Krakow Treaty
The Treaty of Krakow was signed on April 8, 1525 . He ended the centuries-old conflict between the Kingdom of Poland and the Teutonic Order .
background
In the 14th and 15th centuries there were a number of military conflicts between the Kingdom of Poland and the Order, which had existed since 1226. The 1466 Second Peace of Thorn could not end the tense situation between the two countries, which led to the equestrian war (1519-1521).
The armistice concluded in 1521 through a diplomatic initiative of Emperor Charles V gave both sides time to regroup militarily and politically. The problem of paying homage remained, since the Grand Master , like his predecessors, refused to swear allegiance and vassal oath to the King of Poland.
The Polish aristocrats at court did not agree on how to solve the problem. The Grand Chancellor Krzysztof Szydłowiecki was convinced that a peaceful transition would be possible. Other clerical politicians such as Bishop Piotr Tomicki or the voivod Achatius von Zehmen took this point of view. They met several times, mostly in strict confidence, with Grand Master Albrecht von Hohenzollern. Primate Jan Łaski , who also had the entire Polish Senate on his side, represented the abolition of the state and the relocation of the knights .
In 1523 King Sigismund I sent Achatius von Zehmen to Nuremberg to familiarize the emperor with the Polish cause and to consolidate the country's position. The Grand Master Albrecht von Hohenzollern was to be officially asked to give up his office and cede it to the Polish king. Unofficially, however, Szydłowiecki had let the Grand Master know through von Zehmen that aristocrats at court in Poland would support a secularization of the religious state.
In the same year, Grand Master Albrecht met Martin Luther . This openly urged him to break away from the Roman Catholic Church and the order in order to found a secular Lutheran principality, which the Grand Master seriously considered.
During the meetings at Grottkau (Grodków) and Bytom (Bytom) in 1523, the first steps were taken that should lead to the Treaty of Krakow in 1525. Since State Chancellor Szydłowiecki was a close confidante and good friend of King Sigismund I, there were no obstacles to finding an agreement that would suit the representatives of secularization.
consequences
The religious state was transformed into the secular Duchy of Prussia . The war ended. The territories captured during the equestrian war were returned to both sides and Albrecht von Hohenzollern became the first Lutheran Duke of Prussia. It was also determined that all of his direct, legitimate, male descendants would inherit the title. If he should die without an heir, the lines of Georg, Prince of Ansbach , Casimir, Prince of Kulmbach or Johann, Prince of Ansbach and their descendants would inherit this title and the fiefdom of Prussia.
The Duke of Prussia would always become a Senator from Poland. If all lines should die out (i.e. the Prussian and the Ansbach-Kulmbach lines of the Hohenzollern male line), the Duchy of Prussia would be drawn in as a settled fiefdom by the King of Poland.
Prussian homage
In Polish historiography, the Treaty of Krakow is mostly understood under the term "Prussian homage" (Polish Hołd Pruski ). The Polish painter Jan Matejko dedicated one of his main works to her in 1882, the historical painting The Prussian Homage . The moment of the fulfillment of the contract, the handing over of the flag by the Polish king, who had granted pardon, to the duke who kneeled and swore allegiance to him, portrays a high point in Polish history.
controversy
The Roman-German Emperor Charles V and the Pope did not recognize the conversion of the religious order by Albrecht and thus the Treaty of Krakow. The Kaiser had appointed the German Master of the Teutonic Order, who was resident in the Holy Roman Empire , to be the “Administrator of the Grand Master's Office in Prussia”. However, this appointment had no political-territorial consequences for the Duchy of Prussia and Albrecht von Hohenzollern.
literature
- Karol Górski: Zakon Krzyżacki a powstanie państwa pruskiego. Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, Warszawa 1977.
- Maria Bogucka: Hołd Pruski. Wydawnictwo Interpress, Warszawa 1982.
- Stanisław Szostakowski: Hołd Pruski. Wydawnictwo Szkolne i Pedagogiczne, Warszawa 1975.
- Halina Blak, Stanisław Grodziski: Hołd Pruski. Wydawnictwo literackie, Kraków 1990.
Web links
- O. Balzer: Corpus Juris Polonici , Krakau 1910 Treaty of Krakow from p. 143 , Polish edition critical of the text, text of the Latin original, German translation from 1530.
- Caspar Schütz: Historia rerum Prussicarum: warhaffte vnd actual description of the Lande Preussen / ... , (Danzig) 1599 Scan at googlebooks German contract text from p. 495.
- Krakow Treaty of April 8, 1525 , in: Herder Institute (Ed.): Documents and materials on East Central European history . Topic module German Orders and Prussia in the Middle Ages , edited by Marcus Wüst
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ernst Bahr: Studies on the history of the Prussian country. 1963, p. 517