1. The history of baptism in the Middle Ages has been the subject of substantial scholarly attention. For baptism in the context of the especially formative early Middle Ages, see for example: P. Cramer. Baptism and Change in the Early Middle Ages, c.200–c.1150. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1993; L. Hartman. ‘Into the Name of the Lord Jesus’: Baptism in the Early Church. T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1997; L. Larson-Miller. Baptism in the Early Medieval West: Our Changing Perspective of the “Dark Ages”. – Studia Liturgica, 2012, 42, 1–2, 33–53. 
https://doi.org/10.1177/0039320712042001-204 
G. Wills. Font of Life: Ambrose, Augustine, and the Mystery of Baptism. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2012. For the theology of baptism from its earliest beginnings, see for example: Baptism, the New Testament and the Church. Ed. by S. E. Porter, A. R. Cross. Sheffield Academic Press, Sheffield, 1999; O. Cullmann. Baptism in the New Testament. Trans. by J. K. S. Reid. Alec R. Allenson Inc., Chicago, 1956. For baptism in the context of medieval canon law more specifically, see for example M. L. Colish. Faith, Fiction and Force in Medieval Baptismal Debates. Catholic University of America Press, Washington, D.C., 2014. 
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7zsw61
R. H. Helmholz. The Spirit of Classical Canon Law. The University of Georgia Press, Athens and London, 1996, 200–228.

2. J. A. Brundage. Medieval Canon Law. Longman, London, 1995, 3. 
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003156734 
For a similar notion, see for example R. H. Helmholz. The Spirit of Classical Canon Law. University of Georgia Press, London, 1996, 5; P. Landau. The Spirit of Canon Law. – The Cambridge History of Medieval Canon Law. Ed. by A. Winroth, J. C. Wei. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2022, 575–576. 
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781139177221

3. For some examples of how synodal statutes and local law codes have been used to contextualise the implementation of canon law in Iceland and England, respectively, see T. M. Izbicki. The Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist. – The Cambridge History of Medieval Canon Law, 415; A. Winroth. The Canon Law of Emergency Baptism and of Marriage in Medieval Iceland and Europe. – Gripla, 2018, 29, 206–208.

4. For Henry and his chronicle, see A. Bauer. Einleitung. – Heinrichs Livländische Chronic. Ed. by L. Arbusow, A. Bauer. Hansche Buchhandlung, Hannover, 1955, V–LIV; P. Johansen. Die Chronik als Biographie: Heinrich von Lettlands Lebensgang und Weltanschauung. – Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas, 1953, 1, 4, 1–24; J. A. Brundage. Introduction to the 2003 Edition. – The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia. Ed. and trans. by J. A. Brundage. Columbia University Press, New York, 2003, XI–XXXIV; A. V. Murray. “Adding to the Multitude of Fish”: Pope Innocent III, Bishop Albert of Riga and the Conversion of the Indigenous Peoples of Livonia. – The Fourth Lateran Council and the Crusade Movement. Ed. by J. L. Bird, D. J. Smith. Brepols, Belgium, 2018, 153–170. 
https://doi.org/10.1484/M.OUTREMER-EB.5.115859
E. Tarvel. Henrik ja tema aeg. – Religiooni ja ateismi ajaloost Eestis III. Toim. J. Kivimäe. Eesti Raamat, Tallinn, 1987.

5. By my calculations, there are at least 100 references to baptism in various contexts.

6. For his life and works, see B. Bombi. The Authority of Miracles: Cesarius of Heisterbach and the Livonian Crusade. – Aspects of Power and Authority in the Middle Ages. Ed. by B. Bolton, C. Meek. Brepols, Turnhout, 2007, 307–310. 
https://doi.org/10.1484/M.IMR-EB.3.3430
F. Wagner. Studien zu Caesarius von Heisterbach. – Analecta Cisterciensia, 1973, 29, 79–95.

7. For the informants in the context of Livonia, see M. Tamm. Communicating Crusade: Livonian Mission and the Cistercian Network in the Thirteenth Century. – Ajalooline Ajakiri, 2009, 129/130, 3/4, 357–359. In the case of the miracle story considered here, Hermann von Bruiningk suggested that the informant might have been another priest from Livonia; 
H. von Bruiningk. Livländischen aus den Fragmenten der Libri VIII Miraculorum des Caesarius von Heisterbach. – Sitzungsberichte der Gesellschaft für Geschichte und Alter­tumskunde der Ostseeprovinzen Russlands. Druck von W. F. Häcker, Riga, 1905, 229–230.

8. For stories about Livonia in Caesarius’s works, see M. Tamm. Communicating Crusade, 360–365.

9. See, for example, the work of Leonid Arbusow, who saw the changing legal landscape as the “Germanisation of legal life”; L. Arbusow. Die altlivländischen Bauerrechte. – Mitteilungen aus der livlandischen Geschichte, 1924–1926, 23, 7–15. 

