Doblen

56°37′N 23°16′E

This castle was built by the Crusaders in the Semigallian lands. Here at the beginning of the XIII century there was a settlement, which was the center of the possessions of this Baltic tribe. According to medieval chronicles, the following regions were subordinate to the Semigallians: Dobele, Sparnene, Tervete, Dobe, Silene, agare and Upmale. In 1254, the Semigallian lands were divided between the Riga bishop and the Master of the Order - it remained to conquer them. Semigallian fortress in Dobele in 1279-1289 withstood six attacks of the crusaders. In 1289 the Semigallians themselves burned down their city and left. The Germans occupied the settlement and made their temporary fortification, and in 1339 Master Eberhard von Mongheim began the building of a stone castle on the place of the old Semigallian settlement.

An interesting fact is that the knights of the castle of Doblen were one of the last crusaders, who in the 16th century. were still true to their ideals. After the death of the Livonian Order in 1561, the last master of the Order, Gotthard Kettler, became Duke of Courland, vassal of the Polish king Sigismund II Augustus. Doblen's last commander, Ties von der Recke, refused to obey Kettler. He believed that by bowing his knees to the Polish king, the master lost the right to dispose of the lands of the Order. The former master in 1566 had to take the castle of Doblen by storm in order to annex it to the Duchy of Courland.

Doblen 1 sayt