chiefdom · Scandinavia and the Baltic

Idumea

1100 CE – 1206 CE (approx.)

Small Livonian-Latgalian district in northern Latvia where the chronicler Henry of Livonia served as a parish priest.

Origins

Idumea lay north of the Gauja river, between the Liv lands of Turaida and Metsepole and the Latgalian land of Tālava. Its population was mixed Livonian and Latgalian, and it appears in Henry of Livonia's chronicle in the early 13th century.

Rule and society

Its people lived in small farming communities under local elders. After the Germans arrived they accepted baptism, and Henry himself, the author of the chronicle, was ordained and served as priest among the Idumeans from about 1208.

Decline and legacy

Idumea came under the bishop of Riga around 1206 and became part of the Archbishopric of Riga and Terra Mariana. Its people were absorbed into the Latvian population.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

Connections (1)

More states of Scandinavia and the Baltic →

Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Idumea. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/idumea
MLA
“Idumea.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/idumea. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Idumea.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/idumea.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Idumea’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/idumea (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