page_title: Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466)
section_title: First phase
hierarchical_section_title: Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466) / Overview / First phase
caption_attribution_description: Giovanni da Capistrano and Polish King Casimir IV Jagiellon
context_page_description: The Thirteen Years' War, also called the War of the Cities, was a conflict fought in 1454–1466 between the Prussian Confederation, allied with the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, and the State of the Teutonic Order.
  The war began as an uprising by Prussian cities and local nobility to win independence from the Teutonic Knights. In 1454 Casimir IV married Elisabeth of Habsburg and the Prussian Confederation asked Poland's King Casimir IV Jagiellon for help and offered to accept the king as protector instead of the Teutonic Order. When the King assented, war broke out between supporters of the Prussian Confederation, backed by Poland, and backers of government by the Teutonic Knights.
  The Thirteen Years' War ended in the victory of the Prussian Confederation and Poland and in the Second Peace of Thorn. This was soon followed by the War of the Priests, a drawn-out dispute over the independence of the Prussian Prince-Bishopric of Warmia, in which the Knights also sought revision of the Peace of Thorn.
context_section_description: The first land operations from February to August 1454 were carried out by Prussian state conscripts, supported by Czech mercenaries from Moravia and soldiers from Lesser Poland. This force, commanded by Scibor von Baysen (Polish: Scibor Bażyński), brother of Johannes von Baysen, tried to besiege the Grand Master Ludwig von Erlichshausen in the city and castle of Marienburg, but without much success due to the professional command of Heinrich Reuß von Plauen the Elder, Komtur of Elbing.
  In the meantime there was some organised support for the Teutonic Order from the German principalities, mainly in Saxony. The reinforcements entered Prussia in the second half of March 1454, from the direction of the Neumark. They were able to take the highly important strategic city of Konitz, which was situated on the important route from Poland to the mouth of the Vistula. Johannes von Baysen moved conscript and mercenary forces there, and they were soon followed by Mikołaj Szarlejski of the Clan of Ostoja, who was the representative of the Polish kingdom and received the title of "Supreme Commander of Forces in Prussia".
  In 1454 and 1455, the Teutonic Knights first pawned, then sold the Neumark back to the Margraviate of Brandenburg in the Treaties of Cölln and Mewe.
  At the end of April 1454, the Prussian army started the siege of Konitz; the defence of the city was commanded by Heinrich Reuß von Plauen from Greitz. However, Szarlejski lacked any significant commanding skill, his army had not enough artillery, and the Prussian estates were unable to pay their mercenaries, so Konitz was not seriously endangered.
  After the arrival of Casimir IV, when he received the official oath of allegiance from his new subjects in Elbing and Thorn, he directed to Konitz a pospolite ruszenie (levée en masse) of Polish nobles from Kuyavia, which replaced the unpaid mercenaries. Cavalry forces such as the nobles, however, were ill-suited to the taking of castles, so the situation in Konitz did not change. The king also sent his own units and a levée en masse to lay siege to Marienburg, but Polish forces were unable to take the castle even with Prussian reinforcements, which were relocated to Malbork after taking Stuhm on August 8, 1454. The Teutonic Knights defended themselves skillfully and were able to defeat forces from Danzig in a sudden attack on September 13.
  The degrading situation of the Polish crown worsened further when in September 1454 a large army of mercenaries under the command of Rudolf, prince of Sagan (Żagań), and a Moravian nobleman, the talented soldier Bernhard von Zinnenberg (Polish: Bernard Szumborski) arrived in Prussia from the Holy Roman Empire. The army had 9,000 cavalry and 6,000 infantry, plus artillery and many wagons in tabor formations.
  Rudolf's army slowly moved to Konitz to rescue it from the Polish siege. It forced Casimir to call a levée en masse of Greater Poland, without the traditional approval of the provincial sejmik. Noblemen, angered by the disruption of the harvest and the unconventional form of the call, massed near the village of Duża Cerkwica (Cerekwica, Groß Zirkwitz) and demanded from the king several privileges, which were granted in the privilege of Cerekwica on September 14, 1454.
  Casimir divided his forces into seven large units and the army marched to Konitz, where it was joined by Prussians. On September 18, 1454 the Teutonic Knights defeated the Polish army in the resulting Battle of Konitz.
  The defeat was a near disaster. The Polish army quickly withdrew from Marienburg, and Stuhm was recovered by the Teutonic Order. They were also able to take other large towns, such as Mewe (Gniew) and Dirschau (Tczew). Impressed by the crusaders' victory, some Prussian lands also capitulated. This was a great victory for the Teutonic Knights, although they lacked enough money to pay the victorious mercenaries. On October 9, the Grand Master promised them that if he could not pay them by February 19, 1455, they would receive all cities, castles, and lands of Prussia, with the rights to sell them.
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caption: King Casimir IV
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