Stodevesher, Sylvester

A native of the city of Torun, then located on the territory of Prussia in the possession of the Teutonic Order , Sylvester Stodevescher, studying from 1427 to 1431 at the University of Leipzig , received a bachelor's degree, and according to the results of studies from 1439 to 1440, he received a master's degree in art. At this time, he wrote interesting comments on the writings of Aristotle . It is not known exactly when Sylvester joined the Teutonic Order , but there is information that since 1441 he was a chaplain and one of the main confidants and confessor of the Teutonic Order master Konrad von Erlichshausen .

In 1448, the influential archbishop Henning Sharpenberg died, who waged a stubborn struggle all his life with the Livonian branch of the Teutonic Order, which had weakened in grueling clashes with Lithuanian military leaders from the beginning of the 15th century. After the death of Sharpenberg, the masters of the Livonian Order began a diplomatic struggle to enlist the influence of Livonian vassals in order to regain former power in the Baltic lands and supplant the archbishop. Due to the fact that Sylvester worked long and fruitfully side by side with the great master Konrad von Erlichshausen, his candidacy for the post of archbishop seemed to the order of the leadership most acceptable, since it seemed that after taking office he would be a loyal conductor of order policy, so the brothers did not resist his appointment. Moreover, Conrad himself turned to Pope Nicholas V with a proposal to approve the appointment of the Stodevescher. In order to reach a positive decision, members of the Livonian Order began sending large bribes to Rome to the papal court. Despite the fact that the Riga house chapter has already chosen the Lübeck bishop Nicholas II Zachau as Sharpenberg’s successor, in the end the canons refused their choice, realizing that the resistance would be unprofitable and the strength was not on their side, since the pope approved of his candidacy. However, the canons demanded that the Stodevescher confirm their initial privileges, in particular, they wanted to be assured that the new archbishop would not force them to wear the robes of the Teutonic Order. They also obtained from him the assurance that he would not start a war against the order without the consent of the vassals. Despite the fears of the chapter about the cruelty of the Stodevescher and his zealous commitment to the politics of the Teutonic Order, in fact, over time, Sylvester showed himself to be an active opponent of the Teutons and began to fight them.

But for now, the Stodevescher was in favor of the order. In 1451, he concluded a contract in Wolmar , according to which the archbishopric was obliged to wear orderly robes and accept the charter of the order. But at the same time, the agreement stipulated that the order should not exert any influence on the appointment of future archbishops and canons of the Dome Cathedral . However, as soon as it came to the division of spheres of influence in Riga, in 1452 an irreconcilable conflict broke out between the order and the Stodevescher. Both feudal lords decided to conclude the Kirchsholm Treaty (1452) , according to which the influence in Riga of the order and the archbishop was the same, that is, in terms of authority they had equal rights to Riga. Also, following the results of this agreement, for the first time in history, the master of the Livonian Order received the right to mint coins of Riga . But very quickly the order (Master Johann von Mengden ) again began to claim exclusive ownership of Riga, which Sylvester categorically opposed, appealing to the agreement on the even distribution of power concluded in Kirchsholm . Seeing that the order was gathering strength and intriguing against him, he tried to negotiate with the vassals of the archdiocese, drawing them to his side, but did not achieve much success. Riga ratmans were also skeptical of attempts to attract them to their side, as they had already been deceived by him several times. Then the Stodevescher began to seek help abroad and secretly turned for support to the King of Sweden Charles VIII Knutsson , which was a gross violation of the treaty of 1449. However, the Swedish king did not want to help free of charge, and then the Stodevescher promised to transfer the lands belonging to his vassals to him in case of victory. He also began recruiting mercenaries abroad for money from the treasury of the archdiocese and began negotiations with the bishop of Dorpat . Meanwhile, the Swedes landed in the port at the Zalis River, where they settled in a fortified camp. They played the role of an annoying factor for Master Johann Mengden and for his successor Bernhard Borch . Having learned about Sylvester’s contacts with the Swedish crown and about the conditions under which the Swedes agreed to provide him with military assistance, the vassals were outraged by such a unilateral unjust decision and switched to the side of the order. Sylvester Stodevesher was now supported only by the Swedish auxiliary army. Apparently, such a step can be qualified as a diplomatic miss of the archbishop, since he set up even vassals and associates faithful to him. However, Sylvester did not stop the fight and went to excommunicate Riga from the church. Master Bernhard von Borch personally went to Rome and on March 3, 1477 persuaded the pope to remove the excommunication imposed by the archbishop. The Order retaliated and, together with reputable representatives of German aristocratic families and members of the Magistrate, turned to the pope with a collective complaint against the Stodevescher. In December 1477, 200 Swedish soldiers arrived at the castle at Zalis to help the Stodevescher. The Riga city hall , pursuing its goals, eventually refused the order any serious military assistance. Borch was forced to act, relying on his own strength - he besieged the castle in which the Swedish mercenaries took refuge and, taking advantage of the passivity of the foreign contingent, took the fortress after a week-long siege, allowing the Swedes to return to their homeland, taking with them weapons and food. Now Borch triumphed over the archbishop and could dictate his terms.

