Peter von Biron
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Peter von Biron was the last Duke of Courland and Semigallia, from 1769 to 1795.
Jesters of empress Anna Ioannovna. Duke Peter is sitting in the middle in a blue suit with a stick. Painting by Valery Jacobi (1872)
Duchy of Courland and Semigallia
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The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia was a duchy in the Baltic region, then known as Livonia, that existed from 1561 to 1569 as a nominally vassal state of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and subsequently made part of the Crown of the Polish Kingdom from 1569 to 1726 and incorporated into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1726. On March 28, 1795, it was annexed by the Russian Empire in the Third Partition of Poland.
Double-Denar with monogram of Grand Duke Stephen Báthory and the coat of arms of Lithuania, minted in Mitau, 1578
Coin of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia with portrait of Ernst Johann von Biron, coat of arms of Poland and the coat of arms of Lithuania, 1764
Jelgava Palace, the main residence of the dukes
Image: Gotthard Kettler