State of the Teutonic Order: Difference between revisions
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|footnotes = 1. The [[Hanseatic]] cities that seceded from the Teutonic Knights in [[1440]] were [[Gdańsk|Danzig (Gdańsk)]], [[Elbląg|Elbing (Elbląg)]] and [[Toruń|Thorn (Toruń)]] |
|footnotes = 1. The [[Hanseatic]] cities that seceded from the Teutonic Knights in [[1440]] were [[Gdańsk|Danzig (Gdańsk)]], [[Elbląg|Elbing (Elbląg)]] and [[Toruń|Thorn (Toruń)]] |
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The '''monastic state of the Teutonic Knights''' ({{lang-de|Deutschordensland}}), sometimes known in English by the German term '''Ordensstaat'''<ref>{{cite book|last=France|first=John|authorlink=|title=The Crusades and the Expansion of Catholic Christendom, 1000-1714|year=2005|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|pages=380|isbn=0415371287}}</ref> ({{pronounced|ˈɔːdn̩ˌʃtɑːt}}), or "Order-State", was formed during the [[Teutonic Knights]]' conquest of [[Prussia (region)|Prussia]] and the pagan Baltic [[Old Prussians]] in the 13th century. Formed in 1224 during the [[Northern Crusades]]by the [[military order]], the [[monasticism|monastic]] state was secularized in 1525 during the [[Protestant Reformation]] and was replaced by the [[Duchy of Prussia]] in eastern [[Prussia (region)|Prussia]]. |
The '''monastic state of the Teutonic Knights''' ({{lang-de|Deutschordensland}}), sometimes known in English by the German term '''Ordensstaat'''<ref>{{cite book|last=France|first=John|authorlink=|title=The Crusades and the Expansion of Catholic Christendom, 1000-1714|year=2005|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|pages=380|isbn=0415371287}}</ref> ({{pronounced|ˈɔːdn̩ˌʃtɑːt}}), or "Order-State", was formed during the [[Teutonic Knights]]' conquest of [[Prussia (region)|Prussia]] and the pagan Baltic [[Old Prussians]] in the 13th century. Formed in 1224 during the [[Northern Crusades]] by the [[military order]], the [[monasticism|monastic]] state was secularized in 1525 during the [[Protestant Reformation]] and was replaced by the [[Duchy of Prussia]] in eastern [[Prussia (region)|Prussia]]. |
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== Background == |
== Background == |
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Revision as of 18:01, 19 February 2008
Monastic state of the Teutonic Knights Ordensstaat | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1224–1525 | |||||||||
 Coat of arms
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| Status | Independent monastic state, then a fief of Jagiellon Poland | ||||||||
| Capital | Königsberg (Kaliningrad) | ||||||||
| Religion | Roman Catholicism | ||||||||
| Government | Principality | ||||||||
| Grand Masters of the Teutonic Knights | |||||||||
| Hermann von Salza | |||||||||
| Albert of Brandenburg-Ansbach | |||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||
• Northern Crusades | 1224 | ||||||||
• Absorbed Livonia | 1237 | ||||||||
• Purchased Neumark | 1404 | ||||||||
• Hanseatic cities¹ leave, found Prussian Confed. | 1440 | ||||||||
• War of the Priests | 1467–79 | ||||||||
| 1525 | |||||||||
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1. The Hanseatic cities that seceded from the Teutonic Knights in 1440 were Danzig (Gdańsk), Elbing (Elbląg) and Thorn (Toruń) | |||||||||
The monastic state of the Teutonic Knights (German: Deutschordensland), sometimes known in English by the German term Ordensstaat[1] (IPA: [ˈɔːdn̩ˌʃtɑːt]), or "Order-State", was formed during the Teutonic Knights' conquest of Prussia and the pagan Baltic Old Prussians in the 13th century. Formed in 1224 during the Northern Crusades by the military order, the monastic state was secularized in 1525 during the Protestant Reformation and was replaced by the Duchy of Prussia in eastern Prussia.
Background
| History of Brandenburg and Prussia |
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| Present |
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Prussia withstood many attempts at conquest preceding the Teutonic Knights'. Bolesław I the Brave of Poland began the series of unsuccessful conquests when he sent Adalbert of Prague in 997. In 1147, Boleslaw IV of Poland attacked Prussia with the aid of Russian troops, but was unable to conquer it. Numerous other attempts followed, and, under Duke Konrad I of Masovia, were intensified, with large battles and crusades in 1209, 1219, 1220, and 1222.[2]
The Prussians successfully repelled the campaigns and managed to strike Konrad in retaliation. In the Prussians' attempt to sack the Polish province of Chełmno Land, the land was almost totally depopulated. Konrad, acting on the advice of Christian, first bishop of Prussia, established the Order of Dobrzyń, a small group of 15 knights. The Order, however, was soon defeated and, in reaction, Konrad called for help from the Teutonic Knights.
As a result, several edicts called for crusades against the Prussians. The crusades, involving many of Europe's knights, lasted for sixty years.
