SINCONA Auction 84

Description

Silver medal 1710, 51.35 g. On the Conquest of Livland. Dies by T. Ivanov. Laureate and armored bust to right in a mantle. Rv. Hercules wearing a lion skin holds a globe. Probably struck in the 19th century. 47.1 mm. Diakov 38.6 (R1). Rare. Extremely fine. Nicely toned.

With the Capitulation of Estonia and Livonia in 1710 the Swedish dominions Estonia and Livonia were integrated into the Russian Empire following their conquest during the Great Northern War. The Livonian nobility and the city of Riga capitulated on 15 July 1710 , Pernau (Pärnu) in August, and the Estonian nobility and the city of Reval (Tallinn) on 10 October. Russia left the local institutions in place and confirmed the traditional privileges of the German nobles and burghers as was established in Privilegium Sigismundi Augusti, especially with respect to the Protestant faith. The land reform of the so-called reduction which had been introduced by the Swedish king Charles XI, and transformed many serfs to subjects of the Crown, was reversed.