10. Scholarly works with temporal and geographical proximity may serve as valuable examples for future enquiries into the use of canon law in Livonia. For example, the canonical and theological concepts of conversion by force within the framework of the Wendish Crusade has been studied in F. Lotter. Die Konzeption des Wendenkreuzzugs: Ideengeschichtliche, kirchenrechtliche und historisch politische Voraussetzungen der Missionierung von Elb- und Ostseeslawen um die Mitte des 12. Jahrhunderts. Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Sigmaringen, 1977, 30–38. 
https://doi.org/10.11588/vuf-sb.1977.23
Rasa Mažeika has investigated the chronicle of Peter von Dusburg from the perspective of canon law, especially with regard to the concept of ‘just war’: R. Mažeika. Violent Victims? Surprising Aspects of the Just War Theory in the Chronicle of Peter von Dusburg. – The Clash of Cultures on the Medieval Baltic Frontier. Ed. by A. V. Murray. Aldershot, VT: Ashgate, 2009, 123–137. 
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315240626

11. For example: N. Blomkvist. The Discovery of the Baltic. The Reception of a Catholic World-System in the European North (AD 1075–1225). Brill, Leiden, 2005, 540–545. 
https://doi.org/10.1163/9789047406440_011
I. Fonnesberg-Schmidt. The Popes and the Baltic Crusades, 1147–1254. Brill, Leiden, 2007, 117–118. 
https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004155022.i-287
T. K. Nielsen. Mission and Submission: Societal Change in the Baltic in the Thirteenth Century. – Medieval History Writing and Crusading Ideology, 222; A. Selart. A Crusader and the Chieftain’s Daughter: Connubium between Conquerors and Natives during the Baltic Crusades. – Legacies of the Crusades: Proceedings of the Ninth Conference of the Society for the Study of the Crusades and the Latin East, Odense, 27 June – 1 July 2016, Volume 1. Ed. by T. K. Nielsen, K. V. Jensen. Brepols, Turnhout, 2021, 239–260. 
https://doi.org/10.1484/M.OUTREMER-EB.5.122527
V. Stikāne. The Legal Status of Women in Livonia. – Baltic Crusades and Societal Innovation in Medieval Livonia, 1200–1350. Ed. by A. Selart. Brill, Leiden, 2022, 190–195. 
https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004512092_003

12. For example: C. S. Jensen. The Early Stage of Christianisation in Livonia in Modern Historical Writings and Contemporary Chronicles. – Medieval History Writing and Crusading Ideology, 212; M. Ščavinskas. Christianisation and cura animarum in the First Christian Communities in Livonia and Prussia during the Period of the Crusades. – Acta Historica Universitatis Klaipedensis, 2016, 33, 56. 
https://doi.org/10.15181/ahuk.v33i0.1496
S. Ekdahl. Die Rolle der Ritterorden bei der Christianisierung der Liven und Letten. – Gli inizi del christianesimo in Livonia-Lettonia: Atti del Colloquio Internazionale di Storia Ecclesiastica in Occasione dell’VIII Centenario della Chiesa in Livonia (1186–1986). Ed. by Michele Maccarrone. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Vatican City, 1989, 225–226.

13. For example: I. Fonnesberg-Schmidt. The Popes and the Baltic Crusades, 77–78; C. S. Jensen. The Early Stage of Christianisation, 211; M. Ščavinskas. On the Crusades and Coercive Missions in the Baltic Region in the Mid-12th Century and Early 13th Century: The Cases of the Wends and Livonians. – Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung, 2014, 65, 519, 525–526. 
https://doi.org/10.25627/20146349753

14. See the works of James A. Brundage on the Livonian mission: J. A. Brundage. Christian Marriage in Thirteenth-Century Livonia. – Journal of Baltic Studies, 1973, 4, 313–320. 
https://doi.org/10.1080/01629777300000331
J. A. Brundage. Introduction: Henry of Livonia, The Writer and His Chronicle. – Crusading and Chronicle Writing on the Medieval Baltic Frontier. Ed. by M. Tamm, L. Kaljundi, C. S. Jensen. Ashgate, Farnham, 2011, 12–19. 
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315575186
J. A. Brundage. The Thirteenth-Century Livonian Crusade: Henricus de Lettis and the First Legatine Mission of Bishop William of Modena. – Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas, 1972, 20, 1, 3–4. See also 
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003555957-14
C. S. Jensen. Through Words, Not Wounds. History and Theology in the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia. Brepols, Turnhout, 2024, 76–77, 136
https://doi.org/10.1484/M.OUTREMER-EB.5.115610
K. V. Jensen, Holy War – Holy Wrath! Baltic Wars Between Regulated Warfare and Total Annihilation Around 1200. – Church and Belief in the Middle Ages: Popes, Saints, and Crusaders. Ed. by K. Salonen, S. Katajala-Peltomaa. Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam, 2016, 227–250. 
https://doi.org/10.1515/9789048525720-011
M. Maccarrone. I Papi e gli inizi della christianizzazione della Livonia. – Gli inizi del christianesimo in Livonia-Lettonia, 67–72. See also the study by David M. Freidenreich on how the attempts to implement canon law in Livonia influenced canonical jurisprudence in return: D. M. Freidenreich. Sharing Meals with non-Christians in Canon Law Commentaries, ca. 1160–1260: A Case Study in Legal Development. – Medieval Encounters, 2008, 14, 41–77.
https://doi.org/10.1163/138078507X254730

