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Albrecht of brandenburg, Grandmaster of the Teutonic Knights becomes a protestant duke of Prussia

This week we will talk about the end of the rule of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia. Instead of a land ruled by a chivalric order answering to the pope, Prussia became a secular state, ruled by a protestant prince and run by a newly created class of land-owners, the famous Prussian Junkers whose impact on German history stretched well into the 20th century.

But the conversion of the last Grand Master and his submission to the Polish crown wasn’t the end of the order. In fact the order still exists to this day, though on a fundamentally different form, which is another fascinating history we will explore in this episode. 

TRANSCRIPT

Hello and welcome to the History of the Germans: Episode 137 – The Conversion

This week we will talk about the end of the rule of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia. Instead of a land ruled by a chivalric order answering to the pope, Prussia became a secular state, ruled by a protestant prince and run by a newly created class of land-owners, the famous Prussian Junkers whose impact on German history stretched well into the 20th century.

But the conversion of the last Grand Master and his submission to the Polish crown wasn’t the end of the order. In fact the order still exists to this day, though on a fundamentally different form, which is another fascinating history we will explore in this episode. 

But before we start a big thank you to our supporters who have signed up on patreon.com/history of the Germans and or have made a generous one-time contribution at historyofthegermans.com/support. And this week I want to acknowledge James H. S., Oliver K., cole P., Flouritz and Dominique who have already signed up!.

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Last week we left the scene in 1466 when grand master Ludwig von Erlichshausen signed the second peace of Thorn bringing an end to devastating 13 years war. At the end of the conflict Prussia was divided into two parts. Royal Prussia that comprised the old Polish duchy of Pomerelia and Western Prussia and then the order’s state of east Prussia with its capital at Koenigsberg, modern day Kaliningrad. Royal Prussia, as the name indicates was ruled by the king of Poland whilst East Prussia was all that was left of the order’s territory in Prussia.

Eastern Prussia was by far the poorer part. The great centers of Gdansk, Elblag and Torun were lost to the order and with it the trade along the Vistula River that connected the rich agricultural lands and mineral wealth of central Europe to the Baltic.

The agricultural surplus such as it was was exported either via Koenigsberg, or the busy harbors of Gdansk and Elblag. Apart from grain and wood, the other main export was the oldest product of the region, amber on which the order still retained a de-facto monopoly.

The Second peace of Thorn did not only result in a material change in territory, but also in a change in status. Up to 1466 the order in Prussia managed to stay fairly independent. Based on the Golden Bull of Rimini and the papal letter from 1234 the grand master was both an imperial prince and an immediate vassal of the pope. They had also some sort of link to the Polish crown as Konrad of Masovia had given them the Kulmer land on terms that the order argued was full independence and Polish chroniclers claim included some for of vassalage. It is likely that the order liked to keep things vague, because having multiple masters meant they had none.

In 1466 Ludwig von Erlichshausen was forced to swear an oath of allegiance to the king of Poland and he had to further promise that from now on at least half of the new recruits into the order were Poles. This latter provision ended up being unenforceable due to the resistance within the order and the reluctance of the Polish nobility to join. And on the former, the vassalage to the polish crown, each grand master following Ludwig von Erlichshausen tried to wriggle out of.

The war had also brought significant social change to east Prussia. As we said before, the state of the order had tried to hold on to most of the land and castles for itself and restricted the creation of a local aristocracy. And that was particularly the case in east Prussia where the nobles such as they existed were either descendants of the leadership of the Old Prussian tribes or former settlers who made good. During the 13 years war a new nobility appeared in Prussia. These were the mercenary commanders the grand master had been unable to pay. So instead of gold coin, they were given land, either land of the order or land taken from the local nobility that had sided with the Prussian League. Some of the more famous names amongst the East Prussian nobility like the von Dohna, von Eulenburg, von Schlieben, von Lehndorff came into Prussia during this period. These new landowners weren’t tied to the order and its ancient ways of working. In particular they had no qualms pushing the formerly fee peasants into a dependency to the local lord that was on the verge of turning into actual serfdom. Given how weak the grand master had become, there was little he could do to stop them.

And the order itself began to fracture. The Komturs, the senior officers and the heads of the castle convents began to treat their estates as if they were their own. They refused to pass on their profits to the headquarters in Koenigsberg. One of them zeven became a pirate who menaced Hanse shipping and could only be stopped when the Garnd master raised an army and stormed his castle at Memel. Those who did not act so blatantly still demanded to be treated like magnates within the state and get a seat in the Landrat, the representation of the estates of Prussia alongside the bishops, cities and nobles.

The grand master’s income was limited to the manors linked directly to Koenigsberg. Which meant any major investment, war or action of any kind required the consent of the various estates represented in the Landrat.

And then there was the bishopric of Ermland. The bishops of Ermland always had a more independent position than the other three bishoprics and as we heard last week had become neutral in the latter stages of the 13 years war which was another nail in the coffin of the order’s struggle. In the peace of Thorn, the bishop too had accepted vassalage to the King of Poland. But his diocese was made part of Royal Prussia rather than east Prussia. The problem with that was that Ermland sits right in the middle of East Prussia.

So unsurprisingly the conflict between the order and Poland resumes with Ermland. When the bishopric becomes vacant in 1467 the chapter elects Nikolaus von Thungen as bishop. King Kasimir of Poland does not like von Thungen, rejects his appointment and puts someone else in place. At which point the pope gets involved and insists on von Thungen. Von Thungen cannot get to Ermland and has to take refuge in Riga, from where he tries to build an alliance in support for his claim. He finds a sponsor in the form of the king of Hungary who pays for an army that captures some of Ermland on the bishop’s behalf. In 1477 the grand master feels that things have moved on sufficiently that he joins the fight. And since he was now at war with Poland anyway, he rescinds his vassalage to the King of Poland. At which point the Poles come down with a sizeable army. The usual burning and pillaging ensue though the Poles fail to take any of the major cities. However, the grand master’s resources are quickly exhausted, and the king of Hungary withdraws his support. So, another war ends with a defeat for the order. Ermland returns under Polish control and the grand master is made to bend the knee again.

The whole ramshackle structure limps on for another 20 years until the Grand Master Johann von Tiefen suggests a way out. So far, the members of the order and its grand masters had been recruited mainly from the lower nobility of the empire. There were the occasional grand masters from the princely houses but all of them had joined the order as simple knights and had worked their way through the ranks. The downside of this process was that none of the magnates of the empire had a personal relationship with the order. And given the lack of resources the order now needed powerful sponsors. The proposed way to acquire one of these sponsors was to offer the role of grand master to a second son of a great magnate who would then provide money and men to help the order. 

The person they settled on was Friedrich von Sachsen, youngest son of the duke of Saxony. Friedrich had been destined for a career in the church and had studied in Siena, Bologna and Leipzig. He ticked all the boxes. In 1497 he was admitted to the order and immediately elevated to grand master.

Friedrich von Sachsen set down to restructure the state. Part of the agreement he had made the leaders of the order to sign before joining was that they would materially increase the financial support to the center. Once elevated he pushed through further reforms, very much on the model of the territorial principality he had grown up in. He reintroduced regular visitations to the various castles and towns where he inspected the discipline of the brothers and held court, solving disputes between the people and the order. He restructured the army and established a professional bureaucracy. Basically, he operated like a 15th century territorial prince. He even held festivities in Koenigsberg palace for the local nobility with music and – shock horror – in the presence of ladies.

As for the main political objective he made some progress. As the senior officers of the order had hoped, Friedrich gathered support in the empire for a secession from the Polish crown. The emperor Maximilian encouraged him to refuse the oath of vassalage to the king of Poland. On e he had declared his intention, Prussia had to expect retaliation from Poland any minute. Though that did not happen, or at least not on the scale feared, Friedrich felt unsafe in Koenigsberg and relocated back home to Rochlitz in Saxony, leaving a governor in his place.

Despite this rather disappointing result, the order continued in his policy and sought another high aristocrat as grand Master when Friedrich died in 1510. This one was a certain Albrecht, who happens to be the very first member of the House of Hohenzollern making an appearance as a story protagonist on this podcast. And little shows how far the order has fallen that they could not even affords a second son, but only one of the 10 sons of margrave Friedrich von Brandenburg Ansbach, an over indebted incompetent ruler of the small county of Ansbach, who himself was only the second son of the elector of Brandenburg, the one with the actual power.

That being said, Albrecht von Brandenburg will leave an indelible mark on the history of the Teutonic order.

He picks up where his predecessor had left off. Like him, he had settled with the leadership of the order on some ground rules. Even more support for the central authority, willingness to accept reforms and granting him the lifestyle of a lord rather than a master of a chivalric order. One request close to his heart was that he should be relieved from the oath of chastity, celibacy he was ok with, just not chastity. As they say, getting a good CEO one has to make some sacrifices. Though it seems his new brothers too had developed a laxer attitude towards the rules of St. Benedict.

The transition to a territorial state continued. Albrecht relied mainly on close associates like the bishop of Pomesania and civil bureaucrats to run the administration and refused to appoint replacements for the senior officers of the order who had retired or died.

The other main political project he continued was the attempt to get out from under the Polish vassalage. So he went on a public relations campaign in the empire arguing that east Prussia, or all of Prussia in his mind, was part of the Teutsche Lande, the German Lands. And he had some success. The Reichstag in Augsburg in 1512 declared the second peace of Thorn invalid. The Polish king then went to the pope, who ordered Albrecht to do as he was ordered and swear allegiance to his uncle, king Sigismund of Poland. In 1515 emperor Charles V changed his mind and withdrew his support. Albrecht found a new supporter though, grand duke Vasili III of Moscow who had been at war with Poland Lithuania for a while. What that was worth is unclear because when Albrecht kicked off hostilities in 1519, not a lot of Muscovy soldiers were seen in his army. This war lasted just 18 months and though Albrecht was in fact ill equipped for such an endeavour, the |Polish army that inevitably showed up failed to take any of the major strongholds, and in particular failed in its siege of Koenigsberg. Abrecht rustled up some Danish mercenaries from Livonia when the Livonian master refused to aid him who were expensive but effective, pushing the Poles back to the Vistula…and then the money ran out, the Danes went home and thanks to mediation by the emperor and the pope the two sides agreed a 4 year truce.

It is now 1522 and Albrecht von Brandenburg travels to the empire to find out why nobody came up to help him and whether they would be coming when the truce runs out in 1525. But everywhere he went, he hit a brick wall. Even his brother in Christ the German Master of the Teutonic Order outright refused to spend any more money on futile, expensive wars in Prussia. Most of the German princes took their lead from that and withheld support safe for their best wishes.

But he did meet someone who was offering a solution. Whilst Albrecht was busy fighting the Poles, a professor at the university of Wittenberg had printed a list of 95 theses and distributed them widely, including having them posted on the door of All Saints church. That professor you obviously know was Martin Luther.

Luther’s demands for reform had spread rapidly. In 1521 he had defended them before the Reichstag in Worms which had made them a topic of discussion all over Europe. Already in that same year one of Albrecht’s associates had proposed to consult with Luther about possible ways to reform the order. But that attempt failed as the elector of Saxony, who protected Luther on the Wartburg was unwilling to act as middleman.

