Ducal Prussia

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Royal and Ducal Prussia in the second half of 16th century

Ducal Prussia (Polish: ), or the Duchy of Prussia (German: [] ([Media helphelp]·[info])), was a duchy established in 1525 in the eastern part of Prussia, as western Prussia had become the Polish province of Royal Prussia after the Peace of Toruń in 1466. Its capital was Königsberg. The duchy was elevated to the status of a Kingdom in 1701 - though this was for external political reasons as the core lands of its then ruler, the Elector of Brandenburg, who had persuaded the Holy Roman Emperor to elevate him to the dignity of a kingdom were within the Holy Roman Empire, and the Emperor would not make him a king there.

History

The Prussian Homage, oil on canvas by Jan Matejko, 1882, 388 x 875 cm, National Museum in Kraków. Albert of Prussia receives Ducal Prussia as a fief from King Sigismund I the Old of Poland in 1525.

As Protestantism spread among the laity of the monastic state of the Teutonic Knights, dissent began to develop against the Catholic rule of the Teutonic Knights. Grand Master Albert of Prussia, a member of a cadet branch of the House of Hohenzollern, lacked the strength to maintain the Teutonic Order's power, especially after losing a war against the Kingdom of Poland. In addition, a number of Albert's commanders, as well as his personal bishop Polenz of Sambia, supported Protestant ideas. At Wittenberg in 1522 and at Nuremberg in 1524, Martin Luther impressed upon Albert the need to convert the order into a secular principality under his Albert's rule, as the anachronistic Teutonic Knights would not be able survive the Protestant Reformation.Christiansen, Eric. The Northern Crusades. Penguin Books. London, 1997. ISBN 0140266534

In April 1525 Albert resigned his position, became a Protestant, and in the Prussian Homage was granted the title "Duke of Prussia" from his new feudal overlord, King Zygmunt I the Old of Poland. In a deal partially brokered by Luther, Ducal Prussia became the first Protestant state, along the lines of the later religious Peace of Augsburg. Once Albert had returned to Königsberg, he publicly stated his conversion and announced his ascendence as duke of the new duchy before the Teutonic Knights. By the end of Albert's rule, the offices of Großkomtur and Ordensmarschall had deliberately been left vacant and the order only had 55 knights in Prussia. Albert only summoned a quorum to his pronouncement; the knights who disapproved of the decision were pressured into acceptance by Albert's supporters and the burghers of Königsberg, while only Eric of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Komtur of Memel, opposed the new duke. Some of the knights converted to Lutheranism in order to retain their property and then married into the Prussian nobility, while others returned to the Holy Roman Empire.Seward, Desmond. The Monks of War: The Military Religious Orders. Penguin Books. London, 1995. ISBN 0140195017

On March 1 1526 Albert married Princess Dorothea, daughter of King Frederick I of Denmark, thereby establishing political ties between Lutheranism and Scandinavia. Albert found himself reliant on support from Catholic Poland, as the Holy Roman Empire and the Roman Catholic Church had banned him for his Protestantism.

Because Ducal Prussia was ostensibly a Lutheran land, authorities travelled throughout the duchy ensuring that Lutheran teachings were being followed and imposing penalties on pagans and dissidents. There was little active resistance to the new creed, although the fact that the Teutonic Knights had brought Roman Catholicism and Protestantism made the transition easier.Koch, H.W. A History of Prussia. Barnes & Noble Books. New York, 1978. ISBN 0880291583 While there was little longing for Catholicism, Baltic Prussian peasants continued to practice pagan customs in some areas. While consuming the flesh of a goat, pagan peasants prayed to gods such as Perkunos, Potrimpos, and Patollu.Kirby, David. Northern Europe in the Early Modern Period: The Baltic World, 1492-1772. Longman. London, 1990. ISBN 0582004101

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with its major subdivisions as of 1619, superimposed on present-day national borders

A peasant rebellion broke out in Sambia in 1525. The combination of taxation by the nobility, the furor of the Protestant Reformation, and the abrupt secularization of the Teutonic Order's remaining Prussian lands exacerbated peasant unrest. The relatively well-to-do rebel leaders, including a miller from Kaimen and an inkeeper from Schaaken, were supported by sympathizers in Königsberg. The rebels demanded the elimination of newer taxes by the nobility and a return to an older tax of two marks for every Hufe (approximately forty acres). They claimed to be rebelling against the harsh nobility, not against Duke Albert, who was away in the Holy Roman Empire, but they would only swear allegiance to him in person. Upon Albert's return from the Empire, he called for a meeting of the peasants in a field, whereupon he surrounded them with loyal troops and had them arrested without incident; the leaders of the rebellion were subsequently executed. Although there were no more large-scale rebellions, Ducal Prussia became known as a land of Protestant dissent and sectarianism. While the composition of the nobility changed little from the transfer from the monastic state to the duchy, the hold of the nobility over the peasantry increased. The peasant rebellion had frightened the nobles, however, causing them to look to Duke Albert for leadership.

Administratively, little changed in the transition to Ducal Prussia. Although he was formally a vassal of Poland, Albert was allowed his own army, the minting of his currency, a provincial assembly, and had substantial autonomy in foreign affairs.Urban, William. The Teutonic Knights: A Military History. Greenhill Books. London, 2003. ISBN 1853675350

When Albert died in 1569, his son Albert Frederick inherited the duchy. As Albert Frederick had no surviving male heirs, the Treatise 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. Upon Albert Frederick's death in 1618, the duchy passed to John Sigismund, although he himself died the following year. John Sigismund's son George William was successfully invested with the duchy by Poland in 1623. Many of the Prussian Junkers (from so called "querulants" or "polonophile" party both Polish and German) were opposed to rule by the Hohenzollerns in Berlin and appealed to King Sigismund III Vasa of Poland for redress, or even incorporation of Ducal Prussia into Polish kingdom, although without success.Eulenberg, Herbert. The Hohenzollerns. Translated by M.M. Bozman. The Century Co. New York, 1929.

In 1657 during the Second Northern War between Sweden, Poland, and Brandenburg, the Treaty of Wehlau granted full sovereignty over Ducal Prussia to Elector Frederick William. The duchy lost its status as a fief of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and instead became part of Brandenburg-Prussia.

In 1675 King John III Sobieski of Poland concluded with France a secret pact, in which Poland would attack Ducal Prussia while France would pressure the Ottoman Empire to return territories to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Upon the ending of hostilities with the Ottomans, Poland could then attack Brandenburg or France's rival Austria. However, Sobieski was opposed by the Papacy, Polish gentry who saw the Ottomans as the greater threat, and Polish magnates bribed by Berlin and Vienna, and Sobieski's plans for Ducal Prussia came to naught.Gieysztor, Alexander, Stefan Kieniewicz, Emanuel Rostworowski, Janusz Tazbir, and Henryk Wereszycki. History of Poland. PWN. Warsaw, 1979. ISBN 8301003928

Ducal Prussia's location outside of the Holy Roman Empire allowed Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg to become "king in Prussia" in 1701 without offending Emperor Leopold I. In 1773 former Ducal Prussia was reorganized into the Province of East Prussia, while most of Royal Prussia became the Province of West Prussia.

See also

• Brandenburg-Prussia
• East Prussia
• Kaliningrad
• Kingdom of Prussia
• Masuria
• Royal Prussia
• Warmia

Reference