In 1466, in the Second Peace of Thorn, King Caismir IV laid down the fate of the Teutonic Order's territories in Poland. The Polish crown would have total control of the Order's former possessions to the west of the lower Vistula River, together with the Kulmerland and Ermland to the east.
Caisimir allowed the Teutonic Order to keep their territories east of the Vistula River. only on condition that the grand, or high, master should hold it as a fief of the Polish crown. Prussia was effectively partitioned between the Order and the PLC which kept the lands along the Polish sovereignty, which be known as 'Royal Prussia'. Royal Prussia separated the remnants of Teutonic Prussia and the rest of Germany.
In 1525, in the Prussian Homage, Albert of Hohenzollern, the Order's last master in Prussia, converted to Lutheranism and secularized the fief, effectively turning it into his own duchy, which would be known as the Duchy of Prussia
As in 1618, Albert Frederick had no surviving male heirs, the co-enfeoffment of 1569, confirmed by the Treaty 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, thereafter ruling Brandenburg and Ducal Prussia in personal union.
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 the king of Poland, Sigismund III Vasa, thus the personal union Brandenburg-Prussia was confirmed. Many of the Prussian Junkers were opposed to rule by the House of Hohenzollern of Berlin and appealed to Sigismund III Vasa for redress, or even incorporation of Ducal Prussia into the Polish kingdom, but without success.
But what if Sigismund III bowed to the wishes of the Junkers and annexed the Duchy into Polish Prussia?
Caisimir allowed the Teutonic Order to keep their territories east of the Vistula River. only on condition that the grand, or high, master should hold it as a fief of the Polish crown. Prussia was effectively partitioned between the Order and the PLC which kept the lands along the Polish sovereignty, which be known as 'Royal Prussia'. Royal Prussia separated the remnants of Teutonic Prussia and the rest of Germany.
In 1525, in the Prussian Homage, Albert of Hohenzollern, the Order's last master in Prussia, converted to Lutheranism and secularized the fief, effectively turning it into his own duchy, which would be known as the Duchy of Prussia
As in 1618, Albert Frederick had no surviving male heirs, the co-enfeoffment of 1569, confirmed by the Treaty 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, thereafter ruling Brandenburg and Ducal Prussia in personal union.
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 the king of Poland, Sigismund III Vasa, thus the personal union Brandenburg-Prussia was confirmed. Many of the Prussian Junkers were opposed to rule by the House of Hohenzollern of Berlin and appealed to Sigismund III Vasa for redress, or even incorporation of Ducal Prussia into the Polish kingdom, but without success.
But what if Sigismund III bowed to the wishes of the Junkers and annexed the Duchy into Polish Prussia?