1240 Izborsk and Pskov campaign

1240 Izborsk and Pskov campaign
Date September 1240 Location Pskov Land (present-day Pskov Oblast) Result Temporary Livonian victory Pro-Suzdalian faction overthrown Yaroslav Vladimirovich became Prince of Pskov, sharing power with City of Pskov, Bishopric of Dorpat and Teutonic Order, involving a complex temporary division of lands (late 1240–early 1242)
Belligerents
Teutonic Order Livonian Order Bishopric of Dorpat Yaroslav Vladimirovich	Pro-Suzdalian Novgorodians and Pskovians	City of Pskov
Commanders and leaders
Hermann of Dorpat Yaroslav Vladimirovich	Gavrilo Gorislavich  †	Tverdilo Ivankovich

The Izborsk and Pskov campaign was a military conflict occurring in September 1240 in the Pskov Land. An alliance of the Bishopric of Dorpat, the Livonian Order (the former Livonian Brothers of the Sword, which had recently been incorporated into the Teutonic Order), and the pretender-prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich of Pskov besieged and conquered the Pskovian border fortress of Izborsk. After Pskovian defenders failed to retake the town, the allied forces advanced to the capital Pskov itself, compelling it to surrender.

The campaign resulted in the brief overthrow of the pro-Suzdalian faction that supported prince Aleksandr "Nevsky" Yaroslavich, and saw the installation of a new complex set of alliances. The situation ended after two years, when Nevsky led Novgorodian troops to retake Pskov under his family's control in spring 1242, and defeated the Livonian–Vladimirovich coalition at Lake Peipus.

Background

Further information: Battle of Saule and Treaty of Stensby

See also: Battle of the Neva

In September 1236, a coalition of Sword Brothers, Pskovians, Livonians and Latgallians were utterly defeated in the Battle of Saule against the pagan Samogitians and Semigallians. Grandmaster Volkwin was killed, and the Sword Brothers were so devastated that in May 1237, they agreed to reorganise under Hermann Balk as the Livonian Order, a branch of their long-time rival, the Teutonic Order. In December 1237, Pope Gregory IX proclaimed the second crusade against Finland. On 7 June 1238, the Treaty of Stensby was signed between king Valdemar II of Denmark and the joint Masters of the Order: they agreed to divide Estonia and share future territorial conquests. After northern Estonia was thus restored to the Danish king, the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle (LRC) narrates that bishop Hermann of Dorpat was attacked by the Rus', who reportedly "had done him much harm". He requested aid from the Teutonic Knights, as well as some of "the [Danish] king's men".

Izborsk and Pskov campaign

Situation in 1237:

  Livonia (various factions)

  Lithuania (pagan)

  Novgorod Republic (with Pskov)

  Suzdalia (Yurievichi clan)

  Smolensk (Rostislavichi clan)

  Chernigov (Olgovichi clan)

The Novgorod First Chronicle (NPL) reports that, after the Battle of the Neva (dated to July 1240), "the Nemtsy ("Germans") with the men of Medvezhya [Golova] (Odenpäh / Otepää), of Yurev (Dorpat / Tartu), and of Velyad (Fellin / Viljandi) with Knyaz Yaroslav Volodimirich took Izborsk." It is unknown who exactly led the Izborsk campaign; although the LRC associates the operation with Hermann Balk, he had already fled to Germany in 1238 and died in March 1239/1240. He was succeeded by Dietrich von Grüningen and Andreas von Felben, but whether they personally participated in the campaign against Izborsk and Pskov, or the later battle of Lake Peipus, is unknown. The army was allied with Yaroslav Vladimirovich of Pskov, son of the former prince of Pskov, who was in exile amongst the Livonians. The campaign intended to secure Pskov for Yaroslav and the Catholic Church and their first target was the Pskovian fortress of Izborsk. The Livonian army with Yaroslav's troops took the fortress. A 600-man force from Pskov continuously tried to recapture the fort, yet was defeated by the Livonian army. The Livonian Rhymed Chronicle recalls the event;

"Those from Pskov [Plezcowe] were unhappy about the news [of Izborsk's capture]. This is the name of a neighboring town in Rus' [in Rûʒen lant] whose inhabitants were extremely evil. None of them stayed behind but rather all participated in the expedition and grimly stormed [toward Isborg], with many bright cuirasses and helmets shining like glass. There were many crossbowmen among them. When they came upon the [Teutonic] Brothers' army they attacked, and the Brothers and the [Danish] king's men boldly charged towards them. The Germans [dûtschen] hacked great wounds and the Rus' [Rûʒen] suffered terribly. Eight hundred of them fell on the battlefield, which was near Isborg [Îsburc]. The others took to flight and were pursued relentlessly...."