Thus, the order prevailed over the archbishop. His castles in the archdiocese were quickly seized, the personal guard was killed, the last associates were forcibly subordinated to the authority of the order, and Sylvester Stodevescher, realizing that he was left without support, took refuge in Kockenhausen . Soon, by order of Master Bernhard Borch, he was captured and taken to a fortified prison in an order castle in the same city. In fact, the entire territory previously subordinated to the archbishop was annexed by order troops. Borch solemnly entered Riga, but did not particularly punish the magistrate, who did not support him in the campaign against the archbishop, and arbitrarily appointed the cousin Simon von Borch , who at that time was Bishop of Revel , as head of the Riga archdiocese. Then, after all, he still captivated several members of the Riga army who persisted in their rejection of the order and forced the captive Stodevescher to cancel the previously announced interdict .

Even before the capture of the Stodevesher, the order leaders sought to solve their problems with the Pskov Republic , where the embassy was sent in 1460. Pskov agreed to make peace with the Livonian Order for a period of 5 years. However, in 1463, an armed army subordinate to Johann Mengden unexpectedly invaded the territory of Pskov and launched a cannon attack on the Pskov fortress Novy Gorodok , which caused justified anger of the governor Ivan Alexandrovich Zvenigorodsky , who ordered the militia to be assembled and to retaliate against the Livonian border lands. The Moscow government sent a large army to help the Pskov under the command of the experienced and skilled military commander Fedor Yuryevich Shuisky , who ravaged a number of order estates and at the same time attacked the territories subordinate to Sylvester Stodevescher (Atzele or Ochela ). In parallel with the raids against the Livonians, Shuisky ordered Neuerhausen's stronghold to be besieged, but they could not take it then.

Earlier, in 1457, at Rauen Castle, Sylvester Stodevescher signed a significant document, which in Livonian historiography is referred to as “Sylvester’s salary” or “ Sylvester’s grace ”. According to this document, the inheritance rights of vassals of the archbishop are significantly expanded. Thus he sought to bind the vassals to himself by granting property privileges, but his further actions pushed many loyal associates from him. But by the "grace of Sylvester," all of the lenish possessions of his vassals turned into their hereditary property, and this rule continued to apply all the time.

Sylvester was held captive in difficult conditions before the Swedish military contingent (already under the new king, Wall Stur Senior ), in 1479, landed again in the north of Livonia, won an unexpected victory at Zalis (the modern Latvian river Salaca ) over the army of the order. Master Bernhard Borch was forced to go for the release of the Stodevescher. There is a version that the liberation of the Stodevescher was personally influenced by Pope Sixtus IV . Years of captivity, however, undermined the hierarch's health. He decided to stay in Kokenhausen, as it was difficult for him to go back to Riga. Soon he died already at large on July 12, 1479. His body was transferred to Riga and buried in the choir of the Dome Cathedral.