Equestrian War

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A German Landsknecht of the 16th century, after Albrecht Dürer

The equestrian war from 1519 to 1521 was the last military attempt by the Teutonic Order under its last Grand Master Albrecht von Brandenburg-Ansbach to liberate the Teutonic Order state in East Prussia from the guardianship of Poland . In the armistice after unsuccessful fighting, Albrecht became a Protestant, secularized the country in 1525 and took it as the first Duke of Prussia as a fiefdom from King Sigismund I of Poland .

prehistory

The Second Peace of Thorner of 1466, which sealed the defeat of the Teutonic Order in the Thirteen Years' War against the alliance of the Prussian Confederation and Poland, had not only brought the order serious territorial losses, but also resulted in an obligation to serve in the army and to take an oath of allegiance to the Polish King brought into an unbearable relationship of dependence on Poland. After the Order was forced by Poland in 1497 to take part in the Turkish campaign, which was directed less against the Turks and more to expand the Polish territory, the Grand Masters of the Order sought to free themselves from their dependence on Poland.

First of all, Grand Master Hans von Tiefen's plan was put into practice to elect his successors to German imperial princes who could more easily defy the duty of the oath of allegiance. After the death of Tiefens in 1498, Duke Friedrich of Saxony was elected Grand Master . He no longer took the oath of allegiance, nor did his successor, Margrave Albrecht von Brandenburg-Ansbach . He then tried to reverse the regulations of the Second Thorner Peace with military means.

The war

Polish soldiers 1507–1548 (after Jan Matejko )

Albrecht began the fight against his uncle, the Polish King Sigismund I , with the attack on the Warmia town of Braunsberg on December 31, 1519. Sigismund then invaded Pomesania, which was part of the order . During the fourteen months of fighting there never was an open field battle between the two armies, rather the troops, mainly composed of mercenaries, marched destructively through the Warmia on the one hand and through the southwest of the order country on the other. At first it seemed as if the Polish troops were gaining the upper hand, for they succeeded in advancing far to the northeast, almost as far as Konigsberg . The Prussian estates campaigned for an armistice . The Grand Master traveled to Thorn in June 1520 to negotiate with Sigismund , but broke off the talks after a short time when he learned that a Danish auxiliary force had left to support him. So the fighting flared up again, repeatedly interrupted by new negotiations.

In 1520 Albrecht succeeded in recruiting a new 10,000-strong mercenary army with the help of German princes. With this he pushed the Polish armed forces back to the Vistula , which they could not cross due to high water. However, he did not concentrate the forces available to him in a decisive battle, but fought in Warmia, where he tried in vain to take the city of Heilsberg .

The mercenary army tried just as unsuccessfully to conquer Danzig . Then it dissolved in the face of a lack of success.

End of war and peace agreement

The Prussian Homage 1525, painting by Jan Matejko , 19th century

When the order was in serious danger again and a renewed Turkish invasion was feared, the Roman-German Emperor Charles V and the Bohemian-Hungarian King Ludwig II intervened to pacify the region and brokered a four-year armistice, the entered into force on April 5, 1521.

In the following period Albrecht traveled to Germany. On Luther's advice , he introduced the Reformation in his country in 1525 . On April 8, 1525, he submitted to the Polish King Sigismund in the Treaty of Cracow as a feudal law and converted the order state into the Duchy of Prussia . Albrecht's steps severely reduced the power and income of the Teutonic Order and were not recognized by either the papacy or the Holy Roman Empire.

literature

  • Gustav Köhler: History of the fortresses Danzig and Weichselmünde up to the year 1814. Reprint Bremen 2013. S. 194-200 . ( The Grand Master's War )

Individual evidence

  1. Nicolaus Copernicus Complete Edition , Vol. VI: Documenta Copernicana , Part 1: Letters. Texts and translations , edited by Andreas Kühne. Oldenbourg Akademieverlag, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-05-002594-8 , pp. 9 and 21.
  2. ^ Maria Bogucka, Klaus Zernack : To the secularization of the Teutonic Order in Prussia. The Krakow homage (= Germans and Poles - History of a Neighborhood , Part B 3). Hahn, Hannover 1996, ISBN 3-88304-123-8 .
  3. ^ Nicolaus Copernicus Complete Edition , Vol. VI: Documenta Copernicana , Part 2: Documents, files and news. Texts and translations , edited by Andreas Kühne. Oldenbourg Akademieverlag, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-05-003009-7 , p. 154.