— Livonian Rhymed Chronicle, verses 2099–2130

The Livonian army then marched on Pskov, which was left defenceless. The Livonians camped outside of Pskov for a week, burning villages and Orthodox monasteries, including their books and icons. With a reduced defence and a defeat at Izborsk, the mayor of Pskov, Tverdilo Ivankovich, opened the city gates and surrendered the city to the Livonians and Yaroslav Vladimirovich.

The political faction in Pskov supporting Aleksandr Yaroslavich was overthrown. Yaroslav Vladimirovich, who may well have been Gêrpolt mentioned in the LRC, as well as Prince Ghereslawus in a 1248 charter, finally seems to have assumed the throne of Pskov of his late father, although his real authority likely remained dependent on mayor Tverdilo Ivankovich, as well as the Bishopric of Dorpat and the Order. They would jointly control Pskov for the next two years until a force of Novgorodians commanded by Aleksandr Yaroslavich recaptured the city in spring 1242.

It is unknown what happened to Yaroslav afterwards; he is last mentioned in historical sources in 1245, and presumably died before 1248. The 1248 charter claims that Prince Ghereslawus had donated his possession of Pskov to the Bishopric of Dorpat, and in 1248, the Bishopric ceded the rights of half the fiefs in the principality of Pskov to the Teutonic Order. Similarly, the LRC narrates that Prince Gêrpolt donated the city and land of Pskov to the Teutonic Order in 1239/1240, and later comments that "many knights and squires / deserved their right to a fief" during the siege of Pskov. Finally, while Yaroslav treated Pskov as a hereditary possession that he could pass on within his family or donate to whom he pleased, the Pskovian citizens sought to either make or keep the prince of Pskov an elective office (similar to the prince of Novgorod in the Novgorod Republic), in service of the people rather than vice versa. It is thus unlikely that the Pskovian veche would have accepted Yaroslav "donating" the Pskov Land to the Bishopric of Dorpat, let alone the cession of half of Pskov to the Teutonic Order in 1248. This suggests a complex division of powers and interests after the allies thus captured Izborsk and Pskov from the forces aligned with the Suzdalian dynasty, and when they lost it again two years later.

Aftermath

Main article: Battle of Lake Peipus

See also: 1240–1241 Votia campaign

In the winter of 1240/1241, troops from the Bishopric of Ösel–Wiek and the Teutonic Order invaded and occupied Votia. After, the Teutonic knights constructed the fortress of Koporye, where they kept all their supplies, and took the Novgorod city of Tesov, pillaging its merchants and ravaging the surrounding area. The Novgorodians, fearing a fate similar to that of Pskov, sent envoys to Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich of Suzdal. Yaroslav liked Aleksandr's younger brother Andrey Yaroslavich as a leader, but Novgorod insisted on Aleksandr.

Aleksandr returned to Novgorod and commanded its army to Koporye in 1241. In the Spring of 1242, he recaptured Pskov. After this victory, Aleksandr decided to continue his campaign.

In 1242, the Battle of Lake Peipus (the so-called "battle on the Ice") took place at or on Lake Peipus, in which an allied Novgorodian–Suzdalian force defeated a coalition of the Livonian Order, the Bishopric of Dorpat and Danish Estonia.

Interpretation

Further information: 1240–1241 Votia campaign § Interpretation

The Germans withdrew from Pskov and Novgorod. Under the terms of the peace treaty, the Livonians pledged to return to Novgorod Luga, Latgale and the land of the Votes.

