Albert

Historical Article from The Catholic Encyclopedia

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Article Text

(ALBRECHT.)

Bishop of Riga, Apostle of Livonia, d. 17 January, 1229. After the inhabitants of Livonia had twice lapsed from Christianity into paganism, and heroic measures were necessary to reclaim them, Albert organized a crusade. He sailed up the Duna (April, 1200), with twenty-three ships; conquered the land on both sides; founded the city of Riga (1201), of which he was made bishop; established the famous Order of Knights of the Sword (1202), which served as a standing army; completed the conversion of the country before 1206; and erected the dependent bishoprics of Semgall-Kurland, Dorpat, and Oesel.

Sources

FRITZ in Kirchenlex.; Heinric chronicon Livoniae in Mon. Germ. Script., XXIII, 231-232.

Source Record

Author: Rudge, F.M
Publication: The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1907.
Nihil Obstat: Nihil Obstat. March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.
Imprimatur: Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.