The Battle for Kneiphof (German: Belagerung des Kneiphofs) was the culmination of the struggle for control over the port district of Königsberg, Kneiphof, lasting from April 13 to July 14, 1455, during the Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466), ending with a decisive victory for the Teutonic Order.
Königsberg actively participated in the anti-Teutonic uprising led by the Prussian Confederation in February 1454, capturing the Teutonic castle and being one of the four cities where the confederates paid homage to Casimir IV Jagiellon, voluntarily joining the Kingdom of Poland. The prolonged Thirteen Years' War and the increasing taxes associated with it resulted in a change in the political orientation of the common people and the pro-Teutonic uprising on 24 March 1455. As a result, the Old Town and Löbenicht districts returned to the control of the Teutonic Order, leaving only the port district of Kneiphof loyal to Casimir IV. Grand Master of the Order, Ludwig von Erlichshausen, directed forces led by the Grand Master Heinrich Reuß von Plauen against it, which, insufficient to carry out a direct assault, began the siege of the fortified district located on a river island on 13 April 1455.
For 14 weeks, the garrison of Kneiphof, led by Mayor Jürgen Langerbein, defended the besieged district. Faced with insufficient assistance from the Prussian Confederation, led by Jan Bażyński, and the defeat of relief efforts by the Teutonic Knights, as well as the reinforcement of the besiegers by troops from Livonia and the Duchy of Żagań, they were forced to surrender on honorable terms on 14 July 1455 after the assault on 7 July 1455.
Due to the strategic position of Königsberg at the mouth of the Pregolya river into the Vistula Lagoon, the Teutonic Order's recapture of control over the city resulted in it once again falling under the authority of the Grand Master of Samland, Lower Prussia, and Masuria, as well as the majority of urban centers in Warmia and Upper Prussia. As a result of the victorious battle, the Order also regained access to the Baltic Sea, the ability to engage in trade with Western Europe, and a foothold for further military operations.
Origins
Situation of Lower Prussia during the Thirteen Years' War
Anti-Teutonic uprising in Lower Prussia in 1454
The success of the anti-Teutonic uprising led by the Prussian Confederation in the Chełmno Land in February 1454 created an atmosphere of decisive rebellion against the authority of Grand Master Ludwig von Erlichshausen throughout the Teutonic state. Following the cities of Pomesania and Pomerania, the majority of the cities in Lower Prussia also declared disobedience to the Grand Master, and the insurgents began capturing Teutonic castles. The Teutonic garrison in the fortress of Kaliningrad repelled several assaults, but after the destruction of four towers and a significant section of the walls, they surrendered the castle to the insurgents led by the mayor of the Old Town (Altstadt) of Kaliningrad, Andreas Brunau.
The fall of Kaliningrad led to the spontaneous defection of Lower Prussia and Samland to the side of the Prussian Confederation: faced with the scale of the rebellion and the helplessness of the besieged Grand Master in Malbork, the Lower Prussian Teutonic Knights, without attempting defense, fled to Malbork or to Germany.
After the Prussian Confederation presented an act of surrender to the crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kaliningrad pledged allegiance to King Casimir IV Jagiellon on 19 June 1454, delivered by Chancellor Jan Taszka Koniecpolski.
Lower Prussia on the sidelines of the main activities of the Thirteen Years' War
The situation of the Teutonic Order was changed by the defeat of King Casimir IV of Poland in the Battle of Chojnice on 18 September 1454. As a result of the battle, the Teutonic army, composed of mercenaries and coming from the west to relieve Malbork, gained open access to the Teutonic state, and the siege of Malbork was lifted. At the same time, the prestigious defeat of Casimir IV was a shock to a significant portion of the towns and gentry of Prussia and Pomerania, who were unconvinced about the new authority. The attitude of the inhabitants of Prussia was also influenced by the undermining of the act of incorporation among the countries of Europe as a result of the Teutonic Order's victory at Chojnice. Exploiting their wavering, the Teutonic Knights recaptured key positions along the Vistula waterway in 1454 – Sztum, Gniew, and Tczew – threatening to blockade Prussian trade and cut off Gdańsk from Polish support, although Gdańsk itself managed to repel the Teutonic attack on the city.
