The "Russian threat" in the Livonian Order's documentation from the 80s and early 90s of the 15th century

Based on the official correspondence of the Livonian Order's leaders from the Secret State Archive of the Prussian Cultural Heritage (Geheimes Staatsarchiv preu ss ischer Kulturbesitz) in Berlin, the author argues that the appeal of the Livonian Masters to the idea of "Russian threat" in the 80s and early 90s of the 15th century depended not on the character of Russo-Livonian relations, but on the internal political situation in Livonia, which was extremely destabilized by the fight of the Livonian Landsherrs for redistribution of power within the Livonian Confederation. The Order's discourse of the "Russian threat" had pure pragmatic connotations and was used to legitimize the Livonian masters' policy aimed at subordination of the Livonian bishops and incorporation of their land into the Order State. For this reason, the presence of this idea in the Order's documents can not be attributed to the presence of the expansionist ambitions among the Livonian Order's leaders.