Governorate of Livonia

Governorate of Livonia Лифляндская губерния Liflyandskaya guberniya
Governorate of the Russian Empire
← 1721–1918 →
Flag Coat of arms
Capital		Riga
History
•	Established (de facto)	28 July 1713
•	Established (de jure)	10 September 1721
•	Renamed	1796
•	Divided	1917
•	Treaty of Brest-Litovsk	3 March 1918
•	Disestablished	12 April 1918
Population
•	(1897)	1,299,365
Political subdivisions		9
Today part of		Estonia,  Latvia

Livonian and Estonian Governorates

The Governorate of Livonia^[1] (Russian: Лифляндская губерния, Liflyandskaya guberniya. German: Gouvernement Livland, Livländisches Gouvernement), (Latvian: Vidzemes guberņa, after the Latvian inhabited Vidzeme region) was one of the Baltic governorates of the Russian Empire, now divided between the Republic of Latvia and the Republic of Estonia.

History

Map of Riga and Reval Lieutenancies, 1783

After the capitulation of Estonia and Livonia in 1710, on July 28, 1713 Peter the Great created the Riga Governorate (Russian: Рижская губерния) which also included Smolensk Governorates uyezds of Smolensk, Dorogobuzh, Roslavl and Vyazma.

Sweden formally ceded Swedish Livonia to Russia in 1721 with the Treaty of Nystad. In 1722 Tartu County was added to Riga Governorate. In 1726 Smolensk Governorate was separated from Governorate, which now had five provinces - Rīga, Cēsis, Tartu, Pärnu and Saaremaa. In 1783 the Sloka County was added. On July 3, 1783 Catherine the Great reorganized Governorate into Riga Lieutenancy. Only in 1796, after the Third Partition of Poland this territory was renamed as the Governorate of Livonia.

Until late 19th century the governorate was not ruled by Russian laws but was administered autonomously by the local German Baltic nobility through feudal Landtag (Liefländischer Landtag).^[2] German nobles insisted on preserving their privileges and use of German language.

After the Russian February Revolution in 1917, the northern part of the Governorate of Livonia was combined with the Governorate of Estonia to form a new Autonomous Governorate of Estonia. The Autonomous Governorate of Estonia issued the Estonian Declaration of Independence on 24 February 1918, one day before it was occupied by German troops during World War I.

With the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on 3 March 1918, Bolshevik Russia accepted the loss of the Livland Governorate and by agreements concluded in Berlin on 27 August 1918, the Autonomous Governorate of Estonia and the Governorate of Livonia were severed from Russia.^[3]

Administrative division

The Governorate of Livonia was divided into 9 counties (Kreis).

#	County	County city (pop.)	Area, sq versta	Population[4]
1	Kreis Walk	Walk (10,922)	5298.7	120,585
2	Kreis Wenden	Wenden (6,356)	4953.7	124,208
3	Kreis Werro	Werro (4,152)	3744.2	97,185
4	Kreis Wolmar	Wolmar (5,050)	4358.1	112836
5	Kreis Pernau	Pernau (12,898)	4694.9	98,123
6	Kreis Riga	Riga (282,230)	5468.4	396,101
7	Kreis Fellin	Fellin (736)	4015.2	99,747
8	Kreis Ösel	Arensburg (4603)	2515.5	60,263
9	Kreis Dorpat	Dorpat (Yuriev) (42,308)	6276.7	190,317

Note: After the February Revolution based on declaration of the Provisional Government of Russia of 30 March 1917 "About the autonomy of Estland", the Government of Livland was divided: five northern counties (Kreis) with the Estonian population (Yuriev (Derpt), Pernov, Fellin, Verro and Ezel) as well as the populated by the Estonians townships of Valk county were all included into the composition of the neighboring Governorate of Estonia. However the new border between the Governments of Estonia and Livland was never properly demarcated.

Languages

• By the Imperial census of 1897.^[4] In bold are languages spoken by more people than the state language.

Language	Number	percentage (%)	males	females
Latvian	563,929	43.4	271,215	292,714
Estonian	518,594	39.91	247,348	271,246
German	98 573	7.58	44,770	53,803
Russian	68,124	5.24	38,844	29,280
Yiddish	23,728	1.82	12,189	11,539
Polish	15,132	1.16	8,321	6,811
Lithuanian	6,594	0.5	4,131	2,463
Persons that did not name their native language	154	>0.1	71	83
Other[5]	4,537	0.34	3,109	1,428
Total	1,299,365	100	629,992	669,373

List of governors

• 1712–1719 Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov
• 1719–1726 Anikita Repnin
• 1727–1751 Peter Lacy
• 1734–1736 Karl von Hochmuth (lieutenant governor)
• 1751–1753 Vladimir Petrovich Dolgorukiy
• 1753–1758 Pyotr Vojeikov (vice governor)
• 1758–1761 Vladimir Petrovich Dolgorukiy
• 1762–1791 George von Browne
• 1792–1798 Nicholas Repnin
• 1798–1800 Ludwig von Nagell
• 1800–1801 Peter Ludwig von der Pahlen
• 1801–1803 Sergei Fyodorovich Golitsyn
• 1803–1807 Friedrich Wilhelm von Buxhoeveden
• 1807–1810 Ivan Repjev
• 1810–1812 Dmitry Ivanovich Lobanov-Rostovsky
• 1812–1812 Johann Magnus von Essen
• 1812–1829 Filippo Paulucci
• 1829–1845 Carl Magnus von der Pahlen
• 1845–1848 Yevgeny Golovin
• 1848–1861 Alexander Arkadyevich Suvorov
• 1861–1864 Wilhelm Heinrich von Lieven
• 1864–1866 Pyotr Andreyevich Shuvalov
• 1866–1866 Eduard Baranov
• 1866–1876 Peter Bagrationi
• 1876–1883 Alexander von Üxküll-Güldenband
• 1883–1885 Ivan Shevich
• 1885–1895 Mikhail Zinovjev
• 1895–1900 Vladimir Surovcev
• 1901–1905 Mikhail Pashkov
• 1905–1906 Vasily Sollogub
• 1906–1909 Alexander Möller-Zakomelskiy
• 1909–1914 Nikolay Zvegincev
• 1914–1916 Arkadiy Kelepovskiy
• 1916–1917 Nikolay Lavrinovskiy
• 1917 Sergei Shidlovskiy
• 1917 Andrejs Krastkalns (Commissioner of the Russian Provisional Government from 18 March until 3 April)

See also

• Administrative divisions of Russia in 1713-1714
• Baltic governorates
• Courland Governorate
• Estonia Governorate
• Livonian Confederation

References and notes

1. The Baltic States from 1914 to 1923 By LtCol Andrew Parrott
2. Smith, David James (2005). The Baltic States and Their Region. Rodopi. ISBN 978-90-420-1666-8.
3. The Baltic States and Weimar Ostpolitik By John Hiden
4. Language Statistics of 1897 (Russian)
5. Languages, number of speakers which in all gubernia were less than 1000