Conquest, Borders, Geopolitics
Livonian War in the Context of the European Wars of the 16th Century
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Livonian War (1558–83) was not a local Baltic war, but a European conflict. What was the place of Livonian War in the context of European wars of the 16th century? Europe in this era experienced colonial wars, wars of independence, religious wars, Turkish wars etc. The Livonian War bears the strongest resemblance to Italian wars of 1494–1559. Those were wars about tying microstates to new monarchies. In part, a similar process took place in Livonia. It was a microstate with an obsolete socio-political hierarchy unable to fight back (the Livonian branch of the Teutonic Order). Several new European monarchies, including Sweden, Poland, Lithuania, Denmark, and Russia, sought to divide it. Russia’s participation in the conflict set it apart from the Italian Wars. Europe immediately and unconditionally recognized the right of the Jagiellon, Oldenburg, and Vasa dynasties (but not that of the Rurikide dynasty) to divide the Baltic. Livonian War was also a more complex multi-faceted phenomenon for new European monarchies (especially for Sweden and Denmark), than it was a war similar to Italian wars of the first half of the sixteenth century (that is, a war for the takeover of microstates by stronger and more modern kingdoms going through a phase of active development). The same can be said of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in that it went through this active phase during the Livonian War and formed the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Poland also positioned itself as a state whose higher mission was to act as a shield protecting the “Christendom” from “Eastern barbarians,” among whom Russians were numbered, portrayed in a similar fashion to Turks. For Russia, this war evolved from a local border conflict to a war for the annexation of the Baltic States, and finally, for Russians, the war became a holy war against a foreign foe.
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1
Elke Anna Werner, “Triumphierende Europa ― Klagende Europa. Zur visuellen Konstruktion europäischer Selbstbilder in der Frühen Neuzeit”, Europa ― Stier und Sternenkranz. Von der Union mit Zeus zum Staatenverbund. Gründungsmythen Europas in Literatur, Musik und Kunst (Bonn: Bonn University Press, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2009), 241–260.
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2
Richard MacKenney, Sixteenth Century Europe: Expansion and Conflict (London: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2002), 32–34.
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6
Larry Wolff, Inventing Eastern Europe. The Map of Civilization on the Mind of the Enlightenment (Stanford, Cal: Stanford University Press, 1994).
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8
See: Walther Kirchner, “A Milestone in European History: The Danish-Russian Treaty of 1562” Slavonic and East European Review 3, No. 2 (1944): 39–48.
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12
Norbert Angermann, Studien zur Livländpolitik Ivan Groznyj’s (Marburg: Lahn, J.G. Herder-Institut, 1972).
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14
T. S. Willan, “Trade between England and Russia in the Second Half of the Sixteenth Century” The English Historical Review 63, No. 248 (1948): 307–321; Thomas Esper, “A Sixteenth-Century anti-Russian Arms Embargo” Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas, Neue Folge, 15 (1967): 180–196.
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18
Tilmannus Bredenbachius, Historia belli Livonici, quod Magnus Moscovitarum Dux, anno 1558, contra Livones gessit (Coloniae: apud. M. Cholinum, 1564). About this book see: Stephane Mund, Orbis russiarum : genèse et développement de la représentation du monde “russe” en Occident à la Renaissance (Genève: Droz, 2003), 327–329; Sulev Vahtre, “Tillmann Bredenbachi Liivi sõdade ajalugu” Ajalooline Ajakiri vol. 1 / 2 (2001): 15–24; Paul Johansen; Heinz von Zur Mühlen, Balthasar Rüssow als Humanist und Geschichtsschreiber (Kölm: Bohlau, 1996), 77–80.
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19
See: Anti Selart, “Narva ime 1558. Aastal” Narva Muuseum Toimetised 8 (2008): 47–59; Anti Selart, “Das Wunder von Narva am 11. Mai 1558. Zur Geschichte der russischen Polemik gegen die Reformation im 16. Jahrhundert” Forschungen zur baltischen Geschichte. 4 (2009): 40–57; Sergey Bogatyrev, “Ivan the Terrible discovers the West: The cultural transformation of autocracy during the yearly Northern Wars,” Russian History / Histoire Russe 34 (2007): 173–175.
