Symbols in the fight for freedom: Estonian and Latvian Medieval Heroes as Counter-Heroes in the Age of Nation and State Building

• In Event: Cultural Narratives in the Baltic: Legends and Heroes

Abstract

In the mid-19th century, Latvians and Estonians were nations without written history and without national heroes. They needed both. When the national awakening began, both histories had to be written quickly and national heroes had to be found. The Latvians, for example, quickly adopted as their national hero Imanta, a Liv warrior who killed Bishop Bertold (1198) and was made into a romantic hero by Garlieb Helweg Merkel in the early 19th century. The Estonians chose Lembitu, a Saccallian chieftain who was killed in battle in 1217. Later, in the early 20th century, the Semigallian chieftains Namejs and Viesturs gained prominence as Latvian national heroes. All these Latvian and Estonian medieval heroes had one thing in common - they fought against the oppressors - the Germans. This paper analyses how these heroes were used as counter-heroes and symbols of freedom during the nation-building of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and how they were adapted for the internal political struggles against the Baltic German communities in interwar Latvia and Estonia.

Short Bio

Gustavs Strenga, PhD, recently has been a post-doc research fellow at the University of Greifswald and a senior researcher at the National Library of Latvia. He has studied at the University of Latvia, Central European University, University of Freiburg and University of Queen Mary in London. The history of medieval Livonia, memory studies, afterlife of medieval heroes, ethnicity in the Middle Ages, gift giving as a historical phenomenon and book history are his main academic interests.

Author

• Gustavs Strenga, Latvian Academy of Culture/ University of Greifswald