Albert of Riga or Albert of Livonia or Albrecht (german: Albert von Buxthoeven, lv, Alberts fon Buksthēvdens; c.1165 – 17 January 1229) was the third

Bishop of Riga The Archbishopric of Riga ( la, Archiepiscopatus Rigensis, nds, Erzbisdom Riga) was an archbishopric in Medieval Livonia, a subject to the Holy See. It was established in 1186 as the bishopric of Livonia at Ikšķile, then after moving to Rig ...

Livonia Livonia ( liv, Līvõmō, et, Liivimaa, fi, Liivinmaa, German and Scandinavian languages: ', archaic German: ''Liefland'', nl, Lijfland, Latvian and lt, Livonija, pl, Inflanty, archaic English: ''Livland'', ''Liwlandia''; russian: Ли ...

. In 1201 he allegedly founded Riga, the modern capital of Latvia, and built the city's cathedral in 1221. Albert headed the armed forces that forcibly converted the eastern Baltic region to

Catholic faith The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, in the nature of a crusade that was undertaken while the Fourth Crusade was sacking the Christian

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

capital of

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

Early life

Albert was born in Bexhövede, a part of

Loxstedt Loxstedt (in High German, in Low Saxon: Lox) is a municipality in the district of Cuxhaven in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated south of Bremerhaven. History Lacstidi (literally in ''lake stead''), first mentioned in 1059, belonged to the ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. He and his brother Hermann were members of the powerful

Buxhoeveden family The House of Buxhoeveden was a Baltic German noble family of Lower Saxon origin in Estonia and Russian Empire, with roots tracing to Bexhövede. In Sweden, the family is considered part of the unintroduced nobility. Notable family members ...

from Bexhövede. Because of this he has also been known as Albert of Buxhoeveden (or ''Bexhövede'', ''Buxhövden'', ''Buxhöwde'', ''Buxthoeven'', ''Appeldern''). Albert was a

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

in Bremen when his uncle Hartwig,

Archbishop of Bremen This list records the bishops of the Roman Catholic diocese of Bremen (german: link=no, Bistum Bremen), supposedly a suffragan of the Archbishopric of Cologne, then of the bishops of Bremen, who were in personal union archbishops of Hamburg (si ...

and

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, named him Bishop of

, provided that he could conquer and hold it, and convince the pagan inhabitants to become Christians. The patent was granted 28 March 1199, and by the beginning of spring 1200 he embarked with a Baltic fleet of 23 vessels and more than 1,500 armed

crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

. He had the support of the

Hohenstaufen The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynast ...

German King, Philip of Swabia, and the more distant blessing of

Pope Innocent III Pope Innocent III ( la, Innocentius III; 1160 or 1161 – 16 July 1216), born Lotario dei Conti di Segni (anglicized as Lothar of Segni), was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 to his death in 16 ...

. In 1200, Bishop Albert led a crusade in Livonia, providing the starting point to create an ecclesiastical State. Albert arrived in his diocese in

Ikšķile Ikšķile (; german: Uexküll; liv, Ikškilā; et, Üksküla; also known as ''Üxküll'') is a town in Latvia, in Ogre Municipality. It was the first capital of the Roman Catholic Bishopric of Livonia, known by the German name of Üxküll ...

with a sizeable army. He was able to send reinforcements without asking permission from the Pope. These rights led him to create an annual summer expedition from Lübeck to Livonia called the "perpetual crusade".

Foundation of Riga

When Albert realized that the diocese of Uexkull was located far away from the Daugava river to be effective, he founded a castle nearer the sea, where a small stream joined the Daugava creating a natural harbor. This castle would be the start of the foundation of Riga. Together with merchants from the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...

island of Gotland, Albert founded Riga in 1201, where a small community of

Hanseatic The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label=German language, Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Norther ...

traders from

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the state ...

held a tentative trading encampment. In 1204, he received a papal bull to sign up crusaders. He successfully converted many Livs under their leader Caupo, offering them protection against neighboring Lithuanian and Estonian tribes; Albert also subjugated Latvian principalities of

Koknese Koknese () is a town in Aizkraukle Municipality in the Vidzeme region of Latvia, on the right bank of the Daugava River. It has a population of nearly 3,000. According to the provisions of the 2021 Latvian administrative reform, Koknese gained ...

