Sources
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
Caupo of Turaida
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Caupo of Turaida, or Kaupo (died September 21, 1217) was a leader of the Finnic-speaking people of Livonians in the beginning of the 13th century in what is now Latvia. Sometimes called 'King of Livonia'; Chronicle of Henry of Livonia calls him quasi rex, 'like a king'.
He was the first prominent Livonian to be christened. He was probably baptized around 1191 by a priest called Theoderic. He became an ardent Christian and friend of Albert of Buxhoeveden, Bishop of Riga, who took him 1203-1204 all the way to Rome and introduced him to Pope Innocent III. The Pope was impressed of the converted pagan chief and presented him a manuscript Bible. When he returned from travel, his tribe rebelled against him and Caupo helped to conquer and destroy his own former Castle of Turaida in 1212. The castle was rebuilt two years later as a stone castle that is well preserved even today.
Caupo participated in a crusader raid against the still pagan, related Finnic-speaking Estonians and was killed in the Battle of St. Matthew's Day in 1217 against the troops of the Estonian leader Lembitu of Lehola. He didn't have any male heirs as his son Bertold had been killed in the 1210 battle of Ymera (Ümera) against Estonians. He left his inheritance to the church, but the Lieven family later claimed female-line descent from him.
Modern Estonians, Latvians, and the remaining few Livonians don't have consensus view about the historical role of Caupo. Some consider him traitor and enemy agent. Others consider him a visionary leader who wanted his people to be part of Western European culture.
- See also: Teutonic-Estonian War