The site of the first Livonian Order castle in Aizkraukle is located 82 km from Riga, about 1 km southwest of Skrīveri (in Skrīveri parish), in the strip between the Riga-Daugavpils highway and the right bank of the Daugava River. The castle is situated in a strategically advantageous location – on the Daugava bank about 25-30 meters high, between two streams flowing into the Daugava, the largest of which is called Ashkere. It is believed that the word "Aizkraukle" (Ascheraden) originates from the toponym Asscrade (in Latvian Ashkere) – a stream, a tributary of the Daugava. Today, the hills where the castle once stood are called Augstie (High) or Kraukļu (Crow) Mountains.
Aizkraukle lies on the Middle Latvian Lowland, on the high right bank of the ancient valley of the Lower Daugava. The surroundings of Aizkraukle were already inhabited in the Late Neolithic era. Archaeological excavations at the Lejasbiten cemetery uncovered pottery shards with cord ornamentation characteristic of the pre-Baltic peoples (ancestors of the Baltic tribes), ancient Latgalian and Selonian artifacts, cremation burials of the Livs, and items indicating trade relations (a Damascus steel sword forged near the Rhine [Piereina], Russian glass beads, Scandinavian bracelets).
The Aizkraukle hillfort (Augstie kalni) was inhabited from the first millennium BC until the 13th century. Nearby were an ancient town and port. The ancient castle by the Ashkere River under the name Askrade is already mentioned in Scandinavian sagas. Undoubtedly, the Vikings also had their castles on the Daugava. As early as 975, the Swedish prince Rogvald ruled in Polotsk. Runic inscriptions testify that Vikings indeed traveled to Greece through Vidzeme. One 11th-century runestone speaks of a Viking leader’s journey to Constantinople with two brothers. On their return, they raided Vidzeme and fell in battle on Saaremaa.
A brief digression on climate and its influence on the situation. After approximately a 300-year cold and dry period in the entire Northern Hemisphere, there followed an approximately equally long period of climate improvement, also called the small or second climatic optimum of the post-glacial period. The improved climatic conditions greatly contributed to the activity of northern seafaring peoples. Since the waters of the North Atlantic and Arctic were ice-free most of the year, Scandinavian sailors not only crossed them but also settled in Iceland, Greenland, and even North America, which they called Vinland. They also undertook trading voyages and military campaigns around the northern tip of Europe and along northern rivers deep into the present-day territory of Komi, called Bjarmia. There they were called Varangians.
Already in the previous era, a network of main communication routes had formed on the territory of present-day Latvia, including a waterway through the Baltic Sea. With the activation of international relations between East and West, in the Late Iron Age, the waterway along the Daugava gained special importance, allowing access to the Volga and further to the Caspian Sea, or to the Dnieper and then the Black Sea. Since ships of that time were small and had a draft of no more than a meter, they were dragged by hand over logs laid on the ground – rollers. Such a journey was traditionally said to be "the route from the Varangians to the Greeks leads without wheels and spokes." Besides transit routes along major rivers – Daugava, Gauja, Lielupe, and Venta – there were also land roads connecting large and small settlements in all directions. In the 7th-8th centuries, Viking ships entered the Daugava in search of trade routes.
There is a theory that the name Aizkraukle in the Norman dialect means "ship dock," "portage," and recalls the early medieval dock, most likely Norman, that existed here. They dragged their ships over the rapids on the Daugava at this place. The rapids were opposite Aizkraukle until the creation of the Pļaviņas reservoir. Perhaps that is why all German transcriptions of the castle’s name (ASCROD, ASCHRATH, ASZKAROD, and its Latvian equivalent) contain the letters "A, S, C, Z" or the combinations "ASC, ASZ," reminiscent of the ancient place of dragging ships across the river. From the same root "ask" comes the Russian verb "peretaskivat" (to drag over), recalling the same action. All this together may be further proof that northern peoples once shared a common proto-language. The toponym Ascrade, in a modified form, survives in the name of the local stream flowing into the Daugava – Ashkere.
