Baldwin of Alna

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Baldwin of Alna (German: Baldwin von Alna or Alva; French: Baudoin d’Aulne died in 1243) was an envoy and later a papal legate of Pope Gregory IX in the Baltic region. ^[1] He played a diplomatic role in both the Northern Crusades and the Barons' Crusade.^[2][3]

Baldwin was a monk of the Cistercian Aulne Abbey monastery in the Bishopric of Liège.^[4]

In 1230, Baldwin was appointed by cardinal Otto of Tonengo of San Nicola in Carcere in the name of Pope Gregory IX as his envoy to the Archbishopric of Riga, with the task to settle disagreements arising after the death of Bishop Albert of Riga (von Buxhövden) in January 1229.^[5] Baldwin arrived in Riga in July 1230.^[5] The disagreement was between Albert Suerbeer, appointed by prince-archbishop Gerhard of Bremen and Hamburg, and Nicholas of Nauen [de], appointed by the cathedral chapter of Riga.^[6] By October 1230, Otto decided in favour of Nicholas, who arrived in Riga summer 1231.^[5]

Meanwhile, Baldwin managed to get the Curonians to submit themselves to the Bishopric of Riga in the winter of 1230–1231 in exchange for food aid addressing the famine raging in Livonia (and Novgorod); however, due to disputes arising over the division and baptism of Courland, he had to flee to the monastery of Daugavgrīva (Dünamünde).^[5] In early 1232, Baldwin left Livonia, but then the pope appointed him as bishop of Semigallia, with authority of papal legation throughout much of Livonia, after which Baldwin returned by 1233.^[5] He set up his base in Wiek in western Estonia, and in summer 1233 demanded in name of the pope that the Sword Brothers hand over the castle of Reval (modern Tallinn).^[7] The Brothers refused, and in subsequent fighting in c. August–September 1233 they defeated Baldwin, who excommunicated the Sword Brothers in retaliation.^[8]

At that point, Livonia was divided into two camps: Baldwin's Bishopric of Semigallia, the Bishopric of Dorpat and the late Albert of Riga's Buxhöveden family plus several monasteries, most Estonians and Curonians, versus the Livonian Sword Brothers, Nicholas' Bishopric of Riga, and the city of Riga.^[8] Previous generations of historians have argued that Baldwin attempted to make the whole Baltic region an ecclesiastical state, but Manfred Hellmann (historian) [de] (1993) refuted this idea as "fanciful speculation".^[8] Similarly, the traditional assertion that Baldwin had extensive plans to conquer and convert eastwards into parts of Rus' (Pskov and Novgorod) do not stand up under scrutiny, showing that papal correspondence with Baldwin was primarily concerned with ending the internal conflict in Livonia on terms favourable to Rome.^[9] Therefore, no Livonian faction was allowed to form an alliance with an external power, be they pagan or Rus', to prevent the internal conflict from spilling over and threaten Livonia's external security.^[9]

In 1234, the pope recalled Baldwin back to Rome, and instead sent his new envoy William of Modena, who arrived in Livonia in August 1234 at the latest.^[10]

In 1239, Baldwin accompanied Baudouin de Courtenay in the Barons' Crusade and took over the responsibilities of the archbishop of Vizia in Thrace, in the Latin Empire, in the present-day territory of Turkey between Adrianople and Constantinople.^[11]

• Christian of Oliva

• Selart, Anti (2015). "Chapter 3: Livonia and Rus' in the 1230s and 1240s". Livonia, Rus' and the Baltic Crusades in the Thirteenth Century. Leiden/Boston: BRILL. pp. 127–170. doi:10.1163/9789004284753_005. ISBN 978-90-04-28475-3.