At the beginning of the twelfth century, Bremen merchants visited the Baltic coast of Russia and established small landing-places and villages. One of these was called Dalen, another Holm, a third Ikskul. The latter was on the Dvina about twenty-five miles from its mouth, and was simply the native village of Ikeskola; here the Germans built a small fort with a warehouse. They knew well that this coast belonged to Russia, and was a part of the Polotsk principality, and their thought was how to get possession of it. To Vladimir, Prince of Polotsk, came one day a man of God, an old monk, Meinhardt by name. He had, he said, devoted all his life to God, and, being in the Polotsk country, wished to work for God there. He thought it his duty to bow down before Vladimir, who held all that region of the Dvina, and to beg permission to preach the word of God among the pagan tribes of the Baltic coast. Vladimir received him kindly and gave the desired permission. Ten years passed. Suddenly it was announced throughout the Polotsk principality that the Kors and Livs were attacking the Germans. In the course of those ten years wonderful things had happened. When the monk Meinhardt went from Prince Vladimir to Ikeskola with a greeting from the prince, the people listened to his words willingly; he was himself astonished at the success of his preaching. His flock increased rapidly. People came from far and near to be baptized; they came by families and then by whole villages. He built a church in Ikeskola and one also in Holm. But, strangely enough, this monk knew how to build fortresses. Besides being a spiritual leader, he was a warrior of much skill. During his first winter in the country, 1186–1187, Ikeskola was attacked by a neighboring tribe. Meinhardt armed his spiritual children with clubs and axes, and set out against the enemy. He made an ambush and gained a great victory. After that, conversion went on still more rapidly. The monk meanwhile persuaded the people to build a stone fortress. He brought in German masons and mechanics, and the following summer he built two large castles with towers, in fact regular fortresses, at Ikeskola and Holm. Besides merchants and mechanics, warriors began to appear in the country, and Meinhardt invited in Latin monks to assist him in his spiritual labors. He sent one of these monks, Dietrich, to convert people in the neighborhood of Aa River. This man was acquainted with medicinal plants and could heal the sick; but he was greatly disliked. The people were suspicious of him. Finally he was seized and condemned to be burned alive, but his life was spared through soothsaying. Before burning him, the people placed a spear on the ground and led a horse up to it; the horse crossed it with the “foot of life.” The people would not believe, they demanded a second trial; the result was the same. They freed the monk, and thereafter Meinhardt kept him near his person,—not as a preacher, but as an adviser.