(Redirected from Ducal Prussia)
The 'Duchy of Prussia' () or 'Ducal Prussia' () was a
duchy established in 1525 in the eastern part of
Prussia, after western Prussia had become the Polish province of
Royal Prussia (''Polish Prussia'') according to the
Peace of Toruń (Thorn) in 1466. The first
Protestant (
Lutheran) state, Ducal Prussia had its capital in
Königsberg.
The Duchy of Prussia remained a
vassal of the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1657, when the
Hohenzollern prince-electors of
Brandenburg achieved sovereignty over the territory in the
Treaty of Wehlau, which was conclusively recognized in the
Treaty of Oliva (1660). The duchy was elevated to the status of a
kingdom in 1701. After the 1772 annexation of Royal Prussia by King
Frederick II of Prussia in the
First Partition of Poland, the former Ducal and Royal Prussian territories were reorganized in 1773. Former Ducal Prussia, with the addition of
Warmia, became the province of
East Prussia, while former Royal Prussia, minus Warmia, became the province of
West Prussia.
History
As
Protestantism spread among the laity of the
monastic state of the Teutonic Knights, dissent began to develop against the
Catholic rule of the
Teutonic Knights, whose Grand Master,
Albert of Brandenburg-Ansbach, a member of a
cadet branch of the
House of Hohenzollern, lacked the military resources to assert the order's authority. After losing a war against the
Kingdom of Poland, and with his personal bishop Georg von Polenz of
Sambia and a number of his commanders already supporting Protestant ideas, Albert began to consider a radical solution. At
Wittenberg in 1522 and at
Nuremberg in 1524,
Martin Luther encouraged him to convert the order's territory into a secular principality under his personal rule, as the anachronistic Teutonic Knights would not be able survive the
Protestant Reformation.
[1]
In April 1525 Albert resigned his position, became a
Protestant, and in the
Prussian Homage was granted the title "Duke of Prussia" by his new feudal overlord, King
Sigismund I the Old of Poland. In a deal partially brokered by Luther, Ducal Prussia became the first Protestant state, anticipating the dispensations of the
Peace of Augsburg of 1555. When Albert returned to Königsberg, he publicly declared his conversion and announced to a quorum of Teutonic Knights his new ducal status. The knights who disapproved of the decision were pressured into acceptance by Albert's supporters and the burghers of Königsberg, and only
Eric of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel,
Komtur of
Memel, opposed the new duke.
By the end of Albert's rule, the offices of Großkomtur and Ordensmarschall had deliberately been left vacant and the order had only 55 knights in Prussia. Some of the knights converted to Lutheranism in order to retain their property and then married into the Prussian nobility, while others returned to the
Holy Roman Empire and remained
Catholic.
[2]
On
1 March 1526 Albert married Princess Dorothea, daughter of King
Frederick I of Denmark, thereby establishing political ties between Lutheranism and
Scandinavia. Despite his Protestant creed, Albert was greatly aided by his older brother
George, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, who had already earlier established Protestant religion in his territories of
Franconia and
Upper Silesia. Albert also found himself reliant on support from his
Jagiellonian uncle
Sigismund I of Catholic Poland, as the
Holy Roman Empire and the
Roman Catholic Church had banned him for his Protestantism.
Because Ducal Prussia was ostensibly a
Lutheran land, authorities travelled throughout the duchy ensuring that Lutheran teachings were being followed and imposing penalties on pagans and dissidents. There was little active resistance to the new creed, although the fact that the Teutonic Knights had brought
Roman Catholicism and Protestantism made the transition easier.
[3] While there was little longing for Catholicism,
Baltic Prussian peasants continued to practice pagan customs in some areas, for example praying to gods such as
Perkunos,
Potrimpos, and
Pikullos (
Patollu) while consuming the roasted flesh of a goat.
[4]
A peasant rebellion broke out in
Sambia in 1525. The combination of taxation by the nobility, the furor of the
Protestant Reformation, and the abrupt secularization of the Teutonic Order's remaining Prussian lands exacerbated peasant unrest. The relatively well-to-do rebel leaders, including a miller from
Kaimen and an innkeeper from
Schaaken, were supported by sympathizers in Königsberg. The rebels demanded the elimination of newer taxes by the nobility and a return to an older tax of two
marks for every ''Hufe'' (approximately forty acres). They claimed to be rebelling against the harsh nobility, not against Duke Albert, who was away in the Holy Roman Empire, but they would only swear allegiance to him in person. Upon Albert's return from the Empire, he called for a meeting of the peasants in a field, whereupon he surrounded them with loyal troops and had them arrested without incident; the leaders of the rebellion were subsequently executed.
