Põlva was an old military crossroad between the north and south of Livonia. Around 1240, shortly after the Christianization of Estonia, the Bernardine monks built a church, which they dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The church was subordinate to the Bishopric of Dorpat. The same parish was the result of the Livonian War under Russian domination in the 16th century. In 1582 it became part of Dorpat Voivodeship under Polish sovereignty, and later it belonged to Sweden. In 1721, in the Treaty of Nystad, Estonia and Livonia were then ceded to Russia. Then Põlva and its church parish belonged first to Tartu County and from 1783 to newly established Võru County, part of the Governorate of Livonia.