In October 1454, Grand Master von Erlichshausen reached an agreement with the mercenaries to defer the payment of their wages, allowing the Teutonic Order to continue its military operations. The recapture of control over the northern part of the Chełmno Land, Pomesania, and parts of Upper Prussia, as well as the occupation of the local fortresses, resulted in the Teutonic Knights creating a barrier securing Malbork and the Vistula Fens from the south. Based on this barrier, the Order repelled a Polish offensive on Malbork in January 1455, launched by the forces of the Lesser Poland pospolite ruszenie.
The retreat of the Polish forces enabled the Grand Master to resume a series of offensive actions: in February 1455, the Teutonic Knights occupied Działdowo, cutting off Prussia from Mazovia, and conducted a raid in the Chełmno Land. Subsequent towns and fortresses, fearing Teutonic reprisals for the previous anti-Teutonic uprising or due to the increase in pro-Teutonic sympathies among the inhabitants, once again switched sides to the Order, while only those fortresses in Pomerania that received sufficient military support remained faithful to the king and the Prussian Confederation. In order to provide this support, the mercenaries still in the king's service were divided into small units and directed to individual fortresses.
As a result of these actions, the Teutonic attempts to recapture Toruń and Chełmno ended in failure, but repelling the Grand Master's expedition and suppressing pro-Teutonic conspiracies required the deployment of all available Polish forces, which were lacking in other regions. With the increasing Teutonic threat, it also became increasingly difficult to maintain contact between Toruń and Poland with Gdańsk and Lower Prussia, as Teutonic mercenaries from Gdańsk and Tczew began attacking the confederate navigation on the Vistula and constructing fortifications to block the waterway in February 1455. Consequently, the continuation of vigorous defensive actions by the Polish side to maintain possession and unlock the waterway along the Vistula required the acquisition of new financial resources.
Anti-Prussian revolt in Kaliningrad in 1455
Faced with effective attacks by Teutonic garrisons from the fortresses in Gniew and Tczew on unarmed merchant ships sailing on the Vistula to Gdańsk in early 1455, the Prussian Confederation decided to organize a convoy system on the most threatened section from Grudziądz to Gdańsk and hire armed escorts to maintain trade on the Vistula waterway. This decision received support from the merchants who were its direct beneficiaries, but craftsmen from the Pomeranian and Lower Prussian cities opposed the necessity of bearing new costs.
The imposition of new taxes occurred at the assembly of estates in Elbląg in February 1455. Opposition from the commoners against the decisions led to an open revolt on 24 March 1455, in two out of three districts of Kaliningrad: the commoners overthrew the council of the Old Town district and seized the arsenal and city gates. After gaining support from the small Löbenicht district, the bridges connecting both districts with the port district of Kneiphof were destroyed, leading to armed clashes between factions. Mayor Brunau fled to Elbląg.
The new authorities of the Old Town and Löbenicht expressed to Grand Master von Erlichshausen their readiness to enter into negotiations regarding the return to the rule of the Order. At the same time, the residents of Kneiphof, led by Mayor Jürgen Langerbein, called on the Governor of Prussia, Jan Bażyński, to provide assistance to the Lower Prussian cities still loyal to the Prussian Confederation and warned of the possibility of a Teutonic attack on the province.
Tribute to the Old Town and Löbenicht
At the turn of March and April 1455, the authorities of the Old Town and Kneiphof were inclined to resist the social radicalization of the uprising of the common people and to end the clashes between factions, with their common goal being to achieve favorable privileges for Kaliningrad. Temporary communication between the districts was restored, but a new uprising of the craftsmen of the Old Town prevented any agreement.
The news of the anti-Prussian uprising in Kaliningrad prompted Grand Master von Erlichshausen to act quickly: on 7 April 1455, Teutonic forces, numbering 2000 men and led by Commander von Plauen, set out from Malbork towards Upper Prussia, plundering the New Town of Braniewo and forcing it to swear allegiance to Ushakovo.
