BACKGROUND
The Order of the Teutonic Knights had started its Crusade against pagans in Old Prussia by 1230, as the Papacy had granted them the rule of most of the lands in the Eastern side of the Baltic Sea, from the mouth of the Vistula River until the Gulf of Finland.
They fought against diverse Baltic tribes in their effort for converting them to the Catholic faith, even if this also caused frictions with other neighboring Christian powers, like the Polish Kingdom. Meanwhile, the Order had found new cities and created new croplands in the area, allowing many Germanic people to settle there, thus ensuring their effective control over those new conquered lands.
One of those cities was Marienburg (called Malbork in Polish), founded next to an important fortress built in 1274 by the Knights. The city complex would become after 1309 the Order’s headquarters, as well as their more important military stronghold in Prussia.
The Baltic area at the end of the 13th century
CHAPTER I: THE WINRICH'S PLANS
This story starts in this city, in Marienburg, during the summer of 1381. The Order is currently ruled by the Grandmaster Winrich von Kniprode, who have been in charge of the Teutonic Knights since 1351, thus being one of the longest serving Grandmasters ever. The Order is at the height of its power, ruling over Prussia (including Pomerelia), Estonia and Livonia. However, Winrich is worried about some issues that are threatening to weaken the privileged position achieved by the Knights.
Since the Treaty of Kalisch (1343), which put an end to several years of war against Poland, the Polish King has become a patron of the Order, so the Teutonic Knights are obliged to assist Poland when required and pay some symbolic tributes to him; otherwise, they would lose their legal rights over some territories, like Pomerelia.
Winrich von Kniprode, 22nd Grandmaster of the Teutonic Knights
Another annoying neighbor is the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. After several campaigns against the Lithuanians, the Order has been unable to force their pagan elites to convert to Catholicism. There is also the risk that they could eventually convert to Orthodox Christianity and ally with the Russian principalities. At this moment, Lithuania is stormed by a civil war between Duke Jogaila and his uncle Kestutis. Under the promise of a possible Catholic baptism, the Knights are supporting Jogaila against his uncle, who currently holds the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius.
The relations between the Order and the Papacy are also tense. The Popes are, in fact, the legal owners of the Monastic state ruled by the Order, so they have the power to interfere in the Order’s administration if they consider it necessary. Rome have been investigating alleged misconducts in many of the Order actions, and even considered to prosecute them as the Holy See had done before with other orders, like the Templar one. Since the Teutonic Order moved its headquarters from Venice to Marienburg in 1309, in order to prevent any hostile action against them, the relation with Rome has become increasingly colder, and the fate of the Order, once their goals in the Baltic would be accomplished, are not clear.
Winrich is 71 years old and his health is no longer good. He feels that his days are coming to an end and now he rarely gets out of the Castle of Marienburg. He thinks about her past successes commanding the Order, like the battle of Rudau, where the Lithuanian troops of Kestutis were ultimately crushed. But now, when he is feeling that he is approaching the end of his life, he is worried about the fate of the Order. He firmly thinks that, once Lithuania would be Christianized, the Order would lose the diminishing favor of the Pope and other Christian princes, and then the Teutonic Knights could follow the same path of the Templers. Or maybe, they would be finally left to the Polish mercy.
One night, Winrich awakes and a vague idea comes to his mind. There is a chance of survival for the Order, if they would be able to convert the Monastic state into a dynastic one, where the Order could survive as somehow militarized high nobility, with dynastic rights over the lands they actually rule.
Winrich spends some days thinking about this idea. He wants to award his loyal knights with permanent land rights there, once the Crusade would be over, which is something that could be imminent if Jogaila wins the Lithuanian war and converts to Catholicism as promised. But he does not trust Jogaila; other Lithuanian rulers promised similar things in the past, but they ultimately avoided conversion. Additionally, Winrich has heard of the intentions of Jogaila’s mother to arrange a marriage between his son and the daughter of a Russian prince, implying that Jogaila should convert to Orthodox Christianity.
Winrich finally finds a possible, but risky solution to the problem: as they cannot take over their own Monastic state without enraging the Pope and his allies, the Order should allow that another state, controlled by the Order, would do it. Of course, this can’t be Poland or Lithuania themselves.
The Grandmaster starts to consider Samogitia as a possible option. Another of the promises of Jogaila was ceding Samogitia to the Order if they supported him as legitimate Lithuanian Duke. Maybe they should not incorporate Samogitia into the Monastic state, and better let it to be an independent duchy controlled by the Order.
