History of the Crusades

the Crusades Episode 250 Episode 258, the Baltic, the Baltic Crusades, the Livonian Crusade Part 41, Archbishop Aissarnas of Riga.

Hello again.

Last week we took a look at the Civil War which had erupted in Lavonia between the

Tutonic order on one side and the Archbishop of Riga and the

merchants of Riga on the other side.

At the end of last week's episode, Pope Boniface the 8th had attempted to resolve the conflict by

proxy, setting up a committee to hear evidence on the dispute and to make recommendations to resolve it.

The committee ended up favouring the preservation of the status quo, an outcome which pleased the Teutonic Order, but which mightily displeased

the Archbishop of Riga, who stayed in Rome hoping for an opportunity to meet with the Pope and change his mind.

That opportunity never came and the Archbishop was forced to leave Rome to make way for Pope Boniface's Jubilee, and he died not long after.

Now, as we all know, Pope Boniface's Jubilee succeeded beyond his wildest dreams.

Rome was packed to the rafters with senior church figures from across Europe, and church coffers were likewise filled to the brim.

All this success just confirmed Pope Boniface's view that he was the most important man in Europe, not only on the

ecclesiastical stage but on the political stage as well, and he began work on his plans to ensure that church policy prevailed

across all political arenas. Now William Urban points out in his book the Livonian Crusade that Pope Boniface was likely aware that his recent decision to place the dispute inivonia into a holding pattern had done little to actually

resolve the dispute. Now though the Pope was presented with a handy opportunity to influence matters in the Baltics and to perhaps

more directly resolve the conflict by appointing a competent and trustworthy individual to be the new Archbishop of Riga.

Now Pope Boniface's choice for the position of Archbishop of Riga was an interesting one.

He chose a French man called I-Sarnas Taconi and the new Archbishop of Riga set off for the Baltic region arriving in Riga in the

spring of 1301.

Archbishop Aissanus was, interestingly, from the city of Carcasson.

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