The 1525 Dissolution in Prussia
The secularisation of the Teutonic Order in Prussia, formalised in the Treaty of Kraków of 8 April 1525, was the final act in the long history of the Order’s corporate existence as a sovereign territorial power. By the terms of the treaty, the Grand Master, Albert of Brandenburg-Ansbach, dissolved the Teutonic state in Prussia and converted the territories of the Order into a secular duchy, to be held as a Polish fief in Albert’s own family. The duchy of Prussia was, in the following centuries, to be the basis of the Brandenburg-Prussian state that was to dominate north-eastern Europe until the twentieth century. The Order’s corporate history in Prussia was, with the Treaty of Kraków, formally ended.
The Background
The Teutonic Order in the early sixteenth century was a much diminished institution. The Order had, since the battle of Grunwald in 1410, been in slow decline. The Order had, by the Second Peace of Thorn in 1466, lost the western part of its Prussian territories and had been reduced to the status of a Polish vassal in the eastern part. The Order’s recruitment of knight-brothers from the German lands had been in decline for several decades.
The election of Albert of Brandenburg-Ansbach as Grand Master, in 1511, was a turning point. Albert was a Hohenzollern prince of the Franconian branch, the nephew of the King of Poland, Sigismund I Jagiellonian, on his mother’s side. He was intelligent, ambitious, and short of money. He was also, in religious matters, sympathetic to the Lutheran reformers, and he had, before his election, expressed doubts about the religious vocation of the Order.
The Reform Proposals
Albert’s first years as Grand Master were dominated by attempts to reform the Order’s internal structure. The negotiations with the Polish crown were, however, difficult. King Sigismund I was, in this period, in a strong position, and he was not prepared to make significant concessions. The Polish crown’s principal counter-proposal — the conversion of the Order’s territories into a secular duchy — was, however, kept open as a possibility.
The reform proposals were overtaken by the religious crisis of the Reformation. The Reformation arrived in the Prussian lands in the early 1520s, partly through the preaching of itinerant Lutheran preachers, partly through the influence of the merchants of Danzig, and partly through the personal convictions of certain of the Order’s own officials. The Order’s response was divided: the Grand Master was sympathetic to the reformers; the Order’s high officers were, generally opposed; the German commanderies, the Balleien, were, in many cases, sympathetic to the Lutheran preaching.
The Treaty of Kraków
The crisis came to a head in 1525. Albert had been attempting, for several years, to negotiate a relaxation of the obligations imposed by the Second Peace of Thorn. The negotiations had not produced a satisfactory result, and Albert concluded, in 1525, that the Order could not, on the existing constitutional basis, maintain its position in Prussia. He therefore entered into negotiations with King Sigismund I for the dissolution of the Order in Prussia.
The Treaty of Kraków, signed on 8 April 1525, was a tripartite agreement between Albert, the Polish crown, and the Holy Roman Emperor. By the terms of the treaty, Albert renounced the title of Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, dissolved the Teutonic state in Prussia, and was invested, by the Polish crown, with the duchy of Prussia as a hereditary fief. The duchy was to be held by Albert and his heirs in perpetual vassalage to the Polish crown.
The Religious Dimensions
The secularisation of 1525 was, in the religious sense, a much more complicated event than the political treaty suggests. The dissolution of a religious order, in Catholic canon law, required the consent of the Pope, which was not forthcoming. The Order’s own constitutions required the consent of the Chapter General, which was not forthcoming. The action was therefore, schismatic.
The Holy See refused, throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, to recognise the legitimacy of the secularisation. The Order’s master in Livonia, Wolter von Plettenberg, repudiated Albert’s action and continued to govern the Livonian territories in the name of the Order. The Order’s German commanderies, the Balleien, refused to recognise the secularisation and continued to maintain the Order’s existence in the Catholic parts of the Empire.
The Duchy of Prussia and the Aftermath
The duchy of Prussia, as established by the Treaty of Kraków, was a substantial polity. The duchy’s territory comprised the eastern part of the Order’s former Prussian lands, including the cities of Königsberg, the principal city of the duchy, and the commanderies of the eastern Prussian lands. The duchy was, in the late sixteenth century, to be united with the Margraviate of Brandenburg, when the Hohenzollern dynasty succeeded to the Prussian territories of the ducal branch. The united state of Brandenburg-Prussia was, in the following centuries, to be the principal power of north-eastern Europe.
The secularisation of 1525 was, for the Teutonic Order, a serious but not fatal event. The Order’s corporate history in Prussia was formally ended; the Order’s territorial possessions in Prussia were transferred to the new duchy. The Order’s corporate history in the Catholic parts of the Empire was, however, not affected by the Prussian secularisation. The Order survived as a small ecclesiastical body in the Catholic parts of the Empire, in the Habsburg lands, in the bailiwicks of Alsace-Burgundy and of the Bohemian Crown, and in the Mediterranean commanderies. The headquarters of the Order moved, by way of Königsberg, Danzig, and various other intermediate residences, to Vienna, where the Order has remained to the present day.
The modern Teutonic Order is, accordingly, the legal continuation of the medieval Teutonic Order, an institution whose continuous existence stretches back, through the centuries, to the foundation of 1190. The Order’s modern corporate identity, however, is very different from that of its medieval predecessor: the modern Order is a small Catholic religious order dedicated to charitable works, with no territorial sovereignty, and with a very different relationship to the political institutions of the modern world.
Sources
- Biskup, Marian. Der Deutsche Orden im Zeitalter der Reformation. Marburg: Elwert, 1989.
- Biskup, Marian, and Gerard Labuda. Dzieje zakonu krzyżackiego w Prusach. Gdańsk: Wydawnictwo Morskie, 1986.
- Boockmann, Hartmut. Der Deutsche Orden: Zwölf Kapitel aus seiner Geschichte. Munich: Beck, 1981.
Related Reading
For the longer context of the Order’s decline, see the article on the decline and dissolution of the Order and the article on the battle of Grunwald in 1410. For the parent context, see the History of the Teutonic Knights. The Prussian state that the Order lost, in part, at the secularisation is examined under the Teutonic state in Prussia and the Thirteen Years’ War. The Order’s religious life and legacy are treated under the Order’s religion and legacy.