Editing Livonian Brothers of the Sword (section)

== Organization ==
The [[Baltic German]] Livonian Brothers had a set of rules adopted from the [[Knights Templar]], requiring them to be of noble birth and to take vows of obedience, poverty, and celibacy. The order also included soldiers, artisans, and clerics as members. The Knights made up a general assembly, which selected a grand master and other officials.<ref name=":0" />

The grandmaster served for life in the order. He chose a council and a military chief for each district castle, where the order's knights were living.<ref name=":0" /> [[Wenno von Rohrbach]] was the first master of the order (1204–1209),<ref>{{Cite book|last=Venning, Timothy|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/908389545|title=A chronology of the Crusades|others=Frankopan, Peter.|date=2015 |isbn=978-1-317-49643-4|location=London|oclc=908389545}}</ref> followed by [[Volkwin]] Schenk von Winterstein, who died in the [[Battle of Saule|Battle of Schaulen]] in 1236.

In the beginning, the main duty of the Livonian Brothers was to protect priests and missionaries.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Turnbull, S. R. (Stephen Richard)|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/52783454|title=Crusader castles of the Teutonic Knights. 2, The stone castles of Latvia and Estonia 1185–1560|date=2004|publisher=Osprey|isbn=1-84176-557-0|location=Oxford|oclc=52783454}}</ref> The characteristics of the territory brought a moral challenge for the crusaders because the land of the Livs and Letts had not previously been Christian. Therefore, they did not have any justification to attack them. The division of conquered territory also was a problem faced by the order. Swordbrothers were to garrison the built castles to maintain control along the [[Daugava]]. However, garrison duties did not imply ownership. Albert of Riga established that one-third of any new territory could be retained by the order. Meanwhile, the rest of the territory was handed over to the bishop.<ref name=":1" />