15. M. Mäesalu. Agreements on the Acceptance of Christianity between Crusaders and Pagans in Thirteenth-Century Livonia. – Legacies of the Crusades, 224–225; T. K. Nielsen. Mission and Submission, 221–222. For examples where canon law has been considered purely as a means to an end, superficially utilised by the missionaries and crusaders, see 
P. Z. Olins. The Teutonic Knights in Latvia. MA Thesis. American University, Washington, D.C., 1926, 75–76; E. Tarvel. Eesti rahva lugu. Varrak, Tallinn, 2018, 63

16. Accepting baptism also meant the reception of ‘iura christianorum’, which contained not only strictly canonical laws but also the wider rights and obligations of Christian life; I. Leimus. Iura christianorum – Läti Henriku sõnakõlks või nõks paginate alistamiseks? – Tuna, 2011, 1, 12–17; M. Mäesalu. Agreements on the Acceptance of Christianity, 214–215; T. K. Nielsen. Mission and Submission, 220–221; P. Johansen. Die Chronic als Biographie, 20.

17. J. A. Brundage. Medieval Canon Law, ix; J. C. Wei, A. Winroth. Medieval Canon Law: Introduction. – The Cambridge History of Medieval Canon Law, 1; W. P. Müller. Medieval Church Law as a Field of Historical Inquiry. – Medieval Church Law and the Origins of the Western Legal Tradition. Ed. by W. P. Müller, M. E. Sommar. Catholic University of America Press, Washington, D.C., 2006, 1. 
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt3fgq41.5

18. K. R. Rennie. Medieval Canon Law. Arc Humanities Press, Leeds, 2018, 1. 
https://doi.org/10.1515/9781942401698
For the flexibility of canon law as a system, see also P. Landau. The Spirit of Canon Law, 575.

19. A. J. Duggan. Making Law or Not? The Function of Papal Decretals in the Twelfth Century. – Popes, Bishops, and the Progress of Canon Law, c. 1120–1234. Ed. by T. R. Baker. Brepols, Turnhout, 2020, 258–287. 

20. J. A. Brundage, The Practice of Canon Law. – The History of Courts and Procedure in Medieval Canon Law. Ed. by W. Hartmann, K. Pennington. Catholic University of America Press, Washington, D.C., 2016, 53–54. 
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1j0pt7h

21. The edition used here is Liber extra decretalium. – Corpus iuris canonici, 2. Ed. by E. A. Friedberg. Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, Graz, 1959, 5–928. A standardised modern citation system has been used for references to canon law; this can be found at J. A. Brundage. Medieval Canon Law, 192–193, 197.

22. The edition used here is Gratian. Concordia discordantium canonum. – Corpus iuris canonici, 1. Ed. by E. A. Friedberg. Tauchnitz, Leipzig, 1879. 

23. R. Helmholz. The Spirit of Classical Canon Law, 4–5; W. P. Müller. The Reinvention of Canon Law in the High Middle Ages. – The Cambridge History of Medieval Canon Law,79. See also the edited collection The History of Medieval Canon Law in the Classical Period, 1140–1234: From Gratian to the Decretals of Pope Gregory IX. Ed. by W. Hartmann, K. Pennington. Catholic University of America Press, Washington, D.C., 2008. 
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt2853s5

24. For a good concise overview of the recent historiographical trends relating to Gratian’s Decretum, see M. H. Eichbauer. Gratian’s Decretum and the Changing Historiographical Landscape. – History Compass, 2013, 11, 12, 1111–1125. 
https://doi.org/10.1111/hic3.12119

25. P. Landau. Gratian and the Decretum Gratiani. – The History of Medieval Canon Law in the Classical Period, 25–36. 

26. J. A. Brundage. The Medieval Origins of the Legal Profession: Canonists, Civilians, and Courts. University of Chicago Press, London, 2010, 97–98; R. Helmholz. The Spirit of Classical Canon Law, 8–9; P. Landau. Gratian and the Decretum Gratiani, 41–42. 

