ABSTRACT
The Livonian Rhymed Chronicle, or, to give the work its German title, Livlan-dische Reimchronik, is one of the most important sources for the history of the crusade in the eastern Baltic lands prior to 1300. It is the oldest surviving example of Deutschordensliteratur, that is, literature of the Teutonic Order, and has usually been assumed to have been composed by a member of the Order. The Rhymed Chronicle survived into the nineteenth century in two complete manuscripts. The Rhymed Chronicle ends with an account of the conquest and destruction of Semgallia and expulsion of its surviving population by the Teutonic Knights. A final indication of the chronicle's generic affiliations is given by vocabulary, which can be seen from an analysis of the semantic field for the concept, 'warrior'. In the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle about a third of occurrences of ritter are in the combination gotes ritter, which carries the restricted meaning 'Sword Brother' or 'Knight of the Teutonic Order'.
