Following other brief engagements, both sides agreed to negotiate. The city of Danzig (Gdańsk) was captured by the State of the Teutonic Order on 13 November 1308, resulting in a massacre of its inhabitants and marking the beginning of tensions between Poland and the Teutonic Order. The duke of Silesia, Henry II (the Pious), who had been gathering forces to reunite Poland, perished in the Battle of Legnica (Liegnitz) in 1241, and the devastation wrought by the Mongols may have contributed to the above-mentioned colonization. They had to pay an indemnity in silver, estimated at ten times the annual income of the King of England, in four annual installments. That policy of compromise was a tactical necessity on the part of a state still much weaker than the Teutonic Knights, Bohemia, or Hungary. The arrival of the Teutonic Knights changed the balance of forces in that part of Europe and marked the beginning of the rise of Prussia as a great power. Jogaila converted to Christianity and was crowned as the King of Poland thus creating a personal union between the Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania. [21] Modern estimates of number of troops involved range from 16,500 to 39,000 Polish–Lithuanian and 11,000 to 27,000 Teutonic men. The highest-ranking Teutonic official to escape the battle was Werner von Tettinger, Komtur of Elbing (Elbląg). [18] On 11 July, Jogaila decided against crossing the river at such a strong defensible position. The army would instead bypass the river crossing by turning east, towards its sources, where no other major rivers separated his army from Marienburg. After a series of ruthless campaigns, Prussia was conquered and resettled by Germans—the old Prussian population having been virtually wiped out. As Grand Master von Jungingen attempted to break through the Lithuanian lines, he was killed. The chances of reunification were dim, as the various branches of the Piast dynasty pursued their vested interests and further subdivided their lands. Antwerp, Belgium 278 contributions 51 helpful votes +1. [41] The Poles and Lithuanians were unable to translate the military victory into territorial or diplomatic gains. [9] Both sides used this time for preparations for the battle, gathering the troops and engaging in diplomatic maneuvers. It became a powerful state of the Teutonic Knights. The Lithuanians first gave up Samogitia during the Lithuanian Civil War (1381–84) in the Treaty of Dubysa. Western Pomerania, with its native dynasty, and Eastern Pomerania were already largely severed from Poland and threatened by the aggressive and expansive margravate of Brandenburg. Thus, the reunited Polish kingdom was deprived of two of its most developed provinces—Silesian Wrocław then had some 20,000 inhabitants—and was effectively cut off from the Baltic Sea. [38] The siege of Marienburg was lifted on 19 September. Preventing Jadwiga’s marriage to Wilhelm Habsburg, the lords chose for her husband Władysław II Jagiełło (Lithuanian: Jogaila), the grand duke of Lithuania. Under Władysław’s son Casimir III (the Great), the only Polish ruler to bear this epithet, peace was made with John of Luxembourg, who gave up his claims to the Polish crown at the meeting of the kings of Poland, Hungary, and Bohemia at Visegrád, Hungary, in 1335. [13], The first stage of the Grunwald campaign was gathering all Polish–Lithuanian troops at Czerwinsk, a designated meeting point about 80 km (50 mi) from the Prussian border, where the joint army crossed the Vistula over a pontoon bridge. The war shifted the balance of power in Central Europe and marked the rise of the Polish–Lithuanian union as the dominant power in the region. In need of trained lawyers, he founded a university in Kraków (1364) modeled largely on that of Bologna. The sumptuous banquet given to the visiting rulers by the Kraków burgher Nicholas Wierzynek passed into popular lore. He became the king of Poland under the name of Władysław II Jagiełło upon marrying Jadwiga, with whom he at first ruled jointly. For about a hundred years the Knights fought the Lithuanian Crusade raiding the Lithuanian lands, particularly Samogitia as it separated the Knights in Prussia from their branch in Livonia. The threat posed by the Teutonic Knights to both Poland and Lithuania, and the aspiration of the Poles to achieve status as a great power, figured prominently in the calculations. In 1343 Poland signed a peace treaty with the Teutonic Knights through which it recovered some land but retained only formal suzerainty over Pomerania. [24] Lithuanians attacked first, but after more than an hour of heavy fighting, the Lithuanian light cavalry started a full retreat. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. In May 1409, an uprising in Teutonic-held Samogitia started. Toruń is a must if you visit Poland, and this castle sits in the center of downtown, so it is wort to combined with the other wonders of Toruń. Territorial disputes lasted until the Peace of Melno of 1422. [26] Heavy fighting began between Polish and Teutonic forces and even reached the royal camp of Jogaila. The massacre the Knights perpetrated in Gdańsk in 1308 entered Polish folklore. [3] The conflict was also motivated by trade considerations: the Knights controlled lower reaches of the three largest rivers (Neman, Vistula and Daugava) in Poland and Lithuania.