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

Abstract

This chapter is about Riga's unstable political dynamics. The division of power in Riga satisfied neither the region's supreme religious authority, the Archbishop of Riga, nor the master of the Livonian Order, whose monk-knights were responsible for Livonia's defense. Least of all did the arrangement please the wealthy merchants of the Riga Town Council (Rath), an administrative body that embodied the ideal of urban self-governance. The Rath made law and administered the city's affairs. A set piece of this chapter is the fate of the Riga Castle, which the citizens destroyed twice during Riga's civil wars of the later Middle Ages.