27. For a comprehensive overview of how and where the liturgical elements were included in the recensions, see J. C. Wei. Gratian the Theologian. Catholic University of America Press, Washington, D.C., 2016, 277–294. 
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt19rmcjf

28. J. A. Brundage. Medieval Canon Law, 56; A. Meyer. The Late Middle Ages: Sources. – The Cambridge History of Medieval Canon Law, 138. This corpus of canon law was only replaced by the 1917 Code of Canon Law.

29. We do not know the exact educational background of Henry, but he probably studied at a missionary school in Segeberg; A. Bauer. Einleitung, XXXV; P. Johansen. Die Chronic als Biographie, 11; J. A. Brundage. Introduction, XXVI; C. S. Jensen. Through Words, Not Wounds, 36–37. In Riga, Henry served as a scolaris of Bishop Albert, alluding to the possibility that he had some kind of a theological background, and might have even worked as a teacher of theology there; C. S. Jensen. Through Words, Not Wounds, 37. At the same time, serious doubts have been raised as to whether Henry and his contemporaries had read the works of the Church Fathers and other similar textual sources directly, even if they knew their content; L. Arbusow. Das entlehnte Sprachgut in Heinrichs Chronicon Livoniae: Ein Beitrag zur Sprache mittelalterlicher Chronistik. – Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters, 1951, 8, 129–130; A. Bauer. Einleitung, XXXV; P. Johansen. Die Chronic als Biographie, 11. Indeed, it was not a requirement for priests in the Middle Ages to know even the Holy Scripture in its entirety; it was sufficient to be familiar with those parts necessary for the celebration of Mass, the Divine Office, and the administration of the sacraments; F. W. Oediger. Über die Bildung der Geistlichen im späten Mittelalter. E. J. Brill, Leiden, Köln, 1953, 48–50. Henry’s knowledge of theological and canonical developments might have been reinforced by the continuous learning he undertook in Riga and, in particular, by the visitation of Archbishop Anders Sunesen of Lund (1201–1228), who had studied canon law at Bologna and theology at Paris, and spent the winter of 1206 in Riga; L. Arbusow. Die deutsche Einwanderung im 13. Jahrhundert, Band 1. – Baltische Lande 1: Ostbaltische Frühzeit. Hrsg. von C. Engel, A. Brackmann. Verlag von S. Hirzel, Leipzig, 1939, 360; A. V. Murray. Henry of Livonia and the Christianisation of the Eastern Baltic Lands (Twelfth-Thirteenth Centuries). – Studia Humanitatis Mrongoviensis, 2024, 2, 36. Yet we cannot rule out that Henry and surely his pupils as well (especially if he indeed was a teacher of theology in Riga) were familiar with the basic principles found in the works of at least Augustine; S. Gerber. Heinrich von Lettland – ein Theologe des Friedens: “Nichts Bessers weiß ich mir an Sonn- und Feiertagen, als ein Gespräch von Krieg und Kriegsgeschrei”. – Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschicht, 2004, 115, 14; J. A. Brundage. Introduction: Henry of Livonia, The Writer and His Chronicle. – Crusading and Chronicle Writing on the Medieval Frontier, 11–12. One more possible hint of the missionaries knowing the content of at least some of the patristic texts comes from the play of 1205 staged in Riga, which might have been based on the work found in Augustinian collections; L. Mackensen. Das “Rigaer” Prophetenspiel von 1205. – Zur deutschen Literatur Altlivlands. Holzner-Verlag, Würzburg, 1961, 392–393. Last but not least, papal letters addressed to Livonia often contained references to theological and canonical principles that also appear in canonical collections. If Henry did in fact read those letters, which is highly likely, this would constitute yet another avenue of learning for him. 

30. For the complex concept of auctoritas in medieval canon law, but especially in Gratian’s Decretum, see S. Kuttner. On auctoritas in the Writing of Medieval Canonists: The Vocabulary of Gratian. – La notion d’autorité au Moyen-Âge Islam, Byzance, Occident. Dirs. G. Makdisi, D. Sourdel, J. Sourdel-Thomine. Presses Universitaires de France, Paris, 1982, 72–73. 
https://doi.org/10.3917/puf.sourd.1982.01.0069
C. G. Silva. The Construction of “auctoritas” in Gratian’s Decretum: The Role of Tradition and the auctor in a 12th Century Legal Text. – Revista de História, 2022, 181, 10–13. 
http://dx.doi.org/10.11606/issn.2316-9141.rh.2022.181491

31. Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.60, the auctoritas is listed as the Fourth Council of Carthage (misattributed).

32. Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.61, the auctoritas is Rabanus Maurus (780–856).

33. Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.63, the auctoritas is Rabanus Maurus.

34. Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.64, the auctoritas is Rabanus Maurus.

35. Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.65, the auctoritas is Bede (c.673–735).

36. Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.68, the auctoritas is Rabanus Maurus.

37. For example, Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.17 states that “unless compelled by necessity, let no one presume to baptise outside of Easter and Pentecost.” The auctoritas is Pope Gelasius I (492–496).

38. HCL XXIII, 7. The edition used here is the Heinrici Chronicon Livoniae. L. Arbusow, A. Bauer. Hahn, Hannover, 1955. The standard citation system for the chronicle has been used. All translations here and elsewhere are author’s unless stated otherwise.

39. Examples in which full, or at least more elaborate, baptismal rituals were used include HCL XIV, 11; HCL XXX, 5. See also HCL XV, 1 where preparatory stages for baptism took the form of initiation and catechesis, while baptism itself was postponed.

40. For example: HCL X, 14; HCL XI, 6; HCL XV, 1; HCL XVI, 4; HCL XIX, 8.

41. Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.95, the auctoritas is Rabanus Maurus.

42. E. Tarvel. Henrik ja tema aeg, 21.

43. Henry mentions that he was persuaded to write his chronicle “at the request of his lords and companions”, HCL XXIX, 9. Albert Bauer doubted that the chronicle was written at the joint request of Bishop Albert and the Order of the Swordbrothers, or even at the request of Bishop Albert alone. Nor did he consider it likely that the papal legate William of Modena had commissioned the work. Instead, Bauer suggested that the chronicle was written at the persuasion of Henry’s fellow priests and friends; A. Bauer. Einleitung, XX–XXI. The writing of his chronicle was nevertheless probably influenced by the visit of the papal legate, William of Modena; see C. Tyerman. Henry of Livonia and the Ideology of Crusading. – Crusading and Chronicle Writing on the Medieval Frontier, 23–24. More recently, Carsten Selch Jensen has suggested it was Philip, bishop of Ratzeburg, who might have set Henry to compile his chronicle; C. S. Jensen. Through Words, Not Wounds, 40. For an overview of how the chronicle was used in the Middle Ages, see A. Selart. The Use and Uselessness of the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia in the Middle Ages. – Crusading and Chronicle Writing on the Medieval Frontier, 345–361; S. Vahtre. Muinasaja loojang Eestis: Vabadusvõitlus 1208–1227. Olion, Tallinn, 1990, 11–12.

44. Eph. 4:4–6: There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all things, and in all of us.

45. For example: HCL X, 14; HCL XII, 6; HCL XV, 7; HCL XIX, 8.

46. Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.43, the auctoritas is Augustine (354–430). Similarly Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.29, Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.46.

47. Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.44, the auctoritas is Gregory the Great (590–604). Similarly Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.28, Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.32

48. Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.47, the auctoritas is Augustine. Similarly Gratian. D.4 de cons. cc.25–27, Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.49, Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.50. Such a binary approach contrasts with how people themselves might have perceived their conversion in reality, see T. Jonuks, T. Kurisoo. To Be or Not to Be… a Christian: Christianisation of Estonia and the Concept of Religion. – Electronic Journal of Folklore, 2013, 55, 70. 
http://dx.doi.org/10.7592/FEJF2013.55.jonuks_kurisoo
There was certainly a difference between the sacrament of baptism, and conversion as a process, and it was also acknowledged in canon law (e.g. Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.2) but exploring this distinction remains out of the scope of this paper.

49. Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.48, the auctoritas is Augustine.

50. Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.51, the auctoritas is Bede.

51. Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.23, the auctoritas is Isidore of Seville (c.560–636). Similarly Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.24.

52. Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.30, the auctoritas is Pelagius (360–418). Similarly Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.52.

53. P. Johansen. Die Estlandliste des Liber Census Daniae. F. Wasserman, Reval; H. Hagerup, Copenhagen, 1933, 56; C. S. Jensen. Võites hingi Issandale; M. Mägi, C. S. Jensen, K. Markus, J. M. Jensen. Taanlaste ristisõda Eestis. Argo, Tallinn, 2019, 102; S. Vahtre. Muinasaja loojang, 144; A. Selart. Eestlaste kristianiseerimine. – Eesti kiriku- ja religioonilugu. Toim. R. Altnurme. Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus, Tartu, 2018, 40–41.