In June 1523 Luther is back in Wittenberg receiving visitors, and Albrecht sends his associate in a secret mission to discuss possible changes in the structure of the order. In November Albrecht himself goes to Wittenberg and meets with Luther and Melanchthon. The reformers are blunt. Quote “Monks are nothing but wizards and associates of the devil who have fooled the world with their bogus tricks and artifice” end quote. He has some more choice words about monasticism that I will refrain from mentioning here, but let’s just say, only a ex-monk can be so harsh on his former vocation. And if monks should leave the monasteries to become useful members of society, that is what chivalric brothers should do too. Their proposal: Make yourself the duke of a secular state and cast the order into the dustbin of history.

And, as is Luther’s habit, he follows the meeting up by writing a public proclamation suggesting that the  quote “lords of the Teutonic Order, give up false chastity and seek the true chastity of the marriage bed”. End quote

Albrecht meanwhile returns to Prussia where he finds many of his close associates thrilled by Luther’s proposals. So are the estates of Prussia, the cities and nobles who would much rather have a secular duke as overlord than a corporation of monkish warriors. Some of the bishops had picked up the protestant faith as well, whilst preachers have come to Prussia proclaiming the time for fundamental change had come.

Whilst all this is going on, the timeline of the truce has been running down. Albrecht explores one more time whether there is anyone willing to give him the funds to continue the fight, but has to conclude that this is no longer a viable option.

He meets up with king Sigismund who suggests that Albrecht dissolves the order and becomes a duke and vassal to the Polish king.

With options running out, Grand Master Albrecht von Brandenburg signs on the dotted line, puts his hand in the hands of the Polish Monarch and rises again as duke Albrecht of Prussia. That was on April 10, 1525.

It is only 2 months later that Albrecht then formally declares for the Lutheran faith.

Are these things connected? The historian Jurgen Sarnowski argues that these two events, the creation of ducal Prussia and the conversion to Protestantism had been independent events. The emperor Charles V, Pope Clement VII and King Sigismund supported the creation of the duchy and dissolution of the order in the belief that a duke Albrecht would remain a faithful son of the church. If so, it was quite naïve. Luther’s pamphlet and Albrecht’s visit to Wittenberg cannot have gone unnoticed and many observers in Germany had already voiced concerns that the grand master was at least tilting towards the Reformation.

This first conversion of a spiritual principality not only changed the status of the Grand Master. It also had a huge impact on the remaining Knight Brothers. Some were unwilling to accept the Reformation and left for the order’s convents in Germany that had stayed faithful to the Pope. But the majority were happy to leave their convents, marry and make babies. And they did not leave empty handed. Many of the possessions of the order were handed over to the knights brothers as private property. The former knight brothers were now nobles or as the east Prussians were often called, Junker. They followed in the footsteps of the mercenary Junkers who had come into land 50 years earlier and established large estates with dependent peasants tilling the land.

A lasting peace, the secularisation of the bishoprics and other monastic lands and the establishment of a tax gathering bureaucracy provided Albrecht finally with the funds to rebuild his battered state. And he did that fairly successfully. He invested in particular in education, founded schools in the major cities and the university of Koenigsberg, the future alma mater of Immanuel Kant. He reigned a solid 43 years as duke and passed away in 1568 from the plague. He was succeeded by his son, Albrecht Friedrich who was deposed due to severe mental illness. Then the duchy went through a number of regents from the Hohenzollern family until they almost all died out and Prussia became part of the states of the elector of Brandenburg one of whose descendants crowned himself and his wife as king in Prussia in Koenigsberg in 1701. King in Prussia because Prussia was still under Polish overlordship.

We will no doubt spend a lot of time talking about Prussia on this podcast, so we can leave this story here.

But as for the Teutonic order, this was not the end.

When Albrecht unveiled his shock announcement that he was to convert to the Lutheran faith, the other two masters, the Livonian master and the German master were aghast. Both were men in their seventies and deeply loyal to the papacy. Now they saw the man they had regarded as the leader of their order become a secular prince and immediately excommunicated.

The Livland Master, Wolter von Plettenberg saw himself as a bulwark against the expanding orthodox grand duchy of Moscow. But Livonia wasn’t Prussia. In Livonia there had aways been other powers present, the cities of Riga, Dorpat and Narva the bishops and the local aristocracy. The cities as members of the Hanse saw their brethren in Luebeck, Hamburg and Danzig pick up Lutheranism and followed suit. Plettenberg had to allow Protestant preachers into the land and even inside the order the new religion gained support. Under his successors the order kept shifting more and more away from Catholicism. When Muscovy under Ivan the terrible invaded the order sought help from abroad, mostly from protestant Denmark and Sweden. This help did not come for free and the state of the order crumbled quickly. The last Livonian Master, Gotthard Kettler swore allegiance to King Sigismund II of Poland in 1561, dissolved the order in Livonia and became duke of Courland. As in Prussia the lands of the order were distributed amongst the brothers who became part of the already sizeable German-speaking aristocracy that dominated these lands until the Bolshevik revolution.

The German branch of the order did hold out longer. They too had to balance the religious differences. In the interest of keeping the organisation going brothers were allowed to convert to Lutheranism if they so chose. In the 17th century they also admitted Calvinists which turned the order into a multi-confessional community. There was however a major problem. The Lutheran and Calvinist brothers wanted the property they had been administering, or more precisely, enjoying, to pass to their descendants. And in that they often found support from protestant territorial princes, who they served as officers or administrators. As the children of former warrior monks inherited these estates, the property of the order quickly eroded.

Only in Southern Germany was the order able to retain or even expand its territory. The German Master moved his seat to Mergentheim in 1527 where he established one of these statelets the Holy Roman empire had hundreds of. In 1590 the order elected Maximilian of Habsburg as its German and now also grand master. From 1641 onwards all grand masters were members of the Habsburg family as a sinecure for younger sons. And when I say younger, I mean younger. The youngest was just 13 years old when he entered the order and became instantly elected as a successor to Hermann von Salza.

As for the members of the order, an element of the martial tradition remained. Members were required to serve at least three years in the wars against the Ottoman empire as officers.

When Napoleon did away with all these little statelets to create more efficient entities to furnish him with soldiers, the last remaining properties of the Teutonic Knights, including Mergentheim were secularised.

But still the order continued to exist. The Habsburgs kept supporting it, making it a honorary chivalric order. Its activities, sponsored by the honourees reverted back to its roots, hospitals and schools. When the Habsburg monarchy fell in 1918, the order had its final crisis. They had lost their sponsor and as far as the public were concerned they were just a part of the now defunct monarchy. The last Habsburg Grand master resigned and in 1929 the pope gave the order a new rule. Under this new rule only priest and nuns were full members of the order and they should solely focus on religious tasks, in particular caring for the sick and the elderly and in education. The order has its headquarter in Vienna and has about 200 priests and 100 nuns today.

And that brings the story of the Teutonic Knights to its end.

I recognise that this part of history plays a huge role in the national narratives of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and even Russia and Romania. A role much more significant than it played in the German National story, even in the 19th century. That did not mean we did not develop the usual mix of fact and fiction that described the order as a bit tough round the edges but ultimately a bringer of civilisation to a savage land. And the Nazis picked up some of the iconography building Ordensburgen as school buildings for the Nazi elite, whilst suppressing the actual order. And for those Germans who trace their roots to Danzig or East Prussia these stories have certainly great importance.

Given these sensitivities I was even more focused on painting an accurate and balanced picture of events in these episodes than usual. I tried to stick close to primary sources and recent scholarship. Should I have made mistakes, and I almost certainly have made many, I apologise. It was not out of malice but lack of attention. And as we are on the topic a quick shout out to all of you who posted interesting and informative comments on the Facebook posts I put out on these topics. And in particular a big thanks to listener Mariusc G. for his kind message the other day.

So, what will be next? The next series will pick up where we left off nearly a year ago, the death of emperor Frederick II. We will go through the chaos of the so-called interregnum before we alight in the reign of the Luxemburg emperors starting with Henry VII. Forgive me if it will take a me a few weeks to get started. As usual I need to get my bearings before we dive in… I hope you will come along for that adventure.

Bibliography

William Urban: The Teutonic Knights – A Military History

Eric Christiansen: The Nordic Crusades, Penguin Books, 1997

Klaus Militzer: Die Geschichte des deutsche Ordens, 2.Aufl, 2012

Jurgen Sarnowsky: der Deutsche Orden, 2.Aufl, 2012

Adam Zamosyski: Poland – A History

A History of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia 1190-1331: The Kronike Von Pruzinlant by Nicolaus Von Jeroschin

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The LEague of Prussian cities and Nobles Rejects the rule of the Teutonic Knights

The theocratic state of the Teutonic Knights had survived the devastating defeat at Tannenberg with most of its territory intact. But underneath the foundations of the edifice are crumbling. The economy is in tatters, the theological justification for their existence has disappeared and their power as a military force has failed to keep up with the changing times. The order needs a new business model for absence of a suitable term. How well or badly it did in this attempt is what we will be looking at in this episode.

TRANSCRIPT

Hello and welcome to the History of the Germans: Episode 136 – 13 Years of War

The theocratic state of the Teutonic Knights had survived the devastating defeat at Tannenberg with most of its territory intact. But underneath the foundations of the edifice are crumbling. The economy is in tatters, the theological justification for their existence has disappeared and their power as a military force has failed to keep up with the changing times. The order needs a new business model for absence of a suitable term. How well or badly it did in this attempt is what we will be looking at in this episode.

But before we start the usual plea for support. As you know the History of the Germans and all its offshoots have remained resolutely advertising free despite some rather flattering offers. I do not know how much time you spent following news about the podcasting industry, but if you do, you would notice that something rather unpleasant is afoot. It is not only that some major listening platforms like Stitcher and Google podcasts have or will soon be shut down, but several production firms and with it some well known shows have closed shop. In part these firms were overly optimistic about the economics of the medium, but a big part is this overstuffing of the advertising channel. Shows sold more and more advertising space that compelled listeners to skip the clips so that advertisers reduced pay per views, which in turn forced podcasters to put even more slots into their shows. That puts off listeners and the economics deteriorate even more until the show has to shut down. That is a fate I would very much like to avoid. As someone posted on twitter, there are still 7,000 episodes to go before we reach 1991. And if we want to get there, the show needs patrons who make a contribution either on patreon.com/historyofthegermans or on historyofthegermans.com/support. And thanks a lot to Johann O., Lorie, Alessandro, Gary A. and Verity C. who have already signed up.

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Last week we ended on the death of Paul von Rusdorf who had been grand master from 1422 to 1441. During his rule the situation had gone from bad to worse. The order had suffered two major defeats in 1422 and 1435 and was forced to recognize Lithuanian sovereignty over Samogitia and hand over a number of border fortresses. The wars had devastated the land and thereby further reduced the income of the order. In general the economic situation was difficult and became worse as time went by.

