Livonian Confederation in the context of "State of the Teutonic Order"

The Livonian Order was an autonomous branch of the Teutonic Order,formed in 1237. From 1435 to 1561, it was a member of the "Livonian Confederation".

The history of Estonia forms a part of the history of Europe. Human settlement in what is now Estonia became possible 13,000–11,000 years ago, after the ice from the last glacial era had melted, and signs of the first permanent population in the region date from around 9000 BC.

The medieval indigenous population of Estonia was one of the last pagan civilisations in Europe to adopt Christianity following the Northern Crusades in the 13th century. After the crusaders had conquered the area by 1227, Estonia was first ruled by the King of Denmark in the north (until 1345), and then until 1559 by the Teutonic Order, and by the ecclesiastical states of the Holy Roman Empire, which from 1418 to 1562 covered the whole of Estonia, forming a part of the Livonian Confederation. After 1559, Estonia became part of the Kingdom of Sweden until 1710, when the Tsardom of Russia (Muscovy) conquered the entire area during the Great Northern War of 1700–1721. Throughout this period the local German-speaking nobility enjoyed significant autonomy, and High German (earlier also Low German and Latin) served as the main language of administration and education.

The Livonian War (1558–1583) concerned control of Old Livonia (in the territory of present-day Estonia and Latvia). The Tsardom of Russia faced a varying coalition of the Dano-Norwegian Realm, the Kingdom of Sweden, and the Union (later Commonwealth) of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland.

From 1558 to 1578, Russia dominated the region with early military successes at Dorpat (Tartu) and Narva. The Russian dissolution of the Livonian Confederation brought Poland–Lithuania into the conflict, and Sweden and Denmark-Norway intervened between 1559 and 1561. Swedish Estonia was established despite constant invasion from Russia, and Frederick II of Denmark-Norway bought the old Bishopric of Ösel–Wiek, which he placed under the control of his brother Magnus of Holstein. Magnus attempted to expand his Livonian holdings to establish the Russian vassal state, the Kingdom of Livonia, which nominally existed until his defection in 1576.

The Treaty of Vilnius was concluded on 28 November 1561, during the Livonian War, between the Livonian Confederation and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in Vilnius. With the treaty, the non-Danish and non-Swedish part of Livonia, with the exception of the Free imperial city of Riga, subjected itself to the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Sigismund II Augustus with the Pacta subiectionis (Provisio ducalis). In turn, Sigismund granted protection from the Tsardom of Russia and confirmed the Livonian estates' traditional privileges, laid out in the Privilegium Sigismundi Augusti.

The secularization of the Livonian Order was the "final act" in Livonia's transition from the Middle Ages to the Early Modern era. The territories were re-organized in the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia and the Duchy of Livonia, the latter competing with the Kingdom of Livonia during the war. After its reconquest, Sigismund's successor Stephen Báthory ignored the privileges of 1561, granted a new constitution and initiated Counter-Reformation. These measures were reversed after the Swedish conquest. When after a further series of wars Livonia capitulated to Russia in 1710, the Privilegium Sigismundi Augusti was confirmed by Peter the Great.