Samogitia was a pagan land, very difficult to control due to the savageness of the territory, almost uncivilized. The establishment of a Christian duchy there is quite challenging, even if Lithuania cedes its rights over the land. The Order always considered this land as strategically important, as its control would allow the land connection between Prussia and Livonia. But their repeated attempts of conquest always failed miserably.
At the beginning of the autumn, Winrich is secretly planning the creation of an independent duchy in Samogitia, once Jogaila would have ceded this land to the Order. The Grandmaster has no intention to waste forces in enacting effective control of the Order over that pagan land; this is something that could wait. Now he is searching for a loyal knight that could accept the mandate of becoming Duke of Samogitia. Winrich plans to recognize him as an independent ruler of Samogitia, and therefore he should claim the lands of the Monastic state for himself. So, with this legal trick Winrich hopes that the Monastic regime could be revoked, as well as their current duties with Poland.
But this plan is very risky. Many knights are fanatic Catholic and could misinterpret this gesture as an attack to the Pope’s authority. And other knights could suspect that this legal change could undermine their own personal expectations in those lands. Winrich does not want fratricide fights inside the Order for achieving power quotas, but he is increasingly worried about the position of the Order once the Lithuanian war would have finished. He has nothing to lose, because his life is coming to the end.
During the winter, Winrich sends a messenger to Lithuania in order to debate with Jogaila the eventual option of creating an independent duchy in Samogitia, if he wins. Winrich knows that the Lithuanians may not accept an independent Samogitia, so it’s important to ensure that the Lithuanian Duke would not protest this move.
The messenger meets Jogaila, who suspects of the real intentions behind that idea, but he does not refuse it. Anyway, the messenger misinterprets his words and tells Winrich that Jogaila is not interested in the idea of an independent Samogitia.
Winrich concludes that his plans would not work with Jogaila in the Lithuanian throne, and also doubts about the real intentions of Jogaila regarding his eventual baptism. Now, he thinks that it’s time to explore the possibilities of changing sides in the Lithuanian war, so he sends again the same messenger back to Lithuania with the mission of contacting Vytautas, the son of Kestutis and cousin of Jogaila.
Vytautas, son of the Duke Kestutis of Lithuania
The Order of the Teutonic Knights had started its Crusade against pagans in Old Prussia by 1230, as the Papacy had granted them the rule of most of the lands in the Eastern side of the Baltic Sea, from the mouth of the Vistula River until the Gulf of Finland.
They fought against diverse Baltic tribes in their effort for converting them to the Catholic faith, even if this also caused frictions with other neighboring Christian powers, like the Polish Kingdom. Meanwhile, the Order had found new cities and created new croplands in the area, allowing many Germanic people to settle there, thus ensuring their effective control over those new conquered lands.
One of those cities was Marienburg (called Malbork in Polish), founded next to an important fortress built in 1274 by the Knights. The city complex would become after 1309 the Order’s headquarters, as well as their more important military stronghold in Prussia.
The Baltic area at the end of the 13th century
CHAPTER I: THE WINRICH'S PLANS
This story starts in this city, in Marienburg, during the summer of 1381. The Order is currently ruled by the Grandmaster Winrich von Kniprode, who have been in charge of the Teutonic Knights since 1351, thus being one of the longest serving Grandmasters ever. The Order is at the height of its power, ruling over Prussia (including Pomerelia), Estonia and Livonia. However, Winrich is worried about some issues that are threatening to weaken the privileged position achieved by the Knights.
Since the Treaty of Kalisch (1343), which put an end to several years of war against Poland, the Polish King has become a patron of the Order, so the Teutonic Knights are obliged to assist Poland when required and pay some symbolic tributes to him; otherwise, they would lose their legal rights over some territories, like Pomerelia.
Winrich von Kniprode, 22nd Grandmaster of the Teutonic Knights
Another annoying neighbor is the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. After several campaigns against the Lithuanians, the Order has been unable to force their pagan elites to convert to Catholicism. There is also the risk that they could eventually convert to Orthodox Christianity and ally with the Russian principalities. At this moment, Lithuania is stormed by a civil war between Duke Jogaila and his uncle Kestutis. Under the promise of a possible Catholic baptism, the Knights are supporting Jogaila against his uncle, who currently holds the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius.