Swedish historian Anders Strinnholm described what the Askrade castle of the Viking times might have been like in the first half of the 19th century in "Viking Expeditions": "Dwellings and temples were mostly built of wood, similar to peasants’ outbuildings. Roofs were covered with shingles, tree bark, and turf (as still in Sweden). Exterior walls were coated with tar for better protection against the elements. Sometimes houses were surrounded by palisades or wooden fences. Houses were rectangular in plan, with the long sides facing north and south, and entrances on the west and east sides. Usually, a hearth was in the middle of the room, made of large stones arranged in a circle or a stone mound where the fire burned. Besides bare earth, no other flooring was known, and it was covered with straw. The ceiling had openings for light and smoke exit, which could be closed with translucent leather shutters."
Archaeological excavations of Viking settlements in various countries revealed circular defensive walls around wooden residential and utility buildings. However, such fortifications have not yet been confirmed at Aizkraukle.
Trade was active on the riverbank: Livs and Latgalians exchanged goods with Vikings. The Livs sold wax, honey, flax, and ash, which Vikings needed like we need laundry detergent. The reason is that the Vikings’ lands had rather weak trees that, when burned, produced very little ash, unsuitable for cleaning clothes. The Livs, however, could sell ash in great quantities. From ash, potash was made, and from potash – detergents. For potash production, wood of certain species – pine, maple, birch – was burned, where potassium carbonate content was highest. From one cubic meter of such wood, about half a kilogram of potash was obtained.
There is a theory that after the Swedish prince Rogvald began ruling Polotsk in 975 (known historically as the father of Rogneda, wife of Vladimir the Saint, baptizer of Rus), the fortifications at Askrade lost their former significance and were abandoned by the Vikings. The old fortifications were taken over by the Livs. Askrade became the easternmost Liv town and port along the Daugava. An ancient town of up to three hectares formed near the hillfort. The castle’s chieftain ruled independently, subordinate to no one, and did not belong to any state formations of that time. By the 13th century, the Livs had transformed the hillfort into a mighty wooden castle.
The castle’s favorable location on the Daugava made it a coveted prize for many warlike neighbors. Archaeologists have established that from the 10th to the 13th century, the castle’s fortifications burned down nine times. After the Latgalians of Koknese adopted Orthodoxy and established close contact with the Polotsk prince, Russian military detachments collecting tribute from locals appeared here frequently. The Aizkraukle hillfort was used as a tribute collection point from local Livs, called in Russian style Skroven or Skovorony. Almost the entire course of the modern Daugava with its population was subordinate, according to the Laurentian Chronicle, to the Polotsk principality.
Most likely, due to continuous political strife over princely power and the weakness of the Polotsk principality, the Slavs limited themselves to collecting tribute from the local population without further colonizing the region.
At the beginning of the 13th century, the fortified Aizkraukle hillfort was one of the largest centers of the Daugava Livs on the right bank of the Daugava, between Lielvārde and Koknese. The modern territory of the Aizkraukle district until the 13th century was the land of Livs, Selonians, and Latgalians.
The traditions of the Livs living in the hillfort are evidenced by skulls and bones of domestic animals found in the furnace foundation. An interesting find is a deposit consisting of 189 coins, several fragments, and a silver neck ring. The coins were minted in at least 30 cities and represent about 25 Western European rulers, counts, and bishops. The deposit was hidden in danger in the second half of the 11th century. The coins testify to active trade, understandable since Aizkraukle is located on the Daugava bank, where at the mouth of the Ashkere stream there was an ancient port. Many imported items were found in the hillfort, foreburg, and ancient town: glass beads, cowrie shells, slate pulleys, Damascus steel weapons, etc. The oldest finds date to the 1st millennium BC, with intensive settlement in the 1st millennium AD.
A. Pumpurs describes the ancient castle in Aizkraukle in the epic "Lāčplēsis" as follows:
Aizkraukle castle stood alone
Far from the Daugava, in a dense thicket.
Bears were neighbors of the castle,
Wolves and owls howled at night.
Secret paths led to the castle,
Travelers rarely went there.
And the daughter of Aizkrauklis was Spīdola, a witch who later repented her sins and helped Lāčplēsis.
The Aizkraukle hillfort is mentioned in Henry of Latvia’s chronicle in 1204, when about 300 local Livs from Ikšķile, Lielvārde, and Aizkraukle, together with Lithuanians and the Polotsk prince, took advantage of the absence of Bishop Albert, who had gone to Germany for military reinforcements, and attacked Riga. The following summer, the Riga bishop sent Konrad von Meierdorf there; after a clash between Germans and Ikšķile Livs, the town of Lielvārde was destroyed and the Liv castle of Aizkraukle was burned along with other Liv castles. On the way back, the crusaders were attacked by Livs near the burned settlement. According to the same chronicle, 1205 is indicated as the last year of this settlement, called "castrum" (fortified place, fortress).
