 After the defeat of Estonians and Osilians in 1227, the Curonians were confronted by Lithuanian enemies in the east and south, and harassed by the Livonian Brothers of the Sword from the north; in the west, on the sea-shore, their arch-enemies, the Danes and Swedes, were lurking, waiting for opportunity.In this hopeless situation, further aggravated by a famine, the Curonians preferred to try to make peace with the Christian conquerors, inviting the monks into their country thereby escaping attacks by the Scandinavian nations.In 1230 the Curonians in the northern part of Courland, under their ruler ("rex") , signed a peace treaty with the Germans, and the lands they inhabited thus became to be known as "Vredecuronia" or "Peace Courland".