The relations between the Order and the Papacy are also tense. The Popes are, in fact, the legal owners of the Monastic state ruled by the Order, so they have the power to interfere in the Order’s administration if they consider it necessary. Rome have been investigating alleged misconducts in many of the Order actions, and even considered to prosecute them as the Holy See had done before with other orders, like the Templar one. Since the Teutonic Order moved its headquarters from Venice to Marienburg in 1309, in order to prevent any hostile action against them, the relation with Rome has become increasingly colder, and the fate of the Order, once their goals in the Baltic would be accomplished, are not clear.
Winrich is 71 years old and his health is no longer good. He feels that his days are coming to an end and now he rarely gets out of the Castle of Marienburg. He thinks about her past successes commanding the Order, like the battle of Rudau, where the Lithuanian troops of Kestutis were ultimately crushed. But now, when he is feeling that he is approaching the end of his life, he is worried about the fate of the Order. He firmly thinks that, once Lithuania would be Christianized, the Order would lose the diminishing favor of the Pope and other Christian princes, and then the Teutonic Knights could follow the same path of the Templers. Or maybe, they would be finally left to the Polish mercy.
One night, Winrich awakes and a vague idea comes to his mind. There is a chance of survival for the Order, if they would be able to convert the Monastic state into a dynastic one, where the Order could survive as somehow militarized high nobility, with dynastic rights over the lands they actually rule.
Winrich spends some days thinking about this idea. He wants to award his loyal knights with permanent land rights there, once the Crusade would be over, which is something that could be imminent if Jogaila wins the Lithuanian war and converts to Catholicism as promised. But he does not trust Jogaila; other Lithuanian rulers promised similar things in the past, but they ultimately avoided conversion. Additionally, Winrich has heard of the intentions of Jogaila’s mother to arrange a marriage between his son and the daughter of a Russian prince, implying that Jogaila should convert to Orthodox Christianity.
Winrich finally finds a possible, but risky solution to the problem: as they cannot take over their own Monastic state without enraging the Pope and his allies, the Order should allow that another state, controlled by the Order, would do it. Of course, this can’t be Poland or Lithuania themselves.
The Grandmaster starts to consider Samogitia as a possible option. Another of the promises of Jogaila was ceding Samogitia to the Order if they supported him as legitimate Lithuanian Duke. Maybe they should not incorporate Samogitia into the Monastic state, and better let it to be an independent duchy controlled by the Order.
Samogitia was a pagan land, very difficult to control due to the savageness of the territory, almost uncivilized. The establishment of a Christian duchy there is quite challenging, even if Lithuania cedes its rights over the land. The Order always considered this land as strategically important, as its control would allow the land connection between Prussia and Livonia. But their repeated attempts of conquest always failed miserably.
At the beginning of the autumn, Winrich is secretly planning the creation of an independent duchy in Samogitia, once Jogaila would have ceded this land to the Order. The Grandmaster has no intention to waste forces in enacting effective control of the Order over that pagan land; this is something that could wait. Now he is searching for a loyal knight that could accept the mandate of becoming Duke of Samogitia. Winrich plans to recognize him as an independent ruler of Samogitia, and therefore he should claim the lands of the Monastic state for himself. So, with this legal trick Winrich hopes that the Monastic regime could be revoked, as well as their current duties with Poland.
But this plan is very risky. Many knights are fanatic Catholic and could misinterpret this gesture as an attack to the Pope’s authority. And other knights could suspect that this legal change could undermine their own personal expectations in those lands. Winrich does not want fratricide fights inside the Order for achieving power quotas, but he is increasingly worried about the position of the Order once the Lithuanian war would have finished. He has nothing to lose, because his life is coming to the end.
During the winter, Winrich sends a messenger to Lithuania in order to debate with Jogaila the eventual option of creating an independent duchy in Samogitia, if he wins. Winrich knows that the Lithuanians may not accept an independent Samogitia, so it’s important to ensure that the Lithuanian Duke would not protest this move.
The messenger meets Jogaila, who suspects of the real intentions behind that idea, but he does not refuse it. Anyway, the messenger misinterprets his words and tells Winrich that Jogaila is not interested in the idea of an independent Samogitia.
Winrich concludes that his plans would not work with Jogaila in the Lithuanian throne, and also doubts about the real intentions of Jogaila regarding his eventual baptism. Now, he thinks that it’s time to explore the possibilities of changing sides in the Lithuanian war, so he sends again the same messenger back to Lithuania with the mission of contacting Vytautas, the son of Kestutis and cousin of Jogaila.
Vytautas, son of the Duke Kestutis of Lithuania
