Contract to Salinwerder

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The Teutonic Order and its borders with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (brown) 1260–1410; Samogitia , which was transferred in the Treaty of Salinwerder, is shown hatched in pale red

The Treaty of Salinwerder was a peace and border treaty concluded on October 12, 1398 between the Teutonic Order and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . The document was named after an island in the Memel River , where the signing and sealing took place.

In this contract, the armed conflict between the opposing parties that had lasted for over a century was to be permanently resolved. Represented by Grand Master Konrad von Jungingen and the Lithuanian Grand Duke Vytautas , a fundamental consensus was reached for the first time on the controversial Samogitia and free trade between the previously warring states in the Baltic States. The core of the contract was the complete cession of Samogiti by Vytautas to the Teutonic Order.

prehistory

Since the middle of the 13th century, the conflict between the Teutonic Order and the Lithuanians and Samogites overshadowed the overall military and political situation in northeastern Europe. With the establishment of the Teutonic Order in Prussia and Livonia , the dividing line between the religions ran along the borders of Lithuania. The contradiction was further aggravated by the order's claim to comprehensive Christianization . There was also a desire on the part of the order to connect its core areas of Prussia and Livonia territorially through the annexation of Samogiti.

After 1300 the conflict culminated in constant mutual devastation, with neither side being able to gain lasting advantages. The order took up the idea of ​​a crusade in order to legitimize the constant skirmishes with the Lithuanian cavalry bands .

Lithuania's grand princes, actually interested in expansion to the east and south-east given the persistent weakness of the Golden Horde , consistently countered the constant threat to their western domains with military defenses. In the 14th century there were hundreds of military campaigns with devastating consequences for the rural population on both sides.

In 1382 the aspirant to the throne of the Grand Duke Vytautas fled from his nephew and Grand Duke Jogaila to the land of the Order. In 1383 he was baptized as a Catholic there, in 1384 he promised the Order of Samogitia in the Königsberg Treaty , but in the same year he attacked the fortresses of the knights and destroyed them.

In 1385 Jogaila also became King of Poland and agreed to be baptized in the Union of Krewo , as did the entire Lithuanian nobility. On the one hand, the Teutonic Order was deprived of its ideological legitimacy and, on the other hand, had to face an ever increasing strategic threat from the new Kingdom of Poland.

In 1392 Vytautas became Grand Duke of Lithuania. Soon afterwards he followed up on his commitments from the Königsberg Treaty .

Intentions of the contractual partners

The German Order

Medieval coat of arms of the Teutonic Order

In addition to the sustained interest in acquiring Samogiti, the leadership of the order pursued the goal of separating Vytautas, who was conscious of Lithuanian independence, from the (Greater) Polish interests of his relative Jogaila by concluding the bilateral agreement. Furthermore, through participation in the ventures of Grand Duke Vytautas against the pagan Tatars of the Golden Horde, a further legitimation of the order in pagan warfare could take place.

Grand Duchy of Lithuania

At the end of the 14th century, Vytautas wished to move the borders of Lithuania extensively to the Ukraine , which inevitably exacerbated the latent conflict with the Golden Horde. With this campaign, the Grand Duke wanted to underline Lithuania's autonomy from Poland. Therefore he was fundamentally prepared to forego the Samogitia, which had long been unrelenting to him. In addition, Vytautas had to see a reinforcement of his invading army by contingents of, according to contemporaries, battle-tried knights as extremely useful.

Key points of the contract

  • Vytauta's obligation to spread Christianity both inside and outside of the Lithuanian territory
  • Observance of peace
  • Commitment of both parties not to enter into alliances against each other
  • Establishing the limits / setting the boundary stones
    • against Livonia
    • against Prussia
    • against Masovia after the Land Wese was released from the Teutonic Order by Duke Semovit IV of Masovia
    • Samogitia, which is (now) outside of these borders, will belong to the Teutonic Order for all time
  • The Grand Duke renounces Pleskau ( Pskow ) and the Grand Master renounces Novgorod
  • Free trade
  • Prohibition of admitting the opposing party with interest
  • Distribution of spoils of war and field jurisdiction in joint campaigns
  • Prevention of the passage of warriors of the opponents of the other part
  • no admission of outlaws of the opposite side
  • no passage through the territory of the other side without their consent
  • Guarantees from the exhibitors and their religious or Lithuanian boyars

consequences

The Salinwerder agreements proved to be extremely fragile in the following years. On the part of Grand Duke Vytautas, after his devastating defeat in the Battle of the Worskla, there was a change in the eastern policy, which had previously aimed at annexing large areas.

The alliance to the Kingdom of Poland from 1400 onwards brought Vytautas increasingly into conflict with the Teutonic Order state bordering to the west and north . The Samogites, dissatisfied with the restrictive rule of the order, experienced increasing (covert) support from the Lithuanian Grand Duke over the years. Despite the ratification of the Salinwerder contract in 1404, the Polish king found the escalation in Lower Lithuania to be extremely favorable because of his foreign policy plans against the Teutonic Order. Jogaila let Vytautas do it. In 1409, a latent resistance, provoked by the rigorous introduction of the church tithe and provoked by many other restrictive measures, resulted in an open uprising of the Samogitian population and the local nobility. The Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, Ulrich von Jungingen , took the open support of the uprising by Jogaila, in his capacity as representative of the Kingdom of Poland, as an opportunity to send the "feud letter" (official declaration of war) to both Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The campaign ended with the crushing defeat of the Teutonic Order in the Battle of Tannenberg in July 1410.

With the exchange of the contract documents in the course of the peace negotiations at Lake Melno in September 1422, the Salinwerder agreements were officially declared null and void.

literature

Contemporary chronicles

  • Johannes Longinus (Jan Długosz): Banderia Prutenorum (description of the flags and also the war events of 1410/11, around 1448)
  • Jan Długosz: Annales seu Cronicae incliti Regni Poloniae (Chronicle of Poland, around 1445-1480).

Scientific literature

  • Wolfgang Sonthofen: The German Order. Weltbild, Augsburg 1995, ISBN 3-89350-713-2 .
  • Marian Tumler: The German Order in becoming, growing and working until 1400. Panorama-Verlag, Vienna 1954.
  • Uwe Ziegler: Cross and Sword. The history of the Teutonic Order. Böhlau, Cologne 2003, ISBN 3-412-13402-3 .
  • Dieter Zimmerling: The German order of knights. Econ, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-430-19959-X .

credentials

  1. ^ Wolfgang Sonthofen: The German Order ; Weltbild, Augsburg 1995, p. 235.
  2. ^ Dieter Zimmerling: The German order of knights. Econ, p. 237.
  3. ^ The virtual Prussian document book regesta and texts on the history of Prussia and the Teutonic Order

Web links