Duchy of Prussia

The Duchy of Prussia (, , ) or Ducal Prussia (; ) was a duchy in the region of Prussia established as a result of secularization of the Monastic Prussia, the territory that remained under the control of the State of the Teutonic Order until the Protestant Reformation in 1525.

Overview

The duchy became the first Protestant state when Albert, Duke of Prussia formally adopted Lutheranism in 1525. It was inhabited by German, Polish (mainly in Masuria), and Lithuanian-speaking (mainly in Lithuania Minor) populations.

In 1525, during the Protestant Reformation, in accordance to the Treaty of Kraków, the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, Albert, secularized the order's prevailing Prussian territory (the Monastic Prussia), becoming Albert, Duke of Prussia. As the State of the Teutonic Order had been a hereditary fief of the Polish Crown since the end of the Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466), King of Poland Sigismund I the Old, as its suzerain, granted the territory as a fief to Duke Albert per the Treaty of Kraków, a decision that was sealed by the Prussian Homage in Kraków in April 1525. The new duke established Lutheranism as the first Protestant state church. The capital remained in Königsberg (present-day Kaliningrad).

The duchy was inherited by the Hohenzollern prince-electors of Brandenburg in 1618. This personal union is referred to as Brandenburg-Prussia. Frederick William, the "Great Elector" of Brandenburg, achieved full sovereignty over the duchy under the 1657 Treaty of Wehlau, confirmed in the 1660 Treaty of Oliva. In the following years, attempts were made to return to Polish suzerainty, especially by the capital city of Königsberg, whose burghers rejected the treaties and viewed the region as part of Poland. The Duchy of Prussia was elevated to a kingdom in 1701.

History

Background

As Protestantism spread among the laity of the Teutonic Monastic State of Prussia, dissent began to develop against the Roman Catholic rule of the Teutonic Knights, whose Grand Master, Albert, Duke of Prussia, 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 Pomesania and of Samland, who had converted to Lutheranism in 1523, 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 Teutonic Knights would not be able to survive the Reformation.

Establishment

thumb|The [[Prussian Homage (painting)|Prussian Homage (by Jan Matejko, 1882, National Museum, Kraków): Albert receives Ducal Prussia as a fief from King Sigismund I of Poland in 1525.]]

thumb|Ducal Prussia as a fief of the Polish Crown (striped) in the second half of the 16th century

On 10 April 1525, Albert resigned his position, became a Protestant and in the Prussian Homage was granted the title "Duke of Prussia" by his uncle, King Sigismund I of Poland. In a deal partly 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. On 10 December 1525, at their session in Königsberg, the Prussian estates established the Lutheran Church in Ducal Prussia by deciding the Church Order. These remaining Teutonic Knights, led by the next Grand Master, Walter von Cronberg, continued to unsuccessfully claim Prussia, but retained much of the estates in the Teutonic bailiwicks outside of Prussia.

On 1 March 1526, Albert married Princess Dorothea, daughter of King Frederick I of Denmark, thereby establishing political ties between Lutheranism and Scandinavia. Albert was greatly aided by his elder brother George, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, who had earlier established the Protestant religion in his territories of Franconia and Upper Silesia. Albert also found himself reliant on support from his uncle Sigismund I of Poland, as the Holy Roman Empire, and the Roman Catholic Church, had banned him for his Protestantism.

The Teutonic Order had only superficially carried out its mission to Christianize the native rural population and erected few churches within the state's territory. Bishop George of Polentz had forbidden the widespread forms of pagan worship in 1524 and repeated the ban in 1540.

The Church Order of 1525 provided for visitations of the parishioners and pastors, which were first carried out by Bishop George in 1538.

While the composition of the nobility changed little in the transition from the monastic state to the duchy, the control of the nobility over the dependent peasantry increased. Prussia's free peasants, called Kölmer, were holders of free estates according to Culm law. Kölmer held them with about a sixth of the arable land, much more than in other nations in the feudal era.

Administratively, little changed in the transition from the Teutonic Knights to ducal rule. Although he was formally a vassal of the crown of Poland, Albert retained self-government for Prussia, his own army, the minting of his currency, a provincial assembly, (de, Landtag), and substantial autonomy in foreign affairs.

Lack of heirs

When Albert died in 1568, his teenage son (the exact age is unknown) Albert Frederick inherited the duchy. Sigismund II was also Albert Frederick's cousin. The Elector of Brandenburg Joachim II, converted to Lutheranism in 1539. Joachim wanted to merge his lands with the Prussian dukedom so that his heirs would inherit both. Joachim petitioned his brother-in-law, King Sigismund II of Poland, for the co-enfeoffment of his line of the Hohenzollern with the Prussian dukedom, and finally succeeded, including the then usual expenses.

