"
Curonian Kings" (; : ) was a
social and
ethnic group of
Latvians that lived in seven villages between
Goldingen (Kuldīga) and
Hasenpoth (Aizpute) in
Courland.
They were descendants of
Curonian nobility, first mentioned in a Petersburg document of 1320 and lived in the villages of
Ķoniņi,
Pliķi,
Kalēji,
Ziemeļi,
Viesalgi,
Sausgaļi, and
Dragūni. To "Curonian Kings" belonged such families (in modern Latvian spelling): Aparjods, Peniķis, Tontegode, Vidiņš, Dragūns, Saukants etc. They preserved special privileges during conquest by the
Livonian Order (such as the right to hunt and exemption from taxes and military drafts), but lost these privileges in 1854. In the census of 1863 they were counted as a separate nation, with a total number of 405. While the Curonian tribe had long been assimilated by the Latvians, the "Curonian Kings" preserved a separate identity by not inter-marrying with other ethnic groups. It was not until the 1920s, that the "Curonian Kings" merged into the Latvians.