Flag of Livonians
Regions with significant populations
Latvia (Livonian Coast)
- Latvia: 250 (2011)
- Russia: 64 (2002)
- Estonia: 5 (2011)
Languages:
- Latvian, Livonian
Religion:
- Lutheranism
Related ethnic groups:
- Other Finnic peoples
The Livonians or Livs (livonian: līvlizt) are the indigenous inhabitants of Northern Latvia and Southwestern Estonia. They spoke the Uralic Livonian
language, a language which was closely related to Estonian and Finnish. The
last person to have learned Livonian as a mother tongue died in 2013. As of
2010, there were approximately 30 people who had learned it as a second
language.
Historical, social and economic factors, together with an
ethnically dispersed population, have resulted in the decline of the Livonian
population, with only a small group surviving in the 21st century. In 2011,
there were 250 people who claimed Livonian ethnicity in Latvia.
History
Prehistory
The exact date of the Uralic migration to the region has
been disputed. Linguistic estimations place the arrival of ancestors of modern
Livonians on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea around the Gulf of Riga as
early as 1800 B.C., while a recent study of Y-chromosome haplogroups suggests
an earlier arrival, 5,000 years ago, and that subsequent interactions and
merging with Balts and Finnic tribes led to linguistic conversion of some
neighboring groups of Uralic origin, such as Lithuanians and Estonians.
The Middle Ages
Baltic tribes in 1200 - the Livonians inhabited the area
north of the Balts, north of the Daugava
River and around Cape
Kolka in Courland.
Historically, the Livonians lived in two separate areas of Latvia, one group in Livonia
and another on the northern coast of Courland.
The latter were referred as Curonians, together with the Balts living there.
The Livonians referred to themselves as rāndalist
"coast dwellers" and supported themselves mainly by fishing, but also
by agriculture and animal husbandry. Since they controlled an important trade
route, the Daugava
River (Livonian: "Väina", their culture was highly
developed through trade with the Gotlanders, Russians and Finns, and, from the
end of the first millennium AD onwards, with the Germans, Swedes and Danes.
However, with the traders came missionaries from Western Europe who wanted to convert the pagan Livonians
to Christianity. It has been suggested that the first person to convert some
Livonians to Christianity was the Danish archbishop Absalon, who supposedly
built a church in the Livonian village today known as Kolka. In the 12th
century Germans invaded Livonia
and established a base in Ykskyle, known today as Ikšķile. Archbishop Hartvig
II converted some Livonians in the surrounding area, including the local
chieftain Caupo of Turaida, who later allied himself with the Germans.
After Meinhard died in 1196, his place was taken by Berthold.
Berthold tried to convert the Livonians by force, launching two raids on Livonia. The first took
place in 1196, but he was forced to retreat to Germany after being ambushed near Salaspils.
He tried again in 1198, but this time he was killed by the Livonian soldier Ymaut.
Berthold was followed by Albert von Buxhövden, who forced
the Livonian leaders at the mouth of the Daugava River
to give him land to build a Christian settlement. Building started in 1201.
From this settlement the city of Riga
grew.
When this did not immediately induce the Livonians, Estonians,
and Baltic peoples in the hinterland to convert, a knightly order was formed,
the Knights of the Sword, primarily consisting of Germans, to bring salvation
to the pagans by force. In a campaign that was part of the wars known as the Northern
Crusades, these knights defeated, subdued and converted the Livonians. In 1208,
Pope Innocent III declared that all Livonians had been converted to
Christianity. Afterwards they were obliged to join the Knights of the Sword as
infantry during the wars against the Estonians and the Latvian tribes, which
continued until 1217.
During the Livonian Crusade, once prosperous Livonia was devastated,
and whole regions were almost completely depopulated. This vacuum was filled by
Latvian tribes - Curonians, Semigallians, Latgallians and Selonians - who
started to move into the area around 1220, and continued to do so for at least
thirty years. They settled mostly in the Daugava
Valley, so that the Livonians of Livonia
in the east were cut off from those living on the peninsula of Curonia
in the west.
