It was the first capital of the catholic bishopric of Livonia, known by the German name of �xk�ll. Saint Meinhard, known from the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia, was the first bishop of �xk�ll. In 1197 Berthold of Hanover, a Cistercian abbot of Loccum, was made the second bishop of �xk�ll. Those days the town was the center of the upcoming crusading activities in the Livonian area. Bishop Berthold moved the episcopal see to Riga, but was killed by the Livs in battle. Ik�?ile is one of the oldest Latvian populated counties, which can be seen by an ancient burial ground in today's rural areas of Ik�?ile. The coast by the Daugava river has held a Livonian village on this site as far back as the 9th - 12th century.
The word Ik�?ile (or the German Uexk�ll) comes from the meaning of (Finno-Ugrian) Livonian word �ksk�l (�ksk�la in Estonian). �ksk�l (�ks = one, k�l = village) means simply just "village number one", or "the first [German] village"
