The House of Hemp and Butter: A History of Old Riga

Riga was Old Livonia's largest city and its vital port, founded as an ecclesiastical center, trading hub, and intended capital of a feudal state. It was a fortress encased by a wall, surrounded by pagans and coveted by regional powers. The House of Hemp and Butter begins in the twelfth century with the arrival of German priests, traders, and knights and ends in 1710 with an account of the greatest war Livonia had ever seen. It provides a guide to Riga's people, structures, spaces, internal conflicts, and struggle to maintain its independence against outside threats.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 342 pages
Publication date: 15 October 2023
Publisher: Cornell University Press

Founded as an ecclesiastical center, trading hub, and intended capital of a feudal state, Riga was Old Livonia's greatest city and its indispensable port. Due to its location in what was initially remote and inhospitable territory, surrounded by pagans and coveted by regional powers like Poland, Sweden, and Muscovy, it was also a fortress encased by a wall.

The House of Hemp and Butter begins in the twelfth century with the arrival to the eastern Baltic of German priests, traders, and knights, who conquered and converted the indigenous tribes and assumed mastery over their lands. It ends in 1710 with an account of the greatest war Livonia had ever seen, one that was accompanied by mass starvation, a terrible epidemic, and a flood of nearly biblical proportions that devastated the city and left its survivors in misery.

Readers will learn about Riga's people—merchants and clerics, craftsmen and builders, porters and day laborers—about its structures and spaces, its internal conflicts and its unrelenting struggle to maintain its independence against outside threats.

The House of Hemp and Butter is an indispensable guide to a quintessentially European city located in one of the continent's more remote corners.

Weight: 530g
Dimension: 152 x 228 x 25 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781501772429