Metsepole was an ancient
Livonian county inhabited by a
Finnic people Livonians, on the east coast of the
Gulf of Riga, at the northwest of what is now the
Vidzeme region of
Latvia. Metsepole was bordered by the ancient Estonian
Sakala County to the north,
Latgalian Tālava to the east and Livonian county of
Turaida to the south.
During the
Livonian Crusade in the beginning of the 13th century the
crusading Livonian Brothers of the Sword led by
Albert of Riga began to occupy the shores of the Gulf of Riga. By 1206 Metsepole had been taken over by the crusaders and incorporated into
Bishopric of Riga in 1255.
In 1201, the Bishop
Albert von Buxhövden founded the City of
Riga as a Christian settlement at the mouth of the river
Daugava. When this did not immediately induce the
Livonians,
Estonians, and Baltic peoples in its hinterland to convert, a knightly order was formed, the
Livonian Brothers of the Sword, primarily consisting of
Low Germans, to bring salvation to the pagans by force. In a campaign which was a part of the wars known as the
Northern Crusades, these knights defeated, subdued and converted the Livonians in 1206 and 1207. During the
Livonian Crusade, once prosperous Metsepole was devastated, and the whole country was almost completely depopulated. This vacuum was filled by
Latgallians, and
Semigallians - which started to move into the area around 1220.
See also
