On the historiography of the 19th – first half of the 20th century issue pertaining to the Christianization of the Baltic peoples and their relations with Eastern and Western Christians in the Middle Ages

Abstract

During the 19^th and the first half of the 20^th century, there were cases when the issue of the relations of the Orthodox Church believers, the Russians people, with the indigenous ethnic groups of the Baltics, and then with the Catholics of the Swordbrothers Order and the Livonian Order, was quite acutely discussed by historians. The process of conversion to Christianity of Livs, Latgalians, Zemgli, Curonians (Latvians’ ancestors), Estonians, their cultural, commercial, military and diplomatic ties with the surrounding peoples and missionaries from the West and East, formation of national statehood among those peoples were the topics that were actively considered at the above time not only by the representatives of historical science. The issue turned out to be relevant for ethnographers, archaeologists, geographers, as well as for the representatives of journalism, propaganda and the politicians of Russia (USSR) and of a number of neighboring states. The principles of objectivity and historicism, which are necessary in the interpretation of those events, provide the reader and researcher with an opportunity to understand more deeply the origins of acute contradictions and the complexity of the relations between the Russian-speaking and the titular citizens of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, as well as between Russia and the Baltic states.
The analysis of the sources and reference material allows us to conclude that despite the complexity of the relations in the Middle Ages, the Russian princes and the Church hierarchy of the North-East (Vladimir-Suzdal) land adhered to a balanced and stable course. The Russian Vladimir-Suzdal princes, unlike the feudal elite of the Russian North-West and Russian West regions, pursued a policy of forming alliances of the Novgorodians and Pskovians with the Estonians and supported Estonians in the fight against the Western conquerors. Peaceful missionary endeavors were far from alien to them.