State of the Teutonic Order The State of the Teutonic Order ( ; ) ; also Deutschordensstaat ( " German Order ' s State " ) or Ordensstaat ( " Order ' s State " ) was a crusader state formed by the Teutonic Knights or Teutonic Order during 13th century Northern Crusades along the Baltic Sea . The state was based in Prussia after the Order ' s conquest of the pagan Old Prussians which began in 1230 , but also expanded to include the historic regions Courland , Gotland , Livonia , Neumark , Pomerelia and Samogitia . Its territory was in the modern countries of Estonia , Germany , Latvia , Lithuania , Poland , Russia and Sweden . Most of the territory was conquered by military order s , after which German colonization occurred to varying effect . The Livonian Brothers of the Sword controlling Terra Mariana were incorporated into the Teutonic Order as its autonomous branch Livonian Order in 1237 . In 1346 , the Duchy of Estonia was sold by the King of Denmark for 19 , 000 Köln marks to the Teutonic Order . The shift of sovereignty from Denmark to the Teutonic Order took place on 1 November 1346 . Following its defeat in the Battle of Grunwald in 1410 the Teutonic Order fell into decline and its Livonian branch joined the Livonian Confederation established in 1422 – 1435 . The Teutonic lands in Prussia were split in two after the Peace of Thorn in 1466 . The western part of Teutonic Prussia was converted into Royal Prussia , which became a more integral part of Poland . The monastic state in the east was secularized in 1525 during the Protestant Reformation as the Duchy of Prussia , a Polish fief governed by the House of Hohenzollern . The Livonian branch continued as part of the Livonian Confederation until its dissolution in 1561 . Background . The Old Prussians withstood many attempts at conquest preceding the Teutonic Knights ' . Bolesław I of Poland began the series of unsuccessful conquests when he sent Adalbert of Prague in 997 . In 1147 , Bolesław IV of Poland attacked Prussia with the aid of Kievan Rus , but was unable to conquer it . Numerous other attempts followed , and , under Duke Konrad I of Masovia , were intensified , with large battles and crusades in 1209 , 1219 , 1220 and 1222 . The West - Baltic Prussians successfully repelled most of the campaigns and managed to strike Konrad in retaliation . However the Prussians and Yotvingians in the south had their territory conquered . The land of the Yotvingians was situated in the area of what is today Podlachia . The Prussians attempted to oust Polish or Masovian forces from Yotvingia and Culmerland ( or Chełmno Land ) , which by now was partially conquered , devastated and almost totally depopulated . Konrad of Masovia had already called a crusade against the Old Prussians in 1208 , but it was not successful . Konrad , acting on the advice of Christian , first bishop of Prussia , established the Order of Dobrzyń , a small group of 15 knights . The Order , however , was soon defeated and , in reaction , Konrad called on the Pope for yet another crusade and for help from the Teutonic Knights . As a result , several edicts called for crusade s against the Old Prussians . The crusades , involving many of Europe ' s knight s , lasted for sixty years . In 1211 , Andrew II of Hungary enfeoffed the Teutonic Knights with the Burzenland . In 1225 , Andrew II expelled the Teutonic Knights from Transylvania , and they had to transfer to the Baltic Sea . Early in 1224 , Emperor Frederick II announced at Catania that Livonia , Prussia with Sambia , and a number of neighboring provinces were under Imperial immediacy ( ) . This decree subordinated the provinces directly to the Roman Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Emperor as opposed to being under the jurisdiction of local rulers . At the end of 1224 , Pope Honorius III announced to all Christendom his appointment of Bishop William of Modena as the Papal Legate for Livonia , Prussia , and other countries . As a result of the Golden Bull of Rimini in 1226 and the Papal Bull of Rieti of 1234 , Prussia came into the Teutonic Order ' s possession . The Knights began the Prussian Crusade in 1230 . Under their governance , woodlands were cleared and marshlands made arable , upon which many cities and villages were founded , including Marienburg ( Malbork ) and Königsberg ( Kaliningrad ) . Unlike newly founded cities between the rivers Elbe and Oder the cities founded by the Teutonic Order had a much more re ( ctan ) gular sketch of streets , indicating their character as planned foundations . The cities were heavily fortified , accounting for the long lasting conflicts with the resistive native Old Prussians , with armed forces under command of the knights . Most cities were prevailingly populated with immigrants from Middle Germany and Silesia , where many knights of the order had their homelands . The cities were usually given Magdeburg law town privileges , with the one exception of Elbing ( Elbląg ) , which was founded with the support of Lübeckers and thus was awarded Lübeck law . While the Lübeckers provided the Order important logistic support with their ships , they were otherwise , with the exception of Elbing , rather uninvolved in the establishment of the Monastic State . Further history . 