Because of the ongoing resistance of the Latvian tribes, the
Knights of the Sword eventually had to look for support to the much more
powerful Teutonic Order, which up until then had been active primarily in Poland and Lithuania. Having been reorganized
as a subdivision of the Teutonic Order and renamed the Livonian Order in 1237,
the former Knights of the Sword finally overpowered the Curonians in 1267, and
subsequently the Semigallians in 1290. From then on most of Latvia remained under German control until the
16th century, with the city of Riga
and several other cities existing as independent German-ruled bishoprics, and
the Livonian Order ruling the rest of the land.
Under foreign powers
1558–1795
In the middle of the 16th century, the Livonian Order and
the independent bishoprics were in turmoil because of the growing influence of Martin
Luther's Reformation. Seeing a chance in the resulting military weakness of the
Order, Czar Ivan the Terrible of Russia invaded Livonia
in 1558, seeking access to the Baltic Sea.
However, Sweden and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth entered the war as allies
of the Livonian Order, resulting in almost a quarter of a century of war. The
outcome of this Livonian War "1558–1582" was a Russian defeat, but
also the dissolution of the Livonian Order. Livonia
and south-eastern Latvia
were claimed by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, while Curonia became an independent
duchy "Courland", with Gotthard
Kettler, the Livonian Order's last Grandmaster, as its first duke.
After only ten years of peace, a new series of wars between
the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Sweden,
which had claimed Estonia
after the Livonian War, ravaged Livonia
from 1592. Eventually, the Swedes were victorious. In 1629, they could finally
call Livonia and the city of Riga their own. Under the 17th Century
Swedish Kings Gustav II Adolf and Charles XI, general elementary education was
introduced, the Bible was translated in Estonian and Latvian, and a university
was founded in Tartu in southern Estonia.
Although Sweden
kept the Poles and the Danes at a distance, this could not be said of the
Russians. In the Great Northern War "1700–1721", Czar Peter the Great
utterly destroyed Sweden's
pretensions to being a regional superpower. In the 1721 Treaty of Nystad, Estonia and Livonia,
which had again been completely devastated after more than twenty years of war,
were claimed by Russia.
Curonia continued to be ruled by its dukes for another three quarters of a
century, but in 1795, that region also became a Russian possession as part of
the Third Partition of Poland.
Assimilation and Isolation
1795–1914
Lõja, Livonian
fishing boat
Partly because of the recurring devastation of war and the
resultant mingling of refugees, the Livonians of Livonia were eventually
completely assimilated by the Latvians. The last remnant of this once vibrant
nation was made up of several families living along the river Salaca Livonian: "Salatsi", but in the second half of
the 19th century, the Livonian language and culture completely disappeared from
the region known to this day as Livonia; the last known speaker of the eastern
Livonian dialect died in 1864, though according to some reports, there were
still some people in the early 20th century in the Polish area, who knew they
were descended from Livonians. In the Latvian dialect spoken in Livonia, a large number of
Livonian loanwords have survived, and other traces of Livonian can be found in
many geographical names in the region.
In Curonia, the Livonian language and culture also came
under heavy pressure, but here it retained a last foothold on the outermost tip
of the Curonian Peninsula. Several factors made sure
that in this area, known as Līvõd rānda,
the Livonian Coast, Latvian culture was too weak to
assimilate the Livonians. For one thing, the society of the Livonians living in
this area was exclusively sea-oriented and based on fishing, while that of the
Latvians in the interior was exclusively land-oriented and mostly agricultural.
This meant there was not a lot of interaction between the two groups. Also, the
Livonian Coast was separated from the interior of
Curonia by dense forests and impassable marshlands, which made regular interaction
even less likely. The people of the Livonian
Coast had much closer ties to the
inhabitants of the Estonian island of Saaremaa, across the Gulf of Riga
to the north. In their isolated fishing villages, these Livonians kept to
themselves for centuries. It was not until the 20th century that the outside
world intruded on their quiet existence.
