Berthold (2)

Berthold the apostle of Livonia, died in 1198. After the death of the first missionary and bishop of the Livonians, Meinhard (1196), Berthold, who was at that time abbot of the Cistercian convent Loccum, was ordained missionary bishop for the Livonians by Archbishop Hartwig of Bremen and Hamburg. Having arrived at Yxkull on the Duna, he at first tried to win over the Letts by clemency, but was forced to leave the country. He then returned at the head of an army of crusaders from Lower Saxony, and tried to conquer the Letts, and compel them by force of arms to submit to baptism. In a battle in 1198, Berthold was slain; but the crusaders were victorious, and the Letts had for a time to submit; but as soon as the crusaders had left their country they returned to paganism. — Brockhaus, Conversations-Lexicon, s.v.