Cesvaine () () is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

Madona Municipality Madona Municipality () is a municipality in Vidzeme, Latvia. The administrative center is Madona. The total area of the municipality is , and the population in January 2013 was 26,953.Madona municipality Population Register Of these, economically ...

, Vidzeme Region,

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

. It is home to the Cesvaine Palace, built in 1896 near the ruins of previous medieval castles.

History

During the period before the

Livonian Crusade The Livonian crusade consists of the various military Crusade, Christianisation campaigns in medieval Livonia – modern Latvia and Estonia – during the Pope, Papal-sanctioned Northern Crusades in the 12th–13th century. Overview Historic ...

in the 13th century, the territory of modern Cesvaine was part of the

Principality of Jersika The Principality of Jersika (; ; ) was a medieval Latgalians, Latgalian principality in the east of modern-day Latvia, and one of the largest medieval states in Latvia before the Northern Crusades. The capital of Jersika was located on a hill fo ...

and was inhabited by ancient

Latgalians Latgalians (, , modern ; variant translations also include Latgallians, Lettigalls or Lettigallians) were an ancient Baltic tribe. They likely spoke a variant of Latvian language, which probably became the ''lingua franca'' in present-day Latvia ...

. It was first mentioned in written sources in 1209 (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

: Urbs Zcessowe) in the treaty between bishop

Albert of Riga Albert of Riga or Albert of Livonia ( – 17 January 1229) was the third Catholic Bishop of Riga in Livonia. As the Bishop of Livonia, in 1201, he founded Riga, the modern capital city of Latvia, and the city was later made a bishopric. The bu ...

and

Visvaldis Visvaldis was a Latgalian nobleman and the prince of Jersika in the 13th century. In the '' Livonian Chronicle of Henry '', he is called king (''rex''). Biography Visvaldis's date of birth is unknown. His origins, too, are unclear: some sch ...

of Jersika. In 1211 the

Bishopric of Riga The Archbishopric of Riga (, ) was a Catholic diocese and civil government in Medieval Livonia, subject to the Holy See. It was established in 1186 and ended in 1561. History The diocese was established in 1186 as the Bishopric of Livonia ...

and the Livonian Brothers of Sword partitioned the lands of Jersika between themselves. The territory of Cesvaine fell under the control of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword, however in 1213 some of the lands were exchanged and Cesvaine became property of the Bishop of Riga. In the beginning of the 15th century, a stone castle was built in Cesvaine and the settlement started to grow. By the end of the 16th century there were already 80 houses in Cesvaine. During the

Livonian War The Livonian War (1558–1583) concerned control of Terra Mariana, Old Livonia (in the territory of present-day Estonia and Latvia). The Tsardom of Russia faced a varying coalition of the Denmark–Norway, Dano-Norwegian Realm, the Kingdom ...

in 1577, defenders of Cesvaine castle refused to surrender. Consequently, the Russian tsar

Ivan the Terrible Ivan IV Vasilyevich (; – ), commonly known as Ivan the Terrible,; ; monastic name: Jonah. was Grand Prince of Moscow, Grand Prince of Moscow and all Russia from 1533 to 1547, and the first Tsar of all Russia, Tsar and Grand Prince of all R ...

ordered that the castle and whole town be destroyed. After the war in 1582 Cesvaine became part of

Duchy of Livonia The Duchy of Livonia, also referred to as Polish Livonia or Livonia, was a territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that existed from 1561 to 1621. It corresponds to the present-day areas of northe ...

. In 1656 during the

Second Northern War The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of ...

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

again seized the castle and destroyed the town. A new period in the history of Cesvaine started in the year 1815 when the settlement and nearby lands were bought by the

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

von Wulf. Cesvaine became centre of the manor and rapid development started in the second half of the 19th century. In 1932 Cesvaine became a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in the

Republic of Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

. It was granted

town rights Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...

in 1991. Since 2009, the town has become the official administrative centre of Cesvaine municipality.

Notable people

* Jakob Lenz (1751–1792), writer

Twin towns — sister cities

Cesvaine is twinned with: * Coulaines, France *

Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Dnipropetrovsk Oblast (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in simultaneously southern, eastern and central Ukraine, the most important industrial region of the country. It was created on February 27, 1932. Dnipropetro ...

, Ukraine *

Lagardelle-sur-Lèze Lagardelle-sur-Lèze (, literally ''Lagardelle on Lèze''; ) is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France. Population The inhabitants of the commune are called ''Lagardellois'' in French. Twinning The village was twin ...

, France *

Märjamaa Märjamaa is a Populated places in Estonia, borough () in Rapla County, Estonia. It is the administrative center of Märjamaa Parish. Märjamaa has a population of 2,961 as of 29 November 2012, making it the largest settlement in the whole of Mä ...

, Estonia *

Volkhov Volkhov () is an industrial types of inhabited localities in Russia, town and the administrative center of Volkhovsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the river Volkhov (river), Volkhov east of Saint Petersburg, St. Petersbu ...

, Russia *

Weyhe Weyhe is a municipality in the district of Diepholz, Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 15 km south of Bremen. History First mentioned in 860, when a sick girl from "Wege" travelled to the grave of Saint Willehad in Breme ...

, Germany

Gallery

File:Cesvaines katoļu baznīca 2001-08-04.jpg, Roman Catholic church in Cesvaine File:Cesvaines piemineklis represētajiem 2003-04-18.jpg, Monument to victims of Soviet repressions in Cesvaine File:Cesvaines stacija 25.JPG, Cesvaine railway station File:Cesvaine Lutheran Church 05.JPG, Cesvaine lutheran church

References

{{Authority control Cities and towns in Vidzeme 1991 establishments in Latvia Cēsis county Populated places in Madona Municipality

History

Notable people

Twin towns — sister cities

Gallery

See also

References