The House of Hemp and Butter : A History of Old Riga / Kevin C. O'Connor.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

O'Connor, Kevin C., Author.

Series:

NIU series in Slavic, East European, and Eurasian studies.

Cornell scholarship online.

NIU Series in Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Rīga (Latvia)--History.

Rīga (Latvia).

Medieval & Renaissance Studies.

Medieval history, Early Modern history, urban studies, Russian history, Baltic studies.

Urban Studies.

Local Subjects:

Medieval & Renaissance Studies.

Medieval history, Early Modern history, urban studies, Russian history, Baltic studies.

Urban Studies.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xv, 325 pages).

Place of Publication:

Ithaca, NY : Cornell University Press, [2019]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Founded as an ecclesiastical center, trading hub, and intended capital of a feudal state, Riga was Old Livonia's greatest city and its indispensable port. Because the city was situated in what was initially remote and inhospitable territory, surrounded by pagans and coveted by regional powers like Poland, Sweden, and Muscovy, it was also a fortress encased by a wall.The House of Hemp and Butter begins in the twelfth century with the arrival to the eastern Baltic of German priests, traders, and knights, who conquered and converted the indigenous tribes and assumed mastery over their lands. It ends in 1710 with an account of the greatest war Livonia had ever seen, one that was accompanied by mass starvation, a terrible epidemic, and a flood of nearly Biblical proportions that devastated the city and left its survivors in misery.Readers will learn about Riga's people-merchants and clerics, craftsmen and builders, porters and day laborers-about its structures and spaces, its internal conflicts and its unrelenting struggle to maintain its independence against outside threats. The House of Hemp and Butter is an indispensable guide to a quintessentially European city located in one of the continent's more remote corners.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Chapter Overview

Dramatis Personae

Noteworthy Places and Buildings

Introduction

CHAPTER 1. Genesis: Riga before Riga

CHAPTER 2. Watering the Nations: Riga and the Northern Crusades

CHAPTER 3. Free Air in the Hanse City

CHAPTER 4. Master of Riga: The Archbishop, the Order, and the Rath

CHAPTER 5. Old Knights and New Teachings: The Reformation in Riga

CHAPTER 6. Upheavals: The Livonian War and the Polish Interlude

CHAPTER 7. Star City: The Swedish Century

CHAPTER 8. "This Accursed Place": The Great Northern War

Epilogue

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Previously issued in print: 2019.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 06. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9781501772429

1501772422

9781501747694

150174769X

OCLC:

1104855031