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In January 1559 the story repeated. The Russian army set out on a major campaign against Livonia. This time the centre of the country and conquest of cities and lands that had not been touched by war were the target of the attack. The strip of devastated areas extended from the Wezenberg-Dorpat line to the west up to the Zapadnaya Dvina (Daugava) and Riga. The Russians did not take by storm fortified citadels requiring extensive besiegement and heavy artillery (such as Riga and Venden). Instead, they would put all the suburbs to sword and fire. The Russians conquered, demolished and put to fire mid-size castles of the Teutonic Order and bishoprics (such as Smilten, Dzērbene, Skujene, Ērgļi, Rodenpois etc.), vassal castles (fortified manors) and fortified churches. According to Russian chronicles, the Livonian garrisons abandoned eleven castles. Contrary to the spring-summer campaign of 1558, the troops did not attempt to gain a foothold in the conquered facilities in pursuing their annihilation strategy. Eventually, any opposition was overcome: on 17 January Peter Serebryany-Obolensky defeated the army of the Archbishop of Riga under command of the Dean of Riga Cathedral Friedrich von Fölkersahm in the battle of Tirza castle (Tirsen) (57° 8′ 42″ N, 26° 26′ 28″ E). Livonian knights and Latvian guardsmen also fought under his banners. Friedrich von Fölkersahm perished and was buried in Riga in the church of his priesthood.
Today the only survivals of Tirza castle are traces of ditches and ramparts and some subsurface ruins. Later on, the landlords of these premises had a manor house built on the castle site and the landscape altered greatly. Tirza church could be considered a "place of commemoration" of the battle, yet it was built in later times.
The ruins of Smilten castle (57° 25′ 27″ N, 25° 54′ 23″ E, modern Smiltene in Latvia) are another monument to the battles that took place in January 1559. This castle was built by the crusaders on the site of a Latgalian fortified settlement in Tālava conquered in 1224. It was taken in 1559, given up and retaken in 1560.
Smilten, ruins
Tirsen, ruins
According to the Pskovitan chronicles, during this campaign the Russian troops reached the environs of Riga and devastated them, and even subjected to gunfire the ships moored on the river. Although, they opted to not take Riga by storm. On 17 February 1559 the Russian army left central Livonia.
The current survivals of the 16th century fortifications in Riga allow us to imagine the scale of this fortress and the reasons for refusal to besiege it. Riga fortifications have survived to a much poorer extent compared to Tallinn fortifications, have undergone multiple alterations and are represented in the modern city very fragmentarily. Powder Tower (56° 57′ 04″ N, 24° 06′ 31″ E) in Smilšu street has survived better than any other tower in Riga. However, it was built after 1621 on the basis of a medieval tower erected in the 14th century (and called Sand Tower then). A Russian borough was located nearby in the medieval Riga (the lost neighbourhood tower was called Russian Tower).
Riga, Powder Tower
The other towers are restored historical replicas. A fragment of Maiden Tower was incorporated in the Arsenal building (Torņa iela 1), and a fragment of Jurgen Tower – in the building of the Latvian Society of Architects (Torņa iela 11). The Tower of the Holy Spirit was incorporated in the fortifications of the Order castle and still makes part of the facility, which was heavily modified in the 18–20th centuries.
John's Metochion (Latv. Jāņa sēta) between Skārņu street and Kalēju street built on the site of Riga's first bishopric castle dated the 13th century was altered and contains elements of a Dominican monastery gallery of the 14th century. Its most remarkable element is a small gate symbolizing Christ's entry to Jerusalem riding on a donkey.
Riga, John's Metochion
Its modest size was intended to remind the citizens about the futile and vain rush for wealth and about the contempt for material wealth that distinguishes true Christians. In 1960 a city wall imitating the late 15th century fortress was restored here. In 1985–1987 a fragment of the city wall with Ramer Tower (archaeologically dated the 13th century and restored the way it could have looked in the 15–16th centuries) was restored in Trokšņu street.
Riga, Ramer tower and fortress wall
In 1996–2000 the House of the Blackheads, a medieval brotherhood of merchants dedicated to St. Mauritius was rebuilt in the City Hall Square (56° 56′ 49″ N, 24° 06′ 24″ E). The original cellars dated 1334 have survived, while the rebuilt part reproduces the building dated the early 17th century.
Active commerce and trade never ceased in Riga during the war, since the city had never been conquered or besieged (similarly to Revel, for example). Individual minor attacks affected mostly Riga suburbs. For this reason, we would recommend paying attention to the homes of the citizens and the way they lived in the 16th century. The Three Brothers complex comprising Riga's oldest residential buildings is located in Mazā Pils 17, 19, 21. № 17 is dated the 15th century.
The complex of the oldest residential buildings in Riga
However, let us return to the events of the Livonian War. A conflict over Holstein arose between Frederick II of Denmark and his younger brother Magnus. The final decision was to order Magnus leave Denmark and offer him some territories in compensation. In September 1559 Frederick II bought Ösel Island from Livonia under Nyberg agreement for 30 000 thaler. Magnus renounced his right to succession in Holstein and began preparations to departure for his new feoff. Ex bishop of Ösel Johannes V von Münchhausen left for Westfalen, where he converted to Protestantism and married shortly afterwards to reward himself for long years of celibacy. This was Denmark's contribution to partition of Livonia.
On 31 August 1559 the first agreement between Sigismund II Augustus and Gotthard Kettler was concluded in Vilna, and the latter shortly (on 21 September) became the last Master of the Livonian Order. The King of Poland accepted under his "patronage and protection" Livonian territories in exchange for commitment to provide military aid. Livonia ceded to the Polish crown several castles in consideration for this aid. The intention was to place there the troops of the Great Duchy of Lithuania that Russia would prefer not to confront, and thus save Livonia. However, Sigismund II did not rush to help Livonia — the forces of the Great Duchy of Lithuania began to occupy Livonian cities only the summer of 1560, and they were scarce – just several hundred soldiers (a maximum of twenty-five hundred) scattered over several garrisons. These forces were capable of supporting transition of these castles under control of the Polish Crown, since the forces of John the Terrible adhered to truce with GDL. Yet they were unable to prevent the conquest of Livonia by the Russians that Kettler so much sought.
The first Treaty of Vilna was most probably executed in the grand-ducal palace in Vilnius (54° 41′ 09″ N, 25° 17′ 22″ E). Destroyed in 1801, the palace was totally restored in 2002–2016 in the Renaissance style, the way it could have looked in the 16th century.
Grand-ducal palace in Vilnius
In the autumn 1559, the forces of the Livonian Order under command of the last Master Gotthard Kettler launched a counter-attack that was more successful than the preceding counter-attack of the same year. The forces of the Master and Bishop besieged Yuriev at the end of November, but the siege was lifted after 10 days of barrage and sorties. In December, upon the failure to conquer Yuriev, Kettler's army, pursued by Russian troops, headed for Laiuse that it failed to conquer by besiegement, although the Livonian artillery damaged the fortress wall. After that the Master retreated to Oberpahlen.
The alternating success of the Russian offensive in the winter of 1559 and the Livonian counter-attack in the autumn of 1559 demonstrated that the balance in the struggle for Livonia was oscillating. However, this year turned out to be critical, although not in the military but in the diplomatic sense. Intervention of Poland, the Great Duchy of Lithuania and Denmark in the conflict, who virtually initiated the division of Livonia, against the background of advancement of the Russians and formation of Russian Livonia, meant that the end of the Teutonic Order was close.
Alexander Filyushkin