Place · city

Piltene

Also known as Pilten

Piltene, in German Pilten, is a small town on the Venta river in Kurzeme, western Latvia. Its castle was a residence of the bishops of Courland. After the bishopric was sold to Denmark in 1559, Magnus of Holstein ruled from it and died there in 1583, and the surrounding District of Pilten remained a separate territory under the Polish crown until 1795.

Piltene
Image: original download by Kikos, transferred to the Commons by Furfur · CC BY-SA 3.0 de · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 3 state histories

Bishopric of CourlandKingdom of LivoniaDistrict of Pilten

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Piltene. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/piltene
MLA
“Piltene.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/piltene. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Piltene.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/piltene.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Piltene’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/piltene (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