The Livonian Crisis Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ivan the Terrible

Ivan IV was certainly one of history's more interesting characters. He launched numerous wars of expansion, especially against the Kazan and Astrakhan Tartars, the Lithuanians and the Livonians. He faced considerable domestic resistance, namely from the Metropolitan Sylvester, Adayeev and Prince A.M. Kurbsky. Ivan's eventual reaction earned him his moniker: in what has been described as a civil war without formal opposition Ivan's elite regiments devastated Novgorod and Pskov, slaughtering the inhabitants and devastating the countryside.

Some modern scholars believed Ivan to have suffered from mental illness; Soviet scholars used his campaigns to justify Soviet expansionism - strong overtones of this are seen in the three Soviet era films about Ivan's life.

He remains largely enigmatic.

Answer: A confederacy

William Urban's "Origins of the Livonia War" (published first in the magazine "Lituanus" and now widely reprinted) demonstrated how weak and fractious this confederacy had become. The Livonian Order struggled with the Archbishop of Riga, and the Bishopric of Dorpat struggled against both these rivals. Similarly, the burghers (merchants) of Reval and Riga disliked both the authority of the Order and that of the Church.

Answer: Gotthard Kettler, Master of the Livonian Order

Gotthard Kettler was the last Grand Master of the Livonian Order. This Order had become independent of the Teutonic Knights after that institution had secularised and become the vassals of the Polish Crown in 1525.

Elert Kruse was a diplomat who, in turn, served the Order, Ivan IV, Duke Magnus and the Poles.

In 1561, Kettler gave the remaining Order lands in Livonia to Poland, and in exchange received a personal title to the Duchy of Courland, thus becoming a vassal of the Swedish Crown.

Answer: Denmark

In August of 1560 Duke Magnus, brother of the Danish king, bought the Bishopric of Osel-Weik from Bishop von Münchhausen. The purchase was in violation of the 1546 Treaty of Wolmar by which the Livonian Confederacy pledged to keep foreign powers out of their state. However, by 1560, with the Muscovites nearing his lands, the Bishop of Osel-Wiek was only to happy to sell his lands to the Danes.

The Danes wanted to establish themselves along the northern coast of Livonia so as to protect their naval domination of the Baltic Sea.

Answer: Reval

The Danes, Swedes and Livonian aristocracy/middle-class of the period (who were German) knew modern day Tallinn by the name of Reval, hence why the German name is used here in the quiz.

Narva and Ivanogrod were Muscovite cities along the Livonian border, both would later fall to the Swedes in the 1580s. Riga, the other prominent Livonian city, was pro-Polish but managed to avoid direct foreign occupation throughout the war.

Answer: The Northern Seven Year's War

The Counts' War was actually a Danish civil war, which saw Christian II (early 1530s) attempt to regain the throne that the nobility had stripped him off. He failed. The War of Swedish Aggression and King's Erik's War are both reasonable answers but I just made then up. Certainly, the young King of Sweden provoked his neighbours into war with his aggressive and expansive policies, see Salomon Henning's "Livonian Chronicle".

Answer: Stettin

The Peace of Stettin basically re-established the pre-war status quo, though Denmark received a formal mandate in Livonia and Sweden was allowed to keep Reval.

Postdam was a famous Conference in Germany between the Allied Powers (1945) whereas Wagram was a French victory over Austria in the Napoleonic Wars (1809). Dorpat (know as Jurjew to the Muscovites) was the name of the Bishopric that caused the invasion of 1558: Ivan claimed the area owed him tribute and they denied the claim.

Answer: Erik XIV

Gustav(us) Vasa founded the Swedish Royal House in 1521/2 when he led the Swedes to independence from the Danish controlled Kalmar Union (which had united Norway, Denmark and Sweden - and by implication Finland).
Frederik Vasa is fictional; Erik VII must have been a historical figure (hence Erik XIV!) but I don't know anything about him!

Answer: Frederik II

Frederik II assumed the throne in 1558 and had a long reign. He was known as Denmark's Renaissance monarch. See Stewart Oakley's Story of Denmark or Palle Lauring's A History of the Kingdom of Denmark.

Magnus III, was not, to my knowledge a Danish King, while Chrisitan IV came after Frederik II.

Peder Oke was one of Frederik's ministers, who didn't like the king but who was called out of exile in the late 1550s because of the financial crisis in Denmark.

Answer: Johann, Duke of Finland

The Duke of Finland became Johann III after his successful coup. Erik wasn't executed but was kept in prison for life. Erik survived one assassination attempt by an man whose father he had killed and watched as several attempts were made by his supporters to regain his throne. They failed. He died in prison. Johann III reversed Erik's anti-Polish policy and brought Sweden into an anti-Muscovite coalition with the Poles. For a short period there was even a dynastic union between Sweden and Poland.

The other names and titles are fictitious.

Answer: Magnus, former Duke of Holstein

Prince A.M Kurbsky defected from Ivan to his Lithuanian enemies in 1564.

Henrich v. Tisenhausen was a supporter of Duke Magnus. His riposte to the anti-Magnus sentiments in Balthasar Russow's Chronicle can be found in the edition of the Chronicle edited by Terry C. Smith, William Urban and Juergen Eichhoff.

Von Plettenberg was the Order Master prior to Kettler. Ivan tried to induce him to accept the puppet title of King of Livonia. v. Plettenberg refused and died in Muscovite captivity.

Answer: Reval

Balthasar Russow, who lived in Reval, recorded the harrowing siege in his Chronicle.

Weissenstein and Kokenhausen both fell to Muscovite troops, Riga was never actively besieged by the Muscovites.

Answer: Poland & Sweden

Denmark by and large maintained friendly relations with the Muscovites, see Walther Kirchner's 'A Milestone in European History: the Dano-Russian Treaty of 1562', in "East Slavonic and Eastern European Review", vol. 22 (1944).

Danish foreign policy consistently saw Sweden as Denmark's primary foe, so Denmark would never have fought alongside this burgeoning rival, see Peter J. Maarbjerg's "Diplomatic relations between Denmark and Russia in the Livonian Wars 1558-1583" in the Scandinavian Historical Review vol. 16 no.2 (1991)

The Holy Roman Empire issued an proclamation in 1559 encouraging Livonia's neighbours to aid her against Ivan, but did little else.

Answer: Courland

Kettler ensured that Courland would remain in his family's hands, but the Dukes of Courland owed allegiance to their liege-lord in Cracow.

In 1569, during the course of the Livonian wars, Lithuania merged with Poland in the act of Lublin, creating a Commonwealth. However, this effectively made Lithuania one with Poland, and did not reduce it to vassal status.

Osel remained Danish, while the Swedes kept Reval and took mainland Weik.

Answer: Estonia

Latvia was largely in Polish hands but its status remained unsure. Northern Lithuania was in Polish hands. Meckelburg I think I invented, my apologies to any potential Meckelburgians out there.

Sweden's acquisition of Estonia began Sweden's imperial experiment and was the region from which the Lion of the North, Gustav Adolf, launched his brilliant campaigns during the Thirty Year's War (see Michael Roberts, "The Swedish Imperial Experiment", 1969).