Sēlpils or Sēļpils or Selpils ' onMouseout='HidePop("46859")' href="/topics/Selonians">Selonians

Selonians

Selonians were a tribe of Baltic peoples. The Selonians lived until the 15th century in Selonia, located in southeastern Latvia and northeastern Lithuania. They merged with neighbouring tribes, contributing to the ethnogenesis of Latvians and Lithuanians....

," German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

: Selburg) was the military and political center of ancient Selonia

Selonia

Selonia , also known as Augšzeme , is a cultural region of Latvia encompassing the eastern part of the historical region of Semigallia...

, a Baltic

Balts

The Balts or Baltic peoples , defined as speakers of one of the Baltic languages, a branch of the Indo-European language family, are descended from a group of Indo-European tribes who settled the area between the Jutland peninsula in the west and Moscow, Oka and Volga rivers basins in the east...

 land that lay in what is now northern Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

 and in southern Latvia

Latvia

Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

 east of the Semigallian

Semigallians

Semigallians were the Baltic tribe that lived in the southcentral part of contemporary Latvia and northern Lithuania...

 lands and mostly on the left bank of the Daugava river.

Archaeological evidence shows that Sēlpils, 17 km northwest of modern Jēkabpils

Jekabpils

Jēkabpils is a city in Selonia, Latvia roughly halfway between Riga and Daugavpils. The Daugava River runs through the town, and the ancient valley, branches, and islands of the river are considered picturesque...

, was a major settlement between the 10th and 13th centuries. Used as a base for raids by the Selonians and their Lithuanian

Lithuanians

Lithuanians are the Baltic ethnic group native to Lithuania, where they number around 2,765,600 people. Another million or more make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the United States, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Russia, United Kingdom and Ireland. Their native language...

 allies into Latgalian

Latgalians

The term Latgalians The term Latgalians The term Latgalians (Latgalian: latgalīši, latgali, (also spelt Latgallians and sometimes known as Lettigalls, Latgolans, or Lettigallians) can refer to the inhabitants of the Latgale region in eastern Latvia in general, the ethnic Latvians of Latgale...

 and Livonian lands, Sēlpils was first mentioned in the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia

Chronicle of Henry of Livonia

The Livonian Chronicle of Henry is a document describing historic events in Livonia and surrounding areas from 1180 to 1227. Apart from the few references in the Primary Chronicle compiled in Kievan Rus' in the twelfth century, it is the oldest known written document about the history of these...

, which describes its capture by the Livonian Order

Livonian Brothers of the Sword

The Livonian Brothers of the Sword were a military order founded by Bishop Albert of Riga in 1202. Pope Innocent III sanctioned the establishment in 1204. The membership of the order comprised German "warrior monks"...

 and their Christianized

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

 ethnic Livonian allies in 1208. Sēlpils was briefly the seat of a Selonian diocese

Diocese

A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...

 (1218–1226), and then came under the rule of the Livonian Order, which constructed fortifications there for the Advocate of the Order. These were destroyed by the Swedes

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 in 1704, during the Great Northern War

Great Northern War

The Great Northern War was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in northern Central Europe and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swedish alliance were Peter I the Great of Russia, Frederick IV of...

, and only traces of the foundations are visible at the site today.