One great income stream had completely disappeared by 1413, and that were the Reisen, the adventure trips where members of Europe’s aristocracy could come up to Prussia and play at crusading.

And finally Poland Lithuania had expanded into what is today Ukraine. Then as now these lands were extraordinarily fertile, producing in particular grain that could now be exported more easily down the Vistula to Danzig and from there to the densely populated cities in England and Flanders. This competition pushed down prices for the grain produced on the estates of the order.

When Konrad von Erlichshausen took over as grand master in 1441, he was focused on stabilizing the situation. The first and paramount order of the day was to keep the peace and rebuild financial firepower. In the age of mercenary armies, money was what counted.

Konrad avoided war with Poland throughout his tenure. That was made easier by the fact that royal power in Poland was severely constrained by the Sejm, the council of nobleman and bishops. This forerunner of the Polish parliament had been created as far back as 1180 and had gained strength throughout the time of Polish fragmentation. Under the new king, Casimir IV it had control over taxation and hence was able to curtail the ability of the king to wage war. As it happened the Sejm was not too excited about the idea of war against the Teutonic order, mainly because a victory in Prussia would only strengthen the authority of the king at the expense of the nobles. Hence even though Casimir saw the weakness of the order and his realm had the resources to take Prussia any time, the political situation prevented him from doing anything about that, at least for now.

The other problem Konrad dealt with more successfully were the internal tensions inside the order that had been created by his predecessor’s nepotism.  Paul von Rusfeld had placed relatives and friends from back home into key positions in the order. Many of the Knights brothers had become disaffected and were at the edge of revolt. Konrad von Erlichhausen fired many of the old officers and considered the precarious balance between the various factions in his own appointments. He also tightened discipline in the various convents of the order which had become lax, as it did in all religious orders. The rule of St. Benedict, even in its altered version as it applied to the members of the Teutonic order was very hard to comply with. Waking up every 3 hours for prayer or exercise is not a sustainable way to live, and that is before the vows of obedience, poverty and chastity.

With the issues of Polish hostility and internal division if not resolved but largely mitigated, the other and most complex issue became the focus of the grand master’s politics, the Prussian League.

The Prussian league was founded in 1440. It brought the great trading cities such as Danzig, Elbing and Thorn together with the secular nobility in Prussia. Its purpose was to reign in the power of the order. To understand the reason why they formed the league, we have to take a closer look at its members.

One part of the Prussian League were the local aristocracy. There were broadly three groups. One were Polish knights who had lived in the Culmer Land or in Pomerelia since before the conquest by the Teutonic Knight and had become its vassals. Then there are the former leaders of the Prussian tribes who had been made noblemen as part of the various peace settlements during the conquest. And finally there are German-speaking immigrants who have been successful, either as merchants or as farmers and had amassed enough land and property to fund the knightly lifestyle.

But the financially most significant members were the cities, many of which were members of the Hanse. Like most Hanse cities they were ruled by a patrician class of successful merchants. These men usually spoke low German and had commercial and family ties across the Hanse network. I did a whole series about the Hanseatic League, so I will not repeat all of it here. But the way the Hanse operated was as a network of merchants who facilitated trade based on effectively just trust, trust that their commercial partners would honor their obligations and that they would provide them with reliable information about what was going on in the various markets they operated in. The political system was simply an extension of this commercial network. The most successful merchants were members of the city council and steered city policy in the commercial interest of its merchants. And at the level of the Hanse, the various cities again operated on a basis of mutual trust and a common interest in expanding their trading operations.

Both cities and aristocrats felt that the rule of the Teutonic Knights had become cruel and overbearing. In 1453, the Prussian League wrote up a list of 66 specific complaints against the order and sent it to the emperor Frederick III.

Many of these relate to arbitrary decision making by the order and his officers. They quote cases where members of the orders simply took away property, assumed ownership of land, charged new taxes, devalued coins, took away goods stranded following a disaster at sea, closed the city mills and so forth.

Justice they claim was no longer possible to obtain since the grand master refused to hold an annual public court day where important legal cases could be discussed and adjudicated. Instead decisions were taken behind closed doors and were arbitrary.

Beyond the breaking of the law, they also accused individual members of the order of brutality and even murder. One we already know about, the murder of the Danzig Burgermeisters in 1411, but they also mention violence against common people. A man called Rabensteiner had tortured and robbed a man who had dared criticizing his conduct. There is the Komtur of Thorn, Wilhelm vom Steine who is accused to have drowned some honorable citizens so that he could have his way with their wives

The order’s discipline had broken down, in particular the warrior monks had taken leave of the vow of chastity, it was was split and had lost its way as a spiritual organization.

These are quite common complaints you can find about most late medieval rulers. What gave it its specific flavor were the complaints of the cities against the order’s interference in their affairs. The cases they quote here and many times before and after are the replacement of the city councilors in Thorn and the execution of the Burgomeisters of Danzig, both events having happened way back in 1411. Though they happened long ago, they remained a source of concern. Interference by the city overlord, in particular the replacement of city councilors was a major problem for two reasons.

One was that the position as councilor had direct financial benefits for the incumbent. His standing made him a more sought after partner for other merchants within the Hanse network, effectively bringing business his way. As councillor he also had better information about what was going on in the various markets he was operating in, such as where a king was imposing new taxes, where the pirates are operating etc.  

The second point is that the Hanse cities had to balance their responsibility towards the other Hanse cities with their obligations to the city overlord. That was a difficult tightrope to walk even in the good times before 1410. After 1410 the pressure from the order forced the cities, in particular the city of Danzig to decide between the two. And given the Hanse provided opportunities to get rich whilst the Teutonic Order offered only blood sweat and tears, it wasn’t difficult to figure out where they were leaning to.

What became the bone of contention was the Pfundzoll, an excise duty on the weight carried by every ship entering or leaving the harbor. This specific duty was originally created by the Hanse as a way to fund military actions agreed by the Hansetag diet. When the Grand Master demanded the Pfundzoll for himself, the cities were pushed into a corner. They had to decide where the proceeds were to go, funding the Hanse wars and embargoes or to the wars of the Teutonic Order. What made it even more difficult was that the Pfundzoll was levied not just on Danzig merchants but on anyone going in or out of Danzig harbor, including fellow Hanse merchants from other cities.

All these are good reasons to be upset and whilst Konrad von Erlichshausen had tried to rein in on some of these excesses he could not remedy all complaints. Parts of this conflict was structural.

Before 1410 the Knights could allow the cities and the local nobility to live pretty much as they pleased. The order had enough income streams to cover its operations and thanks to the crusaders, had a huge supply of free military support. Now the revenues are down and, as knights on horseback were replaced by cannon and mercenaries, the cost of warfare had gone up dramatically.

Like most political entities in europe in the 15th century, the Knights were looking for a new way to run things that made their rule sustainable. We have come to the end of the middle ages and the beginning of the early modern period. The political structures are shifting from the old self-funded model of rule built on personal relationships, vows of allegiance and inheritable positions to tax-funded territorial states run by a paid bureaucracy that decides on the basis of written laws rather than personal affiliation.

The Knights Brothers were members of a chivalric order steeped in the logic and traditions of the crusades. It is hard to be more medieval than these guys. So I doubt they had sat down at any point and decided they wanted to transition to an absolutist state. But what they realized was that they were in precipitous decline and something fundamental needed to happen. They needed to be able to raise money from all their subjects, including merchants and noblemen. And for that to happen, all these special privileges the Prussian League insisted upon needed to go.

Konrad von Erlichshausen was not the man to push this to its ultimate conclusion. When he died in 1449 his conciliatory approach left behind a better managed and more financially sound Prussia, but it was still a long way from being sustainable. His successor was his brother Ludwig von Erlichshausen

Ludwig was ready to take the next step and face down the Prussian League. He was not alone in this ambition. Many of the senior officers of the order wanted a resolution. The Prussian League’s demands to remove taxes had become more and more persistent. At some point they even demanded that the lawyers the order retained as advisors would leave the room during negotiations, something even modern negotiators would regard as an outrage.

As the order insisted on taxes and tariffs to be paid and the League claimed freedoms and privileges, the situation gradually developed into a crisis. This crisis even concerned the pope in Rome who was trying to put together a grand coalition of central European powers to fight back the Ottoman Turks. Remember, we are just three years from the fall of Constantinople. He sent a papal legate to mediate but without success.

Erlichshausen tried to solve the issue by legal means. He put a petition to the emperor and the pope demanding they order the dissolution of the Prussian League. He argued that Prussia had been given to the order by the pope and the emperor and his lawyers produce copies of the golden bull of Rimini and the letter from pope Gregory IX in 1234.  Therefore the mere existence of the Prussian League was an affront against the divine order.

The league responded by issuing the list of complaints I have mentioned before. It was a question between formal legality and actual justice. And unsurprisingly, emperor Frederick III came down on the side of formal legality. In 1454 he declared the Prussian League illegal.

For some reason Grand Master Erlichshausen believed that the cities and nobles of Prussia would simply accept an imperial or papal ruling. That was obviously totally naïve. Neither the cities nor the nobles could tolerate unconstrained rule by the Teutonic Order, divinely ordained or not. 

The league had been under no illusion what the outcome of such arbitration would be and had prepared for war as soon as the summons had arrived. Once the imperial order to dissolve was issued, they reacted without hesitation, making a move, unprecedented in pre-modern times. They sent a letter of secession to the grand master, declaring they were no longer his subjects. Instead they informed him that they had taken an oath as vassals of the king of Poland, whose ancient rights to Pomerelia they acknowledged.

I am in no position to check this claim, but I understand that this is the first time in European history that a particular region or group decides they want to leave a political entity and move to another one.

The letter of secession took Erlichshausen by surprise. He was expecting some resistance, but not instantly and not on this scale or in this form. His preparations for war, if there had been any, weren’t far advanced. So he could only look on as the burghers of the cities stormed the castles of the Teutonic Knights in Danzig, Thorn and Elbing and took the buildings down brick by brick, until nothing was left, well except for the Dantzker of Thorn, the toilet tower of this once mighty fortress.

The letter of secession had been sent on March 6, 1454. Throughout the summer the rebels took most of Pomerelia except for the largest fortresses of the order, in particular Marienburg. Shaken out of his shock, the grand master recruited troops all across Bohemia and Germany as fast as he could using whatever money he could get his hands on, including pawning land.

The rebels focused their efforts in two places. One was Marienburg they besieged from late march onwards, the other was Konitz. Konitz lies south of Marienburg and was the point where the mercenaries were most likely to enter Prussia.

King Kasimir of Poland was clearly pleased about this sudden influx of loyal subjects and joined the effort with his own levies in September. He took his troops to that strategically important city of Konitz. The city was defended by another of the von Plauen family that had played such an important role in the immediate aftermath of Tannenberg. He commanded a smallish garrison of about 200 Knight brothers, waiting for the mercenary reinforcements.

Kasimir had brought 12,000 cavalry and 6,000 infantry which should be enough to take the town. The king knew that an army of mercenaries, slightly smaller than the Polish contingent was on its way to Konitz. But he was convinced his army could push them back should they show up.

