Notes :

⁽¹⁾The Daugava is a river in Europe that originates in Russia, near the small town of Andreapol, in the Valdai National Park, almost halfway between Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Over 1,000 km long, the river flows into the Baltic Sea in the Gulf of Riga.

⁽²⁾The Livs or Livonians are a Finno-Ugric people who settled around the Gulf of Riga, probably as early as a thousand years before Christ.

⁽³⁾Polotsk, a city in present-day Belarus, was the seat of a principality that existed between the 9^th and 14^th centuries. It is also sometimes referred to as Polotsk Rus' and became completely dependent on Kievan Rus' at the end of the 10^th century. During the 13^th century, the principality resisted Mongol incursions as best it could, but, greatly weakened, it requested the protection of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1240 and became its vassal. In 1307, the territory of the principality was fully integrated into that of the Grand Duchy and ceased to exist as an independent entity.

⁽⁴⁾Albert von Buxhoeveden was probably born around 1165 and died in Riga in January 1229. He came from a Saxon family of ministers from the village of Buxhoeveden (Bexhövede) in Lower Saxony. He was the son of Albert I of Buxhoeveden and Adelheid von Uthlede. Little is known about his early life, but he is mentioned as a canon in Bremen when his uncle, Hartwig von Uthlede, Prince-Elector and Archbishop of Bremen, appointed him Bishop of Livonia in 1199. He travelled to his new domain in the spring of 1200. In 1201, he began building a city on the site of a Livonian settlement at the confluence of the small Ridzene River and the Daugava River. This settlement would henceforth be called Riga. In 1202, with the Pope's consent, he founded the Order of the Brothers of the Sword of Riga. Around 1215, he declared his bishopric independent from that of Bremen. He died in 1229.

⁽⁵⁾Konrad, Baron of Ükskül (Ikškile), was originally from the town of Meyendorf, located in the state of Saxony-Anhalt in Germany. Little is known about his life before he joined the entourage of Bishop Albert von Buxhoeveden, who made him his vassal and entrusted him with Ükskül Castle (Ikškile), located about 30 km south-east of Riga on the banks of the Daugava River. Around 1220, he married the daughter of Visvaldis, the Latgalian prince of Jerzika, who had just submitted to the bishop. He appears in records for the last time in 1224.

⁽⁶⁾Vetseke (or Vesceke, Vyachko) was ruler of Koknese and Tērbata. He made peace with Albert, Bishop of Riga, in 1205. In 1208, he burned down Koknese Castle and fled to Russia.

⁽⁷⁾Henry of Livonia, also known as Henry the Latvian. He was born in Magdeburg, Germany, around 1187 and died in 1259. He arrived in Riga around 1205 and quickly became a Livonian interpreter. He was ordained a priest in 1208 by Bishop Albert of Buxhoeveden. In 1215, he travelled to Rome and participated in the Fourth Lateran Council. He then went to Germany and returned to Riga in 1224, when Bishop Albert asked him to write a chronicle, the "Heinrici Cronicon Lyvoniae". This chronicle recounts the events from 1186 to 1226 and is the main source of information on the conquest of Livonia by the Brothers of the Sword and the founding of the Teutonic State.