54. Kristjan Kaljusaar has shown that accepting baptism from ‘one faction’ did not necessarily establish permanent legal, social, and political bonds, and that many locals skilfully navigated these tender power relations; K. Kaljusaar. Exploiting the Conquerors: Socio-political Strategies of Estonian Elites During the Crusades and Christianisation, 1200–1300. – Baltic Crusades and Societal Innovation in Medieval Livonia, 55–89. 
https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004512092_004

55. HCL XXIV, 2. For a further discussion on Henry’s partiality when describing these events, see E. Eihmane. The Baltic Crusades: A Clash of Two Identities. – The Clash of Cultures on the Medieval Baltic Frontier, 39–41. 

56. Alternatively, Carsten Selch Jensen has suggested that perhaps the locals thought that there were two competing Gods with their own types of baptism, and thus the emphasis on ‘one baptism’ was especially needed, see C. S. Jensen, ‘Verbis non verberibus’: The representation of sermons in the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia, 188–189.

57. HCL XXIV, 1.

58. HCL XXIV, 5.

59. Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.21, the auctoritas is Augustine.

60. In the context of Livonia, Paul Johansen has called such baptisms “political emergency baptisms” (politische Nottaufe) to emphasise the connection between baptism and secular authority, see P. Johansen. Die Estlandliste des Liber Census Daniae, 55.

61. See for example Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.1, Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.135, the auctoritas for both is Augustine.

62. Innocent III, “Non ut apponeres” (1 March 1206) in Die Register Innocenz’ III. 9. Band: 9. Pontifikatsjahr 1206/1207. Hrsg. von A. Sommerlechner, O. Hageneder, C. Egger, H. Weigl, R. Murauer. Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna, 2004, §5, 15.

63. Innocent III, “Non ut apponeres”. 

64. Innocent III, “Non ut apponeres”.

65. X 3.42.5.

66. Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.86.

67. HCL XXIV, 5.

68. For example, Tõnno Jonuks has suggested that the concept of the Trinity was perhaps at least initially understood by Livonian neophytes as three separate gods; see T. Jonuks. Domesticating Europe – Novel Cultural Influences in the Late Iron Age Eastern Baltic. –Baltic Crusades and Societal Innovation in Medieval Livonia, 48. While there are some indications that efforts were made to introduce the local population to concepts such as the afterlife, it is likely that many other Christian ideas were not easily understood, see T. Kala. Verkündigung und Kreuzpredigt in und für Livland im 13. Jahrhundert. – Leonid Arbusow (1882–1951) und die Erforschung des mittelalterlichen Livland. Hrsg. von I. Misāns, K. Neitmann. Böhlau Verlag, Köln, 2014, 285.

69. Efforts were made to spread the knowledge of ‘proper’ words that should be used during baptism, including in local languages. The Fourth Lateran Council (1215) instructed bishops whose flock consisted of “people of different languages” to “provide suitable men” who would be able to administer sacraments – including baptism – in local languages, see: Constitution 9 of the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) in Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, Vol. 1. Ed. and trans. by N. P. Tanner. Sheed & Ward and Georgetown University Press, London, 1990, 239. In Livonia, the synod statues of Riga of 1428 explicitly instructed the priests that they should teach both men and women that, in necessity, they can and ought to baptise infants in their own language; T. Kala. Rural Society, 186; V. Stikāne. The Legal Status of Women in Livonia, 197.

70. Caesarius von Heisterbach. Libri VIII miraculorum, II. – Die Wundergeschichten des Caesarius von Heisterbach. Hrsg. von A. Hilka. Hanstein, Bonn, 1937, 18, 98–99. Marek Tamm has likewise pointed out how this miracle story allows us to trace the “ecclesiastical formalisation of Christianity” in Livonia; M. Tamm. The Livonian Crusade in Cistercian Stories of the Early Thirteenth Century. – Crusading on the Edge: Ideas and Practice of Crusading in Iberia and the Baltic Region, 1100–1500. Ed. by T. K. Nielsen, I. Fonnesberg-Schmidt. Brepols, Turnhout, 2016, 379–380. 
http://doi.org/10.1484/M.OUTREMER-EB.5.111276

71. Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.13, the auctoritas is Pope Leo I (400–461).

72. R. M. Jensen. Living Water: Images, Symbols, and Settings of Early Christian Baptism. Brill, Leiden, 2011, 140
https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004188983.i-306
E. Ferguson. Baptism in the Early Church: History, Theology, and Liturgy in the First Five Centuries. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2009, 355–357. 

73. Ferguson. Baptism in the Early Church, 770.

74. Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.127.

75. For a concise overview of methods of baptism, especially in the context of the miracle story of Caesarius of Heisterbach, see M. Tamm. Les miracles en Livonie et en Estonie à l’époque de la christianisation (fin XIIe – début XIIIe siècles). – Quotidianum Estonicum. Aspects of Daily Life in Medieval Estonia. Ed. by J. Kivimäe, J. Kreem. Medium Aevum Quotidianum, Krems, 1996, 74–75.

