Museum Publishes Research on the History of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia in a Collection of Articles

The Ventspils Museum has published a collection of articles by Erwin Oberländer, Emeritus Professor at the University of Mainz (Germany), entitled “Studies in the History of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia”. The collection contains 10 articles devoted to the history of Courland and Semigallia, its political and social aspects, and the duchy’s place in the broader European history of the 16th–18th centuries.

They examine both the origins of the duchy and their political context, while also providing a brief overview of its history, the political processes of the 18th century and the Russian Empire’s efforts to subjugate it, Latvians’ attitudes towards Germans during the period of the duchy, and the stay in Courland of the future King of France, Louis XVIII. The articles were first published in German and Latvian and were “scattered” across various academic periodicals and collections; in this edition, they can be read together in Latvian, offering the interested reader a vivid, multifaceted picture of Courland’s history during one of its most fascinating periods.

Erwin Oberländer was born in Königsberg (now Kaliningrad) in 1937. He studied history and philology at the universities of Munich, Vienna and Cologne. From 1985 to 2002, he was Professor of East European History at the University of Mainz; he is currently Professor Emeritus, an honorary doctor of the University of Latvia, a foreign member of the Latvian Academy of Sciences, and a recipient of the Order of Recognition. His research interests have encompassed a relatively broad range of topics in East European history, but the history of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia holds a special place among them.

E. Oberländer was one of the first Western European historians to establish closer institutional contacts between Western European and Latvian universities after the restoration of Latvia’s independence. He was also the initiator of the first international academic conference, “The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia: Achievements and Prospects in Research”, which took place in Ventspils in 2001. The professor’s efforts to stress the need to create a comprehensive picture of the duchy’s history, so that its place within the framework of European history would also be clearly visible, had a significant influence on the study of this political entity in the years that followed.

E. Oberländer’s interest in researching the history of the duchy encouraged not only the intensification of the Ventspils Museum’s research activities and the study of various aspects of the duchy’s history, but also attracted the attention of the wider public. In subsequent years, the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia became a topical and, in a positive sense, popular subject in Latvian historical scholarship. The first conference in Ventspils was followed by others: “The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia: Society, Politics, Culture” (2004) and “The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia: The Local, Regional and Global” (2007).

Almost 50 articles developed on the basis of conference presentations were published in three editions of the collection “Writings of the Ventspils Museum”, thereby laying the foundation for the tradition of museum publications. The positive “consequences” of the first conference also included the launch and implementation of the “Western Latvia History Research Project 2001–2004”, financially supported by the Ventspils Municipality. As part of the project, alongside other periods in the history of Courland and Semigallia, special attention was given to supporting research and outreach activities related to the duchy.

The Ventspils Museum expresses its heartfelt gratitude to Professor E. Oberländer not only for inspiring the translation and compilation of the articles into a single collection, but also for his significant contribution to the study and promotion of the history of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, as well as to fostering local self-awareness. The publication was produced with the support of the Ventspils Municipality and the State Culture Capital Foundation. It will be available for purchase at the Ventspils Museum’s ticket office at the end of May.

Author:

ventspils.lv