At the beginning of 20th century many local Livs converted
to the Russian Orthodox faith. A new Russian Orthodox church was built in Kolka
along with a grammar school nearby and navy school in Mazirbe. Many graduates
in later years became sea captains first in the Russian Empire, and later in
independent Latvia.
World War I
In 1914, Russia
entered the First World War by attacking the Germans and the Austrians from the
east, but soon it was pushed back in a series of devastating German victories,
which eventually left almost the entire Baltic region in German hands. The Livonian Coast was occupied by the Germans in
1915. At their approach, many Livonians fled their homes, often never to
return. Their main destinations were Estonia
and inner parts of Latvia.
The rest of the people were driven from their homes by the Germans, and had to
wait until 1919 before they were allowed to return.
The Russian defeat and the subsequent abdication of Czar Nicholas
II opened the door for Vladimir Lenin and the communists to make a grab for
power in Russia, leading to
the establishment of the Soviet government in Russia in 1917. The Treaty of
Brest-Litovsk the following year ended the war between Germany and Soviet
Russia and left the Baltic region firmly in German hands. However, after the
German capitulation in 1919, the Baltic peoples rose up and established the
independent republics of Estonia,
Latvia and Lithuania.
The Livonian revival of the
interwar years
The Livonian Coast became part of Latvia. The Livonian language and
culture experienced a revival between the two World Wars "beginning with
the term of the Latvian president Jānis Čakste through the term of the last
interwar president Kārlis Ulmanis". The clearest expression of this
revival was the establishment on April 2, 1923 of the Livonian Society, which
considered itself the representative of the Livonian people. Also, a Livonian
language choir was founded and Livonian song festivals were held along the
entire Livonian Coast. Furthermore, a Livonian flag was
adopted, with the colors green (for the forests), white (for the beaches) and
blue (for the sea), and a division similar to the Latvian flag (three
horizontal bars with the middle one half as wide as the outer ones). Although
the Latvian government prohibited the formation of an ethnic Livonian parish
within the Lutheran Church of Latvia in 1923, it approved the introduction of
the Livonian language as an optional subject in elementary schools in the
villages of the Livonian
Coast that same year. The
thirties saw the publication of the first Livonian language reader, poetry
collections of several Livonian writers, and a monthly magazine in the Livonian
language, called "Līvli"
"The Livonian". Also, contact was made with related peoples such as
the Estonians and the Finns, spurred by the Finnish promotion of closer
ties with the kindred Finnic peoples, and in 1939, the Livonian Community
Centre in Mazirbe Livonian: "Irē"
was founded with subsidies from the Estonian and Finnish governments.
This cultural revival of the Interbellum years served to
give the Livonian people for the first time a clear consciousness of their
ethnic identity. Before, they had always referred to themselves as rāndalist "coast dwellers" or kalāmīed "fishermen". From the
1920s and 1930s on, though, they began to call themselves līvõd, līvnikad, or līvlist
"Livonians".
The Second World War
In 1940, Latvia,
like Estonia and Lithuania, was occupied by the Soviet
Union. This occupation and the subsequent German invasion of 1941
ended all progress the Livonians had made in the preceding twenty years. All
cultural expressions were prohibited and just like twenty years before, the
inhabitants of the Livonian
Coast were driven from
their homes. Most of them spent the war years in Riga
or western Latvia, but some
fled across the Baltic Sea to Gotland. The
Curonian Peninsula was one of the areas where the Germans held out until the
general capitulation of 5 May 1945, which meant there was not a house left
standing when the Livonians returned home after the war.
Repression by the Soviet Union
In the Soviet era, the Livonians were hard-hit by repressive
measures from Moscow.
