(This is an abridged fragment of Henryk Samsonowicz Krzyżacy [1988]. The translation and the choice of images are mine).
Wojcech Kossak Teutonic Knights’ apostolate, 1909
In mid-fifteenth century, the reorientation in the Teutonic Order’s policy towards neighbouring states from being offensive to defensive coincided with new trends in the economic and social history of Europe.
The emergence of manufactories and the domestic system of production was associated with a growing demand for raw materials supplied by eastern Europe. The new forms of trade were based on free exchange rather than on rationing based on state-sanctioned privileges. Crisscrossing the Baltic Sea, the Dutch and English traders established direct contacts with producers. The latter were also interested in bypassing the state monopoly and intermediaries. These new forms of trade led to conflicts between the subjects and rulers in the State of Teutonic Order, deepened by the foreign origin of the “Prussian lords”. (The order represented the interests of the knights coming from central and upper Germany). The local nobility was not generally allowed to participate in assemblies, and their access to benefits provided by the state was quite limited.
The gap between the inhabitants of Prussia and the Order was widening not only due to economic reasons but also because of the changing character of the Order which was increasingly becoming a foreign body in the local society. Impoverished German knights who tried to join the Order were bitterly disappointed when the Order could not accept all the candidates. They often complained: “So what is the Order actually for, if it cannot be a hospital and a shelter for the nobility?” The rationale for the Order’s existence seemed particularly questionable for the local nobility because of rising costs of maintaining the newcomers and diminishing benefits from having a state which could no longer launch “crusades” against infidels.
Growing conflicts between the estates of the realm led to the establishment of the so-called Prussian Confederation in 1440. There was nothing exceptional about the creation of the confederation; numerous similar unions and confederations arose in Europe at that time as local organisations tried to defend local privileges, guard economic interests, and combat robberies and anarchy more effectively than the state authorities. In Prussia, the confederation was formed by the inhabitants of two cities, Thorn and Kulm, and the knights of the most economically developed Kulmerland.
Typically for such unions, its form was partly modelled on the forms of similar unions in Hanseatic towns. The brief of foundation of the confederation declared not only loyalty to the grand master, but also assistance to the authorities in removing various deficiencies in public life. Among new postulates, there were only demands for a change in the ecclesiastical justice system by making it – at least partly – dependent on secular officials. In reality, much more important matters were at stake, namely the participation of the Prussian society in government and greater access to material benefits. Quite soon, other cities began to join the confederation – such as Danzig, Elbing, Osterode – as well as the knights in Pomerania, Ermland and partly in Pomesania.
The confederation included representatives of the upper classes, the city patriciate, land notables, some of the so-called free Prussians and even ordinary commoners. It was formed at a time when, after a number of military defeats, the Order entered into a peace agreement with Poland. Under the pressure from its subjects, the Order was forced to agree to a clause on freedom of trade routes. Internal disagreements within the Order led the Grand Master Paul von Rusdorf to resign from his position. His successor from 1441, Konrad von Erlichshausen, was an excellent diplomat. He united his subjects and, by skilfully using the conflicting interests of knights and cities, he rebuilt the weakened position of the Order. However, this was the last attempt at effective reforms.
His nephew and successor from 1450, Ludwig von Erlichshausen, represented the group which demanded stronger central power and the breakup of the Prussian Confederation. The Grand Master was supported in his plans not only by energetic commanders, but also by bishops threatened in their dominions. He arranged the arrival of a papal legate, whose role was to force the confederation to suspend its activities. The mission was counterproductive. The threatened confederation consolidated its ranks, and its case gained international importance. The growing internal tensions caused the interference of neighbouring countries of Poland, Sweden and Brandenburg. The disputes were brought before the court of Emperor Frederick III who issued in 1453 a verdict condemning the confederation and ordered its dissolution. Resistance was to be met with severe repression. An armed conflict became inevitable.
The confederation considered Poland as its only reliable ally. At core of the conflict was not even the traditional resentment between Cracow and Marienburg. Rising volumes of trade between Pomerania and its Vistula hinterland, and family and property contacts led to the development of strong ties between Prussia and Poland. At the same time, privileges obtained by the Polish nobility, such as property rights, personal immunity, the division of executive and judicial powers, broad prerogatives of local conventions, and favourable tax and military regulations created an attractive model of power relations between the rulers and the ruled. For Prussian cities, decentralisation of power in Poland was particularly alluring and even the weakness of Polish cities was not perceived as a warning sign. At the beginning of 1454, the confederation sent a delegation to Cracow, asking King Casimir Jagiellon to unite Prussia and Poland in personal union. Just a few days earlier, the confederation renounced allegiance to the Grand Master and captured – without special difficulties – the Teutonic castles in most Prussian cities. King Casimir issued an act incorporating Prussia to the Polish Crown, granting his new subjects numerous privileges regarding local government, the right to participate in the election of the king, and abolishing various regulations that were in place in Prussia.
