DĖL KRIKŠČIONIŠKŲJŲ MISIJŲ IR UŽKARIAVIMO POBŪDŽIO BALTIJOS REGIONO RYTINĖJE PAKRANTĖJE XII AMŽIAUS ANTROJE PUSĖJE–XIII AMŽIAUS PIRMOJE PUSĖJE*
ABOUT THE CHARACTER OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND THE CONQUEST OF THE EASTERN COAST OF THE BALTIC REGION IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 12TH CENTURY AND THE BE

Summary/Abstract: In this article, cases of baptism adoption on the Eastern coast of the Baltic Sea are analyzed, relating them to the transformation of the role of the missionary during the conquests, pertinent to the epoch of the Crusades. The research revealed in what cases and how the first missionaries to the Baltic tribes in the end of the 11th century and the first half of the 13th century became not only the preachers of Christianity, but also the founders of the political structures. We can speak about several cases when baptism was enforced on societies with the absence of statehood. In the first case, a voluntary and non-coercive baptism was still possible, which can be observed in the missions of Meinhard, Gotfrid or (in the first stage, before 1218) Christian, though in exchange for the help received from the missionaries and their assistants during the period of disagreements between the Baltic and Finno-Ugric tribes. In the second case, the baptism used to become an act of crowning the conquests, legitimizing the conquests themselves. This happened in Livonia during the rule of Bishop Albert; this was also vali-dated in Prussia during the time of the rule of Bishop Christian (from 1218). In the third case, voluntary baptism was possible, however, in exchange for the loss of political rights and becoming vassals of the political structures established at that time there. This happened with those who, after having fled to Livonia or Prussia, submitted to the guardianship and will of the German Order or the missionaries as suzerains. In the fourth case, while becoming assistants to the missionaries or even the missionaries themselves, a voluntary and non-coercive baptism was possible as well. However, having in mind the fourth case, still a separate discussion on the missions of Meinhard or abbot Gotfrid, when no political structures had been established yet, and on the missions implemented after sanctioning the establishment of political structures in the Baltic region during the rule of Bishop Albert (after 1201) and in the time of Bishop Christian (after 1018) should be held. The changing status and the role of the missionary ase related to the fact that both Bishop Albert and Bishop Christian, not ceasing to be missionaries themselves, became founders of political structures. Thus, the so-called coercive missions acquired their widest form of expansion in the Eastern part of the Baltic region. They attained features of political coercion.

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