Jersika The principality of Jersika ( la, Gerzika, terra Lettia, german: Gerzika, Zargrad, russian: Ерсика, Герцике; also known as ''Лотыголa'') was an early medieval Latgalian principality in eastern modern-day Latvia and one of th ...

and

Tālava Tālava was a Latgalian country in the northern Vidzeme and northern Latgale region of today's Latvia. It was bordered by the Latgalian Principality of Jersika to the south, the Livonian counties of Metsepole and Idumeja to the west, the Estonian ...

later on. The conquest of Livonia in full occupied almost three decades of his life. Albert created a military order, the

Livonian Brothers of the Sword The Livonian Brothers of the Sword ( la, Fratres militiæ Christi Livoniae, german: Schwertbrüderorden) was a Catholic military order established in 1202 during the Livonian Crusade by Albert, the third bishop of Riga (or possibly by Theoderi ...

, and began to build his

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...

in 1215. King Philip made him a Prince of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...

, with Livonia for a

fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form ...

, and thus Albert became a " Prince-Bishop". In 1225 King

Henry (VII) of Germany Henry (VII) (1211 – 12? February 1242), a member of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, was King of Sicily from 1212 until 1217 and King of Germany (formally ''Rex Romanorum'') from 1220 until 1235, as son and co-ruler of Emperor Frederick II. He was t ...

confirmed the title of Prince for Albert and his brother, Hermann. Albert declared his diocese independent of Bremen, and later Riga was raised to an

archbishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associa ...

. A first-hand account of Albert is in the contemporary ''

Livonian Chronicle of Henry The ''Livonian Chronicle of Henry'' ( la, Heinrici Cronicon Lyvoniae) offers a Latin narrative of events in Livonia (roughly corresponding to today's inland Estonia and the northern part of Latvia) and surrounding areas from 1180 to 1227. It was ...

'' by

Henry of Latvia Henry of Latvia ( la, Henricus de Lettis, german: Heinrich von Lettland, lv, Latviešu Indriķis, et, Läti Henrik; 1187 – after 1259), also known in the English-speaking world as Henry of Livonia, was a priest (Catholic Church), priest, mis ...

. Albert died in Riga in 1229, but, as a Catholic Bishop, left no descendants. He was venerated as a Catholic saint until the Protestant

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

. The present-day von Buxhoeveden are descendants of his cousin Johannes von Buxhoeveden. Albert's brother Theodoricus married a niece of the prince of Novgorod

Mstislav Mstislavich Mstislav Mstislavich the Daring (russian: Мстисла́в II Мстисла́вич Удатный, uk, Мстислав Мстиславич Удатний, translit=Mstyslav Mstyslavych Udatnyi; died c. 1228) prince of Tmutarakan and Cherni ...

and is the progenitor of the family ''de Raupena'' (''de Ropa'', known today as "von der Ropp") that founded manors in Livonia and Courland. Albert Street in Riga is named after Bishop Albert. It is known for its '' Art Nouveau'' apartment buildings, many of them designed by the architect

Mikhail Eisenstein Mikhail Osipovich Eisenstein (russian: Михаил Осипович Эйзенштейн, translit=Michail Osipovič Ejzenštein, lv, Mihails Eizenšteins; – 2 July 1920) was a civil engineer and architect working in Riga, the present-day cap ...

References

External links

Albert von Buxhoeveden

James A. Brundage, ''The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia''
: edited and translated, 2003

{{DEFAULTSORT:Albert of Riga 1160s births 1229 deaths Livonian Brothers of the Sword Prince-bishops in Livonia People from Cuxhaven (district) Bishops of Riga Baltic-German people 12th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Livonia 13th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Livonia Christians of the Livonian Crusade Buxhoeveden family