The ruler of Koknese, Vesceke (called Vyachko in the Novgorod Chronicle, though his origin is uncertain), hurried down the Daugava by ship to Aizkraukle and made peace with Bishop Albert, thus temporarily saving his land from the horrors of war. At that time, the Aizkraukle Livs were forcibly baptized. They were compelled to convert under the guidance of priest Daniel, and the crusaders demanded hostages from the locals as a guarantee that the Livs would not later renounce the new religion.
In the winter of 1207-1208, the Lithuanians launched a military campaign against Turaida, and on their return near Aizkraukle, they were blocked by a crusader army, which won a bloody battle. The way to Selija was opened since the defeated Lithuanians could not prevent it. Taking advantage of the situation, Bishop Albert sent Abbot Theoderich of Daugavgrīva and Provost Engelbert of the Riga Cathedral Chapter with a large army to Selija, who crossed the Daugava near Aizkraukle.
After the German crusaders’ invasion, the Order built a castle in the first half of the 13th century at Aizkraukle on the ancient Liv hillfort, at the foot of which were a settlement and two cemeteries. The Rhymed Chronicle also states that the Aizkraukle Order castle was built during the tenure of the Master of the Sword-Brothers Order, Wenno von Rohrbach (1204-1209). The oldest Aizkraukle castle, or Vecaizkraukle, was the castle of the Order’s komtur.
From 1821 to 1825, writer A.A. Bestuzhev-Marlinsky created four "Livonian tales." In his book "Castle Wenden" with the subtitle “Excerpt from the diary of a Guards officer. May 23, 1821," there is an early mention of Aizkraukle: "They say the route is changed, and our regiment will be stationed in Wenden... Wenno von Rohrbach, the first Master of the Sword-Brothers Order, built Wenden, the first castle in Livonia (a note says: "Besides Wenden, built in 1204, he built the castles Segewold and Ateraden").
Most researchers believed that the construction of the Order’s Aizkraukle castle could have started only after 1213, when the bishop renounced the grain tithe in the Aizkraukle region in favor of the Order, thus transferring the lands of Aizkraukle into full subordination to the Order. It should be noted that the Aizkraukle region fell into the hands of the Order already in 1211, when the Riga bishop and the Order divided the conquered lands. However, in this 1211 land division treaty, the Aizkraukle castle (castrum Asscrad) is mentioned for the first time. It is unclear whether this refers to the burned Liv castle or the already built Order castle.
In 1211, as a result of the land division between the Order and the archbishop, the Aizkraukle district passed into the possession of the Sword-Brothers Order. The last Liv outpost in the east fell into the conquerors’ hands. Around this time, the stone castle was built. Its exact founding date is unknown. The Rhymed Chronicle dates this event to 1209 and reports that the first castle commanders were Hartmut and then Lupprecht. Since this is not confirmed by other historical sources, the fact of the castle’s founding at this time is doubtful. However, the castle further down the Daugava at Koknese was founded in 1209, so it would be logical to assume that the Aizkraukle castle was founded somewhat earlier as a staging ground for the further capture of Koknese.
Quote from the Rhymed Chronicle: "Meanwhile, some Hartmut appeared, who was the captain of Aizkraukle, he chose brave men, left the land with them, since widows and orphans sent him lamentations. He went up the Daugava... then he came to Ersika early in the morning. The castle quickly fell by his hand... sixty Russians were killed, their wives and children were driven away by God-fearing Christians. The brothers were pleased with this."
Hartmut (Hartmūt) was apparently the castle commander at Aizkraukle, whose task was not only to oversee the castle but also to conduct military actions against enemies. If any military campaign against Ersika occurred before 1209, no evidence has been found in other sources. Lupprecht (Lupprecht) was the commander or vogt of Aizkraukle castle around 1218.
In Vecaizkraukle, the hillfort remained inhabited until the 14th century, so it should be considered that the first Aizkraukle castle existed until the construction of the new castle in the second half of the 14th century. After the new Aizkraukle Order castle was built, the castle in Vecaizkraukle lost its strategic and economic importance and was abandoned.
