View source for Swedish Livonia

{{Short description|Baltic dominion of the Swedish Empire (1629–1721)}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=February 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2025}}
{{Infobox country
| native_name            = ''Svenska Livland''
| conventional_long_name = Swedish Livonia
| common_name            = Livonia
| status                 = Vassal
| empire                 = Sweden
| status_text            = [[Dominions of Sweden|Dominion]] of the [[Swedish Empire]]
| event_start            = Truce of Altmark
| year_start             = 1629
| date_start             = 25 September
| event_end              = Treaty of Nystad
| year_end               = 1721
| date_end               = 30 August
| event1                 = Treaty of Oliva
| date_event1            = 23 April 1660
| event2                 = Great Northern War
| date_event2            = 1700–1721
| event3                 = [[Governorate of Livonia|Conquered]] by [[Russian Empire|Russia]]
| date_event3            = 1713
| event_pre              = Conquered by [[Swedish Empire|Sweden]]
| date_pre               = 1621
| p1                     = Duchy of Livonia{{!}}Duchy of Livonia
| flag_p1                = POL Inflanty IRP COA.svg
| border_p1              = no
| p2                     = 
| flag_p2               = 
| s1                     = Riga Governorate{{!}}Riga Governorate
| flag_s1                = 
| image_flag             = Naval Ensign of Sweden.svg
| flag_border            = no
| flag                   = List of flags of Sweden
| flag_type              = Flag
| image_coat             = Coat of arms of Swedish Livonia (18th century).svg
| symbol                 = Coat of arms of Vidzeme
| symbol_type            = Coat of arms<br />(18th century)
| image_map              = Sw BalticProv en.png
| image_map_caption      = Baltic provinces of [[Swedish Empire]] in the 17th century.
| capital                = [[Riga]]
| common_languages       = [[Swedish language|Swedish]], [[Estonian language|Estonian]], [[Latvian language|Latvian]], [[Livonian language|Livonian]], [[Low German]] ([[Latin language|Latin]] <small>as lingua franca</small>)
| religion               = [[Lutheranism]]
| leader1                = [[Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden|Gustav II Adolf]]
| year_leader1           = 1611–1632
| leader2                = [[Frederick I of Sweden|Frederick I]]
| year_leader2           = 1720–1751
| title_leader           = [[List of Swedish monarchs|King of Sweden]]
| representative1        = Jacob De la Gardie
| year_representative1   = 1622–1628
| representative2        = Erik Dahlberg
| year_representative2   = 1696–1702
| title_representative   = [[Swedish Governors-General|Governor-General]]
| today                  = [[Estonia]] <br> [[Latvia]]
| legislature            = [[Diet (assembly)|Diet]]
}}
{{History of Latvia}}

'''Swedish Livonia''' ({{langx|sv|Svenska Livland}}) was a [[Dominions of Sweden|dominion]] of the [[Swedish Empire]] from 1629 until 1721. The territory, which constituted the southern part of modern [[Estonia]] (including the island of [[Saaremaa|Ösel]] ceded by [[Denmark]] after the [[Second Treaty of Brömsebro (1645)|Treaty of Brömsebro]]) and the northern part of modern [[Latvia]] (the [[Vidzeme]] region), represented the conquest of the major part of the Polish-Lithuanian [[Duchy of Livonia (1561–1621)|Duchy of Livonia]] during the 1600–1629 [[Polish–Swedish War (1600–1629)|Polish-Swedish War]]. Parts of Livonia and the city of [[Riga]] were under Swedish control as early as 1621 and the situation was formalized in the [[Truce of Altmark]] 1629, but the whole territory was not ceded formally until the [[Treaty of Oliva]] in 1660. The minority part of the [[Wenden Voivodeship]] retained by the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] was renamed the [[Inflanty Voivodeship]] ("''Livonian Principality''"), which today corresponds to the [[Latgale]] region of Latvia.

Riga was the second largest city in the Swedish Empire at the time. Together with other Baltic Sea dominions, Livonia served to secure the Swedish ''[[dominium maris baltici]]''. In contrast to [[Swedish Estonia]], which had submitted to Swedish rule voluntarily in 1561 and where traditional local laws remained largely untouched, the [[uniformity policy]] was applied in Swedish Livonia under [[Karl XI of Sweden]]: serfdom was abolished, peasants were offered education as well as military, administrative or ecclesiastical careers, and nobles had to transfer domains to the king in the [[Great Reduction]].

The territory in turn was conquered by the [[Russian Empire]] during the [[Great Northern War]] and, following the [[Capitulation of Estonia and Livonia]] in 1710, formed [[Riga Governorate]]. Formally, it was ceded to Russia in the [[Treaty of Nystad]] in 1721, together with Swedish Estonia and [[Swedish Ingria]].{{cn|date=February 2024}}

== Kings and Queen of Livonia ==
the House of Vasa

*[[Gustavus Adolphus|'''Gustav II''' Adolf]] the Great (Gustavs II Ādolfs Lielais) (1611 – 1632)
*'''[[Christina, Queen of Sweden|Christina]] (Kristīna) (1632 – 1654)'''
House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken
*[[Charles X Gustav of Sweden|'''Charles X''' Gustav]] (Kārlis X Gustavs) (1654 –1660)
*'''[[Charles XI of Sweden|Charles XI]] (Kārlis XI) (1660 – 1697)'''
*'''[[Charles XII of Sweden|Charles XII]] (Kārlis XII) (1697 – 1718)'''
*[[Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden|'''Ulrika''' Eleonora]] (Ulrika Elenora) (1719 – 1720)
House of Hesse
*'''[[Frederick I of Sweden|Frederick I]] (Frederiks I) (1720 – 1751)'''

== Governors-general ==
The dominion was ruled by appointed [[Governor-General in the Swedish Realm|governors-general]], but retained its own [[diet (assembly)|diet]].

