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Bruzis the Luxury Lifestyle in the Nurmuiža Manor

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Bruzis the Luxury Lifestyle in the Nurmuiža Manor THE LUXURY LIFESTYLE IN THE NURMUIŽA MANOR RŪDOLFS BRŪZIS BALTICA 16 BALTICA Abstract This paper presents briefly the history of the Nurmuiža estate and its owners, and summarises the results of the 2008 and 2009 archaeological investigations. Nurmuiža belonged to the von Fircks, one of the most influential families of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia. The influential positions the family held since the 16th century demanded a certain standard of presentation. The visually impressive Nurmuiža estate served this purpose well. The family’s status was also shown by its ARCHAEOLOGIA settled standard of living. The way of life on the estate has so far been deduced from written and iconographic sources. The aim of this paper is to look at the 16th to 19th-century luxury lifestyle at Nurmuiža through the most interesting archaeological finds from two seasons of excavations. Key words: estate, von Fircks, Duchy of Courland, luxury lifestyle, artefacts. Since the 1990s, the attention paid by Latvian archae- associates, former vassals. Also, in 1561 the village of ologists to Post-Medieval objects has increased. How- Nurme ceased to exist as a domain of the Order. On ever, archaeological investigations into Post-Medieval 24 July 1561 it was allocated to the vassal Christopher estates have only been carried out a few times. Until Hoerde ‘in gratitude for his faithful service to the Or- now, a wide range of written sources, some maps and der from an early age’ (Kvaskova 2001, p.216). On 18 historic images were available about the Nurmuiža es- January 1566, Hoerde sold the village of Nurme to his tate. The archaeological excavations held in the years brother-in-law Georg von Fircks (d. 1600) (Caune, Ose 2008 and 2009 supplemented these sources in several 2004, pp.357-358). In March, von Fircks promised to respects, and have provided an interesting collection pay for it ‘via Amsterdam and Danzig’ (LVVA 1, p.1). of artefacts. In April 1569, Gotthard Kettler confirmed a purchase contract at the same time that Nurme was given as a feud to von Fircks (LVVA 2, p.1). Nurme belonged to The location of the Nurmuiža estate, the family until the land reform of the 1920s. It was the history of its owners, the largest property belonging to the von Fircks in the construction and research Duchy of Courland. IV The Nurmuiža estate is located near the Riga-Talsi The von Fircks were one of the most influential fami- highway at Lauciene in the Talsi region, ten kilometres lies of Livonian knights. The ancestors of Georg von LIFESTYLE IN TOWNS, from Talsi and 105 kilometres from Riga. It is situated Fircks were vassals of the King of Denmark in Estonia. PALACES AND on the left bank on a bend in the River Jādekša. The first member of the family received the Kuldiga MONASTERIES region in Kurzeme as a feud in the year 1494. In 1505, The name of the village Nurme (Norme) appeared in they bought the estates of Okte and Šķēde, which were written sources in the 14th century. The village came near Nurme (Kvaskova 2001, p.216). The diplomatic under the authority of the Kandava fort as a domain of career of the von Fircks family in the duke’s court be- the Livonian Order. Its name derives from the ancient gan with the first owners of Nurme. These processes Liv word nurm for a meadow. In the year 1387, Robin coincided with the construction of the manor house of Elz, the Master of the Livonian Order, granted as a and the whole estate at Nurme. Georg von Fircks was feud four ploughs from the village of Nurmuiža to the an advisor to the Duke of Courland, and lord of the ma- knight Hermann Rummel (Caune, Ose 2004, p.357). nor of Kuldiga. He won these posts for service in the However, the village was not established as an admi- Livonian War and for the transfer of large sums of mo- nistrative centre until the end of the 16th century. ney for Gotthard Kettler’s disposal (Kvaskova 2001, In the first stage of the Livonian War, it was impor- p.216). The next owner of Nurmuiza manor, Kristo- tant to the leaders of the Order to provide military and pher von Fircks (d. 1649), was appointed burggraf financial support. Consequently, Gotthard Kettler, the of the duchy; he later became chancellor (Kvaskova Master, the emerging Duke of Courland, farmed out a 2001, p.216ff). In 1620, Kristopher von Fircks applied large part of the former lands of the Order to his close to the matriculation register of Courland knighthood of 143 the whole family ‘like all the well-known