Until the 1980s, it was believed that the stone Aizkraukle castle of the Sword-Brothers Order was located 2 km upstream from the Aizkraukle hillfort, on the same bank of the Daugava at the site of the present Aizkraukle stone castle ruins. However, excavations conducted in 1971-1974 at the Liv hillfort revealed parts of a former stone castle in two places along the edge of the hill: the foundation of a stone defensive wall 1.5-2 meters thick and sunk 1.10 meters into the ground. Large boulders were laid along the edges of the masonry, with smaller stones packed inside in lime mortar. Dolomite limestone was used as a binder. Two stone walls over 8 meters long with wooden structures from the 13th-14th centuries were uncovered.
Also, on the Aizkraukle hillfort, the southern terrace was protected by a log defensive wall supported by posts driven into the ground. Behind the defensive wall on the castle side was a clay platform about 1 meter wide, tightly compacted and sunk into the ground, which could have been a military passage.
It should be noted that the dolomite lime mortars in Vecaizkraukle and the later-built new Aizkraukle Order castle are very similar. The question of the beginning of stone architecture in Latvian cultural and architectural history remains open because German newcomers built on the Aizkraukle and Lielvārde hillforts during the 12th-13th centuries.
The castle is built on a hill rising about 30 meters above the Daugava bank. The slope of the hill on the Daugava side is very steep, with its eastern end embraced by a deep ravine of the Ashkere stream. The other edges of the hill are surrounded by valleys that gently curve along the northern and western slopes down to the Daugava. This formed a natural hill about 200 meters long, divided in the middle into two parts by a moat. The castle entrance led through this moat, which is still clearly visible. The moat in the middle of the hill creates two flat summits – the larger main castle on the western side and the smaller eastern one, presumably the foreburg. Around the main summit, stone foundations are visible, with individual stones protruding above the ground. The larger summit is about 100 m long and 45-65 m wide; the smaller one is 35-40 m long and 30-40 m wide. On the southeastern end of the foreburg, a defensive rampart about 2 meters high remains, and near the castle, about 4 meters high. Stone tops are visible in the ground there.
The Vecaizkraukle castle is mentioned in historical documents as Asscrade, Ascrade, Ascrath, Aschrate, Castrum Asscrad, Ascharad, Asscherat, Olde borch. Documents and chronicles also mention lords and elders of various Livonian regions, called in Latin "duces, principes, nobiles, meliores, and seniores." One of the better-known among them is Vievaldis from Aizkraukle.
The Rhymed Chronicle mentions that by 1219 the castle in Aizkraukle had become a significant fortification where 13 Order brothers lived. Knights lived there alongside locals and contributed to strengthening the castle. Henry of Latvia’s chronicle reports that in 1220 the Liv leader of Aizkraukle, Vievaldis, actively participated in the German military campaign against Mežotne. According to K. von Lewies of Menar, in 1234 the castle was the residence of Master Bernhard.
There were frequent military clashes here between crusaders and Lithuanians and Semigallians (including the famous Semigallian leaders Viesturs and Namejs). In 1226, the Semigallians led by Viesturs managed to capture the castle. The Rhymed Chronicle tells that the Germans surrounded Viesturs when he was returning to Semigallia with war trophies. However, the Semigallian leader grabbed a burning log from the fire, knocked out the teeth of the Aizkraukle komtur Markward von Burbach, jumped on a horse, and escaped the pursuers.
The Rhymed Chronicle mentions Markward again in connection with the 1230 military campaign. Historian Benninghofen believes Markward probably served as Aizkraukle komtur from 1211 to 1231. Markward is also mentioned as Markward of Burbach (Burbach), a place in western Germany a few kilometers east of Marburg. He participated in the treaty with the Curonians in 1230-31. Since his name no longer appears after the mid-1230s, it is assumed he fell in the Battle of Saule.
Excerpt from the Rhymed Chronicle mentioning Aizkraukle:
The Master invited the brothers,
Asked them to come with counsel.
He said: "Brothers, decide,
Can we inform our komturs
And vogts that they
Must come to us now."
Then the brothers said: "We want
All from the heart now,
That messengers gallop day and night
To Sigulda and Aizkraukle
And hasten to Estonian lands."
