ope Innocent III is known to have issued three papal bulls to the Cistercian abbots and monks in 1200, in which he called them to mission in Livonia. In one document the Pope addressed the abbot of the Riddagshausen Abbey in Germany, authorising him to send a monk to preach against heathens in Livonia.
It is traditionally believed that the Cistercians isolated themselves from the outer world and lived enclosed lives in their monasteries. In fact, the Cistercians sometimes became engaged in large actions, including warfare. First of all, let us bear in mind that Bernard of Clairvaux was the ideologue of the Second Crusade and that the Cistercians played a great role in colonising the eastern part of today’s Germany and the former Prussia. The same ideology was implemented in Old Livonia by Berthold, Theoderich of Turaida and Bernhard of Lippe. A precise characterisation of these men was given by Franz Winter, an outstanding scholar on the Cistercians: while Theoderic was the Bishop and Albert’s diplomat, Bernhard was his Minister of War. The two men were key personages in Old Livonia in the beginning years of the first Cistercian monastery.
ven before the papal calls to mission some renowned Cistercians were active in Livonia. After Meinhard’s death in 1196 Berthold from the Cistercian Abbey of Loccum became the new bishop of Livonia. But the bishop was killed in a battle in 1198 and his mission was not very successful. However, it is clear that in Berthold’s lifetime and even with his direct participation the peaceful mission of Meinhard was supplanted by a crusade.
efore Berthold came to Livonia, another renowned Cistercian had been active there. Theoderich arrived in Livonia together with Meinhard in 1187 and began his missionary work among the pagan Livonians near Turaida. But this was not all. Several trips to Rome show that Theoderich also communicated with the papal curia. It was probably in Rome that the foundation of the Dünamünde (Daugavgrīva) monastery was decided. Theoderich did not only preach peacefully, he also participated in a tribute collecting in Viru in 1197 and, most important of all, he was one of the founders of the Order of the Brothers of the Sword in 1202. In 1205 Theoderich was appointed the first abbot of the newly founded Cistercian monastery of Dünamünde. He was in this post until 1211 when he became the Bishop of Estonia – episcopus Estiensis. As a matter of fact, Theoderich was Bishop only by name as the territory of Estonia had not been conquered by that time. The following decade saw an intensive warfare in this region. A decisive event in the conquest of northern Estonia was the battle in Tallinn in 1219 where Bishop Theoderich was killed.
he most colourful personage during the colonisation period was undoubtedly Bernhard of Lippe (ca. 1140–1224). After studying at the Hildesheim cathedral school he worked as a canon, but soon became the companion-in-arms to Duke Henry the Lion. Thereafter Bernhard assumed a new role in Westphalia: He was one of the founders of the Cistercian monastery of Marienfeld in 1185 and a little later founded the town of Lippstadt. In the late 12th century Bernhard became disabled as “God punished him and his both legs were paralysed so that he was carried in a basket for many days“. In 1198 he went to Livonia participating in a crusade and his legs were miraculously cured. Before the end of the century he went back to Germany, but returned to Livonia in 1211, and again participated in the warfare against the Livonians. When Theoderich was ordained Bishop of Estonia Bernhard became the abbot of Daugavgriva (Dünamünde) monastery. He was in that post until 1218 when he became Bishop of Semigallia.
It is quite possible that Bernhard left a trace on the landscape of Old Livonia since it was Bernhard and his successors who introduced architectural impulses from Westaphalia into 13th century Old Livonia.
