But, strangely enough, this monk knew how to build fortresses. Besides being a spiritual leader, he was a warrior of much skill. During his first winter in the country, 1186–1187, Ikeskola was attacked by a neighboring tribe. Meinhardt armed his spiritual children with clubs and axes, and set out against the enemy. He made an ambush and gained a great victory. After that, conversion went on still more rapidly. The monk meanwhile persuaded the people to build a stone fortress. He brought in German masons and mechanics, and the following summer he built two large castles with towers, in fact regular fortresses, at Ikeskola and Holm.
Besides merchants and mechanics, warriors began to appear in the country, and Meinhardt invited in Latin monks to assist [[208]]him in his spiritual labors. He sent one of these monks, Dietrich, to convert people in the neighborhood of Aa River. This man was acquainted with medicinal plants and could heal the sick; but he was greatly disliked. The people were suspicious of him. Finally he was seized and condemned to be burned alive, but his life was spared through soothsaying. Before burning him, the people placed a spear on the ground and led a horse up to it; the horse crossed it with the “foot of life.” The people would not believe, they demanded a second trial; the result was the same. They freed the monk, and thereafter Meinhardt kept him near his person,—not as a preacher, but as an adviser.
Of the most important elders of his church, Meinhardt formed a body-guard. Among those men he chose certain ones who were to act as spies and inform him of every secret. These he distinguished above others, and rewarded. He sent them to persuade the people, and by degrees the most stubborn yielded.
Meanwhile German commerce flourished. From Holm, or Kirchholm, as Meinhardt called the place after his church was built, and Ikeskola new villages were founded. Taking the name of the Livs, the whole country was now called by the Latinized term Livonia, and the churches were mentioned as “the Church of Livonia.” It might seem that this work was one that could never be undone. But all at once there was a tempest—a wild revolt throughout the whole country. A thing unheard of, a spectacle unique in Christianity was presented to the eyes of the “Apostle of Livonia,” as disciples called Meinhardt, when those same people who had received baptism from him sprang into the Dvina, washed themselves clean of his apostolic touch, dived in the water “to purify their persons.” “Behold!” shouted they to him. “We have cleansed ourselves from German baptism.” And looking at the waves of the river rushing toward the sea, they added: “Be off from us, far away. Go to the place whence thou hast come.” In this manner the whole country gave back its baptism to the German monk.
Meinhardt began to threaten. He would sail away; he would find a legion of defenders of Christ and bring them back on countless ships. Then they would see how God punished apostates, they would see the awful power of Christ’s vicar on earth, by whom he, Meinhardt, had been deputed. This threat alarmed the people; [[209]]they became tearful and begged him not to leave them. Instead of going himself, he sent Dietrich.
Why did the people rise? “Because they differed little from beasts, were wild and rude. There had been great religious excitement, and this uprising was simply a reaction.” This is the explanation of certain historians, but a further statement should be added: The monk had begun to enforce obedience to the Archbishop of Bremen, and to demand tithes for “the church.” The “Apostle of Livonia” was a faithful servant of the Archbishop of Bremen. He was made Bishop of Livonia in subjection to Bremen in 1188, and died in 1196.
The monk Berthold, an abbot of the Cistercian Order, appointed to fill Meinhardt’s place, heard that the people were considering whether to burn him in the church or drown him in the river. He shut himself up in Kirchholm, but he had warriors clad in steel from head to foot, with heavy swords at their sides, and sitting on mighty horses, such as the people had never seen till that day. These were the “Knights.” People sent to ask why this man of God had brought those warriors into the country. “To punish apostates,” was the answer.
The bishop now prepared for a serious uprising. He left Holm and encamped at the mouth of the river Rigje. People began to gather from far and near, crowds of half-naked men, armed with sharp sticks, clubs and axes. The more they increased, crowd after crowd, the more they gathered courage. The knights let the natives assemble in the greatest possible number—they did not hasten to begin the battle, but when at last they did rush forward, they had not long to struggle for victory. It was impossible to stop the onrush of the conquerors. The bishop, Berthold, in pursuing the people, was carried away by excitement. He lost control of his spirited horse and became separated from his men. The Livs immediately surrounded him, and chopped him into small bits.
The triumph on the German side was complete, and they made a terrible use of it. It might be said that the warriors of the cross became executioners. The people begged for mercy, and promised to submit to baptism again, and to receive into the villages the priests who had been driven out. But in vain did they plead. All were sentenced to death. Separate divisions of knights passed [[210]]through the country, and in every village dealt out dreadful punishment to “apostates.”
The youthful Livonian church was thus reëstablished. Then the Western crusaders, considering their holy work finished, and their sins absolved, reëmbarked and sailed away home. But all at once, and most unexpectedly, there was a new outburst of rage and indignation through the whole country. The natives rushed at the “vile strangers,” killing or beating them, and looting their homes. They intended to act in like manner with all foreigners, but the merchants gave them great presents, and bought their good-will. Those who had been re-baptized sprang a second time into the river, and a second time washed themselves clean of the German religion.