On 19 July 1569, when, in Lublin, Poland, Duke Albert Frederick rendered King Sigismund II homage and was in return installed as Duke of Prussia in Lublin, the King simultaneously enfeoffed Joachim II and his descendants as co-heirs.

Administration in the duchy declined as Albert Frederick became increasingly feeble-minded, which led Margrave George Frederick of Brandenburg-Ansbach to become Regent of Prussia in 1577.

Following King Sigismund III's Prussian regency agreement (1605) with Joachim Frederick of Brandenburg and his Treaty of Warsaw, 1611, with John Sigismund of Brandenburg, confirming the Brandenburgian co-inheritance of Prussia, both regents guaranteed the free practice of Catholic religion in predominantly-Lutheran Prussia. Based on the agreements, some Lutheran churches were reconsecrated as Catholic places of worship (e.g. St. Nicholas Church, Elbląg in 1612).

Personal union with Brandenburg

In 1618, the Thirty Years' War broke out, and John Sigismund himself died the following year. His son, George William, was successfully invested with the duchy in 1623 by King of Poland Sigismund III Vasa, thus the personal union Brandenburg-Prussia was confirmed. Most of Prussian society sought to preserve the duchy's feudal ties with Poland as a safeguard against Hohenzollern absolutist rule, while relying on the Brandenburg electors to defend Prussian autonomy against any attempt by Poland to establish direct control. Only a small minority of nobles from the starosties of Neidenburg, Soldau, and Ortelsburg favored incorporation into Poland rather than maintaining the duchy's status as a fief.

Frederick William, the "Great Elector", duke of Prussia and prince-elector of Brandenburg, wished to acquire Royal Prussia in order to territorially connect his two fiefs. Yet, during the Second Northern War, Charles X Gustav of Sweden invaded Ducal Prussia and dictated the Treaty of Königsberg (January 1656), which made the duchy a Swedish fief. In the Treaty of Marienburg (June 1656), Charles X Gustav promised to cede to Frederick William the Polish voivodships of Chełmno, Malbork, Pomerania, and the Prince-Bishopric of Warmia if Frederick William would support Charles Gustav's effort. The proposition was somewhat risky since Frederick William would definitely have to provide military support, and the reward could be provided only on victory. When the tide of the war turned against Charles X Gustav, he concluded the Treaty of Labiau (November 1656), making Frederick William I the full sovereign in Ducal Prussia and Warmia, which, however, was part of Poland.

Emancipation

thumb|Prussia region with Dutchy of Prussia indicated already as "belonging to the [[King in Prussia|«King of Prussia»" after self-crowning of Frederick I in 1701, map by Herman Moll.]]

thumb|17th century view of Königsberg

In response to the Swedish-Prussian alliance, King John II Casimir Vasa submitted a counteroffer, which Frederick William accepted. They signed the Treaty of Wehlau on 19 September 1657 and the Treaty of Bromberg on 6 November 1657. In return for Frederick William's renunciation of the Swedish-Prussian alliance, John Casimir recognised Frederick William's full sovereignty over the Duchy of Prussia. It was noted that the incorporation into the Polish Crown under the Treaty of Kraków was approved by the city of Königsberg, while the separation from Poland took place without the city's consent. however, it was not implemented.

The nature of the de facto collectively ruled governance of Brandenburg-Prussia became more apparent through the titles of the higher ranks of the Prussian government, seated in Brandenburg's capital of Berlin after the return of the court from Königsberg, where they had sought refuge from the Thirty Years' War.

Later development

After the Kingdom of Prussia's annexation of the bulk of the province of Royal Prussia in the First Partition of Poland in 1772, former Ducal Prussia, including previously Polish-controlled Warmia within Royal Prussia, was reorganized into the Province of East Prussia, while Pomerelia and the Malbork Land became the Province of West Prussia, with the exceptions of the two principal cities of Gdańsk and Toruń, annexed into West Prussia only in 1793 after the Second Partition of Poland.

The Kingdom of Prussia, then consisting of East and West Prussia, being a sovereign state, and Brandenburg, being a fief within the Holy Roman Empire, were amalgamated de jure only after the latter's dissolution in 1806, though later became again partially distinct during the existence of the German Confederation (1815–1866).