Principality of Smolensk
Albert tended to Riga's ecclesiastical life, consecrating the Dom Cathedral, building St. Jacob's Church for the Livonians' use, outside the city wall, and founding a parochial school at the Church of St. George, all in 1226. He also vindicated his earlier losses, conquering Oesel in 1227 (the concluding event of the "Chronicle"), and saw the solidification of his early gains as the city of Riga concluded a treaty with the Principality of Smolensk giving Polotsk to Riga. Albert died in January 1229. While he failed his aspiration to be anointed archbishop the German hegemony he established over the Baltics would last for seven centuries.