LIVONIA, a former province of Russia, now partly in Latvia (q.v.) and partly in Estonia (q.v.).
of the time of Alexander the Great, found in Oesel, show that the coasts of the Baltic were at an early period in commercial relation with the civilized world. The chronicle of Nestor mentions as inhabitants of the Baltic coast the Chudes, the Livs, the Narova, Letgola, Semigallians and Korg. It was probably about the 9th century that the Chudes became tributary to the Varangian-Russian states. As they reacquired their inde pendence, Yaroslav T. undertook in 1030 a campaign against them, and founded Yuriev (Dorpat). The Germans first penetrated into Livonia in the i ith century. In 1186 the emissaries of the archbishop of Bremen began to preach Christianity among the Ehsts and Letts, and in 1201 the bishop of Livonia established his residence at Riga. In 1202 or 1204 Innocent III. recognized the order of Brothers of the Sword, the residence of its grand master being at Wenden; and the order, spreading the Christian religion by the sword among the natives, carried on from that time a series of uninterrupted wars against the Russian republics and Lithuania. The first active interference of Lithuania in the affairs of Livonia took place immediately after the great out break of the peasants on Oesel; Olgierd then devastated all south ern Livonia. The war of the order with Ivan IV. of Russia in 1558 led to a division of Livonia, its northern part, Dorpat in cluded, being taken by Russia, and the southern part falling under the dominion of Poland. From that time (1561) Livonia
formed a subject of dispute between Poland and Russia, the latter only formally abdicating its rights to the country in 1582. In 1621 it was the theatre of a war between Poland and Sweden, and being conquered by Sweden enjoyed twenty-five years of milder rule. In 1654, and again at the beginning of the i8th cen tury, it was the scene of war between Poland, Russia and Sweden. It was finally conquered by Russia, the official concession being confirmed by the treaty of Nystad in 1721. From this time Livonia formed, with Courland and Estonia, the Baltic prov inces, a part of the old Russian Empire. On the conclusion of the World War a German army occupied these provinces and, although required by the Armistice Convention to evacuate the territory, it did not altogether withdraw until Dec. 1919. Livonia lost its individuality in the formation (1918) of the two republics of Latvia and Estonia (qq.v.), which divided between them the territory of the former Baltic provinces.
See E. Seraphim, Geschichte Liv-, Esth-, and Kurlands (2nd ed., Revel, 1897-1904) and Geschichte von Livland (Gotha, 1905, etc.) ; H. M. Stationery Office, Peace Handbooks No. 5o. Courland, Livonia, Esthonia (192o).