Royal Prussia


Royal Prussia or Polish Prussia was a break-away territory of the Teutonic Order that in 1466 won autonomy as a dependency of the King of Poland. Subsequently, in 1569 Royal Prussia was fully merged into the Kingdom of Poland.
Royal Prussia was established after the Second Peace of Thorn, from territory in western Prussia which seceded from the despotic State of the Teutonic Order seeking protection as a dependency of the King of Poland. As a dependency, its political status was similar to the Bailiwick of Jersey, reflected in the title "Royal Prussia" or the King's Prussia. Royal Prussia retained autonomy, governing itself and maintaining its indigenous laws, customs, and rights. As a royal dependency, it could participate in the election of its titular monarch, however it could not participate in the Sejm, the Polish parliament.
In 1772, the former territories of Royal Prussia were annexed by Prussia. This occurred at the time of the First Partition of Poland, when much of it was formed into the province of West Prussia, while the vast bulk of the Polish Commonwealth itself was incorporated into the Russian Empire; and the ancient Commonwealth, with its "golden liberty", was dismembered.

Geography

The area consisted of the following districts:
From the 14th century, in old texts and in Latin, the terms Prutenia and Prutenic refer not only to the original settlement area of the now extinct Old Prussians along the Baltic coast east of the Vistula River, but also to the adjacent lands of the former Samboride dukes of Pomerelia, which territory the Teutonic Knights had acquired from the king of Poland in the 1343 Treaty of Kalisz and incorporated into the Order's State.
, Royal Prussia appears in white.
Pomerelia Lauenburg and Bütow Land to the west was ruled by the Pomeranian dukes, enfeoffed to the king of Poland.
Royal Prussia is distinguished from later Ducal Prussia, the remaining parts of Prussia around Königsberg, founded and governend by the Teutonic Knights. After secularisation in 1525, it succeeded to the Protestant dukes of the Hohenzollern dynasty. From 1618 this area was in personal union by the Electors of Brandenburg. In 1657 the titular monarchy devolved by the Treaty of Wehlau.

History

By 1308 the Pomerelian part of the region was conquered by the first Polish state, enjoying autonomy and self-government. During the rule of Władysław I the Elbow-high of Poland, the Margraviate of Brandenburg staked its claim on the territory in 1308, leading Władysław to request assistance from the Teutonic Knights, who had replaced the Brandenburgers and incorporated Pomerelia into the Teutonic Order state, in 1309 and Treaty of Soldin ).
After being checked at the Battle of Grunwald, the Teutonic Knights’s prestige declined, and by the 1411 Peace of Thorn were forced to pay large contributions to the king of Poland, which became a financial burden on the citizenry. In 1440, as the tax burden rose, indigenous nobles and Hanseatic cities established the Prussian Confederation at Marienwerder in resistance of the Order's domestic and financial policies. The Confederation was led by the citizens of Danzig, Elbing, and Thorn. The gentry from Chełmno Land and Pomerelia participated as well. Grand Master Ludwig von Erlichshausen demanded the dissolution and in 1453 searched for help from Pope Nicholas V and Emperor Frederick III. In turn, in February 1454, the Confederation sent a delegation, under Johannes von Baysen, to King Casimir IV Jagiellon of Poland, to ask him for support against the Teutonic Order's rule and for incorporation of their homeland into the Kingdom of Poland. In this treaty, Prussian delegates declared the Polish king the only true sovereign of their lands, justified by the historical fact that the king of Poland had earlier ruled them. After lengthy negotiation, on 6 March 1454, the Royal Chancellery issued the Act of Treaty formalizing the terms of the treaty establishing Royal Prussia’s autonomy as a foreign dependency of the king.

Prussian–Polish Alliance

After the Prussian Confederation pledged allegiance to Casimir on 6 March 1454, the Thirteen Years' War began. King Casimir IV Jagiellon appointed Baysen as the first war-time governor of Royal Prussia. On May 28, 1454, the king took an oath of allegiance from the citizens of Thorn, and in June a similar oath from the citizens of Elbing and Königsberg was taken.
The rebellion also included major cities from the eastern part of the Order's lands, such as Kneiphof, later a part of Königsberg. Though the Knights were victorious at the Battle of Chojnice in 1454, they were not able to finance more knights in order to reconquer the castles occupied by the insurgents. Thirteen years of attrition warfare ended in October 1466 with the Second Peace of Thorn, which provided for the Order's cession to the Polish Crown of its rights over the western half of Prussia, including Pomerelia and the districts of Elbing, Marienburg, and Chełmno.
, Poland. Founded in 1274 by the Teutonic Order on the river Nogat, it is the world’s largest brick castle.

Independence protected by the king of Poland

According to the 1454 treaty signed by King Casimir IV, Royal Prussia enjoyed complete autonomy as a dependency of the king: it had its own laws, rights, treasury, money, and armies. It governed itself in council, whose members were chosen from local lords and powerful burghers. Eventually, Royal Prussia was privileged to send one, non-voting observer to the Sejm. Thorn, Elbing, and Danzig were granted additional privileges similar to the status of a Free imperial city.
In many respects, the constitutional status of Royal Prussia was similar to the Bailiwick of Jersey or the Isle of Man, which are ruled by the monarch of the United Kingdom. Royal Prussia, as a vassal state answerable to the King of Poland alone, benefited from its association with the Commonwealth, and owing to its liberties under the Polish monarch, its rulers ranked as the most powerful among palatines of the Commonwealth.
The Bishop of Warmia had claimed Imperial Prince-Bishopric status, as mentioned in the Golden Bull of 1356 by Emperor Charles IV. Although the area was never directly under the Emperor's jurisdiction and the claim seems unsupported by any bestowal document, it was in wide use in the 17th century. The bishopric continued defending this status until the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806.

Integration into the Kingdom of Poland

In 1569, Royal Prussia was integrated fully into the Kingdom of Poland, and its parliament reduced to the status of a provincial assembly, also separate Prussian institutions were dissolved. The former territory was subsequently governed as Pomeranian Voivodeship, :pl:Województwo chełmińskie|Culm Voivodeship, Malbork Voivodeship, and Prince-Bishopric of Warmia

Partitions

At the same time as the 1772 First Partition of Poland, the former lands of Royal Prussia were annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia, the successor state of the Teutonic Order. In 1793, the new Kingdom of Prussia participated in the Second Partition of Poland by temporarily annexing the neighboring regions, which were almost immediately returned to the Tsarist kingdom of Poland and incorporated into the Russian Empire.

Governors

In 1510, after several attempts to install another governor, the office was abolished.