Well, the Bohemian mercenaries did show up the next day. Casimir ordered his army to immediately attack the enemy who should be exhausted from marching for days. It nevertheless took a long time for the Poles to get into position, enough time for the Bohemian mercenaries to turn their carts into a wagenburg, a technique that they had perfected in the long Hussite wars in Bohemia. King Casimir’s attack finally got under way late in the afternoon and scored some initial successes, capturing the enemy commanders. But they could not break the circle of wagons. And then the garrison in Konitz, just 200 knights with their retinue made an unexpected sortie attacking the back of the Polish army. This and the fading light caused utter confusion in the Polish ranks, the mercenaries counterattacked and the Poles fled in panic. King Kasimir escaped only by a whisker.

The war that then follows is often described in nationalistic terms, a fight between the Poles to regain their ancient territory from the cruel and murderous Germans. That is however not quite what happened. Few of the members of the Prussian league were Poles, namely just the aristocrats from Culm and Pomerellia. As for the kingdom of Poland, after the disaster of Konitz their support for the effort became haphazard. The Sejm remained unwilling to fund large mercenary operations and the levies were often unwilling to heed the king’s call, arrived late, under strength and/or were ineffective. The burden of the war effort fell on the cities, mainly on Danzig, which was ruled by patrician merchants who spoke low German and were fully culturally integrated into the Hanse network.

Konitz may have largely kicked the Poles out of the conflict, but it did not decide it. This was after all a civil war within Prussia. Neither side could give in. For the cities submitting to the Teutonic Knights would mean that city rights and privileges would be rescinded, they would be subjected to taxation and could in the worst case lose full membership in the Hanseatic league. For the Teutonic Knights, ending the war at this point would mean losing the by far richest part of their territory, a truly bitter pill to swallow.

Militarily, the war was at a stalemate. After their initial effort at Konitz the Teutonic Knights were unable to raise a large enough mercenary army to break places like Thorn or Elbing, let alone the huge city of Danzig. Likewise the Prussian League was unable to drive the order out of its great castles, in particular their new headquarters at Koenigsberg.

The war continued without any major battles, decisive or otherwise. Either side would gather the funds to hire some mercenaries who would burn and pillage the opponents lands until such time the defenders had gathered sufficient forces to kick them out. And there is a thing about mercenaries. They are entrepreneurs and they know when to take risks and when to get out of the way. Hence as soon as the enemy forces are gathered, the initial attackers disappear back to where they have come from. The initial defenders now have a mercenary force they have already paid for, so they need to make use of them. Which means this force now invades the other side, rapes and pillages there, until they in turn have reassembled a force. And this game goes back and forth for a dissolute, miserable 13 years. Either side watched helplessly from the ramparts as their lands burned. The councils of the big cities had to levy taxes far higher than any grand master would have ever dared to ask for which brought the lower classes out in revolt. More people died.

Money was the perennial problem, and it was a bigger problem for the order than for the league. Assets outside Prussia like the Neumark were pawned or sold. In 1257 Erlichshausen was so short of cash he gave one of the mercenary troops the great castle of Marienburg as collateral for payment. When he failed to pay them in full, they got the right to sell it to the highest bidder. And that bidder was, guess what, the city of Danzig. Not that it was easy. Danzig had to borrow, beg and steal to raise the funds, but it turned into an investment that was worth every penny. Formally the bid came from king Kasimir, but in exchange for the money Danzig gave him to buy the Marienburg, the city was given a status not dissimilar of that of a free imperial city. They were given the right to choose their city council as they wished, the Pfundzoll was abolished, the king promised that all positions in the lands conquered from the order would be filled with local people, rather than Poles or Lithuanians and that all decisions. Moreover, with the impregnable castle on the Nogat the league now controlled the whole of the Vistula river and the trade that came up to the Baltic.

Grand Master Erlichshausen was again surprised by the resourcefulness of the Prussian League. He had not thought it possible that the money could be found and hence had not left the Marienburg. The mercenaries apprehended him upon receipt of the cash and the Poles imprisoned him at Konitz.

Even though Erlichhausen escaped from prison shortly afterwards, the fortunes of the Teutonic orders kept falling. The bishop of Ermland who had supported the order in this struggle died and his see was given to Silvio Aeneas Piccolomini, the great humanist and future pope Pius II. Piccolomini wanted a lever to force an end to the war so that Poles and the Order could be directed against the Ottoman Turks. Though this strategy ultimately failed, Piccolomini stuck to his neutral position which meant the order still lost the resources of Ermland. They tried to bribe him and were genuinely surprised when the Italian prelate refused, what had the world come to when you can no longer grease the palm of a churchman.

Still the war still kept going. Both side called in Mercenaries but more often than not, they could not pay them. So these armed men raided the land on their own account, spreading even more misery. In many way this foreshadowed the 30-years war.

In 1462 the Teutonic order made a last ditch effort to hire a force they believed large enough to defeat the now also much diminished forces of the League. When the two small armies got together, the league prove to be marginally more effective and won the battle. In 1463 the order’s navy was destroyed.

By 1464 Erlichshausen recognized that he had lost and was ready to negotiate.  The war was over. The order had to accept the status quo. They had to hand over not just Pomerellia but also western Prussia, including giving up claims to Marienburg, Elbling, Christburg and many other places they had founded. The bishop of Ermland became a Polish vassal.  And to top up the humiliation, Erlichhausen had to swear allegiance to the Polish crown. The conditions were so severe the negotiations lasted all the way until 1466 and involved the pope and the Hanseatic League as mediators.

After the war the old Prussian state was divided into the rich part, Royal Prussia with its main center in Danzig and the poor cousin, the order’s Prussia with its capital in the smallish city of Koenigsberg. Erlichshausen survived the peace of Thorn by one year. His successors were left with the smoldering ruins of what was once an incredibly powerful theocratic state. Only radical action could get them to a sustainable position. What this action was we will find out next week. I hope I will see you again.

And until then, please consider supporting the show, either by becoming a patron at patreaon.com/historyofthegermans or by making a one-time contribution at historyofthegermans.com/support.

Bibliography

Werner Paravicini Die Preußenreisen des europäischen Adels: Die Preußenreisen des europäischen Adels (perspectivia.net)

William Urban: The Teutonic Knights – A Military History

Eric Christiansen: The Nordic Crusades, Penguin Books, 1997

Klaus Militzer: Die Geschichte des deutsche Ordens, 2.Aufl, 2012

Jurgen Sarnowsky: der Deutsche Orden, 2.Aufl, 2012

A History of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia 1190-1331: The Kronike Von Pruzinlant by Nicolaus Von Jeroschin

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The rule of the Teutonic Knights is fatally weakened

Last week we ended with the famous battle of Tannenberg or as the Poles would call it Grunwald. This battle is not just famous for its outcome but also for the various accounts of what happened. There is a Polish version there is a Lithuanian version and there’s obviously a German version, actually 2 German versions. Though the one German version that blames the defeat on betrayal by Polish vassals is now debunked. With that exception I find it rarely matters who did what during the battle but what the outcome was and what happened afterwards.

The Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen and all his major officers were dead as well as hundreds of Knights brothers and thousands of secular knights, crusaders, squires and mercenaries. What was also lying there prostrate on the battlefield was the notion of the invincibility off the Teutonic Order. As the Polish and Lithuanian troops pursued what remained of the order’s forces, the Prussian cities and castles opened their gates to the winners.

A complete victory? Well as it happened it would take another nearly 60 years before Poland would regain control of Pomerelia and its capital Gdansk. And even that wasn’t the end of the Teutonic Knights. Despite the devastating defeat, the loss of its purpose, and the fundamentally changed political structure inside their state, the Teutonic order soldiered on, how they managed is what we will explore in this episode.

TRANSCRIPT

Hello and welcome to the History of the Germans: Episode 135 – After Tannenberg

Last week we ended with the famous battle of Tannenberg or as the Poles would call it Grunwald. This battle is not just famous for its outcome but also for the various accounts of what happened. There is a Polish version there is a Lithuanian version and there’s obviously a German version, actually 2 German versions. Though the one German version that blames the defeat on betrayal by Polish vassals is now debunked. With that exception I find it rarely matters who did what during the battle but what the outcome was and what happened afterwards.

The Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen and all his major officers were dead as well as hundreds of Knights brothers and thousands of secular knights, crusaders, squires and mercenaries. What was also lying there prostrate on the battlefield was the notion of the invincibility off the Teutonic Order. As the Polish and Lithuanian troops pursued what remained of the order’s forces, the Prussian cities and castles opened their gates to the winners.

A complete victory? Well as it happened it would take another nearly 60 years before Poland would regain control of Pomerelia and its capital Gdansk. And even that wasn’t the end of the Teutonic Knights. Despite the devastating defeat, the loss of its purpose, and the fundamentally changed political structure inside their state, the Teutonic order soldiered on, how they managed is what we will explore in this episode.

But before we get into this as you all know by now I will have to do my little spiel about my Patreon account at patreon.com/historyofthegermans and the other option to support the  podcast, making a one time contribution at historyofthegermans.com/support. So not much point in going on about the fact that the history of the Germans and all its offshoots are advertising free but what we all should do is thank our generous patrons James A., Jonas B, Caleb R., Technical Tomb King and Matt H. Aka Biff who have kindly signed up already.

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And there is some housekeeping to do. As some of you pointed out, the Polish name of the battle is Grunwald, not Grunberg, I also got Lesser and Greater Poland mixed up and finally some of you suggested I use the name Jogaila rather than Jagiello for the first ruler of the Polish Lithuanian commonwealth. First up, thanks a lot for all these comments. It is great to realise you all care a lot about these things and enough about the podcast to comment. And apologies for these errors. They are now corrected in the audio file as well as I the transcript. I did however not change from Jagiello to Jogaila, mainly because Jagiello and the Jagiellonian dynasty is better known in western Europe than the name Jogaila. And as there are already too many names in this podcast, I try to keep it neat where I can. That being said, Jogaila sounds a lot nicer…

And with that we’re going back to the show.

The victory of Jogaila and Vytautas was so clear and comprehensive they did not feel the need to hurry after what was left of the Teutonic Knights’ army. They rested for three days before setting off for Marienburg, the seat of the Grand Master and the administrative heart of Prussia.

 The journey appeared more like a royal progress then a conquering army. Cities all over Prussia sent delegations offering surrender in exchange for confirmation of their privileges. The four bishops albeit members of the order, accepted vassalage to the Polish crown. Where there were still garrisons of Teutonic Knights they either surrendered or fled.

The state of the Teutonic Order was not just defeated but it was collapsing in on itself. Its leadership had perished and the individual commanders weren’t used to taking the initiative. The defeat was a sign from god that he had lost interest in this chivalric order. Many thought there was no point in going on…

But there was one man who disagreed, Heinrich von Plauen. Nothing in von Plauen’s career to date indicated that he was destined to  step up at the most crucial point in the order’s history. A nobleman from the Vogtland he had come to Prussia 40 years earlier as a crusader. But found himself mightily impressed by the warrior-monk’s lifestyle and took the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Given his social rank and solid performance on the battlefield he was given the command of the large garrison of Schwetz between Kulm and Marienburg. Schwetz was an important post that covered Pomerelia against Polish and Brandenburg raids. But he was not seen as significant enough to join the main army at Tannenberg.