Although there were no more large-scale rebellions, Ducal Prussia became known as a land of Protestant dissent and sectarianism.
While the composition of the nobility changed little in the transition from monastic state to duchy, the hold of the nobility over the peasantry increased. The peasant rebellion had frightened the nobles, however, causing them to look to Duke Albert for leadership.
Administratively, little changed in the transition to Ducal Prussia. Although he was formally a vassal of the crown of Poland, Albert retained self-government for Prussia, own army, the minting of his currency, a provincial assembly, and had substantial autonomy in foreign affairs.
[Urban, William. ''The Teutonic Knights: A Military History''. Greenhill Books. London, 2003. ISBN 1-85367-535-0 ]
When Albert died in 1568, his son
Albert Frederick inherited the duchy. Administration in the duchy declined as Albert Frederick became increasingly feeble-minded, leading Margrave
George Frederick of
Brandenburg-Ansbach to become Regent of Prussia in 1577.
As Albert Frederick had no surviving male heirs, the
Treatise of Warsaw in 1611 allowed his son-in-law, Elector
John Sigismund of the Hohenzollern branch in
Brandenburg, to become the duke's legal successor. Upon Albert Frederick's death in 1618, the duchy passed to John Sigismund, although he himself died the following year. John Sigismund's son,
George William, was successfully invested with the duchy by Poland in 1623.
Many of the Prussian
Junkers were opposed to rule by the
House of Hohenzollern of
Berlin and appealed to King
Sigismund III Vasa of Poland for redress, or even incorporation of Ducal Prussia into the Polish kingdom, although without success.
[5]
In 1657 during the
Second Northern War between
Sweden, Poland, and Brandenburg, the
Treaty of Wehlau granted full
sovereignty over Ducal Prussia to Elector
Frederick William of Brandenburg. The duchy lost its status as a
fief of the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and instead remained as state of
Brandenburg-Prussia, established 1577.
In 1675 King
John III Sobieski of Poland concluded with
France a secret pact, in which Poland would attack Ducal Prussia while France would pressure the
Ottoman Empire to return territories to the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Upon the ending of hostilities with the
Ottoman Turks, Poland could then attack Brandenburg or France's rival
Austria. However, Sobieski was opposed by the
Papacy, Polish gentry who saw the Ottomans as the greater threat, and Polish
magnates bribed by Berlin and
Vienna, and Sobieski's plans for Ducal Prussia dissipated.
[6]
Ducal Prussia's location outside of the
Holy Roman Empire allowed Elector
Frederick III of Brandenburg to become "
king in Prussia" in 1701 without offending Emperor
Leopold I. In 1773 former Ducal Prussia was reorganized into the Province of
East Prussia, while most of Royal Prussia became the Province of
West Prussia.
See also
Reference
1. Christiansen, Eric. ''The Northern Crusades''. Penguin Books. London, 1997. ISBN 0-14-026653-4
2. Seward, Desmond. ''The Monks of War: The Military Religious Orders''. Penguin Books. London, 1995. ISBN 0-14-019501-7
3. Koch, H.W. ''A History of Prussia''. Barnes & Noble Books. New York, 1978. ISBN 0-88029-158-3
4. Kirby, David. ''Northern Europe in the Early Modern Period: The Baltic World, 1492–1772''. Longman. London, 1990. ISBN 0-582-00410-1
5. Eulenberg, Herbert. ''The Hohenzollerns''. Translated by M.M. Bozman. The Century Co. New York, 1929.
6. Gieysztor, Alexander, Stefan Kieniewicz, Emanuel Rostworowski, Janusz Tazbir, and Henryk Wereszycki. ''History of Poland''. PWN. Warsaw, 1979. ISBN 83-01-00392-8
External link
★
Medieval map with borders
★
Detailed Map of Prussia from about 1635 containing Ducal and Royal Prussia.
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