The Teutonic Order, Poland and Lithuania: Conflict and the End of Prussian Rule

From the thirteenth century to 1525, the Teutonic Order’s rule in Prussia brought it into recurring conflict with the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The disputes concerned territory and control of routes to the Baltic, as well as the Order’s claim to wage crusade against non-Christian neighbours. Lithuania’s conversion changed that religious argument, but did not settle territorial rivalries. Defeat at Grunwald in 1410 weakened the Order without ending its state; a revolt by Prussian cities and nobles, followed by the Thirteen Years’ War, brought a more lasting redistribution of power.

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Territory, trade and competing claims

The Order was a Catholic religious institution whose military branch ruled a territory in Prussia. Its Grand Master headed the Order, while the Prussian lands were governed as a political state as well as a monastic institution. In the thirteenth century, the Order conquered Prussian lands and expanded its position along the Baltic. The Polish dukes and kings to its south were sometimes allies in campaigns against pagan Prussians, but the relationship changed as the Order became a territorial power in its own right.

A major dispute concerned Pomerelia, the eastern Pomeranian region around Gdańsk, and access to the coast. In 1308, the Order intervened in a struggle over Gdańsk at the request of Władysław I of Poland, then took control of the city and the surrounding territory after a dispute over payment. It later purchased Brandenburg’s claims to the region. The acquisition connected the Order’s Prussian lands more directly with territories to the west, but made Poland a determined rival. The Treaty of Kalisz in 1343 ended open war for a time: the Order gave up Kuyavia and Dobrzyń Land, while retaining Chełmno Land and Pomerelia.

These disputes were not only about borders. The Order’s position along the lower reaches of major rivers, including the Vistula and Neman, affected trade and access to the Baltic. Control of ports, river routes and customs gave the Order resources and influence, while Polish claims to Pomerelia included access to the sea. Treaties could pause fighting or define claims, but they did not remove the underlying competition.

Lithuania’s conversion and the disputed crusade

After the fall of Acre in 1291, the Order increasingly directed its military campaigns against the pagan Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Raids and seasonal campaigns, known as crusading expeditions, focused particularly on Samogitia. This region was also important because it lay between the Order’s Prussian and Livonian territories. The conflict therefore joined religious claims to strategic and territorial aims.

In 1385, Grand Duke Jogaila agreed to marry Queen Jadwiga of Poland and convert to Christianity. He was baptised in 1386, became king of Poland as Władysław II Jagiełło, and established a personal union between the two realms: they shared a ruler, but remained distinct political communities. Lithuania’s official conversion weakened the Order’s justification for campaigning against it. The Order nevertheless questioned whether the conversion was genuine, while its disputes with Lithuania and Poland continued over Samogitia and other territories. The change in religious status did not resolve who should rule contested lands or control important routes.

In 1409, an uprising broke out in Samogitia, which was then under Teutonic control. Lithuania supported the rebels, and Poland backed Lithuania. The Order declared war on both in August. After an initial campaign, the sides agreed to a truce that gave them time to gather troops and seek diplomatic support. The negotiations failed to settle the competing claims, and the conflict resumed in 1410.

Grunwald and the limits of military victory

On 15 July 1410, the Polish and Lithuanian armies met the Order’s forces at Grunwald. Władysław II Jagiełło led the Polish side, while Grand Duke Vytautas commanded Lithuanian forces; Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen led the Order. The allied army defeated the Teutonic forces, and much of the Order’s senior leadership, including the Grand Master, was killed. The battle established the military strength of the Polish-Lithuanian alliance, but did not itself decide who would rule Prussia.

The allies advanced on the Order’s capital, Marienburg (Malbork), but did not reach it until 26 July. That delay allowed Heinrich von Plauen to organise the castle’s defence. The siege was lifted in September, and the Order retained its core territories. The First Peace of Thorn in 1411 required the Order to pay a substantial indemnity and give up Dobrzyń Land, but did not settle the Samogitian question permanently. The treaty burdened the Order’s finances: it borrowed money and raised taxes to meet its payments. Further conflict followed before the Treaty of Melno in 1422 resolved the dispute over Samogitia.

Grunwald thus weakened the Order’s reputation and finances without destroying its state. The cost of war and the demands made on the population became part of a wider political conflict within Prussia. Cities and nobles sought more influence over decisions that affected their taxes, privileges and economic activity, while the Order’s government sought revenue and retained control over policy.

The Prussian Confederation challenges the Order

The Prussian Confederation, formed in 1440, brought together representatives of Prussian cities, nobles and clergy. These groups did not have identical interests, but many opposed the Order’s system of government. Urban merchants objected to customs duties and grain-trading rules that raised the cost of commerce. Nobles sought a greater role in government and protested against violations of their privileges. Craftspeople resented competition from artisans established by the Order near its castles. Their grievances concerned political authority and everyday economic pressures, not simply the identity of the ruler.

