Anniversary of the surrender of the Teutonic fortress in Chojnice.
Today in our calendar we will look at the last phase of the Polish-Crescent War of Thirteen.
On 1 January 1464, without hope for the rescue of Gniew surrendered to the Polish chief, Peter Dunin. On 6 March, Bishop Warmiński passed to the Polish side Paul Legendorf giving the king all the castles on this land.
The situation of the Order has become tragic. Destroyed and depopulated lands, the empty Prussian vault, the indebted German estates, the desertion of unpaid mercenaries, and the abandonment of the King by allies were factors that had to origin the defeat. In the spring of 1464 the Order agreed to mediation with the Polish king, proposed by Hanseatic Lubeka. However, Poles did not suspend their armed actions, rightly predicting that further successes would further weaken the negotiating position of the opponent, who only plays on time.
They were right – negotiations were just a smokescreen for the Teutonic Knights to collect fresh forces. Therefore, Dunin besieged the city of Nowe, the cdańszczanie Puck, and yet another ally of Poland – the prince of Mazowieckie, began the blockade of Dziadowa. Attempts to save the Teutonic Knights for these centres failed. fresh and Puck shortly gave up. In 1465 Starogard was surrounded by Poles. The Teutonic Knights then softened adequate that they offered to proceed the peace talks. They were conducted in Stegno on the Wislana Measure.
Again, as previously, Poles continued the offensive, this time against Chojnicom, whose siege began in July 1466. In the attack on this city it is hard not to see vengeance for humiliation from 12 years ago, erstwhile the Polish common decision was crushed by the Teutonic dense forces.
Dunin acted prudently and methodically. He gathered 6,000 soldiers, and hundreds of specially drawn peasants participated in the construction of the siege machines. The dense fighting lasted 2 months and eventually, on 28 September, after another storm and arson of the city with incendiary missiles, The knights have given up. A tiny fortress located close – Zantyr besides fell.
Peace talks had already resumed on 8 September in Dybów close Toruń, and were mediated by the papal legate Rudolf of Ridesheim. The Polish side was represented, among others, by the Crown Marshal Jan Rytwiański and the Kraków canon Jan Długosz. Yeah, it's that John Longish. The Prussian States represented Scibor Bażyski. The Teutonic delegation consisted of, among others, the Komtur and the future master of the Order Henry Reuss von Plauen and Jan Winkler, the individual secretary of the large Master Erlichausen.
The area was signed on October 17, 1466. The full Pomerania of Gdańsk with Elbląg and its neighbourhoods, Chełmińska and Michałówska land were attached to Poland. The truncated Order had been from now on a lord of the king of Poland. The position of lenna, but separate, besides possessed Warmia under the management of its bishop. In Toruń, in the Hall of Artus' Manor, the large master kneeled before the Polish king and paid him a solemn tribute to Lenna.
Interestingly, in the peace treaty Poles were guaranteed the chance to join the Order and hold various functions in its authorities. Until now, only Germany has been part of it. In this entry we should look for the far-reaching politics of the Polish king, who thus counted on the gradual polonization of the Order, its assimilation and in any time-long period peaceful absorption into Poland.
As we know, this did not happen, in my opinion, mainly by Zygmunt Stary Lenia, who secularized the Order in a Protestant spirit. Since that moment, falsely called the success of the Prussian Dutch from 1525 although tributes of these lands had already had to be paid, the Prusai population differed from Poles not only in language and culture, but besides in religion. specified large differences could no longer be buried and the Prusai state rulers did everything to free themselves from the Polish curatela.
In the view picture: fragments of preserved medieval city walls of Chojnic.
Previous entry from our calendar is available Here.