For one thing, they were not allowed to sail far enough from shore to continue
their fishery. For another, like the Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians,
large numbers of them were deported to Siberia between 1945 and 1952, with a
clear peak in 1949, when agriculture was collectivized in the Baltic
States. Also, in 1955 a Soviet military base was constructed in
the middle of the Livonian
Coast. To accomplish
this, some Livonians were forcibly relocated to villages farther from the
coast. Subsequently, the western villages of the Livonian
Coast had to be almost completely
evacuated when the Soviet Union made its
Baltic coastline (its western border) a "closed border area" where no
one was allowed to live.
Livonian culture was repressed during the Soviet period. For
example, the Livonian Society was banned and the Livonian Community Centre
expropriated and given to others. Within the Latvian SSR, the Livonians were
not recognized as a separate ethnic group.
Modern situation
Livonian folkhouse in Mazirbe
It was not until early 1970 that Livonian singers were
allowed to found a choir named "Līvlist"
"The Livonians" in the western Latvian city of Ventspils. The 1980s, Soviet Premier Mikhail
Gorbachev's policies of glasnost and perestroika opened the Iron Curtain,
bringing change. In 1986, the Livonian Cultural Society was founded. It was
later renamed the Livonian Union Livonian: "Līvõd Īt".
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Latvia became
once again an independent country. In this new nation, Livonians were finally
recognised as an indigenous ethnic minority, whose language and culture must be
protected and advanced. All rights and possessions which had been taken away
from them during the Soviet era were now returned to them. For example, the old
Livonian Community Centre in Mazirbe "Irē"
was given back and transformed into a historical museum, called the House of
the Livonian People. Also, the Livonian language was reintroduced in the
elementary schools in Riga,
Staicele, Ventspils, Dundaga and Kolka.
Furthermore, on 4 February 1992, the Latvian government
created a cultural historic protected territory called Līvõd rānda - the Livonian Coast - which included all twelve of the
Livonian villages: Lūžņa Livonian: "Lūž",
Miķeļtornis "Pizā", Lielirbe
"Īra", Jaunciems "Ūžkilā", Sīkrags "Sīkrõg", Mazirbe "Irē", Košrags "Kuoštrõg", Pitrags "Pitrõg", Saunags "Sǟnag", Vaide "Vaid", Kolka "Kūolka", and Melnsils "Mustānum". The Latvian government
discourages settlement of ethnic Latvians and other non-Livonians in this area
and prohibits alterations to historic village sites. Also, it is prohibited for
anyone to start a hotel, restaurant, or other public establishment which might
adversely influence the Livonian culture or draw outsiders into the area.
Today, many Latvians claim to have some Livonian ancestry.
However, there are only 176 people in Latvia who identify themselves as
Livonian. According to data from 1995, the Livonian language was spoken by no
more than 30 people, of whom only nine were native speakers. An article
published by the Foundation for Endangered Languages in 2007 stated that there
were only 182 registered Livonians and a mere six native speakers. "The
last Livonian", who had learned the Livonian language as a part of an
unbroken chain of Livonian generations, was Viktor Berthold "b. 1921".
He was buried on 28 February 2009 in the Livonian village
of Kolka in Courland.
The Livonian Dāvis Stalts was elected into the Latvian
parliament, the Saeima in 2011.
Culture
Livonian cuisine
Livonian cuisine consists of the cuisine of Livonia and the Livonians, and is
characterized by the rich use of local foods. Livonians are a coastal people –
since they acquire the bulk of their food from the sea, Livonian families have
historically eaten a great deal of fish. The most preferred of these is
European flounder, but many also consume herring, salted herring, and cod.
Pastries
Courland "Kurāmō" Livonians on the shores of
Latvia are the source of the famous vegetable pastry sklandrausis, to which the
European Commission gave its ”Traditional Specialty Guaranteed” designation in
the autumn of 2013.
Sklandrausis pastries are regarded as a symbol of the sun,
given their round shape and carroty yellowish-orange color. The sklandrausis
embodies the natural energy of the sun on Livonian tables during
spring-solstice celebrations.
Notable Livonians
- Pētõr Damberg, linguist, poet and educator
- Edgar Vaalgamaa, Lutheran pastor and translator
Revised: 16 March 2016
