FeR Miniatures: Livonian Brother of the Sword, Muhu, 1227

Sculpture: Paul Deheleanu
Painting: Fernando Ruiz
Material: Resin
Number of parts of the kit: 2
Scale: 1/16

WHY YOU SHOULD CONSIDER BUYING THIS BUST:

– The detailing level of this Paul Deheleanu’s sculpture is really nice, with lots of textures and details to work on.
– The characterful face of the bust underlines the complexity of this historical character
– It allows a lot of room for interpretation for painting.
– Our signature resin quality allows you to get the figure clean and ready in almost no time, so you may invest your precious free time in what really matters: painting and having fun.

The Baltic Crusades are not as well-known as their Holy Land counterparts, but equally important in the construction of Christendom in Europe.

The official starting point for the Northern Crusades was Pope Celestine III’s call in 1195, but the Catholic kingdoms of Scandinavia, Poland, and the Holy Roman Empire had begun moving to subjugate their pagan neighbors even earlier.

Some military orders participated in these crusades, the most famous one being the Teutonic Knights, but not the only one. The Livonian Brothers of the Sword were founded by Albert, Bishop of Riga, in 1202. The aim was to have a strong dedicated force to battle against the pagan tribes that lived in the area comprising modern-day’s Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

One of the fiercest episodes of the Brothers of the Sword was the campaign for the island of Saaremaa, land of the Oeselians, an Estonian pagan tribe. They reunited a 20.000 strong force and conquered the main Oeselian fortresses, Muhu and Valjala. The pagans offered fierce resistance, but shortly after they had to convert to Christianism.

Nevertheless, the crusaders’ success was short-lived. After the disastrous defeat of the Livonian Order in the Battle of Saule, which led to its assimilation as a branch of the Teutonic Order, the Oeselian renounced their new religion and killed all the Germans in their lands.