Acta Historica Universitatis Klaipedensis

Although the section of the Baltic seashore near Palanga was ceded to Lithuania under the Treaty of Melno, it remained strategically important to the Teutonic Order. From the Middle Ages, the coastal strip of the starostwo of Žemaitija in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania served as a land route connecting the Teutonic Order’s domains in Prussia and Livonia. This article focuses on the dynamics of travel along this route in 1519–1521 when the Teutonic Order was at war with Poland. Although the theatre of war covered areas of Prussia in the triangle between Königsberg, the River Vistula and Mazovia, military escorts used the stretch of land around Palanga to transport messages, carts of ammunition, and soldiers. Mercenaries disguised as merchants, undercover messengers, and sometimes even large formations of soldiers, crossed the coastal strip. Due to the geopolitical situation, the Žemaitijans failed to cut off this movement completely: the Grand Duchy of Lithuania tended to turn a blind eye, and formally adhered to the ‘eternal peace’. This article is the first attempt to shed a light on the role that the Palanga nexus of interaction between Prussia and Livonia played in the 1519–1521 war. It shows the specific participants, the route, and the circumstances of travel through this nexus.

The results of the Thirteen Years’ War (1454–1466) did not remove the tensions between Poland and the Teutonic Order. A new conflict emerged at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, as the Teutonic Order sought to get rid of the Polish king’s protection of the Order’s dominions in Prussia, established under the terms of the Peace of Thorn (Toruń), some of which were not met at all. The article examines several historical sources prepared for the eventual war in Prussia and published a long ago. These are the Military Regulations (Kriegsordnung) of 1507, and two lists of property owners of the Memel (Klaipėda) Command (Komturei) who were to perform their military obligations, dated by previous research to around 1500 or 1510–1520. The connection between these documents has not so far been examined, although the author of the article assumed the existence of a connection a dozen years ago. The author examines this connection in detail, by discussing the emergence of these documents and the efforts of their initiators to adapt innovations in the organisation of defence borrowed from the Holy Roman Empire to the practices of the Teutonic Order. By examining the content of the sources and the statistical information they provide, the article raises a separate question: to what extent do the statistics generated by these sources make it possible to get details about land ownership in Prussia in the early 16th century.

Late Medieval Prussia, an area ruled by the Teutonic Order, was a multilingual entity, with the Baltic and Slavic languages used by the local population alongside the German language. This linguistic diversity was a challenge to priests, and to their pastoral work. A command of the languages of their parishioners was crucial for them, as they not only had to teach and hear confession, but also to announce the instructions of the local bishop. So far, historians have discussed the linguistic skills of the clergy mainly in the context of the Christianisation of the native Prussian population. This article deals with the issue by focusing on Late Medieval Prussia and the lower clergy. It discusses the provisions of synodal statutes and papal documents regulating the clergy’s command of the languages of their parishioners. The author explores problems of linguistic skill relating to the origin and education of the local clergy, in addition to the impact of the right of patronage and the practical activities of Prussian and Polish chaplains. He also pays attention to the tradition of employing interpreters to support priests who did not know the local Baltic and Slavic languages; this was especially problematic during confession.

The secularisation of the domains of the Teutonic Order in Prussia led to the establishment of the first Lutheran territorial church in the world. This fact is almost forgotten today, and this is evident even in specialised literature on the Reformation. The article outlines the introduction of the Reformation in Prussia, considering it as an example of its smooth and successful entrenchment. In order to show this, the late stage of the rule of the Teutonic Order is defined, showing that fundamental reform was triggered by a multi-layered crisis characteristic of the Order’s domains in Prussia. The article shows that, in coordination with Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchton, and assisted by his bishops, after becoming the first Duke of Prussia in 1525, Albert, the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, implemented reforms in his domains that resembled the main problems raised by the Reformation in an almost exemplary way. But at the same time, it shows that the introduction of the Reformation in Prussia was not a unidirectional process, for Duke Albert supported Andreas Osiander’s ideas for some time, before he gradually entered the ranks of the confessors of Augsburg.

The conditions and the environment of the mendicant religious orders (Dominicans, Franciscan Conventuals, Franciscan Observants, Carmelites, and Augustinians) in the holdings of the Teutonic Order in Prussia differed from those in Western Europe. In newly built castles and newly founded cities, German and Polish-speaking communities predominated; while Prussians, unfamiliar with the basics of Christianity, prevailed in rural territories. The network of parish churches declined towards the eastern and northern boundaries of the state. Therefore, the mendicant orders operated there on a different model. An examination of its characteristics is carried out by means of an analysis of the stages, development and dynamics of the settlement of mendicant orders in Prussia. An attempt is made to identify the organisation of their provision and the supporting milieu. Particular attention is paid to the impact of mendicant orders on the deepening of the faith of the local Prussian population in the eastern part of the Teutonic Order’s holdings.