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21
I. Berlin, “Skazanie ob Ioanne Groznom i o razgrome evrejskoj obshhiny v Polocke” Evrejskaja starina: Trehmesjachnik Evrejskogo istoriko-jetnograficheskogo obshhestva 8 (1915): 173–175.
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26
Ekkehard Klug, “Das “asiatische” Russland. Über die Entstehung eines europaischen Vorurteils,” Historische Zeitschrift. 245 (1987): 265–289.
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35
Richard Hellie, Enserfment and Military Change in Muscovy (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971); John Keep, Soldiers of the Tsar: Army and Society in Russia, 1462–1874 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1985); Carol Stevens, Soldiers on the Steppe: Army Reform and Social Change in Early Modern Russia (DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1995); Marshall Poe, “The Consequences of the Military Revolution in Muscovy: A Comparative Perspective,” Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 38 (1996): 613–617; Michael Paul, “The Military Revolution in Russia, 1550–1682,” The Journal of Military History, Vol. 68, No. 1 (2004): 9–45.
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36
Aleksandr Malov, Moskovskie vybornye polki soldatskogo stroia v nachal’nyi period svoei istorii (Moskva: Drevlekhranilishche, 2006); Oleg Kurbatov, Voennaia istoriia russkoi Smuty nachala xvii veka (Moskva: Kvadriga, 2014).
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37
See: Robert Frost, “The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and “the Military Revolution,” in Poland and Europe: Historical Dimensions (New York: Columbia University Press: 1993): 19–23; About Polish military conceptions in the 16th century, see: Markus Osterrieder, Das wehrhafte Friedensreich : Bilder von Krieg und Frieden in Polen-Litauen (1505–1595) (Wiesbaden: Reichert, 2005).
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38
See: Arnolds Spekke, “Poland’s place in the Baltic region,” The Polish Review. 7, No. 3 (1962): 92–99.
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39
Arvo Viljanti, Gustav Vasas Ryska Krig 1554–1557 (Stockholm: Alqvist & Wiksell, 1957); Waldemar Westergaard, “Gustavus Vasa and Russia, 1555–1557” Pacific Historical Review 2, No. 2 (1933): 158–169.
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43
Igor’ Marzaliuk, “Torgovlia moskovskimi nevol’nikami v Mogileve vo vremia Livonskoi voiny,” Sud’by slavianstva i ekho Griunval’da: Vybor puti russkimi zemliami i narodami Vostochnoi Evropy v srednie veka i ranee novoe vremia (k 600-letiiu bitvy pri Griunval’de / Tannenberge) (St. Petersburg: Liubavich, 2010), 184–188.
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Conquest, Borders, Geopolitics
Livonian War in the Context of the European Wars of the 16th Century
Search for other papers by Alexander Filyushkin in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Livonian War (1558–83) was not a local Baltic war, but a European conflict. What was the place of Livonian War in the context of European wars of the 16th century? Europe in this era experienced colonial wars, wars of independence, religious wars, Turkish wars etc. The Livonian War bears the strongest resemblance to Italian wars of 1494–1559. Those were wars about tying microstates to new monarchies. In part, a similar process took place in Livonia. It was a microstate with an obsolete socio-political hierarchy unable to fight back (the Livonian branch of the Teutonic Order). Several new European monarchies, including Sweden, Poland, Lithuania, Denmark, and Russia, sought to divide it. Russia’s participation in the conflict set it apart from the Italian Wars. Europe immediately and unconditionally recognized the right of the Jagiellon, Oldenburg, and Vasa dynasties (but not that of the Rurikide dynasty) to divide the Baltic. Livonian War was also a more complex multi-faceted phenomenon for new European monarchies (especially for Sweden and Denmark), than it was a war similar to Italian wars of the first half of the sixteenth century (that is, a war for the takeover of microstates by stronger and more modern kingdoms going through a phase of active development). The same can be said of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in that it went through this active phase during the Livonian War and formed the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Poland also positioned itself as a state whose higher mission was to act as a shield protecting the “Christendom” from “Eastern barbarians,” among whom Russians were numbered, portrayed in a similar fashion to Turks. For Russia, this war evolved from a local border conflict to a war for the annexation of the Baltic States, and finally, for Russians, the war became a holy war against a foreign foe.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 1597 | 656 | 33 |
| Full Text Views | 334 | 10 | 1 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 115 | 20 | 2 |