When von Plauen hears about the disaster at Tannenberg, he, unlike his remaining peers, takes action. It was obvious that the Poles would head for Marienburg next. And if they were to take the mighty castle the order would be finished. Therefore the defence of Marienburg was paramount. Von Plauen took his entire garrison, 3,000 men in total, to Marienburg and he got there before the enemy.

At this point von Plauen did not know whether any more senior officers had survived the defeat. Most Teutonic Knight’s commanders were so accustomed to the strict discipline and obedience, that they would now have waited for further instructions or a grand chapter of the order to set a new course. But von Plauen realised there was no time for that.

He issues orders to nearby garrisons to abandon their castles and join him in Marienburg. He writes to the Livonian master, a man far more senior to him quote “send troops as quickly as possible”. And as so often in moments of crisis rank does not matter as much as initiative, and soldiers trickle into Marienburg. They stock the castle with food, drink, canons and ammunition for a siege of 8 to 10 weeks. And, to deprive the besiegers of shelter and food, they burn down the city of Marienburg.

Then he writes to quote “all princes, barons, knights and men at arms and all other loyal Christians , whomever this letter reaches. We brother Heinrich von Plauen, castellan of Schwetz, acting in the place of the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order in Prussia notify you that the king of Poland and duke Vytautas with a great force and Saracen infidels have besieged Marienburg. In this siege truly all the Order’s forces and power are being engaged. Therefore we ask you illustrious and noble lords, to allow your subjects who wish to assist and defend us  for the love of Christ and all of Christendom either for salvation or for money , to come to our aid as quickly as possible so that we can drive them away”. End quote. That stirs the order in Germany into action and new forces are gathering in the Neumark.

Meanwhile the Polish-Lithuanian army continues its leisurely progress to Marienburg. Having seen every single castle along the way surrendering without much, if any resistance, Jogaila and Vytautas have no reason to expect anything different from the great brick fortress on the Nogat river. Hence they did not bring the canon and siege equipment they had initially gathered for the campaign. 

When they arrived, and realised that they were facing stiff resistance, they had only limited options. A frontal assault across the wide moat and up the mighty walls of the largest fortress in the region would have been exceedingly costly to men and material. And we should not forget that the Polish Lithuanian army too had suffered severe losses at Tannenberg. That left a prolonged siege as the only option.

The Polish Lithuanian army was large enough to completely surround the castle, but its weakness was supplies. They did raid the countryside around Marienburg, but the garrisons of the surrounding castles had raided their stores before leaving to support von Plauen. The town of Marienburg was no more and we are heading into the cold autumn. Dysentery breaks out in the besiegers camp which convinces the Lithuanians under Vytautas that this is a hopeless enterprise and so they head home. Jogaila keeps going despite the ever more precarious situation and he even rejects initial offers of a truce.

What forces his hand in the end is the approach of relief forces from Livonia and from the empire. The Livonian master and the German princes have heeded the call of Heinrich von Plauen and have come to rescue the Teutonic Order.

Once again a medieval fortress with a small, but determined garrison has proven impossible to take, unless the besieger can sustain a prolonged and hugely expensive siege.

After 8 weeks of siege Jogaila gives the order to strike camp and his army returns to Poland. They place large garrisons in some of the castles they had taken after Tannenberg and even erected a new fortification at Stuhm.

Once Jogaila is gone von Plauen begins the arduous work of recapturing all the cities and castles that had been lost. Again, nobody is too keen to fight and within a month all of Prussia is back in the hands of the Teutonic Knights.

Von Plauen who had meanwhile formally been elected as the new Grand Master,  uses the recently arrived troops to stage a revenge campaign into Poland and Lithuania which, apart from some serious devastation of the land, does not achieve much.

The following year the two sides sign a peace agreement, the first peace of Thorn. The conditions were extremely benign for the Teutonic Knights. They maintain pretty much the status quo from before the war, in particular they retain Pomerelia and Danzig. The order also agrees to pay 100,000 Bohemian Groschen in compensation to the Poles and Lithuanians.

That is an outcome not many would have bet on in the aftermath of the battle of Tannenberg. On the face of it, the Teutonic Order is back to where it was before. The Poles and Lithuianians despite their huge effort have not been able to achieve any of their main objectives, in particular they did not regain Pomerelia.

But still, there were material consequences of the battle of Tannenberg. For one, the Teutonic Knights were no longer the invincible military force they had appeared to be for so long. Sure, there had been setbacks and lost battles before. But like the roman legions, every time such a defeat occurred, the knights had dusted themselves off, rebuilt their forces and regained their prestige.

This time, that is not going to happen. And the reason is, as ever so often in these premodern states, money.

Up until 1411 the Teutonic state wasn’t as much a state but an estate. Large parts of the land was owned directly by the order or was paying rent or dues to the order. The orders’ treasurers were extremely adept in generating large export incomes from shipping their excess agricultural production to Flanders, England, Norway or wherever the highest prices could be achieved.

And on top of that there were the huge incomes from the crusading tourists who made a material contribution to the economy of the land.

These incomes had been enough to fund all the military and secular needs of the Teutonic Order, including the construction and maintenance of its enormous castles. And these riches allowed the order to maintain a special relationship with its main trading cities, in particular Danzig, Elbing and Thorn. The cities were relieved from paying significant taxes, but in exchange did not have as much autonomy as other Hanseatic cities enjoyed.

The other constituency that was kept sweet by not taxing them was the gentry. As I said before, the Teutonic Knights tried to avoid the emergence of a class of aristocratic knights with their own castles. But as time went by, they could not completely prevent the emergence of secular knights. Successful free farmers could over generations build up major landholdings that allowed them to build manors and equip their sons with knightly gear. The same goes for prosperous merchants eying up the social status of noblemen. Then there was the original gentry in the lands the order had taken over from Christian rulers, i.e., in Pomerelia, the Kulmerland, Livonia and the Neumark.

In 1411 the land of Prussia is devastated and so are the estates of the order. The treasure chest is empty as Heinrich von Plauen had to pay all these mercenaries he had asked to come in from Germany and Bohemia to relieve Marienburg. And on top of that there were the 100,000 groschen they had promised Jogaila. Ah, and let us not forget, now that the Lithuanians are no longer pagans and both Jogaila and Vytautas have got in the habit of kneeling before every cross along their routes, the crusading gap years, the Rhysen have comprehensively stopped.

Heinrich von Plauen needs money, and lots of it. So, for the first time, the order institutes general taxes to be paid by everyone. This finds strong resistance in particular in the big cities. When Thorn refuses, the grand master replaces several city councillors. Danzig is even more reluctant. The city relents only after the commander of Danzig castle apprehends two of the Burgermeisters and ultimately kills them.

Having learned from the challenging first attempt to raise taxes, Heinrich von Plauen uses a more cooperative tack the next time, which was already in 1413. He gives the Landrat, the Prussian parliament that had been in existence for a long time already some more teeth. The cities and some of the nobility are invited to discuss the state of affairs and to vote on the next round of taxes. This system has a similar outcome as in 1411, taxes are raised, but with a lot less strife and spilling of blood. And once he has established the Landraete as an institution, the cat is out of the bag. From now on the other forces in Prussia, the cities and the nobility will demand more and more rights. The days when Prussia wasn’t a state that had an army, but an army that had a state were numbered. I know that this quote relates to Prussia under Frederick the great, but I find it fits even better to the theocratic state the Knights brothers had established in Prussia.

The reason that Heinrich von Plauen needed money again in 1413 was that he wanted to go after Poland again. Even though the peace of Thorn had restored the territorial integrity of Teutonic Prussia, the defeat at Tannenberg was still not reversed. If they wanted to really get back to the world pre 1410, they needed a comprehensive victory over Poland -Lithuania.

As it happened, neither the German princes nor his own brothers agreed with this strategy. In October 1413 Heinrich von Plauen was deposed as Grand Master and put in jail in Danzig castle, together with his brother who had killed the burgermeisters. He would remain there for 16 years. He was rehabilitated in 1429 and made bailiff of a small estate where he lived out his remaining years.

The man the brothers chose to pursue a more conciliatory policy vis-a-vs Poland was marshall Michael Kuchmeister. The new grand Master did however not fulfil the expectations his allies had placed in him. Despite his efforts, he could not prevent military confrontations with Poland Lithuania. These were relatively low key events where the neighbours came into Prussia in 1414, 1416 and 1419, mainly just devastating the open countryside whilst being unable to take any of the major cities or larger castles.

These conflicts ended not with peace agreements but with just temporary truces. The emperor Sigismund who was interested in a closer relationship with Poland invited both parties to come to the council of Constance for peace negotiation. The Council of Constance that lasted 1414 to 1418, was one of the great gatherings of the Catholic Church brought together to find ways to end the papal schism that had split the church between Rome and Avignon since 1387.

The emperor hoped that a negotiated solution could be found, but had not counted on a leading Polish scholastic, Paulus Vladimir. Vladimir was a professor at the recently founded university of Krakow and by all accounts the intellectual superior of the Teutonic Knights’ delegation. He hit the brothers on their Achilles heel, their purpose as a chivalric order. Some were well known arguments such as the question what their purpose in Prussia was now that Lithuania had been converted? Would it not be much more in line with their statutes to move to the Balkans and help fending off the oncoming wave of the Ottomans, protecting Constantinople and Belgrade? But he also stated that true conversion required free will. A forced conversion was therefore invalid. Moreover, even pagans he asserted had some natural rights that the brutal acts of the order had violated.

 The Teutonic Knights responded with the usual accusations, that the Lithuanians weren’t true Christians and that hence they were still needed. But that sounded increasingly hollow. The only reason the order could avoid condemnation by the council, after all the highest conceivable church authority, was that the emperor Sigismund and the German princes weren’t yet prepared to drop the order.

Fighting continued at a low level throughout this period which left the country devastated and the order’s coffers depleted. The 15th century sees the end of the knight as the most effective military unit. Cannon are now  commonplace as are professional mercenaries. The system of the condottiere, the armies for hire is gaining traction. And with that the military function of the Teutonic Knights themselves is diminishing rapidly. To fight a war it is no longer sufficient to call up the different Komtureis and gather at a convenient location. Now mercenaries need to be hired, and since the best are coming from the German lands or Bohemia, the grand master will have to pay not just for the time they are actually fighting but also for the journey. And as everyone knows who ever had a plumber come to the house, the call-out charge is almost as much as the cost of the actual work.

The economics of war are reversed. When previously German and Bohemian knights came up to reinforce the order, they did that on their own cost and even paid for all their equipment, accommodation and supplies, now all of that had to be paid for:the Grand Masters account.

That meant demands for money kept going up and up, whilst income from the land kept going down.

Kuchmeister needed to call the Landraete again and again and beg for money, which they granted him, but only in exchange for more independence and rights to participate in the major decisions.