In 1452, the Confederation appealed to Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III to mediate its dispute with the Order. The emperor instead ordered it to submit to the Order’s authority, and in 1453 banned the Confederation. Its members then sought protection from Casimir IV, king of Poland. In February 1454, they rebelled; most of Prussia soon broke from Teutonic rule, although Marienburg, Stuhm and Konitz remained in Order hands. The Confederation asked Casimir to incorporate Prussia into the Polish kingdom. He agreed, and its delegates pledged allegiance to him in March.

Casimir was also Grand Duke of Lithuania, but that did not make the Grand Duchy a participant in the war: the campaign was conducted by the Polish Crown and Prussian Confederation, while Lithuania retained its own institutions and interests. The Order, meanwhile, sought outside backing. The emperor and Pope Callixtus III opposed the Confederation, and the pope threatened its allies with excommunication unless they made peace with the Order. The struggle was therefore fought both on battlefields and through appeals to rulers and religious authorities over who had the right to govern Prussia.

The Thirteen Years’ War and the struggle for resources

The war began in 1454 between the Order, on one side, and the Prussian Confederation and Polish Crown, on the other. The rebellion initially gave the Confederation control of most Prussian towns and castles, but taking fortified strongholds required skilled soldiers, artillery and money. Prussian cities supplied troops and equipment, while Poland called up forces from among its nobles and hired mercenaries. The Order also relied heavily on paid soldiers, in addition to its loyal knights and local forces. Neither side could assume that a political claim or a local uprising would automatically deliver victory in the field.

The Order’s forces defeated the Polish army at Konitz in September 1454, demonstrating the risks of relying on a hastily assembled noble force against experienced troops. In the longer war, payment became as important as battlefield success. The Order could not reliably pay its mercenaries. In 1455, mercenaries took control of Marienburg and other strongholds as security for the wages owed to them. Poland eventually raised the money to buy Marienburg and two other castles from them, and Casimir entered the former Order capital in 1457. The episode shows how financial weakness could change control of a fortress without a successful assault.

Poland and the Confederation also drew on the resources of the major Prussian cities. Gdańsk and Elbląg supported a fleet, while urban forces and privateers contested the Order’s connections by sea. A Polish-Prussian naval victory over the Order’s fleet in 1463 helped shift the balance. From 1461, Poland increasingly relied on a regular force under Piotr Dunin, rather than repeated calls for a broad noble levy. Continued campaigning, sieges and the cost of maintaining mercenaries strained both sides. By 1466, the Order was ready to negotiate.

The Second Peace of Thorn divides Prussia

The Second Peace of Thorn, signed on 19 October 1466, ended the war and divided the former Order state. The Order renounced its claims to Pomerelia, including Gdańsk, and to Chełmno Land. It also lost Elbląg, Marienburg and the Prince-Bishopric of Warmia. These territories came under the Polish Crown as Royal Prussia, retaining substantial regional and municipal privileges. The settlement gave Poland control of areas central to its long-running disputes with the Order, while ending the Order’s rule over much of western Prussia.

The Order retained its eastern Prussian lands, but no longer as an independent state. The Grand Master had to swear an oath of allegiance to the Polish king within six months of taking office, and became a prince and counsellor of the Polish kingdom. The Order was required to assist Poland in war and could not wage war against Catholics without the king’s consent. The treaty also sought to prevent either side from overturning its terms by appealing to outside authorities. In practice, this arrangement left the Order ruling territory while making its political independence a continuing point of dispute.

Royal Prussia and the eastern lands under the Order therefore had different relationships with Poland. The former was governed directly by the Crown, while the latter remained under the Order subject to the king’s overlordship. That distinction survived the 1466 peace, but did not end conflict over the Order’s obligations. A renewed Polish-Teutonic war in 1519–1521 preceded the final transformation of the Order’s Prussian rule.

From Polish overlordship to the Duchy of Prussia

In 1525, Grand Master Albert of Brandenburg adopted Lutheranism and secularized the Order’s remaining Prussian territory. Rather than continue as a monastic state governed by the Order, the territory became the hereditary Duchy of Prussia, with Albert as duke under the overlordship of the Polish Crown. The change was formalized through the Prussian Homage, the act by which Albert acknowledged the Polish king’s authority.

This settlement ended the Teutonic Order’s rule as a territorial government in Prussia, not the Order itself. It followed more than two centuries of conflict in which crusading claims, dynastic union, control of trade and local opposition all shaped relations among the Order, Poland and Lithuania. The 1466 treaty had subordinated the Order’s remaining Prussian state; in 1525, that state was replaced by a hereditary duchy.