76. See for example Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.109, where a statute from the First Council of Arles (314) states that one should be thoroughly questioned about the manner one received baptism if it was received from a heretic, so that it could be ascertained if the baptism was valid. If there is any doubt, one should be baptised again. Likewise, Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.110 states that, according to Gregory II (misattribution, actually Gregory III (731–741)), if it is not certain whether an infant was baptised, and there is no witness to testify one way or another, he or she should be (re)baptised. Similarly Gratian. D.4 de cons. cc.111–113.

77. Alexander III, “De quibus dubium” (1159–1181) in Sacrorum concilium nova et amplissima collectio, 1. Ed. by G. D. Mansi. Florence, Venice, 1757, col. 1101; X 3.42.2. 

78. Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.11, the auctoritas is Pope Siricius (334–399). Similarly Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.12. 

79. See for example Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.16, which states that although one should normally baptise during Easter and Pentecost, those who are in the danger of death, sickness, siege, persecution, or shipwreck, can be baptised at other times as well. The auctoritas is Pope Gelasius I (492–496). Similarly Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.15, Gratian. D.4 de cons. cc.17–18.

80. See also Peter Cramer, who has argued that “over centuries, baptism lost its intrinsic ethical content, and became a formal exercise in power”, which in essence also meant that baptism and the rituals surrounding the sacrament became shortened and often simplified, resulting among other things in an understanding that infants should be baptised as soon as possible, rather than at Easter or Pentecost; P. Cramer. Baptism and Change, 137–141.

81. B. Z. Kedar. The Franks in the Levant, 11th to 14th Centuries. Variorum, London, 1992, 192; J. P. Lomax. Frederick II, His Saracens, and the Papacy. – Medieval Christian Perceptions of Islam. Ed. by J. V. Tolan. Routledge, London, 2000, 192.

82. Gregory I, “Scribendi ad fraternitatem” (June 591) in The Apostolic See and the Jews: Documents, 1. Ed. by Shlomo Simonsohn. Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, Toronto, 1988, §5, p. 4.

83. Gratian. D.45, C.5, the auctoritas is the Fourth Council of Toledo (633). This and other canons concerning the legal treatment of the Jews were not present in pre-Vulgate manuscripts of the Decretum, despite them being included in many pre-Gratian legal collections, see K. Pennington. Gratian and the Jews. – Bulletin of Medieval Canon Law, 2014, 31, 113–114. The Fourth Council of Toledo was presided over by Isidore of Seville, an influential theologian of the Early Middle Ages, who in his works had likewise explicitly forbidden forced conversion, see M. L. Colish. Faith, Fiction and Force, 242–247.

84. Innocent III, “Maiores ecclesiae” (September–October 1201) in The Church and the Jews in the Thirteenth Century: A Study of their Relations during the Years 1198–1254 (1314), based on the Papal Letters and the Conciliar Decrees of the Period, 1. Ed. and trans. by Solomon Grayzel. Hermon Press, New York, 1966, §15, 102. 

85. X 3.42.3.

86. “Forced consent is still consent” was a legal maxim that had ancient roots, see R. Helmholz. Baptism in the Medieval Canon Law. – Rechtsgeschichte. Legal History, 2013, 21, 121. 
https://doi.org/10.12946/rg21/118-127

87. HCL II, 4–5.

88. Kurt Villads Jensen has argued that while Henry of Livonia’s contemporary Saxo Grammaticus was less explicit between the distinction of forced and voluntary conversion, a close reading of his chronicle alludes to the possibility that he also might have wished to distinguish between ‘illicit’ warfare against pagans in order to convert them, and ‘licit’ warfare against apostates; see K. V. Jensen. Holy Wrath, Holy War! Baltic Wars Between Regulated Warfare and Total Annihilation Around 1200. – Church and Belief in the Middle Ages: Popes, Saints, and Crusaders. Ed. by K. Salonen, S. Katajala-Peltomaa. Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam, 2016, 234. 
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/9789048525720.012  

89. For example: HCL II, 7; HCL XVII 7. See also P. Johansen. Die Estlandliste des Liber Census Daniae, pp. 56–57; T. Kala. Rural Society, 177–178; C. Tyerman. Henry of Livonia and the Ideology of Crusading, 38. See also Burnam W. Reynolds who argues that the “baptism by treaty” indicates that the missionaries and crusaders who imposed such conditions treated baptism as an initial step in the process of conversion, as opposed to a culmination of catechumenate; B. W. Reynolds. The Prehistory of the Crusades: Missionary War and the Baltic Crusades. Bloomsbury Academic, London, 2016, 106. 
https://doi.org/10.5040/9781474211123