age-old aris- vassal’s castle, built as an outpost of Talsi castle, and a tocratic families, some of which as long as 300 years manor, appearing on a crossroads in the second half of ago served the Crown and the King of Denmark as a the 16th century. The proximity of the Riga-Talsi road councillor in Tallinn’. Georg von Fircks (d. 1662), the was also an important factor in its development. next owner of Nurmuiža, served as an extraordinary Between the end of the 17th century and the year 1912, envoy of Duke Jacob to the court of the French King the manor house was rebuilt four times, while the Louis XIV (Kvaskova 2001, p.216ff). manor farm developed from the beginning of the 19th His son Kristopher von Fircks (1634–1695) ended his century until the First World War. The first rebuilding The Luxury Lifestyle The Luxury Lifestyle in the Nurmuiža Manor life as a landmarshal of the duchy, while Carl von Firc- work by Carl von Fircks was carried out at the end of ks (1667–1746/7) was oberburggraf of Jelgava and the 17th century. During these works, the manor house the duke’s chief councillor. The particular situation of and the whole estate acquired the appearance in which Nurmuiža in the duchy is confirmed by the Swedish they were depicted in the Paulucci album in 1827 (Plate RŪDOLFS BRŪZIS king’s ‘Protection guarantee paper’ (Salva guardia). VIII.1). The period of the first reconstruction coincided This document, which threatened corporal and capital with the zenith of the influence of the Nurmuiža branch punishment for Swedish soldiers who did any harm of the von Fircks family at the beginning of the 18th to Nurmuiža, its owners or farmers, was obtained by century. In the memoirs of the nobleman Karl Johann Kristopher von Fircks (LVVA 3, p.1). With the incor- von Blomberg, which were published in London in poration of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia into 1701, Nurmuiža manor house is mentioned among pal- the Russian Empire in 1795, the political careers of the aces where the owners lived as small rulers (Blomberg Nurmuiža von Fircks ended. At the beginning of the 1701, p.277). 19th century, economic life in Nurmuiža manor flou- In the first quarter of the 19th century, a tall tower was rished, though the manor house retained its function of added to the manor house by the architect Shenk. The presentation. next alterations went on from 1873 to 1875, overseen The construction of the Nurmuiža estate began with a by the architect Theodor Zeilert. The last rebuilding, manor house at the end of the 16th century. The will from 1909 to 1912, was supervised by the architect of Georg von Fircks from 1598 mentions that he spent Wilhelm Bockslaff. By then, changes affected manor a considerable amount of money on the construction house interiors, and the tower was pulled down. of the stone manor house (Kvaskova 2001, p.216ff). The stable and the barn were built, along with the man- However, the opinions of historians about the year of or house, at the end of the 16th century. The eastern the construction of the manor house remain unclear. end of the stable was joined to the thoroughfare by a Johann Gottfried Arndt considers that in 1384, the cha- gatehouse. On the south side, along the road, a cattle pel of the vassal of the Order’s castle already existed shed was built, and on the opposite side a coach house there. Karl von Lewis of Menar, the researcher into and servants’ quarters were built. These building were Livonian castles, describes Nurmuiža as the castle of grouped around the farmyard. It ended with a hedge, a vassal of the Order, which was built in ‘late times’. thereby a quadrangular space was formed (Zilgalvis Armin Tuulse includes Nurmuiža manor as a vassal’s 1995, pp.24-33). castle; however, he does not mention a specific time of construction of the castle. He believes that the former At the beginning of the 19th century, Nurmuiža started castle at Nurme was destroyed, and it was rebuilt as to develop as a farm: a variety of farm buildings and a a manor house at the end of the 16th century. Heinz watermill were built. A pond was made for the needs Pirang holds the view that the Order built a castle at of the watermill. It was built in the valley of the River Nurme for ‘farm management purposes, in the decline Jādekša, flooding it for a length of about 400 metres. A of the Middle Ages’ (Kvaskova 2001, pp.215-216). In dam on wooden piles at the northern end of the pond their turn, the Latvian archaeologists and castle rese- was made. In the last third of the 19th century, the pond archers Andris Caune and Ieva Ose note that the castle and the dam were altered.
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