Livonian Rhymed Chronicle

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The Livonian Rhymed Chronicle (German: Livländische Reimchronik) was a chronicle written in Low German by an anonymous writer. It covers the period 1180 – 1290 and contains a wealth of detail about Livonia, modern Latvia and Estonia.

The Rhymed Chronicle was composed to be read to the crusading knights of the Livonian Order during their meals. Its primary function was to inspire the knights and legitimise the Baltic crusades. As such, it is infused with elements of romance and exaggerated for the purpose of drama.

A second rhyme chronicle, known as the Younger Livonian Rhymed Chronicle, was written in Low German by Bartholomäus Hoeneke, chaplain of the Master of the Livonian Order, around the end of the 1340s. It is this propaganda chronicle that provides horror information how Estonians slaughtered their own nobility and called the Livonian Order to Estonia, which, in turn, butchered them, on 1343. The original is lost but prose paraphrases survive.