In 1422 Kuchmeister had enough and retired. Hs successor is Paul von Rusdorf. He inherits all the existing conflicts but then adds a few more. Like other grand masters before him he places members of his family and people he knows from back home into crucial positions. This used to be tolerated when the grand Masters presided over a thriving community and state. But that is no longer the case. Those outside the inner circle are increasingly frustrated. Disciplinary issues appear and general discontent with the leadership is rife. Rusdorf therefore limited his circle of advisors to an ever closer group, the inner council, which – guess what – irritated the others even more. These internal conflicts together with the increasingly apparent weakness of the order became serious problem in recruitment. The order was dependent on a regular flow of young men willing to join and accept a pretty harsh lifestyle of poverty, chastity and obedience.  To convince someone to make that move required the order to remain an attractive place to be, and by 1440 it wasn’t that any more.

Politically Rusdorf tried to bring the war with Poland to an end and signed the peace of Melnoose in 1422 in which the order handed back several fortresses on the Lithuanian border and gave up the claims to Samigatia whilst it handed Kujava and Nessau to the Poles.

But that did not last long. Rusdorf got himself sucked into the politics of emperor Sigismund and restarted the war with Lithuania which prompted the Poles to ally with the Hussites in Bohemia who devastated Pomerelia all the way up to Danzig. After that debacle Rusdorf had to sign the peace of Brest which forced the order to return the gains in Lithuania bringing everything back to the level of 1422 only with Prussia even poorer and even more devastated.

For the cities and the civilian population in the countryside, i.e., the major landowners, this was the moment where they could no longer see any point in the Teutonic Knights. Before 1410 the order had guaranteed safety and security as well as low taxation and all it wanted in return was obedience. But now it was no longer safe or secure, taxes were sky high and the grand master still insisted on obedience.

In 1440, the large cities and the gentry of the Kulmer Land formed the Prussian League which was explicitly designed to protect its members against the tyranny of the order. The Prussian League insisted on a constitutional reform that would give the Landraete additional powers, in particular on taxation and foreign policy.

As Rusdorf contemplated giving in on these demands, he found himself in another conflict. The two other main branches of the order, the Livonians and the Germans were increasingly frustrated with their Prussian brethren. The constant demands for money and materials were wearing and clearly did not result in any discernible success. So they chose the subject of the grating of rights to the Landraete as a decision that was incompatible with the statutes of the order.

Rusdorf could not balance these two pressures in any other way than by granting the Livonian Master and the German Master even more autonomy, to the point that these branches could choose their own officers and pursue their own policies almost completely independent from the Grand Master.

Again that happened in 1441, the same year the internal conflict between Rusdorf’s friends and family and the rest of the order was about to turn into outright hostilities.

To avoid a civil war Paul von Rusdorf too resigned, probably already very ill, broken by external and internal conflicts that only grew worse during his 13 years at the helm.

His successor was Konrad von Erlichshausen who will make one more attempt to right the ship. Whether he will be successful is something we will discuss next week. I hope you will join us again.

And if you do, remember that you can support the podcast either by becoming a patron on Patreon.com/historyofthegermans or by making a one-time donation at historyofthegermans.com/support

Bibliography

Werner Paravicini Die Preußenreisen des europäischen Adels: Die Preußenreisen des europäischen Adels (perspectivia.net)

William Urban: The Teutonic Knights – A Military History

Eric Christiansen: The Nordic Crusades, Penguin Books, 1997

Klaus Militzer: Die Geschichte des deutsche Ordens, 2.Aufl, 2012

Jurgen Sarnowsky: der Deutsche Orden, 2.Aufl, 2012

A History of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia 1190-1331: The Kronike Von Pruzinlant by Nicolaus Von Jeroschin

by on

A Battle of many Names

This week we look at the reasons the golden age of the Teutonic knights came to an abrupt end at the beginning of the 15th century. It is a sequence of events that involve some remarkable Polish and Lithuanian princes, the Templars, and  of course – The brothers of the house of St. Mary of the Germans in Jerusalem. Ah, and a very famous battle.

TRANSCRIPT

Hello and welcome to the History of the Germans: Episode 134 – Tannenberg

This week we look at the reasons the golden age of the Teutonic knights came to an abrupt end at the beginning of the 15th century. It is a sequence of events that involve some remarkable Polish and Lithuanian princes, the Templars, and  of course – The brothers of the house of St. Mary of the Germans in Jerusalem. Ah, and a very famous battle.

But before we start, in the unlikely event you are unaware of it, the History of the Germans Podcast and all its offshoots are advertising free thanks to the generosity of our patrons and one-time contributors. I know these inserts are irritating to some of you, but would you prefer me espousing the advantages of various crypto coins, a mildly dodgy online mental health service or a meal plan? I wouldn’t and so be so kind to thank George O., CM Bo, Fabian G. and Katie who are valiantly protecting us from these impositions by becoming a patron at patreon.com/historyofthegermans.

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Back to the show.

Last week we heard about the great chivalric adventure holidays the Teutonic knights staged for their wealthy aristocratic guests. These were nominally crusades against the pagan Lithuanians, but their military benefit paled into insignificance compared to the economic impact these free spending tourists had on the order’s state.

These Lithuanian crusades or Preussenreisen did serve however another important purpose, a purpose that was even more crucial for the survival of the order than the economic or military benefit. And that has to do with something that happened, not in Northern europe, not in the empire, but way over on the other side, in Paris in 1307. That event was the suppression of the Knights Templars.

For those very few of you who may not have heard about that, the story goes roughly as follows. King Philipp IV of France was short of money due to the incessant wars with the English, or more precisely with his main vassal who also happened to be the king of England.  Not only was he short of money, he was also heavily in debt to Knights Templars.

What he lacked in money he made up for in ruthlessness. Some of you may remember Episode 92 – The Papal Epilogue. That was the story of the slap of Agnani when soldiers in the pay of Philipp IV allegedly slapped Pope Boniface VIII in the face, and with that simple act brought down the whole edifice of the imperial papacy. Under French pressure the popes moved to Avignon and came under de facto French control.

Philip IV used the fact that he had a pet pope in Clement V to get him to issue an order to all monarchs in europe to apprehend the Templars. The biggest hammer fell in Paris where the grand master of the order had his headquarter. He and his main officers were arrested and put on trial. They were accused of satanic rituals and various forms of blasphemy including kissing a black cat’s anus. Once duly condemned they were burned at the stake and most importantly all their assets were confiscated by the crown.

As you probably know, pretty much any wacko conspiracy theory sooner or later traces their story back to the Knights Templar, their link to the Holy grail, the Cathars, rose crucians and ultimately the CIA, albino monks and god knows what other nonsense.

No worries, I will not talk about that. Instead we will look at the truly interesting question at the heart of this story. And that is why Philip IV got away with destroying an organization that only 50 years earlier had literally been drowning in donations from extremely powerful men all across europe and had been seen as a crucial component in Christendom’s most important political project, the reconquest of Jerusalem.

Part of it was that the Templars had become filthy rich. At their peak they owned 870 estates and castles across europe. Moreover they had become bankers who were best placed to transfer money across their vast network of commanderies. They also lent money to royalty and famously accepted the crown of France as collateral for one such loan. As so often with bankers their willingness to lend to unreliable borrowers is regarded as avarice, rendering them evil in the eyes of many people.

But that alone is unlikely to be enough. The Knights Hospitallers too were extremely rich, as were the Teutonic Knights. And the Hospitallers in particular lent money too, admittedly on a more modest scale.

So here is the question, why did the persecution of the Templars not lead to a persecution of the other two orders?

The answer lies in their original purpose. The chivalric orders were founded mainly to protect the Holy Land. The crusader state in Palestine had fallen in 1291. But that did not spell the end of all the Latin states in the region. Cyprus was still standing and that is where the Hospitallers went. They then conquered the island of Rhodes which they turned into a massive fortress. They even maintained a foothold on the mainland at Halicarnassus, modern day Bodrum in Turkey. That way they re-created themselves as the bulwark of Christendom against the advances of Islam. That new purpose was enough to protect them from persecution.

Now what about our friends, the Teutonic Knights? They too had left the Holy Land, in fact even earlier than the Templars. But they could at least argue that they were engaged in crusading in the North, bringing pagans into the faith.

But that argument was beginning to sound a bit hollow. Once Prussia and Livonia had been conquered and the pagan rebellion were suppressed, there weren’t that many pagans left, except for the Lithuanians.

And there was another problem. One may sometimes get the impression that the medieval theology was monolithic with the pope at the top determining what was right and what was wrong. But that was not at all the case. Even an overbearing figure like Bernhard of Clairvaux had to face stringent opposition from the scholastics at the university of Paris, from Abaelard, Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas. It was one of them, Roger Bacon, a Franciscan friar and all round fascinating individual who took umbrage of Bernhard’s notion that conversion by fire and sword was doing God’s work. And he singled out the Teutonic Knights saying that quote “pagans like the Prussians [..] would become Christians very gladly if the Church would permit them to retain their liberty and enjoy their possessions in peace. But the Christian princes who labor for their conversion, especially the brothers of the Teutonic Order desire to reduce them to slavery” end quote. In 1274 at the Council of Lyon Humbert of Romans, the former general of the Dominican order made the point that quote “the idolators who still live in the northern parts, the Prussians, and those like them may be converted in the same way as their neighbors, the Poles, Danes, Saxons and Bohemians. [meaning by missionary efforts]. In any case [he goes on] they are not in the habit of attacking us, nor can they do much when they attack, ..and so it is quite enough for Christians to defend themselves manfully when they invade.” end quote.

If these arguments were taking hold amongst the members of the Curia, the entire existence of the Teutonic Knights could be in danger.   

Around the time of the suppression of the Templars, these humane voices got support from Livonia itself. Other than in Prussia, in Livonia the bishops, in particular the archbishop of Riga were  powerful, so were the burghers of the great cities, Riga, Dorpat and Reval. These different parties were almost constantly in conflict which occasionally turned into actual fighting. In this struggle the church authorities in Livonia sought support from the pope, after all the direct superior of the order. They accused the Teutonic Knights of all sorts of crimes, waging war against Christians, even the bishop himself, which was true, unwillingness to fight the pagans, burning their dead, killing the wounded and witchcraft, which wasn’t true. But the most damning accusation was that they were hindering the conversion of the pagans by their “savagery, cruelty and tyranny” as the archbishop of Riga wrote.

The Grand Master was summoned to come to the Curia to defend himself and his order. The situation was certainly precarious. But Pope Benedict XI decided that whatever crime the Teutonic Knights may have committed, it was more important to reconcile the parties in order to defend Livonia. So, he replaced the archbishop of Riga and sent a harsh indictment to the order, demanding they sort themselves out.

In response the grand masters ordered a sharp tightening of discipline, moved to Marienburg to be far away from any monarch keen on seizing and burning them, and began constructing a new narrative for the order’s purpose.