In later centuries, Alexander "Nevsky" Yaroslavich had become venerated as a saint (canonised by Macarius, Metropolitan of Moscow in 1547), and the idea emerged that there was a coordinated attempt by crusaders to subjugate and convert all Rus'. Estonian historian Anti Selart has pointed out that the papal bulls from 1240 to 1243 do not mention warfare against "Rus'" (or "Russians"), but against non-Christians. Selart also argues that the crusades were not an attempt to conquer Rus', but still constituted an attack on the territory of Novgorod and its interests. The two opposing alliances included Catholic and Orthodox powers on both sides. Lake Peipus 'did become the dividing line between Catholic and Orthodox worlds, but the place given to the Battle of the Ice as a significant event in world history is based purely on ideological concerns rather than historical evidence.'

Bibliography

Primary sources

• Nicolaus of Dargun (3 October 1248), Charter between the Bishopric of Dorpat and the Teutonic Order. It refers to an alleged agreement (dated c. 1239; no text of it has been preserved) in which Prince Ghereslawus [probably Yaroslav Vladimirovich] would donate his possession of Pskov to the Bishopric of Dorpat upon his death.
• Livonian Rhymed Chronicle (LRC, c. 1290s).
  • Meyer, Leo (1876). Livländische Reimchronik, mit Anmerkungen, Namenverzeichniss und Glossar herausgegeben von Leo Meyer [Livonian Rhymed Chronicle, with Annotations, Index of Names and Glossary, edited by Leo Meyer] (in German). Paderborn. Retrieved 3 November 2024.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) (Reprint: Hildesheim 1963). Verses 2235–2262.
  • Kleinenberg, I. E. (1966). "Старшая Ливонская Рифмованная Хроника" [The Older Livonian Rhymed Chronicle, translated to Russian by I.E. Kleinenberg]. Восточная Литература (Oriental Literature) (in Russian). Retrieved 5 November 2024.
  • Smith, Jerry C.; Urban, William L., eds. (1977). The Livonian Rhymed Chronicle: Translated with an Historical Introduction, Maps and Appendices. Uralic and Altaic series. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. p. 181. ISBN 978-0-87750-213-5.
• Synod Scroll (Older Redaction) of the Novgorod First Chronicle (NPL, c. 1315).
  • Michell, Robert; Forbes, Nevill (1914). The Chronicle of Novgorod 1016–1471. Translated from the Russian by Robert Michell and Nevill Forbes, Ph.D. Reader in Russian in the University of Oxford, with an introduction by C. Raymond Beazley and A. A. Shakhmatov (PDF). London: Gray's Inn. p. 237. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
• Life of Alexander Nevsky (c. 1450).

Literature

• Fonnesberg-Schmidt, Iben (2007). The popes and the Baltic crusades, 1147–1254. Brill. ISBN 9789004155022.
• Mänd, Anu; Tamm, Marek (2020). Making Livonia: Actors and Networks in the Medieval and Early Modern Baltic Sea Region. Routledge. p. 364. ISBN 978-1-000-07693-6.
• Martin, Janet (2007). Medieval Russia: 980–1584. Second Edition. E-book. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-511-36800-4.
• Ostrowski, Donald (2006). "Alexander Nevskii's 'Battle on the Ice': The Creation of a Legend". Russian History/Histoire Russe. 33 (2/4). Brill: 289–312. doi:10.1163/187633106X00186. ISSN 0094-288X. JSTOR 24664446.
• Selart, Anti (2001). "Confessional Conflict and Political Co-operation: Livonia and Russia in the Thirteenth Century". Crusade and Conversion on the Baltic Frontier 1150–1500. Routledge. pp. 151–176. doi:10.4324/9781315258805-8. ISBN 978-1-315-25880-5.
• Selart, Anti (2015). "Chapter 3: Livonia and Rus' in the 1230s and 1240s". Livonia, Rus' and the Baltic Crusades in the Thirteenth Century. Leiden/Boston: BRILL. pp. 127–170. doi:10.1163/9789004284753_005. ISBN 978-90-04-28475-3.
  • Conedera, Sam (2012). "Review: Livonia, Rus' and the Baltic Crusades in the Thirteenth Century (East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450–1450, 29) by Anti Selart". Archivum Historiae Pontificiae. 50. Gregorian Biblical Press: 221–224. ISSN 0066-6785. JSTOR 44627101. Retrieved 5 November 2024.