[4]. The plot is situated in the late-14th century and early-15th century Poland and centers on the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War (1409-1411) and the final Battle of Grunwald (1410). [citation needed], In 1385, Grand Duke Jogaila of Lithuania proposed to marry reigning Queen Jadwiga of Poland in the Union of Kreva. Jagiełło accepted Roman Catholicism for himself and Lithuania proper—the other duchies were already Christian (Eastern Orthodox)—and promised to join (applicare) his Lithuanian and Ruthenian lands to the Polish crown. [40] To meet the payments, the Knights borrowed heavily, confiscated gold and silver from churches, and increased taxes. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. However, the defense was soon broken and the camp was ravaged and according to an eyewitness account, more Knights died there than in the battlefield.[28]. This delay gave Heinrich von Plauen enough time to organize a defense. [6] However, neither side was ready for a full-scale war. [27] Surrounded and leaderless, the Teutonic Knights began to retreat towards their camp in hopes to organize a defensive wagon fort. [30] Most of the brothers of the Order were killed, including most of the Teutonic leadership. The population and its density increased. Casimir’s simultaneous renunciation of Silesia was somewhat equivocal, and he sought later to regain the Silesian duchies by diplomacy and force. Between 1340 and the 1360s, however, Poland expanded by roughly one-third, acquiring a larger part of Halicz, or Red, Ruthenia (the future eastern Galicia), which Hungary and Lithuania also coveted. The border regions became uninhabited wilderness, but the Knights gained very little territory. The prospects of opening vast regions in the east for trade and settlement appealed to the lords and merchants of Kraków. [15] To keep the plans secret and misguide the Knights, Jogaila and Vytautas organised several raids into border territories, thus forcing the Knights to keep their troops in place. A major battle with the invading Knights fought at Płowce in 1331 was a Pyrrhic victory for Władysław. Allying himself with the new king of Hungary, Charles I, Władysław withstood the enmity of Bohemia, the Teutonic Knights, rival Polish dukes, and the mainly German patriciate of Kraków. From Torun we head 20 km for Bydgoszcz, to Bierzglowski Castle. Most of the Teutonic leadership was killed or taken prisoner. Cooperating closely with Hungary, Władysław sought unsuccessfully to regain Pomerania through lawsuits and papal arbitration, but the Knights ignored the verdicts. In view of a new wave of Jewish immigrants, the 1264 privilege was extended throughout the kingdom, and the town of Kazimierz, adjacent to Kraków, became a Jewish centre. With support from the Pope and Holy Roman Emperor, the Teutons conquered and converted the Prussians by the 1280s and shifted their attention to the pagan Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The legend has it that what are now the partially renovated and reconstructed ruins of an overwhelming stronghold which is open to the public, were the first Teutonic brick castle in Poland. Władysław II Jagiełło, sarcophagus figure, second quarter of the 15th century; in Wawel Cathedral, Kraków, Poland. [37] The Knights appealed to their allies for help and Sigismund of Hungary, Wenceslaus, King of the Romans, and the Livonian Order promised financial aid and reinforcements. [6] The Knights burned the castle at Dobrin (Dobrzyń nad Wisłą), captured Bobrowniki after a fourteen-day siege, conquered Bydgoszcz (Bromberg), and sacked several towns. The domestic achievements of Casimir may be subsumed under the slogan “One king, one law, one currency.” His rule uncontested, Casimir presided over a process of unification and codification of laws in the mid-14th century for Great and Little Poland that is often called the Statute of Wiślica. The Prussian border was crossed on 9 July. Both sides sent letters and envoys accusing each other of various wrongdoings and threats to Christendom. In the late 13th century, Bohemia emerged as the leading country in east-central Europe, and King Otakar II (Přemysl Otakar II) even tried to gain the imperial crown. One Knight charged directly against King Jogaila, who was saved by royal secretary Zbigniew Oleśnicki. Poland - Poland - The arrival of the Teutonic Knights: The chances of reunification were dim, as the various branches of the Piast dynasty pursued their vested interests and further subdivided their lands. [19] Von Jungingen was so enraged by the atrocities that he swore to defeat the invaders in battle. [2] As Polish units were gaining the upper hand, the Lithuanians returned to the battle. Poland announced its support for the Lithuanian cause and threatened to invade Prussia in return. Knights of the Teutonic Order (Polish: Krzyżacy) is a 1960 Polish film directed by Aleksander Ford based on the novel of the same name by Henryk Sienkiewicz.. [16] As soon as Ulrich von Jungingen grasped Polish–Lithuanian intentions, he left 3,000 men at Schwetz (Świecie) under Heinrich von Plauen[17] and marched the main forces to organise a line of defence on the Drewenz River (Drwęca) near Kauernik (Kurzętnik). Western Pomerania, with its native dynasty, and Eastern Pomerania were already largely severed from Poland and threatened by the aggressive and expansive margravate of Brandenburg. 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