Conversion of the pagans was still a major objective. But alongside it stood a new threat to Christendom. These pagans beyond the frontier weren’t peaceful villagers who may be misguided but otherwise harmless. No, they were a terrifying foe who intended to break into the Latin world forcing their faux religion on not just the recently converted Prussians, Estonians, Letts ,Livs and Courlanders, but were intending push all the way west into Poland, the Empire and ultimately Rome itself. These hordes were the Lithuanians, but also the successor states of the Kyivan Rus with their orthodox heresy and behind them their overlords, the Mongol Khans. It was they, the Teutonic Knights who formed the bulwark of the west against this existential threat.

And to make this story stick they needed to make these adversaries sound terrifying. As it happened, that was not that difficult. The Lithuanians had always been a worthy opponent and there was a good reason why the precious crusading tourists never spent too much time in Lithuania itself.

After Mindaugas had united the various Lithuanian tribes, the entity remained coherent, even though Mindaugas himself was murdered in a coup. The incessant warfare with the Teutonic knights  helped the Lithuanians to become an advanced military. They did however not copy the model of the armored knight. Their cavalry tended to be lightly armed which made them more maneuverable in the challenging terrain they inhabited. They took some inspiration from the Mongol horse archers, though they preferred spears to bows and arrows. Their infantry adopted the crossbow from the Latins but they were mostly free men and held in much higher esteem than infantry in the west which was sometimes times ridden down by their own side.  This military prowess left them in good stead to acquire some of the successor states of the former empire of the Kyivan Rus. In 1321 the Grand Prince Gedimas captured Kyiv itself and as his successors kept pushing on, in 1430 the grand principality of Lithuania extended all the way from the Baltic to the Black Sea.

As this went on, defeating and forcibly converting the Lithuanians became an ever more improbable prospect for the Teutonic Knights. And in a perverse way, that was to their benefit. Had they been successful in converting the Lithuanians, they would have lost their raison d’etre. There would not have been any more pagans to convert or to defend Christendom against. They could have directed their forces against the Principalities of Novgorod and Moscow, though these were less impressive at the time, Christian, if orthodox, and given to the Swedes as their special crusading task.

That event, the conversion of the Lithuanians to Christianity did happen, though not thanks to the efforts of the Teutonic Knights. For that story we have to go back again to the beginning of the 14th century and take a look at the other neighbor of Prussia, Poland.

Before I do that I have to ask my Lithuanian and Polish listeners for forgiveness. I am trying to get all these events right, but as I do not speak either Lithuanian nor Polish, I am reduced to German and English language sources. That means I may not get many of the subtleties and I will end up blanking out quite important events that do not directly affect the story of the Teutonic knights. There are some excellent podcasts that dive a lot deeper into these stories and are done by people much more knowledgeable than myself. I will put links to those in the show notes.

With that caveat, lets take a look at Poland in the 13th and 14th century.

Poland has been founded by the Piast dynasty,  Miesco and Boleslaw the Brave in the 10th century, and in particular under the latter  became a hugely powerful entity that amongst other things defeated the emperor Henry II as we talked about in episode 18. But after that Poland, like so many other medieval kingdoms, went through waves of fragmentation and unification as possessions were split amongst sons who then vied for supremacy. One of the most momentous fragmentations happened after the death of King Bolelsaw Wrymouth in 1138. Wrymouth had five sons, each of whom were given a duchy. These sons in turn split their lands upon their death, creating even more and smaller entities. In principle the dukes of Maropolska (Lesser Poland), based in Krakow were supposed to have some sort of overlordship over the others, though that was rarely of any practical relevance. The fragmentation of Poland left them extremely vulnerable to external threats. Some came from the west, namely from the Margraves of Brandenburg who expanded eastwards and northwards into Pomerania and even took Gdansk in 1271. Another were the Bohemians who targeted Silesia and on occasion took Krakow. Then there were the pagan neighbors, the Prussians and Lithuanians who became increasingly hostile to the point that the duke of Mazovia called in the Teutonic Knights in 1226, a story you are now quite familiar with.

The real shock to the system came when the Mongols invaded in 1241. Though several of the dukes tried to mount some resistance, they were comprehensively defeated at the battle of Legnica/Liegnitz in April 1241. Though the Mongol invasion did not continue into western europe, Poland was not so lucky. They were attacked again in 1259 and 1287, sacking Lublin, Sandomierz, Bytom and even Krakow.

By the end of the 13th century the various Piast dukes realized that their existing structure was not sustainable. None of them was able to fend off any of these invaders on their own. Calling in the Teutonic Knights had resulted in replacing the hostile but ultimately not life threatening Prussians with the well ordered powerful militarized state of the Teutonic Knights. The defeats of the Pomerelian dukes who had supported the Prussian uprisings brought home to them the relative superiority of the Knight brothers.

What then followed was a protracted process of reunification. It was in part driven by simply military success as ambitious dukes managed to eject the rulers of rival duchies. Then there was a lot of luck involved as several of the dynasties died out and the last of their line took the enlightened decision to pass their lands to the most powerful of the dukes at the time. And one has to assume that to a degree the ruling families decided that they would rather submit to one of their own family than to some foreigner. I will not go through all of them, but it is certainly worth to mention some.

Przemysl II had already achieved some consolidation by bringing together Wielkopolska (Greater Poland around Gniezno) and Pomerelia. He was the first ruler in a while who was crowned king of Poland in 1295. His successor Wladislaw the Short from the line of the dukes of Mazovia was off to a difficult start. The king of Bohemia invaded, took Krakow and threw Wladislaw out. When King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia was crowned King of Poland in Gniezno in 1300, the cause of the Piast dukes seemed to be at its lowest point.

In 1306 Wladislaw the short was back in Krakow. He had become a key beneficiary of a grand papal strategy to bring the kingdoms of central europe, Hungary, Bohemia and Poland under new management. In Hungary the dynasty of the Premislids was replaced by the Anjou, the French dynasty that had already taken the kingdom of Sicily from the Hohenstaufen. The plan was to also replace the king Wenceslaus III in Bohemia and in Poland. The Bohemian project did not work, but with Hungarian help Wladislaus the short was able to throw the Bohemians out of Poland. In 1320 he was solemnly crowned king of Poland in Krakow.

His son, Kazimierz the Great (1333 to 1370) took over. Under his long and successful rule, Poland staged a tremendous recovery. He consolidated all these now almost unnumerable Piast duchies with the exception of Silesia, Pomerania and Pomerelia.

Kazimierz was an able administrator and forward thinking politician. To rebuild his depopulated lands he encouraged the immigration of foreigners, in particular of jews who had faced persecution in the wake of the Black Death. He codified the corpus of the existing laws and granted city rights under Magdeburg law. He launched a building program which, along with the cathedrals of Gniesno and Krakow and churches all across the land gave rise to 65 new fortified towns, the fortification of 27 existing ones and 53 new royal castles . He also rerouted the Vistula at Krakow and constructed a canal linking the salt mines at Wieliczka with the capital. He reformed a fiscal system with a central chancellery allowing the kingdom to raise taxes. He introduced new coinage accepted across the kingdom, dramatically facilitating trade. That trade was also supported by the banking skills of the Jewish immigrants who were given a significant degree of fiscal and legal autonomy which was the beginning of the Jewish culture that thrived for so long in the country.

The country was booming. It also benefitted from a dramatic improvement in agricultural production. In the series about the Hanseatic League we did talk about the Hinterland of Danzig as a source of grain that fed western europe all the way to Spain and even at times Italy. Importing vast amounts of grain became necessary for the major cities across western europe because the changing climate during the Little ice Age that began around 1300 had reduced crops to the point that the land surrounding the cities could no longer feed the populations. Some argue that Poland, Prussia and Lithuania had benefitted from a climate quirk that resulted in a warming of this region whilst the rest of Europe became cooler. I find the evidence for that inconclusive. What is however quite likely is that the import of agricultural techniques from the west, the use of horse-driven ploughs, the three field system etc. led to a material growth in productivity alongside the conversion of forest and fallow land into fields.

Kazimierz also pushed for education. The university of Krakow was founded in 1364, after Prague but before Heidelberg and Vienna.

All this prosperity also translated into increased military capability. Kazimierz did wage war against the traditional enemies of the Piasts, namely the Bohemians over Silesia and did score a major victory in 1345. But his main interest lay to his south-east. The disintegration of the Kyivan Rus had left a number of small principalities that looked extremely attractive. These were nominally under overlordship of the Mongols, but they too were on the retreat. Kazimierz took over the duchy of halicz, which is roughly modern day western Ukraine including Lviv and lands south east from there. The kingdom of Poland under Kazimierz therefore ended up looking very different to today. It was a roughly 450km wide and 900km long stretch from Prussia to Moldova.

Kazimierz died in 1370. Though married four times he had no children. So he gave his kingdom to his nephew, King Louis of Hungary. Louis himself came up to Krakow to be crowned but left the country to be run by Elisabeth, his mother, the sister of Kazimierz.

The Hungarian-Polish alliance lasted until the death of Louis who in turn also had no male heir. His two daughters became Europe’s most desirable heiresses. When Louis died his older daughter Maria who had married Sigismund of Luxemburg was to inherit Poland, whilst the younger one, Hedwig was to marry Wilhem of Habsburg who would then become king of Hungary.

The Polish lords did however not agree to this. They did not want to be tied to the Luxemburgers who ruled Bohemia. So they brought her sister, Hedwig or better known by her polish name, Jadwiga to Krakow and in an act of inspired gender bending crowned her king, not queen, of Poland in 1384. The Habsburg prince she was initially betrothed to and who she liked a lot came to claim her, but the Polish lords locked up, first her and then him. After some toing and froing, the dejected Austrian prince gave up and returned home.

At which point the question was, who Jadwiga should marry, if not the Habsburg. The Poles had come up with a most unexpected idea. Jadwiga was to marry Jogaila, the Grand Prince of Lithuania. From a Polish perspective this made a lot of sense. After the South-east expansion of both Poland and Lithuania, the two realms shared a nearly 900 km long border. Having rejected Sigimund and the Bohemians who stood along the other end of that same border meant they were vulnerable to attack with no-one there to help.

The main problem was that Jagielo was still a pagan. The only way this marriage could go ahead was if Jagielo would get baptized.

As it happened Jagielo was prepared to make that transition. Though the Lithuanians had spent the last 200 plus years defending their religion against the incursions of the Teutonic Knights, they had also expanded far and wide into lands that had already become Christian. Their principality included not just pagans but also orthodox Christians, Latin Christians and Jews. As part of an astute policy of playing one enemy against the other, the Lithuanians had often promised conversions or at least allowed missionaries to come in and proselytize. Hence at the time Jogaila was made the offer of the hand of Jadwiga, Lithuania was no longer fully pagan.

And Poland was an incredibly attractive opportunity. Thanks to Kazimierz success as a ruler, Poland was incredibly rich and cultured as well as militarily capable. All he had to do was to get his head wet and build a cathedral, and all of that was his.

No wonder he went for it. On February 12th Jogaila arrived in Krakow. Three days later he was baptized, on the 18th he married Jadwiga and on March 4 he was crowned king of Poland.

