Principality of Koknese

Coordinates: 56°42′00″N 25°28′00″E / 56.70000°N 25.46667°E

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Principality of Koknese

c. 1180–1208

Border speculations of Principality of Koknese

Capital

Koknese Castle
56°42′00″N 25°28′00″E / 56.70000°N 25.46667°E

Common languages

Latgalian, Selonian

Religion

Eastern Orthodox Church, Baltic paganism

Government

Principality

Prince (regulus)

• 1180–1206

Vetseke

History

• Established

c. 1180

• Disestablished

1208

Preceded by

Succeeded by

Principality of Polotsk

Archbishopric of Riga

Part of a series on the
History of Latvia

Ancient Latvia Kunda culture Narva culture Corded Ware culture Amber Road / Aesti Baltic Finns (Livonians, Vends) Balts Latgalians Curonians Selonians Semigallians
Middle Ages Principality of Jersika Principality of Koknese Tālava Livonian Crusade Livonian Brothers of the Sword Livonian Order Archbishopric of Riga Bishopric of Courland Terra Mariana Baltic Germans
Early modern period Livonian War Kingdom of Livonia Duchy of Livonia Inflanty Voivodeship Swedish Livonia Polish–Swedish Wars (1600–1629) Second Northern War Great Northern War Duchy of Courland and Semigallia Couronian colonization
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The Principality of Koknese (Russian: Кукейносское княжество; German: Fürstentum Kokenhusen; Latin: Terra Kukonois) was a small vassal state of the Principality of Polotsk on the right bank of the Daugava River in ancient Livonia (modern Latvia) during the Middle Ages.

History

At the beginning of the 13th century, when the crusading Livonian Brothers of the Sword led by bishop Albert of Riga began to occupy the shores of the Gulf of Riga, the Eastern Orthodox prince Vetseke ruled the fortress of Koknese some 100 km upstream.^[1]

According to old sources, Vetseke gave half of his land to Albert of Riga in 1205 in return for protection against the Duchy of Samogitia. During one of their raids he was captured by the Livonians but was released by order of the bishop. When the bishop left for Germany Vetseke rebelled, killed all the Germans in Koknese and called on Polotsk for support. The bishop and his army quickly returned and Vetseke burned his castle and fled to Novgorod. By 1209 Koknese had been taken over by the Brothers of the Sword and the sovereignty of Polotsk was finally revoked in 1215. The knights controlled the town until it was transferred to the Bishopric of Riga in 1238.

Archaeological excavations in Koknese showed that town in the 13th century was inhabited mainly by Latgalians and Selonians with a very small Slavic minority.

References

^ The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia ISBN 0-231-12888-6

External links

v t e Principalities of Kievan Rus'
East Slavic / Rus' principalities of the pre-Mongol period (c. 880–1240) Beloozero Chernigov Drutsk Galicia (Halych) Galicia–Volhynia Goroden (Grodno) Izyaslavl (Zaslawye) Kiev Kolomna Minsk Murom Novgorod (Republic) Novgorod-Seversk (Severia) Pereyaslavl Peremyshl Polotsk Pronsk Pskov Putyvl Rostov Ryazan Rylsk Slutsk Smolensk Starodub Suzdal Terebovlia Tmutarakan Toropets Trubetsk Turov-Pinsk Uglich Vitebsk Vladimir (Suzdalia) Volhynia (Volyn) Vshchizh Yaroslavl Zvenyhorod

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