The Russian perception of Livonia in the Book of Degrees of the Tsarian Genealogy (ca. 1563) Olivier Roqueplo

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Olivier Roqueplo. The Russian perception of Livonia in the Book of Degrees of the Tsarian Genealogy (ca. 1563). 2016. ￿hal-03289457￿

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Key-words: Livonia, Russia, Teutonic Order, Denmark, Estonia, Russian medieval literature, Ivan IV, Yaroslav the Wise, geopolitics, Dorpat

Introduction Livonia (present-day Latvia and Estonia) receives a particular attention in the Russian foreign policy from 1554 on, with the decline of traditional political powers (the Teutonic Order, the four princes-bishops of Riga, Dorpat, Oesel and Pilten), and with the reassertion of Russian historical claims on this territory. Invaded by Russia, Poland-Lithuania, Denmark and Sweden in the 1560ies, Livonia becomes the main issue of the Russian state in the second half of the 16th century under Ivan the Terrible. These events happen at the time when the Metropolitan of Russia Afanasij writes his monumental work, a decisive achievement for historiacal Russian thinking (1563): the Book of Degrees of the Imperial Genealogy (Stepennaja Kniga Carskogo Rodoslavija),. The book itself takes its name from its structure, each seventeen super-chapters being a degree of the genealogy, an ancestor, of Tsar Ivan IV.

This leads us to link the context, the War of Livonia, to the Book: Which effects do the Livonian events of the 1550-1560ies have on the Russian perception of Livonia expressed in the Book of Degrees written by the top official of the Russian Church? And, according to the author, what are the ties between Tsar Ivan's Dynasty and Livonia, the Book being the tale of the Dynasty's history, glory and piety?

In order to answer these questions we will first investigate the way the author writes about the Livonian theme (1); then, Livonia being a territory with a population, we will analyze the author's perception of Livonian territory (2) and population (3); finally, we will focus on the Russian political and religious claim on Livonia as expressed in the Book (4). 1-The Livonian theme Studying the perception of Livonia in the Stepennaja Kniga means first of all to consider how important it is in the text and to analyze the way the Livonian theme is dealt with by the author. In order to do so, we will comment the general list of events presented in the Book. The Livonian chronology of the Book of Degrees is both shining and incomplete. It is shining with only victories, but there can be no glory in reporting anything else than successes. It is also incomplete: some major victories are absent, the report of Livonian events depending on two conditions. One of them is a genealogical condition: most events in the Stepennaja Kniga involve direct ancestors of the Tsar. Another condition is a hagiographical one: if not a member of the Tsar’s own lineage, the character must be a saint, otherwise he and the related event have no reason to appear in the Book. As a consequence, the importance of Livonia in Stepennaja Kniga is much weaker than it would have been expected if the author had really the intention to deliver Livonian propaganda. Most events are military actions: battles, wins, campaigns to levy tribute or crushing rebellions. But interestingly enough, the author seems to pay no attention to military details, but focuses on the religious side of the events. Generally speaking, it seems that he follows very carefully the chronicles’ tradition, sometimes not changing even a word, but he also adds some particular pieces of text giving explanations, something that never existed in the Russian chronicles. It also seems that there are a few texts written by the author himself, the most obvious example being the very long chapter (17th Degree, 18th Chapter) introducing the Livonian War and explaining the whole historical background from the very beginning of Russian history.

The importance of the Livonian theme changes depending on Degrees: it is a central theme in the 8th and 9th Degrees (under Alexander Nevskij) and of course in the 17th Degree (under Tsar Ivan IV, thus at the time of the book’s writing). The Livonian theme appears in eleven Degrees out of seventeen that is in the majority of them. It is a transversal theme, thus a relevant one.

2-Perception of the Livonian territory

The term Livonia is complex. In the 13th century, the Germans gave this territory the name of Livland, the land of Livs (translated in Latin as Livonia) i.e. the area of Riga, and the term extended with the conquests made by the German knights from this original territory. In fact, even for Germans, the word had several meanings. We intend to analyze the words used to call Livonia in the Book of Degrees, paying special attention to the extent of this territory.

There are three outstanding names for Livonia in the Book of Degrees: Čud', Nemcy, Livonskaja Zemlja. Čud' is a word meaning Finnic peoples in general and Proto-Estonians in particular. In Old-Russian, the name of the people is often used for the territory as well, so that Čud' means both “the Proto-Estonians” and their land, i.e. Livonia. Interesting is the fact that not all Livonia was inhabited by Čud' so that Livonia in the Book of Degrees is firstly the one that borders Muscovy and its geopolitical predecessors in the region Novgorod and Pskov, not all Livonia. Čud' is the prevailing word for Livonia until the 8th Degree (13th century: the arrival of the German Knights). In the 8th and 9th Degree, Čud' is still in use but it seems to have changed meaning, referring only to Danish Estonia (and even to Danes themselves).