13th century . In 1234 , the Teutonic Order assimilated the remaining members of the Order of Dobrzyń and , in 1237 , the Order of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword . The assimilation of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword ( established in Livonia in 1202 ) increased the Teutonic Order ' s lands with the addition of the territories known today as Latvia and Estonia . In 1243 , the Papal legate William of Modena divided Prussia into four bishoprics : Culm ( Chełmno ) , Pomesania , Ermland ( Warmia ) and Samland ( Sambia ) . The bishoprics became suffragan s to the Archbishopric of Riga under the mother city of Visby on Gotland . Each diocese was fiscally and administratively divided into one third reserved for the maintenance of the capitular canons , and two thirds where the Order collected the dues . The cathedral capitular canons of Culm , Pomesania and Samland were simultaneously members of the Teutonic Order since the 1280s , ensuring a strong influence by the Order . Only Ermland ' s diocesan chapter maintained independence , enabling to establish its autonomous rule in the capitular third of Ermland ' s diocesan territory ( Prince - Bishopric of Ermeland ) . 14th century . At the beginning of the 14th century , the Duchy of Pomerania , a neighboring region , plunged into war with Poland and the Margraviate of Brandenburg to the west . In the Teutonic takeover of Danzig , the Teutonic Knights seized the city in November 1308 . The Order had been called by King Władysław I of Poland . According to historical sources , many of the inhabitants of the city , Polish and German , were slaughtered . In September 1309 , Margrave Waldemar of Brandenburg - Stendal sold his claim to the territory to the Teutonic Order for the sum of 10 , 000 Marks in the Treaty of Soldin . This marked the beginning of a series of conflicts between Poland and the Teutonic Knights as the Order continued incorporating territories into its domains . While the Order promoted the Prussian cities by granting them extended surrounding territory and privileges , establishing courts , civil and commercial law , it allowed the cities less outward independence than free imperial cities enjoyed within the Holy Roman Empire . So the members of the Hanseatic League did consider merchants from Prussian cities as their like , but also accepted the Grand Master of the Order as the sole territorial ruler ever at their Hanseatic Diets , representing Prussia . Thus Prussian merchants , along with those from Ditmarsh , were the only beneficiaries of a quasi membership within the Hanse , although lacking the background of citizenship in a fully autonomous or free city . The Teutonic Order ' s possession of Danzig was disputed by the Polish kings Władysław I and Casimir the Great — claims that led to a series of bloody wars and , eventually , lawsuits in the papal court in 1320 and 1333 . A peace was concluded at Kalisz in 1343 , where the Teutonic Order agreed that Poland should rule Pomerelia as a fief and Polish kings , therefore , retained the right to the title " Duke of Pomerania " . In the conflict between the Hanse and Denmark on the trade in the Baltic King Valdemar IV of Denmark had held the Hanseatic city of Visby to ransom in 1361 . However , the members of the Hanseatic league were undecided to unite against him . However , when Valdemar IV then captured Prussian merchant ships in the Øresund on their way to England , Grand Master Winrich of Kniprode travelled to Lübeck to propose a war alliance against Denmark , received with reluctance only by the important cities forming the Wendish - Saxon third of the Hanse . Since Valdemar IV had also attacked ships of the Dutch city of Kampen and other destinations in the Zuiderzee , Prussia and Dutch cities , such as Kampen , Elburg and Harderwijk , allied themselves against Denmark . This then made the Hanse calling up a diet in Cologne in 1367 , also convening the afore - mentioned and more non - member cities like Amsterdam and Brielle , founding the Cologne Federation as a war alliance , in order to ban the Danish threat . More cities from the Lower Rhine area till up to Livonia joined . Of the major players only Bremen and Hamburg refused to send forces , but contributed financially . Besides Prussia , three more territorial partners , Henry II of Schauenburg and Holstein - Rendsburg , Albert II of Mecklenburg , and the latter ' s son Albert of Sweden , joined the alliance , attacking via land and sea , forcing Denmark to sign the Treaty of Stralsund in 1370 . Several Danish castles and fortresses