European Kingdoms

Swedish Governors-General of Livonia
AD 1629 - 1721

The European region which today is known as the Baltic States sits at the junction in Eastern Europe with Northern Europe. While the southern two states of Lithuania and Latvia are counted as Eastern European, Estonia is more typically grouped with its Northern European cousins.

The First Polish-Swedish War ended with the Treaty of Altmark in 1629, which formalised the occupation of Poland-Lithuania's Livonia under Swedish rule as 'Swedish Livonia'. In fact, parts of Livonia as far south as Riga had been in Swedish hands since 1621.

Only the remainder of Livonian territory, the small eastern part of Livonia, named Latgallia, remained in Polish hands. In the Swedish territory, serfdom was eased and a network of schools was established for the peasantry. The country also retained its own diet, or parliament.

1622 - 1628

Former Swedish governor of Estonia (1619).

1628 - 1629

1629 - 1633

Also governor-general of Ingria & Karelia.

1633 - 1634

1634 - 1643

Son of Gabriel Bengtsson Oxenstierna (1645). Also in Ingria.

1643

Former Swedish governor of Prussia (1632).

1644

1645 - 1647

Former governor of Estonia (1611) & Finland (1631).

1649 - 1651

Son of Jacob De la Gardie (1622).

1652 - 1653

Second term. Later governor of Ingria (1654) & Finland (1657).

1655 - 1657

Second term of office.

1655 - 1660

Seeing a golden opportunity following the Russian capture of large areas of Lithuania in 1654, Swedish troops enter the duchy of Courland, triggering the Second Polish-Swedish War. It ends when Livonia is officially ceded to Sweden following Poland-Lithuania's signing of the Treaty of Oliva.

During this period, Russian settlers who have seceded from the Orthodox church following the Great Schism migrate to the south-western shores of Lake Peipsi (now the eastern border of Estonia), forming small fishing communities along the lake's shore.

The Swedes had removed themselves from the Union of Kalmar with Denmark and Norway in 1523, and since that time had built up a Nordic empire of their own which now dominated the eastern lands and Baltic territories (click or tap on map to view full sized)

1661

Former governor of Pomerania (1652).

1662 - 1665

Second term of office.

1665 - 1671

1671 - 1674

1674 - 1686

Former governor of Ingria (1657).

1687 - 1695

1695 - 1697

The country suffers a severe famine, known as the Great Famine, which leads to the death of almost a fifth of the entire Livonian population. The famine is theorised to be the result of climate change, and Livonia is not the only victim. Estonia and Finland also suffer large-scale death due to famine, all of which could perhaps be attributed to the Little Ice Age, a period of intense cooling across Europe that also regularly freezes the River Thames in London.

1696 - 1702

Former governor of Bremen-Verden (1693).

1700

Sweden fights Russia, Poland and Denmark in the Great Northern War, which is another attempt at empire building in the Baltic states by outside powers.

1702 - 1706

Later governor of Finland (1735).

1706 - 1709

Captured and detained by Russia until his death.

1708 - 1709

Adam Ludwig Lewenhaupt may have been appointed governor of Livonia on the strength of his victory at the Battle of Gemauerthof in 1705. Now he is ordered to march east with a supply column to support Charles' main invasion force in Russia. Lewenhaupt is engaged at the Battle of Lesnaya and is defeated and forced to abandon his supplies. In the following year he finally meets up with the king's army and is given command of the infantry at the Battle of Poltava, a disaster for Sweden, and the army's surrender at Perevolochna. Lewenhaupt is captured by the Russians and remains in Moscow until his death in 1719.

1709

1709 - 1710

Former Swedish governor of Estonia.

1710 - 1721

Sweden is defeated at the end of the Great Northern War, and much of Livonia has been devastated by it, with castles and strongholds destroyed, farms laid waste, and peasants chased off the land. The victors, Russia, Poland, and Denmark, divide the spoils with the Treaty of Nystad. Much of Livonia is handed to Russia, although a 'Russian Livonia' has already been occupied by its troops since 1710.

This map shows the Nordic borders following the conclusion of the Great Northern War in 1721, after which large swathes of eastern territory changed hands (click or tap on map to view full sized)