From the first Catholic mission to the River Daugava around the year 1185 the process of state formation proved complex and difficult. The missionary bishopric at Üxküll and Riga aspired to independent power and authority, but it was dependent (at first) in ecclesiastical terms on the archbishopric of Hamburg-Bremen, and for military support, on the Order of the Sword Brothers. These powers competed with the Danish and Swedish monarchies, while the wider political situation was complicated by the papacy giving sometimes conflicting privileges to competing powers. The period up to 1260 saw a bewildering number of shifts of control of different areas until the establishment of a more stable situation in which the entire territory of Livonia was divided between six bishoprics, the kingdom of Denmark and the Teutonic Order. This paper will discuss some of the key turning points in this history and explore some of the potential outcomes that were never realised.