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who accompanied the new colonifts, acquired the language of the country, convertedfeveral of the natives to chriftianity, and perfuaded them to be baptized. According tothe cuftom of that barbarous aera, an order of knighthood, firft called the Knights ofChrift, and afterwards with more propriety the Knights of the Sword, was inltitutedfor the propagation of Chriftianity by force of arms. I'll ole military miffionaries, equallyfanatic and fanguinary,. gradually over-ran the country, and reducing the ancient inha-bi'ants, rendered them at the lame'time Chriftians and Haves.
In 1231 thefe knights, being incorporated in the Teutonic order , flyled themfelvesKnights arid Lords of the Crols, and purchafed Eflhonia, in 152 r, from the King .ofDenmark . Walter Plettenburgh, chief or general, having obtained from the GrandMafter of the Teutonic order the jurildiclion of Livonia, was confidered as independent,and admitted by Charles the Fifth among the Princes of the empire. The knights.con-tjnued in poffellion of Efthonia and Livonia, until the impolitic conduct of their mailers,,and civil diffenfions, incited the ambition of.the neighbouring powers, and involved thecountry in a feries of bloody wars..
In 1556, the Archbilhop of Riga being intprifoned by Walter Furftenburghj general:of the order, implored the affiftance of his uncle, Sigifmond Augultus, King of Poland .Sigihnond immediately armed in favor of his nephew, invaded Livonia, and compelledWalter Furftenburg to releafe the Archbilhop to liberty, and to conclude a treaty, bywhich he acknowledged himfelf and the province of Livonia dependent on the crown ofPoland .
But Ivan Vaffilievitch, whofe anceltors poffeffed Dorpt, and other neighbouring townsin Livonia and Efthonia; laid claim to thefe provinces, and entering Livonia with a for-midable army, refolved to annex them to the Ruffian empire. In this imminent dan-ger, the city of Revel, and the inhabitants of Efthonia, threw themfelves under the pro*teclionof the King of Sweden , who,.in taking poffellion of that province, claimed Li-vonia as an annexed dependency. At the fame time the Ruffians, entering Livonia, met •with little refiflance, took Furftenberg, the Grand Mafter, priforier, and over-ran thecountry.
Gothard Ketler, who was appointed Grand Mafter in the place of Furftenberg,' un--ahle to -refill the Ruffian arms, haftiiy concluded a treaty with Sigifmond Augultus,ceded Livonia to the crown of Poland , on condition of referving to himfelf and heirsmale the duchies of Courland and Semigalliaas fiefs of Poland . At the conclufion ofthis treaty, Livonia, the object of contention, thus ceded to Poland , was partly poffeffedby the Poles, partly by the Swedes, and partly over-run by the Ruffians.
In this fituation of affairs, Ivan Vaffilievitch conferred on Magnus, Prince of Denmark , ,who, in the capacity of bilhop of 'Pil en in Courland , had fome pretentions to Livonia,the nominal fovereignty of that province. Having already related * the account of thattranfa&ion, together with the erection and extinction of the fhort-lived kingdom of Li-vonia, I ffiall 01 ly acid, tnat Ivan Vaffilievitch, being worfted by Stephen Bathori, King of Poland , in feveral engagements, purchafed a peace, by ceding, in 1582, to the crownof Poland, all that part of Livonia which he had occupied; but the King of Sweden continued in polleffion of Elthonia; and, by the fourth article of the peace of Oliva,.obtained poffellion of all Livonia. Thefe important provinces, containing ail the north-ern diftritl between the Gulf of Finland, the Narova, the Peipus lake , and the Duna,and liretching to the boundaries of the prelent government of Polotlk, were wrefted from
* Book III, chap. vi.
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