There was no lasting peace in Livonia: Lithuanians and Semigallians invaded. In 1279, major battles took place near Aizkraukle, where Namejs defeated the Order’s troops. In the battle near Aizkraukle on March 5, 1279, the Master of the Livonian Order Ernst von Ratzeburg died. This was followed by the Order’s "counterstrike," where one hundred leaders of the rebellious tribes from the entire region, invited to negotiations at the castle, were treacherously killed. Contradictions intensified among the Germans themselves, especially between the archbishop (the church) and the military forces – the Order. Many knights of the Order were major vassals.
According to some data, the new stone Order castle was founded as early as 1224, but according to others, only in the 14th century, two kilometers east of the old hillfort, on the Daugava bank at the mouth of the Karikste stream. Even in 1420, a document on the granting of land as a fief mentions the Aizkraukle castle and the nearby old castle (Olde borch). Both castles functioned together and housed a German garrison guarding a strategically important crossing over the Daugava at this place. At the foot of the Vecaizkraukle hillfort from the 13th to 17th centuries, there was a stone church and cemetery. The castle had a chapel for the Order brothers, and on the Daugava bank – a parish church. In 1375, the marshal of the Livonian Order Andreas Stenberg was buried in the church. In 1939, flooding washed away the church’s foundations. Inside the church was a cemetery, typical for medieval churches. In the cramped space where the dead were buried for centuries, every time a new grave was dug, they encountered previous ones, from which remains were usually removed and thrown into an ossuary (a special annex on the church’s northern side).
From 1971 to 1976, archaeological excavations were conducted at the hillfort under the leadership of Vladislavs Urtāns, father of archaeologist Juris Urtāns. Many ancient artifacts were found, enriching collections of various museums, even Dresden’s. In a trench dug on the Daugava side, no remains of the castle wall were found. Possibly, they collapsed into the Daugava or were destroyed during World War I when trenches were dug here. The castle’s walled area could have been 50x110 m, i.e., just over half a hectare.
One can imagine how mighty the hillfort looked in ancient times, as even today the hill’s height is over 40 meters. But what it must have been like in antiquity! Much changed in the 20th century: when the Ķegums and Pļaviņas hydroelectric power plants were built, the water level rose significantly, flooding huge steep dolomite banks. Behind the hillfort, between the highway and the Daugava, were the Latvian Scientific Research Institute of Agriculture and the Skrīveri Experimental Station. Stones from the destroyed church were collected in the 20th century to build a dormitory at the Skrīveri Agricultural Research Institute, and students disturbed graves for skulls and bones as souvenirs.
The Vecaizkraukle hillfort is now located in the territory of the Skrīveri settlement. The settlement itself formed on the site of the former Roemershof estate, which in 1634 became the property of the scribe of the Kokenhusen estate (Skrīveri, from Swedish skreivet – "to write") Johann Nimeyer. The current name of the settlement derives from this. The residential settlement began to form in 1882 near the newly built "Roemershof" station of the Riga-Orlov railway. In 1925, Skrīveri was granted settlement status, in 1958, with population growth, urban-type settlement status, which it lost in 1990.
This fortification is not called a hillfort because 2 km east lies the Aizkraukle hillfort of the Order times with ruins of stone walls. Such cases, where nearby German-era hillforts took the name from older hillforts, are not uncommon. "Augstie kalni" (High Mountains) and "Kraukļu kalni" (Crow Mountains) are listed in Aizkraukle parish, on land belonging to the church council, located on the right bank of the Daugava, southeast of the parsonage manor. "Augstie kalni" rise 40 meters above the Daugava level, with a very steep cliff on the southern side of the hillfort. The eastern side is formed by a deep ravine of the Astiere or Ashkere stream.
Before World War I, both hillfort platforms were plowed. During the war, trenches were dug along the edges of the platforms and on the sides of the hill. Now they are filled in again, only shards of clay vessels, charcoal, burnt clay, bones, and sometimes pieces of iron lie scattered in the black soil. It is generally believed that the cultural layer on both platforms is very thick and rich in remains of life. Interestingly, around the entire large platform runs a stone foundation bonded with lime mortar. The stones were not taken from the cliffs along the Daugava banks; these are rounded boulders. A similar stone fence is still visible around the site where the Lielvārde castle stood, which differs significantly from the walls of the knight’s castle found there. At the foot of the hillfort, in the meadow, there is a small quadrangular mound called Church Hill. On this same meadow, bronze ornaments were found during trench digging, some of which were acquired for the museum.
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