90. Perceiving the conversion of Livonia as forced conversion has been a typical viewpoint among historians, see for example H. Palli. Vägivaldse ristiusustamise osast eesti rahva ajaloos. – Religiooni ja ateismi ajaloost Eestis II. Toim. E. Jansen. Eesti Riiklik Kirjastus, Tallinn, 1961; E. Christiansen. The Northern Crusades. Penguin Books, London, 1997, 95; S. Vahtre, Muinasaja loojang, 172; I. Leimus. Iura christianorum, 10; S. Ghosh. Conquest, Conversion, and Heathen Customs in Henry of Livonia’s Chronicon Livoniae and Livländische Reimchronik. – Crusades, 2011, 11, 1, 93–94. 
https://doi.org/10.1080/28327861.2012.12220336
M. Ščavinskas. Forms of Coercion in Peaceful Christian Missions. – Lithuanian Historical Studies, 2011, 16. 
https://doi.org/10.30965/25386565-01601009

91. For example HCL I, 9; HCL II, 8, HCL XXVI, 8.

92. Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.1, the auctoritas is Augustine.

93. Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.13, the auctoritas is Pope Leo I.

94. Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.143, the auctoritas is Augustine.

95. Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.118, the auctoritas is Pope Felix III (483–492).

96. Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.40, the auctoritas is Augustine.

97. See for example Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.45, the auctoritas is Augustine.

98. Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.9, the auctoritas is Ambrose (340–397). Similarly Gratian. D.4 de cons. c.10.

99. For the perspective of the pagans, see T. Kala. Ristimine paganate ja kristlaste pilgu läbi. – Tuna, 2006, 3, 16–17.

100. C. S. Jensen. Võites hingi Issandale, 105–106; T. K. Nielsen. Mission and Submission, 219; E. Eihmane. The Baltic Crusades, 45.

101. Gratian D.3, de pen. c.28, the auctoritas is John Chrysostom (c.347–407). Similarly Gratian. D.1, de pen. c.54.

102. See for example HCL X, 8; HCL XVI, 4; HCL XXI, 5.

103. Gratian. D.45, c.5, the auctoritas is the Fourth Council of Toledo. While the canon originally referred to Jews, commentators on Gratian’s Decretum soon began to consider non-believers uniformly, see M. L. Colish, Faith, Fiction and Force, 283.

104. R. Rist. The Papacy and Crusading in Europe, 1198–1245. Continuum, London, 2009, 60. 
http://doi.org/10.5040/9781472599186

105. Gratian. C.23 q.4 c.37, the auctoritas is Augustine.

106. Gratian. C.23 q.4 c.38, the auctoritas is Augustine.

107. Gratian. C.23 q.5 c.35, the auctoritas is Augustine.

108. The Fourth Lateran Council (1215) included a constitution which stated that “those who freely offered themselves to the Christian religion may be kept to its observance by a salutary and necessary coercion”, see Constitution 70 of the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) in Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, 267. By this time, however, the use of force to compel apostates back to the faith was already fully utilised in Livonia.

109. HCL I, 12. The letter of Celestine III has not survived, but if Henry was correct, this papal bull meant that a peaceful mission in Livonia was converted into a crusading expedition; see B. Bombi. Celestine III and the Conversion of the Heathen on the Baltic Frontier. – Pope Celestine III (1191–1198): Diplomat and Pastor. Ed. by J. Doran, D. Smith. Ashgate, Aldershot, 2008, 153–154. 
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315246451
Iben Fonnesberg-Schmidt has additionally asserted that during the pontificate of Celestine III “the curia followed the development of the Baltic mission with great interest”, see I. Fonnesberg-Schmidt. The Popes and the Baltic Crusades, 67. This view has been contested by Carsten Selch Jensen, according to whom “we find that both types of Christianisation [i.e. by preaching and by the sword] existed side by side throughout the period [of 1185–1200]”; C. S. Jensen.
The Early Stage of Christianisation in Livonia in Modern Historical Writings and Contemporary Chronicles. – Medieval History Writing and Crusading Ideology, 212.

110. M. Tamm. How to Justify a Crusade? The Conquest of Livonia and New Crusade Rhetoric in the Early Thirteenth Century. – Journal of Medieval History, 2009, 35, 4, 440–441. 
http://doi.org/10.1080/03044181.2013.833541

111. A. Ehlers. The Crusade of the Teutonic Knights against Lithuania Reconsidered. – Crusade and Conversion on the Baltic Frontier. Ed. by A. V. Murray. Ashgate, Aldershot, 2001, 24–25. 
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315258805
K. V. Jensen. Bigger and Better: Arms Race and Change in War Technology in the Baltic in the Early Thirteenth Century. – Crusade and Conversion on the Baltic Frontier, 263; J. Riley-Smith. The Crusades: A Short History. Yale University Press, New Haven, 1990, 131–132.