were then taken by Hanse forces for fifteen years , in order to secure the implementation of the peace conditions . The invasions of the Teutonic Order from Livonia to Pleskau in 1367 had caused the Russians to recoup themselves on Hanse merchants in Novgorod , which again made the Order block exports of salt and herring into Russia . While the relations had eased by 1371 so that trade resumed , they soured again until 1388 . During the Lithuanian crusade of 1369 / 1370 , ending with the Teutonic victory in the Battle of Rudau , Prussia enjoyed considerable support by English knights . So the Order welcomed English Merchant Adventurers , starting to cruise in the Baltic , competing with Dutch , Saxon and Wendish Hanseatic merchants , and allowed them to open outposts in its cities of Danzig and Elbing . However , this brought about a conflict with the rest of the Hanse , which was in a deep conflict with Richard II of England , who wanted to levy higher dues from the Hanse merchants , who only achieved an unsatisfactory compromise . However , in May 1385 Richard II ' s navy suddenly attacked six Prussian ships – and those of more Hanse members – in the Zwin . Grand Master Conrad Zöllner von Rothenstein then immediately terminated all trade with England . When in the same year the Hanse evacuated all the Danish castles in fulfillment of the Treaty of Stralsund , Prussia argued in favour of a renewal of the Cologne Federation for the upcoming conflict with England , but could not prevail . The cities preferred to negotiate and take retaliatory actions , such as counter - confiscation of English merchandise . So when in 1388 Richard II finally reconfirmed the Hanseatic trade privileges , Prussia reallowed the merchant adventurers granting them staying permissions , however , renounced again by Grand Master Conrad of Jungingen in 1398 . In the conflict with the Burgundian Philip the Bold on the Hanse privileges in the Flemish cities the positions of the Hanse cities and Prussia were again reversed . Here the majority of the Hanse members decided in a Hanseatic diet on 1 May 1388 for an embargo against the Flemish cities , while Prussia could not prevail with its plea for further negotiations . So the Order ' s Großschäffer from Königsberg , holding the monopoly in amber export , achieved the exceptional permission to continue amber exports to Flanders and textile imports in return . On the occasion of the ban on Flemish trade , the Hanse urged Prussia and Livonia again to interrupt the exchange with Novgorod too , anyway with both blockades Russian and Flemish commodities could not reach their final destinations . In 1392 it was then Grand Master Conrad of Wallenrode who supported the Flemings to achieve an acceptable agreement with the Hanse resuming the bilateral trade . While a Hanseatic delegation under Johann Niebur reopened trade with Novgorod in the same year , after reconfirmation of the previous mutual privileges . Since the late 1380s grave piracy by privateer s , promoted by Albert of Sweden and Mecklenburg actually directed against Margaret I of Denmark , blocked seafaring to the herring supplies at the Scania Market , thus fish prices tripled in Prussia . The Saxon Hanse cities urged Prussia to intervene , but Conrad of Jungingen was more worried about a Danish victory . So only after the cities , led by Lübeck ' s burgomaster Hinrich Westhof , had liaised the Treaty of Skanör ( 1395 ) , Albert ' s defeat manifested , so that Prussia finally sent out its ships , led by Danzig ' s city councillor Conrad Letzkau . < ref name = " Borzestowska / Borzestowski 2005 " > Natalia Borzestowska and Waldemar Borzestowski , " Dlaczego zginął burmistrz " , 17 October 2005 , retrieved on 8 September 2011 . < / ref > Until 1400 the united Teutonic - Hanseatic flotilla then thoroughly cleared the Baltic Sea from pirates , the Victual Brothers , and even took the island of Gotland in 1398 . 15th century . In 1402 , the March of Brandenburg gave the New March in pawn to the Teutonic Order , which kept it until Brandenburg redeemed it again in 1454 and 1455 , respectively , by the Treaties of Cölln and Mewe . In 1408 Letzkau served as a diplomat to Queen Margaret I and arranged that the Order sold Gotland to Denmark . In 1410 , with the death of Rupert , King of the Germans , war broke out between the Teutonic Knights , supported by Pomerania , and a Polish - Lithuanian alliance supported by Ruthenia n and Tatar auxiliary forces . Poland and Lithuania triumphed following a victory at the Battle of Grunwald ( Tannenberg ) . The Order assigned Heinrich von Plauen to defend Prussian Pomerania ( Pomerelia ) , who moved rapidly to bolster the defence of Marienburg Castle in Prussian Pomesania . Heinrich von Plauen was elected vice - grand master and led the Teutonic Knights through the Siege of Marienburg in 1410 . Eventually von Plauen was promoted to Grand Master and , in 1411 , concluded the