Editing Livonia (section)

=== Duchy of Livonia (1561–1621) ===
{{main|Duchy of Livonia (1561–1621)}}
{{Rzeczpospolita 1618|size=200px}}
In 1561, during the [[Livonian War]], Livonia fell to the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]]<ref name="Bumblauskas"
>{{cite book | author = Alfredas Bumblauskas | title = Senosios Lietuvos istorija 1009 – 1795 | year = 2005 | pages = 256–259 | publisher = R. Paknio leidykla | location = [[Vilnius]] | isbn = 9986-830-89-3|language= lt}}</ref><ref name="Obolensky">{{cite book | author = [[Robert Auty]] | title = Companion to Russian Studies: Volume 1 Vol 1 Introduction to Russian History | year = 1981 | editor = D. Obolensky | pages = 101 | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]] | location = [[Cambridge]] | isbn = 0-521-28038-9 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=xxREnBcMFcEC&q=Obolensky+livonia&pg=PA101}}</ref><ref name="Szilvia"
>{{cite book 
| author = Szilvia Rédey, Endre Bojtár | title = Foreword to the Past: a cultural history of the Baltic People | year = 1999 | pages = 172 | publisher = [[Central European University Press]] | isbn = 963-9116-42-4 
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=5aoId7nA4bsC&q=Szilvia+R%C3%A9dey+Endre+Bojt%C3%A1r+livonia+australis&pg=PA172}}</ref> and became a dependent vassal of Lithuania.<ref name="Szilvia"/> Eight years later, in 1569, when the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland formed the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]], Livonia became a joint domain administered directly by the king and grand duke.<ref name="Bumblauskas"/><ref name="Szilvia"/><ref name="Davies">{{cite book | author = [[Norman Davies]] | title = Europe: a History | year = 1996 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/europehistory00davi_0/page/555 555] | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]] | location = Oxford | isbn = 0-19-820171-0 | url = https://archive.org/details/europehistory00davi_0| url-access = registration | quote = Livonia 1561. }}</ref><ref name="Miller">{{cite book | author = [[George Miller (historian)|George Miller]] | title = History, philosophically illustrated, from the fall of the Roman empire to the French revolution | year = 1832 | pages = 258 | chapter = Modern History | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6eDVcRegbxQC&q=Livonia+1561&pg=PA258}}</ref><ref name="Bilmanis">{{cite book | author =[[Alfrēds Bīlmanis]] | title =Baltic Essays | year =1945| pages =69–80 | publisher =The Latvian Legation |oclc=1535884 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=DIkNAAAAIAAJ&q=Livonia+1561}}</ref><ref name="Kidd">{{cite book | author =[[Beresford James Kidd]] | title =The Counter-reformation, 1550–1600 | year =1933 | pages =121 | publisher =Society for promoting Christian knowledge | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=KTgdUIiBYfQC&q=Livonia+1561 }}</ref> 
Having rejected peace proposals from its enemies, [[Ivan the Terrible]] found himself in a difficult position by 1579, when [[Crimean Khanate]] devastated Muscovian territories and burnt down Moscow (see [[Russo-Crimean Wars]]), the drought and [[epidemics]] have fatally affected the economy, [[Oprichnina]] had thoroughly disrupted the government, while The [[Grand Principality of Lithuania]] [[Union of Lublin|had united with]] The [[Kingdom of Poland (1385–1569)]] and acquired an energetic leader, [[Stefan Batory]], supported by [[Ottoman Empire]] (1576). Stefan Batory replied with a series of three [[Offensive (military)|offensives]] against Muscovy, trying to cut The [[Kingdom of Livonia]] from Muscovian territories. During his first offensive in 1579, with 22,000 men, he retook [[Polotsk]]; during the second, in 1580, with 29,000-strong army, he took [[Wielkie Łuki|Velikie Luki]], and in 1581 with a 100,000-strong army he started the [[Siege of Pskov]]. [[Frederick II of Denmark and Norway]] had trouble continuing the fight against Muscovy unlike [[Swedish Empire|Sweden]] and Poland. He came to an agreement with [[John III of Sweden|John III]] in 1580, giving him the titles in Livonia. That war would last from 1577 to 1582. Muscovy recognized Polish–Lithuanian control of [[Ducatus Ultradunensis]] only in 1582. After [[Magnus von Lyffland]] died in 1583, Poland invaded his territories in The [[Duchy of Courland]], and Frederick II decided to sell his rights of [[inheritance]]. Except for the island of [[Œsel]], [[Denmark]] was out of the [[Baltic region|Baltic]] by 1585. As of 1598 [[Inflanty Voivodeship]] was divided onto:
 
* [[Wenden Voivodeship]] (''województwo wendeńskie'', [[Kieś]])
* [[Dorpat Voivodeship]] (''województwo dorpackie'', [[Dorpat]])
* [[Parnawa Voivodeship]] (''województwo parnawskie'', [[Parnawa]])

Based on a guarantee by Sigismund II Augustus from the 1560s, the German language retained its official status.<ref name=Koch59/>