Early in 1224, Emperor Frederick II announced at Catania that Livonia, Prussia (with Sambia), and a number of neighboring provinces were Reichsfreie. This decree subordinated the provinces directly to the Roman Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire only (as opposed to being under the jurisdiction of local rulers).
At the end of 1224, Pope Honorius III announced to all Christendom the appointment of Bishop William of Modena as Papal Legate for Livonia, Prussia, and other countries.
As a result of the Imperial Bull of Rimini and the Papal Bull of Rieti, Prussia came into the Teutonic Order's possession. Under their governance, woodlands were cleared and marshlands made arable, upon which many cities and villages were founded, including Marienburg (Malbork) and Königsberg (Kaliningrad).
Further history
13th century
In 1234, the Teutonic Order assimilated the remaining members of the Order of Dobrzyń and, in 1237, the Livonian Brothers of the Sword. The assimilation of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword (established in Livonia in 1202) increased the Teutonic Order's lands with the addition of the territories known today as Latvia and Estonia.
In 1243, the Papal legate, William of Modena, divided Prussia into four bishoprics: Culmerland, Pomesania, Warmia, and Sambia. The bishoprics were ruled by the Archbishopric of Riga under the mother city of Visby on Gotland.
14th century
At the beginning of the 14th century, the neighboring region of Pomerania plunged into war with Poland and Brandenburg to the west. Brandenburg, which ruled Pomerelia (Eastern Pomerania) in the 1250s, entered into a treaty on August 8, 1305 between Brandenburg's rulers and Wenceslaus III of Bohemia, promising the March of Meissen the Bohemian crown in exchange for Pomerelia.
The city of Danzig (Gdańsk) was seized by the Teutonic Knights in November 1308, during the course of the war. The Order had been called by King Władysław I of Poland. Some historians claim that, based on the subsequent stagnation and reversal in the development of Danzig, all the inhabitants of the city, both Polish and German, were slaughtered. This massacre is, however, disputed by other historians. In September 1309, Margrave [Waldemar, Margrave of Brandenburg-Stendal|Waldemar]] of Brandenburg sold his claim to the territory to the Teutonic Order for the sum of 10,000 Marks. This marked the beginning of a series of conflicts between Poland and the Teutonic Knights, as the Order continued incorporating territories into its domains.
The Teutonic Order's possession of Danzig was disputed by the Polish kings Władysław I and Casimir the Great -- claims that led to a series of bloody wars and legal claims in the papal court in 1320 and 1333. Finally, in 1343, peace was concluded at Kalisz where the Teutonic Order agreed that Poland should rule Pomererlia as a fief and Polish kings retained the right to the title Duke of Pomerania.
15th century
In 1404 the Teutonic Order bought the Brandenburg Neumark.
In 1410, with the death of Rupert, King of the Germans, war broke out between the Teutonic Knights and a Polish-Lithuanian alliance supported by Ruthenian and Tatar auxiliary forces, in which Poland and Lithuania were the winners following their victory at the Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg). The Order assigned Heinrich von Plauen to defend Pomerania. He moved rapidly to bolster the defence of Castle Marienburg in Prussia, was elected vice-grand master and saved the Marienburg headquarters. He then became grand master and in 1411 concluded the First Treaty of Toruń with King Władysław II Jagiełło.
In March 1440, the Hanseatic cities of Danzig, Elbing (Elbląg), and Thorn (Toruń), and gentry (mainly from Culmerland) founded the Prussian Confederation with other Prussian cities to free themselves from the overlordship of the Teutonic Knights. Due to the heavy losses and costs after the Polish-Lithuanian-Teutonic War, the Teutonic Order had to raise steep taxes, but did not want to give the cities due representation. The cities asked King Casimir IV of Poland to support their revolt and incorporate Prussia into Poland (February 1454), and when he agreed, the War of the Cities or Thirteen Years' War started. The resulting Second Treaty of Toruń (October 1466) provided for the Teutonic Order's cession to the Polish crown of its rights over the western half of its territories, which became the province of Royal Prussia, the remaining part of the Order's land became a Polish fief.
16th century
During the Protestant Reformation, endemic religious upheavals and wars occurred, and in 1525, in the aftermath of the Polish-Teutonic War (1519-1521), the last Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, Albert of Brandenburg-Ansbach, a member of a cadet branch of the House of Hohenzollern, resigned his position, adopted the Lutheran faith and assumed the title of "Duke of Prussia." In a deal partially brokered by Martin Luther, the Duchy of Prussia became the first Protestant state. Albert's submission to Poland is known as the 'Prussian Homage'. The Habsburg-led Holy Roman Empire continued holding a claim on Prussia and furnished grand masters, titular administrators of Prussia. In 1618 the Duchy of Prussia passed to the senior Hohenzollern branch, the ruling margraves of Brandenburg whose descendants became the Kings of Prussia in the 18th century.
See also
References
- ^ France, John (2005). The Crusades and the Expansion of Catholic Christendom, 1000-1714. New York: Routledge. p. 380. ISBN 0415371287.
- ^ Corwin, Edward Henry Lewinski, The Political History of Poland. 1917, The Polish Book Importing Company p45.
External links
- Ordensland.de: cities, castles and landscapes of the Teutonic Knights Template:De icon