First Treaty of Thorn with King Władysław II Jagiełło of Poland . In March 1440 , gentry ( mainly from Culmerland ) and the Hanseatic cities of Danzig , Elbing , Kneiphof , Thorn and other Prussian cities founded the Prussian Confederation to free themselves from the overlordship of the Teutonic Knights . Due to the heavy losses and costs after the war against Poland and Lithuania , the Teutonic Order collected taxes at steep rates . Furthermore , the cities were not allowed due representation by the Teutonic Order . In February 1454 , the Prussian Confederation asked King Casimir IV of Poland to support their revolt and to become head of Prussia in personal union . King Casimir IV agreed and the War of the Cities or Thirteen Years ' War broke out . The Second Peace of Thorn in October 1466 ended the war and provided for the Teutonic Order ' s cession of its rights over the western half of its territories to the Polish crown , which became the province of Royal Prussia and the remaining part of the Order ' s land became a fief of Poland . 16th century and aftermath . During the Protestant Reformation , endemic religious upheavals and wars occurred across the region . In 1525 , during the aftermath of the Polish - Teutonic War ( 1519 – 1521 ) , Sigismund I the Old , King of Poland , and his nephew , the last Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights , Albert of Brandenburg - Ansbach , a member of a cadet branch of the House of Hohenzollern , agreed that the latter would resign his position , adopt Lutheran faith and assume the title of Duke of Prussia . Thereafter referred to as " Ducal Prussia " ( ; ) , remaining a Polish fief . Thus in a deal partially brokered by Martin Luther , Roman Catholic Teutonic Prussia was transformed into the Duchy of Prussia , the first Protestant state . Sigismund ' s consent was bound to Albert ' s submission to Poland , which became known as the Prussian Homage . On 10 December 1525 at their session in Königsberg the Prussian estates established the Lutheran Church in Ducal Prussia by deciding the Church Order . The Habsburg - led Holy Roman Empire continued to hold its claim to Prussia and furnished grand masters of the Teutonic Order , who were merely titular administrators of Prussia , but managed to retain many of the Teutonic holdings elsewhere outside of Prussia . Joachim II Hector , Elector of Brandenburg , who had converted to Lutheranism in 1539 , was after the co - enfeoffment of his line of the Hohenzollern with the Prussian dukedom . So he tried for gaining his brother - in - law Sigismund II Augustus of Poland and finally succeeded , including the then usual expenses . On 19 July 1569 , when Albert Frederick rendered King Sigismund II homage and was in return enfeoffed as Duke of Prussia in Lublin , the King simultaneously enfeoffed Joachim II and his descendants as co - heirs . In 1618 , the Prussian Hohenzollern were extinct in the male line , and so the Polish fief of Prussia was passed on to the senior Brandenburg Hohenzollern line , the ruling margrave s and prince - electors of Brandenburg , who thereafter ruled Brandenburg ( a fief of the Holy Roman Empire ) , and Ducal Prussia ( a Polish fief ) , in personal union . This legal contradiction made a cross - border real union impossible ; however , in practice , Brandenburg and Ducal Prussia were more and more ruled as one , and colloquially referred to as " Brandenburg - Prussia " . Frederick William , Duke of Prussia and Prince - elector of Brandenburg , sought to acquire Royal Prussia in order to territorially connect his two existing fiefs . An opportunity occurred when Charles X Gustav of Sweden , in his attempt to conquer Poland ( cf . Swedish Deluge ) , promised to cede to Frederick William the Polish Prussian voivodeship s of Chełmno , Malbork and Pomerania ( Pomerelia ) as well as the Prince - Bishopric of Ermeland , if Frederick William supported the Swedish campaign . This offer was speculative , since Frederick William would have to commit to military support of the campaign , while the reward was conditional on achieving victory . John II Casimir of Poland forestalled the Swedish - Prussian alliance by submitting a counter - offer , which Frederick William accepted . On July 29 , 1657 they signed the Treaty of Wehlau in Wehlau ( ) . 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 ( ) . Thus after almost 200 years of Polish suzerainty , Prussia regained full sovereignty in 1657 , a necessary prerequisite for elevating Ducal Prussia to become the sovereign Kingdom of Prussia in 1701 ( not to be confused with Polish Royal Prussia ) . 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 ( 1618 – 1648 ) . However , the legal amalgamation of the Kingdom of Prussia ( a sovereign state ) with Brandenburg ( a fief of the Holy Roman Empire ) was achieved only after the dissolution of the Empire in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars .