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?

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.

* 1309-1310 ; The Teutonic Order conquered Pomerelia and added it to Prussia.

Around 1200 the port became the main point of departure for colonists leaving for the Baltic territories conquered by the Livonian Order and, later, Teutonic Order.

In the early 13th century, two German religious orders, the Teutonic Knights and the Livonian Brothers of the Sword, conquered much of the area that is now Estonia and Latvia, in addition to parts of Lithuania.

As the westernmost clan, the Pomesanians were the first of the Prussians to be conquered by the Teutonic Knights, a German military crusading order brought to the Chełmno Land to convert the pagans to Christianity.

During the next three years all of Pomesania was conquered and made part of the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights.

The German Teutonic Knights conquered the region during the 13th century and the Bishopric of Samland became, along with Bishopric of Pomesania, Bishopric of Ermland, and Bishopric of Culm, one of the four dioceses of Prussia in 1243.

By the end of the 13th century most of the Prussian region, including Warmia, was conquered and Christianized by the Teutonic Order.

In the summer of 569, the Longobards ( from which the name of the Italian region Lombardy derives ), a Teutonic tribe conquered Milan, overpowering the small Byzantine army left for its defence.

After the district was conquered by the Teutonic Knights, the language died out and its speakers were gradually absorbed by German, Lithuanian and Slavic populations.

Being conquered by Danes and Germans in 1227, Estonia was ruled initially by Denmark in the north, by the Livonian Order, an autonomous part of the Monastic state of the Teutonic Knights and Baltic German ecclesiastical states of the Holy Roman Empire.

During the 13th century, the native Prussians were conquered by the crusading Teutonic Knights.

Upon the invitation of Duke Konrad I of Masovia, the Teutonic Knights took possession of Prussia in the 13th century and created a monastic state to administer the conquered Old Prussians.

After numerous casualties the armies were stalemated, though Władysław's forces conquered the field, captured some prisoners and stopped the expansion of the Teutonic Order in the region.

During the conquest and Christianization of Prussia, the Teutonic Knights conquered an Old Prussian settlement named Brusebergue in 1240 and built in 1242 a new castle atop it on the Passarge ( Pasłęka ) River.

During the wars waged in the Baltic by the Catholic German Teutonic Knights ; the lands inhabited by the ethnic group of the Old Prussians ( the current reference to the people known then simply as the " Prussians "), were conquered by the Germans.

One group conquered Poland, defeating a combined force under Henry II the Pious, Duke of Silesia and the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order at Legnica.

Next Horn led troops in Upper ( southern ) Franconia and conquered, among others, Mergentheim, the town of the Teutonic Order, and bishopric of Bamberg ), then to Bavaria with the king.

An invading army of Teutonic Knights conquered the island in 1398, destroying Visby and driving the Victual Brothers from Gotland.

In 1308 the castle was conquered by the Teutonic Knights and destroyed, causing a depopulation of the area.

# American writers also linked their history to the development of liberty in Anglo-Saxon England, even back to the traditions of the Teutonic tribes that conquered the western Roman empire.

Russia and Sweden eventually conquered the lands taken by the Teutonic Knights in Estonia and Livonia.

The Old Prussians were conquered by the Teutonic Knights in the 13th century, and gradually assimilated over the following centuries ; the Old Prussian language was extinct by the 17th or early 18th century.

Between the 14th and 17th centuries, Polish settlers from northern Masovia moved to the southern territories of the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights that was previously the land of the Baltic Old Prussians who were conquered by the Teutonic Knights in the 13th and 14th centuries.