Albert of Prussia (; ) ( 17 May 1490 – 20 March 1568 ) was the 37th and last sovereign Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights and, after converting to Lutheranism, the first duke of the Duchy of Prussia, which was the first state to adopt the Lutheran faith and Protestantism as the official state religion.

Because Albert was a member of the Brandenburg-Ansbach branch of the House of Hohenzollern, it had been hoped that his election as Grand Master would reverse the decline of the Teutonic Knights since 1410 ; Duke Frederick of Saxony of the House of Wettin had been elected for the same reason.

Category: Grand Masters of the Teutonic Knights

For want of funds, Alexander was unable to resist the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights or prevent Grand Duke of Muscovy Ivan III from ravaging Grand Duchy of Lithuania with the Tatars.

In 1211, he granted the Burzenland to the Teutonic Knights in order to ensure the security of the southeastern borders of his kingdom against the Cumans.

However, the Teutonic Knights began to establish a country independent of the King of Hungary.

In the same year, Andrew expelled the Teutonic Knights from Transylvania because they had ignored his overlordship.

* 1242 – During a battle on the ice of Lake Peipus, Russian forces, led by Alexander Nevsky, rebuff an invasion attempt by the Teutonic Knights.

The marriage took place on 30 April or 16 October 1325 and was a purely political maneuver to strengthen the first Polish – Lithuanian coalition against the Teutonic Knights.

# Frederick ( b. Torgau, 26 October 1474 – d. Rochlitz, 14 December 1510 ), Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights.

The Poles commanded by Piotr Dunin, consisting of some 2000 mercenaries decisively defeated the Teutonic Knights, having some 2700 mercenaries, commanded by Fritz Raweneck and Kaspar Nostyc.

The psychological significance was that this was the first open field battle won by the royal forces, so it increased the morale of the Polish forces and lowered the morale of the Teutonic Knights.

Duke Konrad of Masovia still was not capable to end the Prussian attacks on his territory and in 1224 began to conduct negotiations with the Teutonic Knights under Grand Master Hermann von Salza in order to strengthen his forces.

He obtained a charter by Emperor Frederick II issued in the 1226 Golden Bull of Rimini, whereby Chełmno Land would be the unshared possession of the Teutonic Knights, which was confirmed by Duke Konrad of Masovia in the 1230 Treaty of Kruszwica.

The Council also condemned and executed Jan Hus and ruled on issues of national sovereignty, the rights of pagans, and just war in response to a conflict between the Kingdom of Poland and the Order of the Teutonic Knights.

In 1411, the First Peace of Thorn ended the Polish – Lithuanian – Teutonic War, in which the Teutonic Knights fought the Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

The propaganda war soon grew from a border quarrel to a fundamental dispute of the Teutonic mission – did the Knights have the right to wage the crusade?

The Teutonic Knights conquered the region and the inhabitants dispersed in the process.

After the defeat of the Teutonic Knights and the destruction of the castle by the inhabitants, the city successively was under the sovereignty of the Polish crown ( 1466 ), the Kingdom of Prussia ( 1772 ), and Germany ( 1871 ).

Elbląg is the Polish derivative of the German name Elbing, which was assigned by the Teutonic Knights to the citadel and subsequent town placed by them in 1237 next to the river.

In 1226 Duke Konrad I of Masovia summoned the Teutonic Knights for assistance ; by 1230 they had secured Chełmno ( Culm ) and begun claiming conquered territories for themselves under the authority of the Holy Roman Empire, although these claims were rejected by the Poles, whose ambition had been to conquer Prussia all along.

The victorious Teutonic Knights built a castle at Elbing near, if not on top of, the destroyed Prussian town of Truso.

After building two ships, the Pilgerim ( Pilgrim ) and the Vridelant ( Friedland ), with the assistance of Henry III, Margrave of Meissen, the Teutonic Knights used them to clear the Vistula Lagoon ( Frisches Haff ) and the Vistula Spit of Prussians:

In 1440 several western and eastern Prussian towns formed the Prussian Confederation, which led the revolt of Prussia against the rule of the Teutonic Knights in 1454.

Beginning in 1226, the Teutonic Knights began their conquest of Prussia.

In 1390 she began a correspondence with the Teutonic Knights, followed by personal meetings in which she opened diplomatic negotiations herself.

Immediately after the Pact, preparations for the Polish – Lithuanian – Teutonic War began.

As the Teutonic Knights were weakened during the 15th century through wars with Poland and Lithuania, the Livonian branch in the north began to pursue its own policies.

As Protestantism spread among the laity of the Teutonic Monastic State of Prussia, dissent began to develop against the Roman Catholic rule of the Teutonic Knights, whose Grand Master, Albert of Brandenburg-Ansbach, a member of a cadet branch of the House of Hohenzollern, lacked the military resources to assert the order's authority.

Ranke began his book with the statement in the introduction that he would show the unity of the experiences of the " Teutonic " nations of Scandinavia, England and Germany and the " Latin " nations of Italy, Spain and France through the great " respirations " of the Völkerwanderung ( great migration ), the Crusades and colonisation that in Ranke's view bound all of the nations together to produce modern European civilization.

In 1270 the Teutonic Order began constructing wooden earthworks to control the original settlement as well as defend the initial settlers Mazur and German settlers.

Most likely upon returning from Teutonic Order captivity his father made Mestwin II the Duke of Świecie ( Schwetz ) province circa 1250, and upon his father's death he began his challenge against his younger brother for Gdańsk ( Danzig ) in 1266, starting the so called Pomerelian Civil War that lasted until 1273.

In 1345 the Teutonic Order began constructing a castle nearby at the southernmost point of the Johannisburger Heide, or Piska Forest, in the Masurian Lake District.

During this time it is said his ideas on race began taking shape, influenced by the concept of Teutonic supremacy he alleged was embodied in the works of Wagner and Arthur de Gobineau.

Within the Teutonic Order, however, the knights began to grow dissatisfied at the absence of their Grand Master, so they recalled him and had him withdraw from his political life.

Konrad is blamed by Poles, that ' his actions began the process whereby the Teutonic Knights came to control much of the Baltic coastline through their monastic state, that had ultimately dire consequences for the Polish state '.

The Teutonic Order began construction of a wooden fort known as Dietrichstein in the early 13th century.

The Teutonic Knights began building wood-and-earth forts in the area and they had constructed five castles ( quinque castra fortia ): Marienburg, Schwarzenburg, Rosenau, Kreuzburg, and Kronstadt, some of which were made of stone.

The Teutonic Knights fortified the area and began to colonize the region with Germans, giving the settlement the name Wehlau.

The Teutonic Order began fortifying the area as Gilgenburg in 1316, and the developing settlement received its town charter in 1326.

Inspired by the local Samogitian uprising, the war began by Teutonic invasion of Poland in August 1409.

Heavy fighting began between Polish and Teutonic forces and even reached the royal camp of Jogaila.

Surrounded and leaderless, the Teutonic Knights began to retreat towards their camp in hopes to organize a defensive wagon fort.

This created a problem because the Teutonic Knights were in control of the Chełmno Land, and a dispute began between the Bishop of Chełmno and the Knights.