The Duchy of Livonia, also referred to as Polish Livonia or Livonia, was a territory of the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

and later the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

that existed from 1561 to 1621. It corresponds to the present-day areas of northern

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 ...

(

Vidzeme Vidzeme (; Old Latvian orthography: ''Widda-semme'', ) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands. The capital of Latvia, Riga, is situated in the southwestern part of the region. Literally meaning "the Middle Land", it is situated in north-centra ...

and Latgale) and southern

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

History

Livonia Livonia, known in earlier records as Livland, is a historical region on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It is named after the Livonians, who lived on the shores of present-day Latvia. By the end of the 13th century, the name was extende ...

had been part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1561, since the Livonian Order was secularized by the Union of Vilnius and the Livonian Confederation dissolved during the Livonian Wars. Part of Livonia formed the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia while the south-west part of today's

and north-east part of today's

, covering what are now

and Latgale, were ceded to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1566, it was declared the Duchy of Livonia according to the Treaty of Union between the landowners of Livonia and authorities of Lithuania; Jan Hieronimowicz Chodkiewicz became the first Governor of the Duchy (1566–1578) in Sigulda Castle. It was a province of

until 1569. After the Union of Lublin in 1569, it became a joint domain of the Polish Crown and the Grand Duchy. The larger part of the Duchy was conquered by

Swedish Empire The Swedish Empire or the Great Power era () was the period in Swedish history spanning much of the 17th and early 18th centuries during which Sweden became a European great power that exercised territorial control over much of the Baltic regi ...

during the Polish–Swedish War (1621–1625), and their gains were recognized in the Truce of Altmark in 1629. The Commonwealth retained southeastern parts of the Wenden Voivodeship, renamed to Inflanty Voivodeship with the capital in Daugavpils (''Dyneburg''), until the

first Partition of Poland The First Partition of Poland took place in 1772 as the first of three partitions that eventually ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. The growth of power in the Russian Empire threatened the Kingdom of Prussia an ...

in 1772, when it was annexed by Catherine the Great's

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. The title "Prince of Livonia" was added to the grand title of later Russian Emperors.

Administrative divisions

* Dorpat Voivodeship ( Dorpat) from 1598 to the 1620s * Parnawa Voivodeship ( Parnawa) from 1598 to the 1620s * Wenden Voivodeship ( Wenden) from 1598 to the 1620s

Notes

References

External links

October 2009+06:08:36 Duchy of Livonia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Livonia, 1561 Duchy Early modern history of Lithuania 1561 establishments in Europe 1561 establishments in Lithuania 1621 disestablishments in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth States and territories disestablished in the 1620s

History

Administrative divisions

See also

Notes

References

External links