* [[Jacob De la Gardie]] (1622–1628)
* [[Gustaf Horn]] (1628–1629)
* [[Johan Skytte]] (1629–1633)
* {{ill|Nils Assersson Mannersköld|sv}} (1633–1634)
* [[Bengt Oxenstierna (1591-1643)|Bengt Oxenstierna]] (1634–1643)
* [[Herman Wrangel]] (1643)
* {{ill|Erik Eriksson Ryning|et}} (1644)
* [[Gabriel Bengtsson Oxenstierna]] (1645–1647)
* [[Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie]] (1649–1651)
* [[Gustaf Horn]] (1652–1653)
* [[Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie]] (1655–1657)
* [[Axel Lillie]] (1661)
* [[Bengt Gabrielsson Oxenstierna|Bengt Oxenstierna]] (1662–1665)
* [[Clas Åkesson Tott the Younger]] (1665–1671)
* [[Fabian von Fersen]] (1671–1674)
* {{ill|Krister Klasson Horn|et|Krister Klasson Horn af Åminne}} (1674–1686)
* [[Jacob Johan Hastfer]] (1687–1695)
* [[Erik Dahlberg]] (1696–1702)
* [[Carl Gustaf Frölich]] (1702–1706)
* [[Adam Ludwig Lewenhaupt]] (1706–1709)
* [[Henrik Otto Albedyll]] (1709)
* [[Niels Jonsson Stromberg af Clastorp]] (1709–1710)

{{Gallery
|title=
|width=370
|height=350
|File:Ducatuum Livoniae et Curlandiae Nova Tabula, 1705.jpg|Duchies of Livonia and Courland on the map of Frederik de Witt (1616–1698), modified and published by Pieter Mortier in 1705.
}}

==Military==
[[File:Coat of arms of Swedish Livonia.svg|thumb|upright=0.75|Coat of arms of Swedish Livonia (1660)]]

=== Swedish infantry and cavalry regiments===
{{main|List of Swedish regiments}}
;Infantry regiments:

* ''[[Garnisonsregementet i Riga]]'' (Garrison Regiment in Riga)
* ''[[Guvenörsregementet i Riga]]'' (Governor's Regiment in Riga)
* ''[[Livländsk infanteribataljon I]]'' (Livonian Infantry Battalion I)
* ''[[Livländsk infanteribataljon II]]'' (Livonian Infantry Battalion II)
* ''[[Livländsk infanteribataljon III]]'' (Livonian Infantry Battalion III)
* ''[[Livländsk infanteribataljon IV]]'' (Livonian Infantry Battalion IV)
* ''[[Livländskt infanteriregemente I]]'' (Livonian Infantry Regiment I)
* ''[[Livländskt infanteriregemente II]]'' (Livonian Infantry Regiment II)
* ''[[Livländskt infanteriregemente III]]'' (Livonian Infantry Regiment III)
* ''[[Livländskt infanteriregemente IV]]'' (Livonian Infantry Regiment IV)
* ''[[Livländskt infanteriregemente V]]'' (Livonian Infantry Regiment V)

;Cavalry regiments:

* ''[[Laurentzens fridragoner]]'' ([[Wolter Wolfgang von Laurentzen]]'s Free Dragoons)
* ''[[Lewenhaupts frikompani]]'' ([[Adam Ludwig Lewenhaupt]]'s [[Free Company]])
* ''[[Adelsfanan i Livland och Ösel]]'' (Livonian and Öselian Banner of Nobles)
* ''[[Livländsk dragonskvadron I]]'' (Livonian Dragoon Squadron I)
* ''[[Livländsk dragonskvadron II]]'' (Livonian Dragoon Squadron II)
* ''[[Livländskt dragonregemente I]]'' (Livonian Dragoon Regiment I)
* ''[[Livländskt dragonregemente II]]'' (Livonian Dragoon Regiment II)
* ''[[Öselska lantdragonskvadronen]]'' ([[Saaremaa|Öselian]] County Dragoon Squadron)

Temporary cavalry regiments:

* ''[[Livländska ståndsdragonbataljonen]]'' (Livonian Rank Dragoon Battalion)
* ''[[Öselska ståndsdragonbataljonen]]'' ([[Saaremaa|Ösel]] Rank Dragoon Battalion)

== See also ==
* [[Rise of Sweden as a Great Power]]
* [[Swedish Empire]]
* [[Duchy of Estonia (1561–1721)]]
* [[Estonia under Swedish rule]]
* [[Bishopric of Ösel-Wiek]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* Andrejs Plakans, ''A Concise History of the Baltic States'', Cambridge University Press, 2011, pp.&nbsp;105ff

== Further reading ==
* Heikki Pihlajamäki. Conquest and the Law in Swedish Livonia, ca. 1630–1710: A Case of Legal Pluralism in Early Modern Europe. Northern World Series. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2017

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{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Swedish Livonia| ]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1721]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1629]]
[[Category:Dominions of Sweden|Livonia]]
[[Category:Estonia–Sweden relations]]
[[Category:Latvia–Sweden relations]]
[[Category:1629 establishments in Sweden]]
[[Category:1721 disestablishments in Europe]]