Duchy of Courland and Semigallia
Latvia, 1561–1795. Draft, not yet reviewed
The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia was a duchy in the Baltic region, then known as Livonia, that existed from 1561 to 1569 as a nominal vassal state of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and subsequently made part of the Crown of the Polish Kingdom from 1569 to 1726 and incorporated into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1726. On 24 October 1795, it was annexed by the Russian Empire in the Third Partition of Poland. Gotthard Kettler, the last Master of the Livonian Order, became the first duke of Courland. Under the next duke, Jacob Kettler, the Duchy reached the peak of its prosperity.
Seat of power: Jelgava
No rulers documented for this era yet.
Culture
- Mitau (Jelgava) was designated as the new capital, and a Landtag was to meet there twice a year.
- In 1570, he issued the Privilegium Gotthardinum, which allowed the landholders to enserf the native peasantry on their lands.
- Metalworking and shipbuilding became much more developed, and powder mills began producing gunpowder.
- The palace was built in two periods, from 1736 until 1740 and from 1764 until 1768.
Picture
Rundāle Palace is one of the two major baroque palaces built for the Dukes of Courland in what is now Latvia.
Image: Arian Zwegers, CC BY 2.0, file
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Sources
- Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (Wikipedia)
- Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (Wikidata)
- About the picture (Wikipedia)
Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.