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Dietrich von Altenburg was the 19th Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, serving from 1335 to 1341.
He came from the Thuringian town of Altenburg in the Holy Roman Empire, where his father held the office of a burgrave of the immediate Pleissnerland, which however had long been pawned to the Saxon House of Wettin. Altenburg joined the Order in 1307 and served as Komtur of Ragnit (1320–24) and of Balga (1326–31). In 1331 he was appointed Grand Marshal of the Order, and resumed the Polish–Teutonic War smouldering since 1326. After the Battle of Płowce, the Order conquered the former Duchy of Kuyavia with Dobrzyń Land from the Kingdom of Poland under Władysław I the Elbow-high.
Altenburg was accused before a papal tribunal of alleged crimes committed during the Kuyavian campaign. Nevertheless, the relations with Poland improved upon the accession of King Casimir III the Great in 1333 and the election of well-disposed Pope Benedict XII the next year. At the 1335 Congress of Visegrád, by the agency of King John of Bohemia, an agreement was made, whereafter the Polish king would renounce Pomerelia in favour of the Order and in turn regain Kuyavia and Dobrzyń. The arrangement however met with protest by the Polish szlachta, and a final peace was not achieved until 1343 by the Treaty of Kalisz.
After Altenburg was elected as Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, he set about building or reconstructing many of the Order's castles. He began the reconstruction of the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Marienburg, including the building of the main tower, and commissioned a mosaic figure of the Madonna. The Chapel of Saint Anne, the first permanent bridge over the Nogat, and the Bridge Gate were also completed during his time in office.
Meanwhile, the conflict with Poland as well as the papal proceedings lingered on. Despite an intervention by the Emperor Louis IV, in 1339 the Roman Curia sentenced the Order to surrender all estates claimed by Poland, a judgement that however was not approved by the Pope. Intending to negotiate with Poland, in 1341 Altenburg traveled to Thorn (Toruń), but died there from an illness in October of that year. He was the first Grand Master to be buried in the Chapel of Saint Anne in Marienburg; his original gravestone can still be seen there to this day.
The Teutonic Order is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society c. 1190 in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem was formed to aid Christians on their pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to establish hospitals. Its members have commonly been known as the Teutonic Knights, having historically served as a crusading military order for supporting Catholic rule in the Holy Land and the Northern Crusades during the Middle Ages, as well as supplying military protection for Catholics in Eastern Europe.
Władysław I Łokietek, in English known as the "Elbow-high" or Ladislaus the Short, was King of Poland from 1320 to 1333, and duke of several of the provinces and principalities in the preceding years. He was a member of the royal Piast dynasty, the son of Duke Casimir I of Kuyavia, and great-grandson of High-Duke Casimir II the Just.
Malbork is a town in the Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland. It is the seat of Malbork County and has a population of 37,898 people as of 2021. The town is located on the Nogat river, in the historical region of Pomerelia.
Ulrich von Jungingen was the 26th Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, serving from 1407 to 1410. His policy of confrontation with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland would spark the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War and lead to disaster for his Order, and his own death, at the Battle of Grunwald.
Golub-Dobrzyń is a town in north-central Poland, located on the Drwęca. It is the capital of Golub-Dobrzyń County in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship and has a population of 13,060.
Konrad I of Masovia, from the Polish Piast dynasty, was the sixth Duke of Masovia and Kuyavia from 1194 until his death as well as High Duke of Poland from 1229 to 1232 and again from 1241 to 1243.
The State of the Teutonic Order was a theocratic state located along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea in northern Europe. It was formed by the knights of the Teutonic Order during the early 13th century Northern Crusades in the region of Prussia. In 1237, the Livonian Brothers of the Sword merged with the Teutonic Order of Prussia and became known as its branch — the Livonian Order. At its greatest territorial extent during the early 15th century, the State encompassed Chełmno Land, Courland, Gotland, Livonia, Estonia, Neumark, Pomerelia, Prussia and Samogitia.
The Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War, also known as the Great Teutonic War, occurred between 1409 and 1411 between the Teutonic Knights and the allied Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Inspired by the local Samogitian uprising, the war began with a Teutonic invasion of Poland in August 1409. As neither side was ready for a full-scale war, Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia brokered a nine-month truce.
The Treaty of Kalisz was a peace treaty signed on 8 July 1343 in Kalisz, concluded by the Kingdom of Poland under King Casimir III the Great and the State of the Teutonic Order under Grand Master of the Teutonic Order Ludolf König von Wattzau.
Konrad von Jungingen was a Grand Master of the Teutonic Order from 1393 to 1407. Under his administration, the Teutonic Order would reach its greatest extent.
The Castle of the Teutonic Order in Malbork, commonly known as Malbork Castle, is a 13th-century castle complex located in the town of Malbork, Poland. It is the largest castle in the world measured by land area and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Heinrich Dusemer von Arfberg, often times known in English simply as Heinrich Dusemer, was the 21st grandmaster of the Teutonic Order.
Werner von Orseln was the 17th Grand Master of the Teutonic Order from 1324 until his murder in 1330.
Polish–Teutonic Wars refer to a series of conflicts that took place between the Kingdom of Poland and the Teutonic Order, a medieval German military order with roots in the Baltic region. These wars occurred primarily during the 14th and 15th centuries and were characterized by territorial disputes, political maneuvering, and religious differences.
This is the 1326-1332 Polish-Teutonic War. For a list of all Polish-German Wars, see Polish-German Wars.
The Prussian Crusade was a series of 13th-century campaigns of Roman Catholic crusaders, primarily led by the Teutonic Knights, to Christianize under duress the pagan Old Prussians. Invited after earlier unsuccessful expeditions against the Prussians by Christian Polish princes, the Teutonic Knights began campaigning against the Prussians, Lithuanians and Samogitians in 1230. By the end of the century, having quelled several Prussian uprisings, the Knights had established control over Prussia and administered the conquered Prussians through their monastic state, eventually erasing the Prussian language, culture and pre-Christian religion by a combination of physical and ideological force. Some Prussians took refuge in neighboring Lithuania.
The Treaty of Namslau or Namysłów, also known as the Peace of Namslau/Namysłów, was a peace treaty between King Charles IV of Bohemia and King Casimir III of Poland. It was signed at Namysłów in Silesia, on 22 November 1348 after the Polish-Bohemian War of 1345–1348.
This is the 1454-1466 Polish-Teutonic War. For a list of all Polish-German Wars, see Polish-German Wars.
The Battle of Grunwald, Battle of Žalgiris, or First Battle of Tannenberg, was fought on 15 July 1410 during the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War. The alliance of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, led respectively by King Władysław II Jagiełło (Jogaila), and Grand Duke Vytautas, decisively defeated the German Teutonic Order, led by Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen. Most of the Teutonic Order's leadership was killed or taken prisoner.
Ludolf König von Wattzau, sometimes referred to as simply Ludolf König in English translations, was the 20th Grandmaster of the Teutonic Order, ruling the order's state in the Baltics from 1342 to 1345.