Curonians

The Kursenieki are also known as Curonians.

The Curonians or Kurs (Curonian: Kursi; German: Kuren; Latvian: kurši; Lithuanian: kuršiai; Estonian: kuralased; Polish: Kurowie) were a Baltic tribe living on the shores of the Baltic Sea in what are now the western parts of Latvia and Lithuania from the 5th to the 16th centuries, when they merged with other Baltic tribes. They gave their name to the region of Courland (Kurzeme), and they spoke the Old Curonian language. Curonian lands were conquered by the Livonian Order in 1266 and they eventually merged with other Baltic tribes participating in the ethnogenesis of Lithuanians and Latvians. Direct descendants of the Curonians include the Kuršininkai of the Curonian Spit and the so-called Curonian Kings of Courland.

History

Curonians in the context of the other Baltic tribes, circa 1200 CE. The Eastern Balts are shown in brown hue while the Western Balts are shown in green. The boundaries are approximate.

The Curonians were known as fierce warriors, excellent sailors and pirates. They were involved in several wars and alliances with Swedish, Danish, and Icelandic Vikings. Grobin (Grobiņa) was their main centre during the Vendel Age. Chapter 46 of Egils Saga describes one Viking expedition by the Vikings Thorolf and Egill Skallagrímsson in Courland. They took part with the Oeselians in attacking Sweden's main city Sigtuna in 1187. Curonians established temporary settlements near Riga and in overseas regions including eastern Sweden and the islands of Gotland and Bornholm.

The curonians had a strong warrior culture and were related to Old-Prussians and are considered to be western-Baltic people.

The Curonians were an especially religious people, worshipping pagan gods and their sacred animal, the horse. Some of the most important written sources about the Curonians are Rimbert's Vita Ansgarii, the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia, the Livländische Reimchronik, Egils Saga, and Saxo Grammaticus's Gesta Danorum.

It was common for the Curonians to carry out joint raids and campaigns together with Estonians and Livonians, likely being a part of an alliance with nearby Finnic tribes. Not a single case of Curonians' cooperation with the Baltic tribes is known. On the contrary, Curonians were in a steady war with Samogitians and Semigallians. According to the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle, Curonians and Samogitians were known as "bad neighbours".

Livonian Crusade

During the late Iron Age, the Curonians started to move from southern Courland to the north, assimilating a Finno-Ugric people who lived in the coastal regions of northern Courland. They then formed a new ethnic group, the so-called Curonised Livonians.^{[citation needed]}

The Curonians tightly resisted to the Livonian Crusade for a long time, contrary to the Latgallians who accepted Christianity with a light opposition.

There are many sources that mention the Curonians in the 13th century, when they were involved in the Northern Crusades. In 1210 the Curonians, with eight ships, were attacked by a German crusader fleet on the Baltic Sea, near the coast of Gotland. The Curonians were victorious and German sources claim that 30 crusaders were killed.

Also in July 1210, the Curonians attacked Riga, the main crusader stronghold in Livonia. A huge Curonian fleet arrived in the mouth of the Daugava and besieged the city. However, after a day of fighthing, the Curonians were unable to break through the city walls. They crossed to the other bank of the Daugava to burn their dead and mourn for three days. Later they lifted the siege and returned to Courland.

In 1228, the Curonians together with the Semigallians again attacked Riga. Although they were again unsuccessful in storming the city, they destroyed a monastery in Daugavgriva and killed all the monks there.

After the defeat of Estonians and Osilians in 1227, the Curonians were confronted by the Semigallian and Lithuanian enemies in the east and south, and harrassed by the Livonian Brothers of the Sword from the north; in the west, on the sea-shore, their arch-enemies, the Danes and Swedes, were lurking, waiting for opportunity. In this hopeless situation, further aggravated by a famine, the Curonians preferred to try to make peace with the Christian conquerers, inviting the monks into their country thereby escaping attacks by the Scandinavian nations.

In 1230 the Curonians in the northern part of Courland, under their chief Lamekins (Lammechinus Rex), signed a peace treaty with the Germans, and the lands they inhabited thus became to be known as Vredecuronia or Peace Courland. The southern Curonians, however, continued to resist the invaders.

The Curonians did not lay down their arms at that time. They used the famine as a pretext for claiming economical weakness and actually did not permit the monks to enter the country. Later, the Order tried to use the Curonian cavalry in the Prussian Crusade, but Curonians were reluctant in this forced cooperation and used the situation for revolts in several cases.

In 1260, the Curonians were involved in the Battle of Durbe, one of the biggest battles in Livonia in the 13th century. The Curonian and Estonian armies refused to take part in the battle, as they had been forced to fight on the crusader side, and that allowed the Samogitians to gain victory over the Livonian Order. It was a heavy defeat for the Order and uprisings against the crusaders soon afterwards broke out in the Curonian and Prussian lands.

Curonian resistance was finally subdued in 1266, when the whole of Courland was partitioned between the Livonian Order and the Archbishop of Riga. The Curonians were exposed to the landhungry appetite of the Christian settlers. The Curonian nobles, among them 40 clans of the descendants of the Curonian kings, who lived in the town of Kuldīga, preserved personal freedom and some of their privileges.

Later history

During the Livonian War, the descendants of the Curonian nobility, although downgraded to peasant status, fought the Russians, as Johann Renner's chronicle reports:

The Russians protected themselves boldly, and they knocked out a Curonian peasant Fenrich (who, although only a peasant, is called by them the Curonian king) from his horse.

—Johann Renner, Lievländische Historien, 1556–1561, C. 124v

After the conquest of Curonia, the Curonian language was prohibited. The Curonian nation was forced to assimilate with the mass of Latvian peasants. Similar methods were also used to eliminate the Livonian language. In 1525–1530 the Livonians were forced to use the Latvian catechism.

Curonia, as reported, had its own language, different from the Latvian and Estonian, which is extirpated and prohibited, so that nobody has the right to talk it, and instead has to speak Latvian.

—Johann Renner, Lievländische Historien, 1556–1561, 207v

Geography

Map of Courland

Bishop Rimbert of Bremen (lived before 888 AD) in his life of St. Ansgar, Vita Ansgarii described the territory inhabited by the Curonians (Cori) and gave the names of the administrative districts or lands (civitates):

• Vredecuronia or Vanemane was the land in the northeast of Courland, today in the district of Talsi.
• Wynda or Ventava was the land around the mouth of the river Venta, today in the district of Ventspils.
• Bandowe (Bandava) south of Vindava, is today in the district of Kuldīga.
• Bihavelanc or Piemare, also south of Bandava, is today in the district of Liepāja.
• Powsare (Dovsare) or Duvzare was a land further south in Courland, today in the district of Liepāja.
• Megowa or Megava (mentioned also as Negouwe in chronicles) 500 km², was in the environs of modern Palanga, Kretinga and Šventoji.
• Pilsaten or Pilsāts was the smallest region of around 200 km², in the western part of modern Klaipėda district and northwestern part of Šilutė district.
• Ceclis or Ceklis – the largest land of 1500 km² west of the Venta River in Samogitia, up to the Lithuanian-Latvian border.

External links

• Die Kuren (German)
• Rimbert: Life of Ansgar, Apostle of the North
• Vladas Žulkus: Kodėl kuršiai vadinasi kušiais ir kur jie gyveno (Lithuanian)
• Šnē Andris. Senlatvijas valstiskums: vai viens no mītiem? (Latvian)