teutonic Order in 1237, the first master of the united order, Hermann von Balk, made Wenden the residence of the Livonian master.Wenden became the member of the Hanseatic League in 1367. In the Middle Ages Livonian Landtags (council of landowners) gathered in Wenden.

In 1561, after the fall of the Livonian Order, Wenden was located at the territory of the influence of Polish Kingdom. In 1577 he came under the rule of the Danish Duke Magnus, but Tsar Ivan the Terrible suspected him of treason, and began to punish the castles that went over to Magnus's side. During the assault, the defenders of the castle blew it up together with the garrison, not wanting to surrender to the Russian troops. In 1578, near Wenden, the Swedish-Polish-Courland army defeated the Russian troops, which is considered the beginning of a series of defeats of the Russian army in the wars for Livonia. After 1582 Wenden departed toRzecz Pospolita, and at the beginning of the 17th century - to the Kingdom of Sweden. The castle is oocated in the Latvian city of Cesis today.

01 Venden 1 sayt