Konrad I (Poland)
Konrad von Masowien ( Polish Konrad I Mazowiecki , Latin Conradus ; * 1187 or 1188 ; † August 31, 1247 ) was from 1199, as Konrad I , Duke in Mazovia , from 1202 Duke in Kujawien , Sieradz and Łęczyca , and 1229-1232 and 1241–1243 Senior Duke of Poland . His father was Casimir the Just , whose parents were Bolesław III. Schiefmund and Salome von Berg- Schelklingen.
Duke Konrad came from the Piast dynasty .
Konrad and the German Order
Konrad von Mazowien was at times a senior over the whole of Poland and a partial Polish prince. Konrad von Mazowien tried to enlarge his dominion. In 1220 he initially succeeded in conquering the Kulmerland , north of Mazovia , which was inhabited by Prussians and not a Slavic country. However, the Prussians fought him back and a border war that lasted for years developed, during which the Prussians not only recaptured the Kulmerland, but also repeatedly invaded Mazovia and threatened Konrad's capital, Płock . Konrad solicited military assistance and invoked the proselytizing of the Prussians. He asked the Teutonic Order to occupy the Kulmer Land and left it up to them to keep it for himself. The Teutonic Knights did not want to intervene without first obtaining the consent of the Roman-German Emperor Friedrich II , which they received in 1226.
The Teutonic Order had previously been expelled from the Burzenland by the Hungarian King Andreas II , where the knightly order had successfully fought against the pagan Cumans , a Turkic people living in the steppe, from 1211 to 1225.
In view of this development, Konrad von Masowien had concerns as to whether the Teutonic Knights would actually fight for his goals as he planned. He therefore founded on the model of the Sword Brothers own Teutonic Order, the " Brothers of Dobrin " ( officially: " fratribus militiae Christ in Prussia " , brothers of the Knights Christ's ministry in Prussia '). Konrad von Mazowien called for a crusade against the pagan Prussians and recruited Christian knights to support his knightly order. The "Brothers of Dobrin" could not recapture the Kulmerland, even failed to protect the Mazovian core area and suffered a devastating defeat against the Prussians in 1228.
Konrad of Mazovia now had his back to the wall and feared that he would lose all of Mazovia to the Prussians. Therefore, in 1230, he bowed to the demands of the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights and committed himself in the Treaty of Kruschwitz to give the Teutonic Order the Kulmerland "for ever" as a gift (not just as a fief) if successful and to hand over to Vogelsang. As in the Golden Bull of Rimini by Frederick II, in the Treaty of Kruschwitz, Konrad von Masowien also confirmed the independence of the religious state to be created and his rule over the Kulmerland and all of the Prussian countries conquered or still to be conquered. It is controversial whether the document, which certifies a donation and not just a loan ( fief ) from the Kulmer Land to the Teutonic Order, was subsequently forged by the grand masters of the same. Hermann von Salza received from Pope Gregory IX in the fall of 1230 . the verbal promise to guarantee the independence of the future order state, which was also laid down in writing on August 3, 1234 in the Rieti Bull . The competition between Pope Gregory IX certainly played. and Emperor Friedrich II. a role.
Now three times secured, the Teutonic Order began to wage war against the Prussians. In the spring of 1231, Landmeister Hermann von Balk gathered with a small force at Vogelsang near Nessau, crossed the Vistula and in the same year built a first castle at what would later be Thorn in the Kulmerland. In the first few years, the campaigns of the knights were repeatedly supported by the troops of Konrad of Mazovia and the other Polish princes. In 1234 the insignificant crusader order "Brothers of Dobrin" was integrated into the Teutonic Order, in 1235 the Teutonic Order also officially took over Dobrin Castle with the permission of the Pope. In 1237 the Order of the Brothers of the Swords was absorbed into the German Order.
Polish historians, who refer to Max Perlbach , whose thesis has been disproved since 1980, question the authenticity of the Kruschwitz Treaty and suggest that the state was founded through a clever “move”, namely by forging the contract and the subsequent one Consensus was made possible by the papal bull.
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Wladyslaw III. Thin leg |
Senior Duke of Poland 1229–1232 |
Henry I the Bearded |
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Henry II the Pious |
Senior Duke of Poland 1241–1243 |
Bolesław V. the Shameful |
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. z. B. Friedrich von Dreger : Codex Pomeraniae . Edition Berlin 1768, Volume 1, No. LXV, pp. 117-120 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Konrad I. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Conrad of Mazovia |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Polish prince in the Duchy of Mazovia |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1187 or 1188 |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 31, 1247 |