The war that subsequently broke out lasted almost 13 years, until the autumn of 1466. As an international institution, the Order was initially able to withstand the attack, its foreign bases remaining intact. Other factors were also important. The military strength of the Polish army and the insurgents was not of the first order. New developments in the art of war favoured well-trained mercenaries who knew how to use small arms, were disciplined and led by competent commanders. In the first stage of the war, Poles suffered severe defeats in the field (including at Konitz in 1454), which enabled the Teutonic Knights to recapture some of the lost castles and cities. The war dragged on although the strategic initiative was on the Polish side. The latter could even afford to disregard the papal interdict cast on Prussian towns. At that time, the Jagiellonian monarchy was a significant power in Europe. Its human and economic potential was already greater than that of the Teutonic Knights. Generous privileges granted to the Polish nobility in Nieszawa and to Prussian cities in 1457 were instrumental in a rise in support of a significant part of the Polish society for the idea of uniting Prussia with Poland.
The effects of these developments became evident in the second phase of the war. Unpaid troops of mercenaries hired by the Teutonic Order switched to the Polish side, while the funds raised by the Prussian cities allowed the king to buy the castles of the Order from mercenaries (including Marienburg) and to organise his own mercenary army. The Polish victory at Schwetzin in 1462 and the victory of the fleet of Prussian cities at sea in 1463 tilted the scales of war in favour of Poland. With great exhaustion of both sides, amid papal mediation, peace was concluded in 1466. Uder the terms of the treaty, the Order lost Danzig with Pomerelia, Kulmerland and Ermland. The rest of Prussia remained under the authority of the Order (with the new capital in Königsberg), but subordinate to the Polish Crown.(the New March was transferred by the Teutonic Knights to Brandenburg in in 1454). The treaty imposed numerous obligations on the Order, including the oath of allegiance of the grand master to the Polish king, taking part in the royal council, and providing military assistance. Poles were to be admitted to the Order (this clause was never put into operation). The war that ruined the Order’s treasury deprived it of the most economically developed lands.
Jan Matejko Prussian homage, 1882
During the conflict, the Order’s foreign balivats became practically independent, having different interests from their Prussian branch. The order ceased to be international and became Prussian. Its continued existence became problematic. The Order tried but failed in its efforts to abolish or relax the terms of the Thorn Treaty. The last two grand masters, Friedrich of Saxony and Albrecht of Brandenburg, were elected on the basis of agreements and negotiations aimed at strengthening the Order on the international scene. Another war with Poland was waged between 1519-1521. The Order was again defeated as Poland was at the height of its power at the time. The war, which almost led to the occupation of all Prussia by the Poles, forced Albrecht to look for a new solution.
The Prussian case was then part of great politics in central Europe. At that time, the Jagiellonians also ruled in Lithuania, Bohemia and Hungary. They were allies of Francis I, who then conquered Italy. At the same time, however, the rival Habsburgs formed alliances with Russia. The crisis within the Catholic church encouraged Albrecht to make a surprising decision of adopting the new teachings of Martin Luther, spreading then rapidly in Europe. Albrecht dissolved the Order in Prussia, became the secular prince of the first Protestant state in the world and paid homage to the Polish king Sigismund I in 1525. The majority of his subjects and religious knights supported Albrecht’s decisions. The Livonian branch of the Teutonic Knights also opted for secularisation in 1561, when it was threatened simultaneously by Russia, Sweden, Denmark and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Remnants of the Order in Germany sought salvation from oblivion under the protection of the Habsburgs. The Order still exists although it renounced military activity in 1924. The Grand Master resides to this day in Vienna, and the Order, apart from religious activities, conducts a cultural mission and research of its own past. However, the historic role of the knights’ order ended in the sixteenth century when its knightly ethos became anachronistic. The fall of the Order was the result of a change in attitudes, values and ideas. However, the state created by the Order was strong enough to metamorphose into a new, secular polity without which it would not have been possible to build modern Prussia, which left its such a significant mark on the history of Europe.
