Metadata: Archive of the Duchy of Courland
Collection
- Country:
- Latvia
- Holding institution:
- Latvian State Historical Archives
- Holding institution (official language):
- Latvijas Valsts vēstures arhīvs
- Postal address:
- Slokas iela 16, Rīga, LV-1048
- Phone number:
- +371 20 017 505
- Reference number:
- 554
- Title:
- Archive of the Duchy of Courland
- Title (official language):
- Kurzemes hercogu arhīvs
- Creator/accumulator:
- Duchy of Courland
- Date(s):
- 1355/1819
- Date note:
- Predominantly 1561/1795
- Language:
- German
- Russian
- Hebrew
- Yiddish
- Latin
- English
- French
- Extent:
- 8,719 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Cartographic material
- Graphic material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The collection mainly consists of documents from 1561 to 1795 relating to the reign of Courland dukes, representatives of the Kettler and Biron ducal dynasties. The collection also includes the papers of the Courland Landtag and of the District of Piltene, records of Courland’s and Polish courts, papers relating to the history of cities in the territory of the duchy and a few documents from the earlier period of the Livonian Order rule. The documents of the collection refer to the external and internal affairs of the duchy, including relations with different states and foreign rulers, the history of wars, domestic life and trade. The duchy covered the regions of Courland, Semigallia, Selonia and for some time also Piltene and Grobiņa.
The collection contains many important Jewish-related materials evidencing the early period of the integration of Jews in the commercial and daily life of the Duchy of Courland. Among them are ducal resolutions, letters and complaints from the late 17th century related to the activities of Jews serving in the duke’s customs and engaged in the collection of trade duties at customs (for example: inventory 1, file 1764; inventory 3, files 396, 452, 453). Files of the collection include numerous requests, from 18th century, of Courland nobles and townspeople not to expel the Jews from the duchy (for example: inventory 1, file 1730; inventory 3, files 394, 395). An important part of the collection relating to Jewish history is correspondence of representatives of foreign countries and foreign rulers who had a significant influence in Courland. For instance, correspondence from 1760 of the Minister of the Russian Court in Mitau, Karl Simolin, with Elizabeth Empress of Russia and with the Russian Imperial Chancellor, Count Mikhail Vorontsov, refers to activities of Jewish army suppliers during the Seven Years' War and the issue of expulsion of Jews outside the duchy (inventory 3, file 394). Simolin asked the Empress to allow Jews to stay in Courland, at least until the war ended, since without them the Russian troops would be deprived of supplies of horses, provisions and forage. Elizabeth rejected the request but allowed the former Jewish suppliers to stay temporarily in case other reliable suppliers were not found to replace them.
Especially valuable for understanding the contribution of Jews to the commercial development in the duchy are books of registration of customs duties in cities. These records include brief data on types of goods which the Jews traded in and data on the scope of the Jewish trade (for example: inventory 3, file 1992). Part of the collection are papers relating to the activities of various Jewish craftsmen in areas such as seal-making, production of furs, tin-smithing, glass-cutting, tailoring, button-making and construction of roofs.
The collection also includes court cases concerning Jews and criminal cases of Jews from the mid-18th century. The collection also contains information on the opening of the synagogue in Mitau in 1751 (inventory 3, file 394) and valuable materials which make it possible to examine Jewish marriages and gender issues in the Duchy of Courland (inventory 3, file 395). Among them are several ketubot (Jewish prenuptial agreements), tenaim agreements (contracts of engagement in which precise terms of marriage were stipulated) and halizah documents (the process by which a childless widow and a brother of her deceased husband could have avoided the duty to marry) from the 18th century.
- Archival history:
- From the time of the rule of the Dukes of Courland and until the early 20th century most of their centralized archive was kept in Jelgava (Mitau) castle. In 1903 the collection, together with other historical materials from the area,was deposited in the newly established Courland Provincial Archive. In 1909 Russian authorities transferred some parts of the collection to the State Archive of the Russian Empire in St. Petersburg. In 1919 other parts of the collection were illegally taken to Germany and after World War II they were placed in the State Archive of East Germany in Merseburg. The process of returning the collection to the territory of Latvia began in 1929. Later the materials from St. Petersburg were acquired and transferred to the Latvian State Archive in Riga. After World War II, these documents were kept in the Central State Historical Archives of the Latvian SSR. In 1971 the remaining materials of the collection from East Germany were transferred to the Central State Historical Archives of the Latvian SSR in Riga, the predecessor of the current State Historical Archive.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The primary creators of the collection were the representatives of Courland’s two ducal dynasties: Kettler and Biron. In 1561 Gotthard Kettler, the last Master of the Livonian Order, became a vassal of the Polish king as the hereditary duke of Courland. Nevertheless, the Duchy of Courland retained a considerable degree of independence for a long time. The internal political power of the dukes was limited due to the extensive privileges of the local Baltic German landholding nobility. After the marriage of the eighteen-year-old duke Friedrich Wilhelm Kettler to the Russian Tsarina Anna Ioannovna, the duchy came under the control of Russia. In 1737, after the death of the last duke of the Kettler dynasty, the favourite of the Russian Empress Anna Ioannovna, Ernst Johann von Biron, became the duke. The Biron dynasty reigned until 1795, when the duchy was annexed to the Russian Empire after the last third division of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
- Finding aids:
- See: Gertsogskii arkhiv v Mitave, Jelgava 1903. This is a systematic chronologically organised inventory in Russian based on earlier works of German historian and archivist Theodor Shiemann. The inventory includes an introductory survey, which gives a history of the collection and description of its sections. It also includes a four-page German survey which gives additional historical data.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People
- Author of the description:
- Ilya Vovshin, Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, 2018
