Editing Northern Crusades (section)

==Background==
At the outset of the northern crusades, Christian monarchs across northern Europe commissioned forays into territories that comprise modern-day Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Russia. The indigenous populations of Pagans suffered forced baptisms and the ravages of military occupation. Spearheading, but by no means monopolizing these incursions, the ascendant [[Teutonic Order]] profited immensely from the crusades, as did German merchants who fanned out along trading routes traversing the Baltic frontier.<ref>Pluskowski, Aleksander, "Crusading into the medieval Baltic: Stanford Humanities Center Q&A with Aleks Pluskowski" [http://shc.stanford.edu/news/qa-research/crusading-medieval-baltic-stanford-humanities-center-qa-aleks-pluskowski ''Stanford Humanities Center'' Dec 12, 2016]{{Dead link|date=May 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

The official starting point for the Northern Crusades was [[Pope Celestine III]]'s call in 1195,<ref>[[Christopher Tyerman]], ''God's War: A New History of the Crusades'', (University of Harvard Press, 2006), 488.</ref> but the Catholic kingdoms of [[Scandinavia]], [[Poland]] and the [[Holy Roman Empire]] had begun moving to subjugate their pagan neighbors even earlier (see [[Christianization of Pomerania]]).<ref name=ResearchGate>{{cite web |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235718803 |title=Poland and the papacy before the second crusade |first=Darius|last=von Güttner-Sporzyński }}</ref> The non-Christian people who were objects of the campaigns at various dates included:
* the [[Polabians|Polabian Wends]], [[Sorbs]], and [[Obotrites]] between the [[Elbe]] and [[Oder]] rivers (by the [[Saxons]], [[Danes (Germanic tribe)|Danes]], and [[Polish people|Poles]], beginning with the [[Wendish Crusade]] in 1147)
* the [[Finns proper]] in the 1150s in the [[First Swedish Crusade|First Crusade]] by the Swedes; by the [[Danes (Germanic tribe)|Danes]] in 1191 and 1202; [[Tavastia (historical province)|Tavastia]] in 1249 in the [[Second Swedish Crusade|Second Crusade]] by the Swedes; and [[Finnish Karelia|Karelia]] in 1293 in the [[Third Swedish Crusade|Third Crusade]] by the Swedes; [[Christianization]] in these areas had started earlier.
* [[Livonians]], [[Latgallians]], [[Selonians]], and [[Estonians]] (by the [[German people|Germans]] and [[Danes (Germanic tribe)|Danes]], 1193–1227).
* [[Semigallians]] and [[Curonians]] (1219–1290).
* [[Old Prussians]].
* [[Lithuanians (tribe)|Lithuanians]] and [[Samogitians]] (by the [[Germans]], unsuccessfully, 1236–1410).

Armed conflict between the [[Baltic Finns|Finnic peoples]], [[Balts]] and [[Slavic peoples|Slavs]] who dwelt by the Baltic shores and their [[Saxons|Saxon]] and [[Danes (Germanic tribe)|Danish]] neighbors to the north and south had been common for several centuries before the crusade. The previous battles had largely been caused by attempts to destroy castles and sea trade routes to gain an economic advantage in the region, and the crusade basically continued this pattern of conflict, albeit now inspired and prescribed by the [[Pope]] and undertaken by Papal knights and armed monks.

{{Timeline Northern Crusades}}