Wolter von Plettenberg

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Wolter von Plettenberg (or Walter von Plettenberg) (c. 1450-d. 1535) was the Master of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword 1494–1535 and one of the greatest leaders of the Livonian knights. He is one of the important early Baltic Germans.

His family had origins in Westphalia. He went to the fort of Narva at the age of ten. As a marshal of the Order, he fought successfully against the city of Riga and was elected grand master in 1494. That same year Muscovites closed down the Hanseatic office in Novgorod and imprisoned German merchants there. Livonia was drifting into war with Muscovite Russia.

In the war with Russia 1499-1503 Plettenberg showed himself as a talented and skilled commander. His strength lay in his skilful use of heavy cavalry and artillery fire. With such tactics Plettenberg won the battle of the Seritsa River, where an Order army of 8,000 foot and 4,000 horse defeated 40,000 Muscovites.

He captured several Russian strongholds, like Pskov, Ostrov, Izborsk, Ivangorod and besieged Novgorod but failed to protect Livonia against devastating Russian raids. Plettenberg made an alliance (the treaty of Wenden) with the Lithuanian grand prince Alexander against the Russians. He even tried to convince the Pope Alexander VI to issue a crusading bull against the Russians. Finally he made peace with Grand Prince Ivan III of Muscovy in Pskov in 1503, with no territorial changes.

During the Reformation, Plettenberg supported the Lutherans hoping thus to make himself independent of the Catholic Archbishop of Riga. The province was in disarray and the master had serious difficulties in ruling the territory which remained divided between the Order, the bishoprics and rich cities. In 1525 Plettenberg converted himself and the Order to the Lutheran Protestant faith, but he refused to secularize the province as the Teutonic Order in Prussia had done.