Salacgrīva fortress was a medieval castle located on the right bank of the

Salaca The Salaca () is a river in northern Latvia. It flows from Lake Burtnieks in Vidzeme, 90 km, to the Gulf of Riga. The river flows through three towns, Mazsalaca, Staicele and Salacgrīva. The riverbanks feature Devonian The De ...

river, in the historical region of

Vidzeme Vidzeme (; Old Latvian orthography: ''Widda-semme'', liv, Vidūmō) 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 n ...

, northern Latvia. Built in 1226 by the

bishopric 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 associate ...

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the B ...

, it served as an outpost to control access to the port of

. It was heavily damaged by

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

Tartars Tartary ( la, Tartaria, french: Tartarie, german: Tartarei, russian: Тартария, Tartariya) or Tatary (russian: Татария, Tatariya) was a blanket term used in Western European literature and cartography for a vast part of Asia bound ...

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

and the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used b ...

troops during the

Northern Wars "Northern Wars" is a term used for a series of wars fought in northern and northeastern Europe from the 16th to the 18th century. An internationally agreed-on nomenclature for these wars has not yet been devised. While the Great Northern War is gen ...

. The word 'Salacgrīva' means 'Mouth (

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

) of Salaca'.

History

In 1226,

Albert of Riga 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 in Livonia. In 1201 he allegedly founded Riga, the modern capital of Lat ...

had the three-tower castle ''Salis'' or ''Salismünde'' built about half a kilometer from the river mouth, which served as a powerful fortress to monitor access to the port of Salaca. Captured in 1391 and burned in 1564, it was drastically damaged in 1575 by

n and

Tartar Tartar may refer to: Places * Tartar (river), a river in Azerbaijan * Tartar, Switzerland, a village in the Grisons * Tərtər, capital of Tartar District, Azerbaijan * Tartar District, Azerbaijan * Tartar Island, South Shetland Islands, An ...

warriors who fought side by side with the troops of

Duke Magnus of Holstein Magnus of Denmark or Magnus of Holstein ( – ) was a Prince of Denmark, Duke of Holstein, and a member of the House of Oldenburg. As a vassal of Tsar Ivan IV of Russia, he was the titular King of Livonia from 1570 to 1578. Early life Duke Ma ...

. In 1581, it was attacked by the Swedish troops of Commander Thomas von Enden, and during the

Second Northern War The Second Northern War (1655–60), (also First or Little Northern War) was fought between Sweden and its adversaries the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1655–60), the Tsardom of Russia ( 1656–58), Brandenburg-Prussia (1657–60), th ...

it was almost destroyed. Between 1702 and 1704, it was finally demolished, and since then there have been no restoration works carried out there.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Salacgriva fortress Castles in Latvia

History

See also

References