The second important name, and in fact the most widespread in Stepennaja Kniga, is Nemcy i.e. the Germans in general (and sometimes even other Germanic peoples as Swedes and Danes) and Livonian Germans in particular. In the Book of Degrees, as well as in most Russian sources before the 16th century, Nemcy means Livonia rather than Germany. Nemcy is the only word referring to all of Livonia from the 9th Degree to the 17th, showing the obvious union of the country under the German crusaders and bishops.

The last main name for Livonia is Livonskaja Zemlja, the “Livonian Land”, a word that appears in the last Degree of the Book, under Ivan IV, a chapter that is a text fully written by Afanasij. According to me, the appearance and development of the terme “Livonian Land” is the book is to be linked to the legal claim on this very territory. “Livonian Land” is indeed much more political, geographical and precise than Nemcy, as the word is the one used by Germans themselves. The context of the Livonian War may explain the need to use a word that gives ground to political assertion, since the Book was indeed used by Ivan IV’s circle if not by himself as an argument in diplomatic debates.

We may use the texts of the Book of Degrees to draw the map of what was seen as Livonia under its different names through the frequency of their appearance. Such a map would give to Livonia Dorpat (Jur’ev) as a heart with the surrounding areas as a main body, with an important periphery around the Narova river, then more remote areas with Wesenberg (Rakobor), Fellin (Veljad) and Riga; the remaining part of Livonia is almost entirely absent from the Book, except in the 17th Degree where they appear as battlefields.

3-The Livonians, perception of the Čud' and Germans

The Livonians about which writes the author are autochtonic Proto-Estonians or Čud' and their German lords or Nemcy. The Čud' in the Book enjoy a status that may be described as tributary pagans. The Čud' appear only in the first Degrees of the Book (1st to 8th Degree) at a time when Proto-Estonian tribes are still pagan and pay (at least for some of them) a tribute to Russian princes. In Stepennaja Kniga, this situation leads to a very ambiguous image of the Čud' who are considered as normal Russians when they do pay the tribute, but become “traitors” and “enemies of God” when they rebel against this obligation towards the Russian princes. The tribute is thus a central issue that determines the Čud's position towards the Church, because in the royal theocratic ideal of the author, the Russian Prince (and later the Tsar) is the link between God and its people; breaking the link by refusing the tribute and disobeying the Prince means to enter in war against God’s will. Nevertheless Čud' are in all cases seen as people from inside Russia, at least in this remote era (10th to 13th centuries).

The status of Germans in the Book of Degrees is deeply different: they appear as heretic invaders occupying a part of the Russian land, and who should therefore pay a tribute to the Russian Monarch. They are heretics since they bring the Catholic faith (the Lutheran faith is not mentioned in the Book) against the Orthodox Church, and they chose the wrong side (while pagans did not). They are invaders as they come from outside the Russian World, they have ties neither to the foundation nor to the religion of Russia, and they fight its dynasty and settle on its lands. Once again appears the issue of the tribute that they were supposed to pay in the name of the Russian rights on Dorpat; but in fact they did not accept to pay it. Therefore, the Germans are considered as rebels against their legitimate Russian sovereign. This conception turns the Germans into diabolical characters.

4-The Jur’ev claim The Tsar’s claim on Livonia is based mainly on the fact that Dorpat was built in 1030 by Grand Prince Jaroslav the Wise (the Tsar's direct ancestor) who gave it his Christian name, Jurij, so that it was known as Jur’ev in Russian that is “Jurij's (Jaroslav's) city”. The personal link between the city and the prince gives a special strength to the legal background of the Tsar's claim on the city and thus on Livonia as a whole.

Jur'ev is almost systematically associated to Russian saints (St Olga, St Vladimir, St Vsevold of Pskov, St Alexander Nevskij), to the theme of baptism and to the Russian Church, and even titled an orthodox bishopric, turning Jur'ev into an orthodox land, the capital of a holy Livonia and a “Promised Land” given to Jaroslav and thus to be returned to his heir Ivan. The Jur'evian form of the Tsar's Livonian title used in the Book seems to express the very prestige and right attached to this city and to show how old this right is.

In the Stepennaja Kniga, Jur'ev and Livonia are also closely tied to the historical tribute paid by Livonians (Čud' , later the German bishopric of Dorpat) to Russia (Novgorod, Pskov); this tribut is the symbol of Russian rights over Livonia as the sole link between the German Livonians and Russia Interestingly enough the tribute lies in different expressions and not only in the word dan'. But the tribute appears as a minor interest for the author when compared to religious affairs.

The Jur'ev claim is indeed widely a religious claim in the Stepennaja Kniga and the claim of the whole territory of Livonia means the extension of the holiness of Jur'ev to all Livonia, especially to Narva/Rugodiv thanks to the appearance of holy icons and church buildings.

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