Livonian Brothers of the Sword

The Sword Brethren or the Order of Sword Brothers (German: Schwertbrüderorden), formally known as The Military Brothers of Christ of Livonia (Latin: Fratres militiæ Christi Livoniae) was a Catholic military order of German crusading knights established in 1202 in Livonia by Albert, the third bishop of Riga. Pope Innocent III sanctioned the establishment in 1204 for the second time.

The membership of the crusading order comprised warrior monks, mostly from northern Germany, who fought Baltic and Finnic pagans in the area of modern-day Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Following their defeat by the Samogitians and Semigallians in the Battle of Saule in 1236, the remnants of the order were disbanded by the Pope in 1237 when some of the surviving sword brethren were allowed to return to Germany and those who opted to stay in "Terra Mariana" (Livonia) were accepted into the local branch of the Teutonic Order.

The Sword Brethren had a set of rules adapted from the Knights Templar, requiring them to be of noble birth and to take vows of obedience, poverty, and celibacy. The order also included soldiers, artisans, and clerics as members. The Knights made up a general assembly, which selected a grand master and other officials.

The grandmaster served for life in the order. He chose a council and a military chief for each district castle, where the order's knights were living. Wenno von Rohrbach was the first master of the order (1204–1209), followed by Volkwin Schenk von Winterstein, who died in the Battle of Schaulen in 1236.

In the beginning, the main duty of the Sword Brothers was to protect priests and missionaries. The characteristics of the territory brought a moral challenge for the crusaders because the land of the Livs and Letts had not previously been Christian. Therefore, they did not have any justification to attack them. The division of conquered territory also was a problem faced by the order. Swordbrothers were to garrison the built castles to maintain control along the Daugava. However, garrison duties did not imply ownership. Albert of Riga established that one-third of any new territory could be retained by the order. Meanwhile, the rest of the territory was handed over to the bishop.

Albert, Bishop of Riga (also called Prince-Bishop of Livonia) (or possibly Theoderich von Treyden) realised that a standing army in Livonia would be more useful than crusaders staying a short time. As rewards for secular knights in the Baltic area were not enough to ensure their long-term stance, Albert founded the Brotherhood in 1202 to aid the Bishopric of Livonia in the conversion of the pagan Livonians, Latgalians and Selonians living across the ancient trade routes from the Gulf of Riga eastwards.

The Brotherhood had its headquarters at Fellin (Viljandi) in present-day Estonia, where the walls of the Master's castle still^[update] stand. Other strongholds included Wenden (Cēsis), Segewold (Sigulda) and Ascheraden (Aizkraukle). The commanders of Fellin, Goldingen (Kuldīga), Marienburg (Alūksne), Reval (Tallinn), and the bailiff of Weißenstein (Paide) belonged to the five-member entourage of the Order's Master.^{[citation needed]}