
Gotthard Kettler
Gotthard von Kettler (also
Ketteler, ; 1517,
Wasserschloss Eggeringhausen (de),
Eggeringhausen, nearby
Anröchte,
Kreis Soest -
17 May,
1587,
Mitau) was the last Master of the
Livonian Order and the first
Duke of Courland and Semigallia.
Kettler was of an old
Westphalian noble family and the ninth child of the
German knight
Gotthard Kettler zu Melrich (mentioned 1527–1556) and his wife Sophie of Nesselrode. Gotthard's older brother
Wilhelm Kettler was
bishop of Münster from 1553 to 1557.
In 1554 Gotthard Kettler became
Komtur of
Dünaburg, and in 1557
Komtur of
Fellin. In 1559, during the
Livonian War (1558–1582) he succeed to
Wilhelm von Fürstenberg as a Master of the
Teutonic Order in
Livonia. When the
Livonian Confederation came under increasing pressure from
Tsar Ivan the Terrible, Kettler converted to
Lutheranism and secularised
Semigallia and
Courland. On the basis of the
Union of Wilno (
28 November 1561), he created the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia as a
vassal state of the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which was soon merged into the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
On
11 March 1566 Kettler married Anna, Duchess of
Mecklenburg (1533 –
4 July 1602), the daughter of Duke
Albert VII of
Mecklenburg-Güstrow and Princess Anna of
Brandenburg.
Kettler died on
17 May 1587 in
Mitau (Mitawa). His heirs ruled in
Courland until 1737.