Albert headed the armed forces that forcibly converted the eastern Baltic region to Catholic faith, in the nature of a crusade that was undertaken while the Fourth Crusade was sacking Constantinople. Albert was born in Bexhövede, a part of Loxstedt. He and his brother Hermann were members of the powerful Buxhoeveden family from Bexhövede, now a part of Loxstedt, Lower Saxony. Because of this he has also been known as Albert of Buxhoeveden (or Bexhövede, Buxhövden, Buxhöwde, Buxthoeven, Appeldern).