This is the beginning of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth, at times the largest state in Europe that at its height stretched all the way from the Baltic to the Black Sea and from Krakow almost all the way to Moscow.  

For the Teutonic Knights this was a major calamity. Their territory in Prussia was now surrounded on all sides by one hugely powerful neighbor. And not only that, the Lithuanians were no longer officially pagans bringing down the whole edifice of the Bulwark of Christianity that justified their existence.

And with at least one side, the Lithuanians, the order was already in a state of continued low intensity war.

Relations with Poland weren’t that great either. Initially the Teutonic Knights and the Piast dukes had a good relationship. After all it was the duke of Mazovia who had called them in for help. Many of the crusaders who came to conquer Prussia and suppress the revolts had come from Poland and many Polish settlers had helped cultivating the Prussian lands. Sure there was occasional conflict, in particular with the dukes of Pomerelia, Swentopolk and Mestwin who had played a major role in the Prussian uprisings.

But all in, it was in the Teutonic Knights interest that Poland was supportive as the crusaders had to travel through Polish lands or into Danzig to get to Prussia. At the same time the Polish dukes relied on Teutonic Knight support in keeping their Northern border safe from Lithuanian and Russian attacks.

Things went pear shaped when Mestwin II, the last duke of Pomerelia died in 1294. Mestwin had no heirs and made the king of Poland his heir. That meant the land became part of the conflict between the Bohemian pretenders and Wladislaw the Short. When Wladislaw the short came back from exile in 1306 with Hungarian help he also took Pomerelia with its capital Danzig back under his control. He placed a garrison into Danzig and then moved on to deal with other problems further south. In 1308 the margraves of Brandenburg thought they had an opportunity to take the territory on some of the usual dynastic pretenses. They were successful and occupied almost all of the territory. The Hanse merchants of Danzig opened their gates and the royal presence was now limited to the Danzig castle. The garrison asked Wladislaw the short for help but he could not do much at this point in time. He suggested they ask the Teutonic Knights for help.

In 1308 the grand master Heinrich von Ploetzke took his army to Danzig and drove the Brandenburgers out. He did this in part out of the generally friendly relationship with the king but also in the expectation to get paid 10,000 mark for his services.

The Teutonic Knights in Danzig were waiting for the money to arrive, but somehow the cheque got lost in the post. The citizens of Danzig, most of whom were German speaking traders and artisans did not like their new occupiers very much. They had got used to a much higher level of autonomy than the Knight brothers would allow them. A revolt broke out that was brutally suppressed. How brutal is a big debate, though the claims of 10,000 dead made by later Polish rulers is highly improbable.

The suppression of the revolt did not resolve the problem. King Wladislaw the Short was still not prepared to pay. It wasn’t just the lack of payment that irritated the knights, it was the assumption on the side of the king that he could call upon the Teutonic knights whenever he wanted, as if they were his vassals.

So to make clear what was what the Teutonic Knights decided to stay. They bought the rights to Pomerelia from the margraves of Brandenburg and formed an alliance. With that they now had a direct land bridge into the empire via the duchy of Pomerania and Brandenburg making them less dependent upon the Poles.  

This as it turn out was not just a crime, it was worse, it was a mistake. The disagreement over Pomeralia and the city of Danzig poisoned the relationship between the Poles and the Teutonic Knight that when reading the comments on my Facebook page continues to this day.

It also added to the pressure on the order in Rome and their general reputation. In 1320 and in 1339 the Poles accused the order of unlawfully waging war against Christians. And quite frankly, the facts of the matter were quite clear. Taking a Christian land was not what a chivalric order was meant to do. The order lost both cases and was required to hand back Pomerelia. The grand master refused and was excommunicated. But as it happened pretty much all of the empire was at the time under interdict and the moral suasion of the Avignon popes had nowhere near the weight of an Innocent IV, so nothing much came of it.

Strategically Pomerelia and Danzig in particular were extremely important to Poland. It was their access to the Baltic Sea. Danzig stands at the mouth of the great Polish river, the Vistula where grain wood, salt and metals were shipped to the markets of Flanders, England and Norway.

The loss of Pomerelia pushed the Polish rulers into a closer relationship with the Lithuanians. Poles and Lithuanians realised they had common enemies, the Mongols and the Teutonic Knights. The very beginnings of that alliance lay here in 1326 when Wladislaw’s successor, Kazimierz the great married Aldena a famously beautiful Lithuanian princess.

In response the Teutonic Knights began a PR campaign against king Wladislaw the Short, encouraging both external and internal enemies to topple him. One of them was king John of Bohemia, the famous blind knight whose ostrich feathers and motto still grace the Prince of Wales arms.

War broke out in 1328 when Wladislaw the short attacked Kulm whilst the Teutonic Orders were distracted by a large operation against the Lithuanians. In 1329 the order struck back supported by forces of the king John of Bohemia. Wladislaw the short now allied with the Hungarians and Lithuanians which led to the battle of Plowce in 1331. That battle everyone agreed was unusually fierce even for a period that was used to violence. Technically Wladislaw did win the battle and had 65 knight brothers executed. But when Teutonic Knight reinforcements arrived on the battlefield  the Poles fled back home. Wladislaw died shortly after in 1333 opening the room for negotiations. It took until 1343 before all parties involved, the Knights, the kings of Poland, Hungary and Bohemia and the grand Prince of Lithuania could come to a solution. That solution was a complex structure that maintained the notion that Pomerelia was still part of the Polish Kingdom but that the Teutonic Knights were in charge.

After that things calmed down until the marriage of Jadwiga and Jogaila in 1386. That was a double blow. A catholic Lithuania meant no more crusades and hence no more tourists and even worse no purpose to the organisation. A combined Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth meant it was only a matter of time before they would came for the Teutonic Knights militarily.

The Knights pursued a twofold strategy to counter this threat. One was to claim that the Lithuanian conversion was a scam. Jogaila they said continued to worship his pagan gods and had not suppressed the pagan temples, which is probably true. The other part of the strategy was to exploit internal conflict in Lithuania. Jogaila had a rival for the role of Grand Prince, Vytautas, the son of the previous grand prince who had been murdered by Jogaila. Vytautas had strong following in Lithuania with the order’s support threw out many of Jogaila’s vassals. Jogaila was reduced to his capital Vilnius and surrounding lands. In 1390 the Teutonic Knights supported by Vytautas attacked Vilnius. That was one of the few Rhyse that were actual proper military undertakings. It was also the fight that henry Bolingbroke the future king Henry IV of England took part in. Vilnius held out for five weeks and after  the weather turned the crusaders returned. There were further major operations in the three years that followed but it took until 1398 that both sides were making peace. By this time it was Vytautas, not Jogaila who was in control of Lithuania. Jogaila was king of Poland together with his wife and resided there. When Jadwiga died in 1399 he became the sole ruler of Poland. Jogaila and Vytautas reconciled but given their backstory were believed to mistrust each other profoundly.

The success of the Lithuanian campaign and the split between Vytautas and Jogaila gave the Grand master of the Teutonic Knights, Ulrich von Jungingen the impression that he was in a very strong position. Yes, the crusades as such were over and support from travelling knights could no longer be relied upon, but all in the Knight brothers were a superior force, easily able to take on the Poles and Lithuanians.

This is when we go from mistake to catastrophic mistake.

What ended the 10 years of relative calm was an uprising in Samogitia that the Teutonic Knights blamed on Vytautas. Ulrich von Jungingen demanded that Vytautas and Jogaila immediately ceased any further support to the Samogitians. That demand was seen as deeply insulting by both Poles and Lithuanians. In particular the Poles had come to trust Jogaila over the past 10 years and – contrary to expectations in Prussia – were willing to go to war for him.

Things weren’t improved when the matter was brought before king Wenceslaus of Bohemia who was asked to act as arbiter. Wenceslaus sided fully with the order, adding more fuel to the flames. One -on- one meetings between Jogaila and Jungingen also failed to resolve issues.

War was coming again.

Jogaila gathered his army at Plock, south of Kulm. One estimate said he gathered 18,000 Polish fighters and Vytautas brought him 11,000 men.  These included not just Poles and Lithuanians, but also Bohemian and Moravian mercenaries, tartars, Rus’ians and Moldovans.

Ulrich von Jungingen relied on only about 10,000 cavalry from the order plus some support from the king of Bohemia and the last contingent of crusaders, roughly 15,000 in total.

These numbers are as always inexact. What most estimates have in common though was that the Poles and Lithuanians outnumbered the order’s forces 2 to one. That being said, the order operated as a close unit of men who had trained and fought together for a long time, whilst Jogaila’s forces were a wild mixture who had little coherence, not even in weapons, training, tactics or even language.

This was not a slam dunk.

On July 2, 1410 Jogaila’s forces crossed the Vistula river and began an invasion of Prussia. His army followed along the Drewenz river, burning and plundering as was the habit of medieval armies.

Ulrich von Jungingen who had split his forces across the length of the frontier now brought his men together in pursuit. When they came to the burning ruins of the town of Gilgenberg the grand master lost his cool. The destruction he had witnessed along the way and he feared would be inflicted on his lands if he did not bring this to an end quickly urged him to double the pace and catch up with the Polish-Lithuanian forces.

At a place the Germans call Tannenberg, the Poles Grunwald and the Lithuanians Zalgiris the two armies came together. As you would expect from a confrontation that has mythical status in Polish, Lithuanian and in the past, German consciousness, quite a lot of it is disputed.

What seems to have happened is that the Teutonic Knights went for an all out attack on the position where they assumed Jogaila was standing. This may have been triggered by a feigned retreat or some other misunderstanding. What we know is that the Teutonic Knights, led by the grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen charged at the Polish centre driving a wedge into the Polish-Lithuanian forces. This charge came as far as the royal bodyguard but was held off. Meanwhile forces commanded by Vytautas attacked the knights’ flank. The result was a massacre. The grand master and his chief officers lay dead. His army fled along the narrow paths through the forest and were killed one by one. 8,000 soldiers died that day on either side, which suggests almost half the entire force of the Teutonic Knights had perished. Those who survived sought shelter in whichever castle they could find.

News of the defeat spread through europe and left people aghast. The mighty Teutonic Knights who many of the Europe’s aristocrats had met on their gap year and admired for their military skills had been all but wiped out. How was that possible? And what is going to happen next? Will the order collapse?

That is a story for another time, next week to be precise. I hope you will join us again.

Ah, and by the way, just in case you cannot remember, my Patreon account is at patreon.com/historyofthegermans and for one-time donations, go to historyofthegermans.com/support

Bibliography

Werner Paravicini Die Preußenreisen des europäischen Adels: Die Preußenreisen des europäischen Adels (perspectivia.net)

William Urban: The Teutonic Knights – A Military History

Eric Christiansen: The Nordic Crusades, Penguin Books, 1997

Klaus Militzer: Die Geschichte des deutsche Ordens, 2.Aufl, 2012

Jurgen Sarnowsky: der Deutsche Orden, 2.Aufl, 2012

A History of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia 1190-1331: The Kronike Von Pruzinlant by Nicolaus Von Jeroschin