Upon receiving news of the Teutonic raid, the Old Town broke off its agreements with the Confederation, and the Prussian estates adopted a wait-and-see attitude. The Teutonic authorities guaranteed the residents of Kaliningrad that their city and properties would not be subject to pledges for the debts of the Teutonic mercenaries, and that additional taxes imposed by the Prussian Confederation would be lifted. On these terms, the Old Town and Löbenicht swore allegiance to the Teutonic Order on 16 April 1455. The authority of the Order was also recognized by Bishop Nicholas of Samland, and Commander von Plauen occupied the fortresses of Primorsk and Löchstadt on the northern shore of the Vistula Lagoon, which lay within Samland.
Plans of both sides
Situation of the Teutonic Order
The anti-Prussian uprising in Kaliningrad coincided with the Teutonic decision to accelerate military actions, related to the approaching end of the mercenaries' payment period. The weakness of the Teutonic successes, which followed the Battle of Chojnice, was the failure to regain control over any of the major cities of the Prussian state, and thus the failure to regain independent financial capacity for the war. At the same time, the conflict between the Teutonic authorities and the rittmasters – commanders of the mercenary units – was escalating. The mercenaries gathered around Malbork caused significant supply problems for the Teutonic capital, but their commanders were unwilling to move away from the fortress, where they had the right of pledge. As a result, von Plauen's forces near Kaliningrad were sufficient to support pro-Teutonic forces in the Old Town and Löbenicht, but did not allow for the quick capture of Kneiphof.
When Grand Master von Erlichshausen once again failed to meet the deadline for paying the mercenaries on 23 April 1455, on May 2, a mutiny of mercenaries led by the Czech Ulryk Czerwonka in the Teutonic fortresses resulted in the takeover of Malbork, Tczew, and Iława. Grand Master von Erlichshausen, deprived of control over the capital and income from the castle lands, could not support the Teutonic forces besieging Kneiphof. At the same time, the commander of the siege, Grand Master von Plauen, was forced to allocate the collected taxes from Lower Prussia to pay his soldiers, thus exacerbating the critical situation of the Grand Master.
Situation of the Prussian Confederation
The situation in Kaliningrad required vigorous action from the Polish side, however, in the changing conditions, the mercenary garrisons in the fortresses presented excessive demands and began requisitions among the burghers and peasants, resulting in unrest and desertions. Unpaid mercenaries from Nowe and Starogard refused to fight and concluded a truce with the Teutonic Order on 7 April 1455. The garrisons of the fortresses in the Chełmno Land disregarded the orders of Governor Bażyński.
The leadership of the Prussian Confederation realized the enormous importance of Kneiphof for the further course of the war and appealed to King Casimir IV for relief, but Polish and Prussian commanders were not consistent and lacked sufficient capabilities, and the pospolite ruszenie proved undisciplined and outdated in the mid-15th century. The promised monetary subsidies from the clergy for hiring professional troops could not quickly change the situation. After the death of the main opponent of the war, Zbigniew Oleśnicki, on 1 April 1455, the Kingdom of Poland was determined to continue its actions with the aim of total annexation of Prussia, but the enactment and collection of taxes required time. Agreements were only reached with the mercenaries regarding the installment payment of their wages.
Strength of both sides
The anti-Teutonic uprising in 1454 deprived the Grand Master of the possibility to mobilize armed castle contingents and the feudal pospolite ruszenie, forcing reliance on foot and cavalry mercenary units from Germany and Bohemia. The Thirteen Years' War began in a period following military changes in the late Middle Ages and the decline of the importance of cavalry knights, with infantry armed with firearms and battle wagons becoming significant competitors. Precursors of this tactic were the Taborites, who migrated from Bohemia after the Hussite Wars. The battle formation of the Taborites enabled cooperation between cavalry and infantry and effective use of field artillery placed on wagons.
The forces of the Prussian Confederation were based on city contingents intended for defense of big cities, numbering around 750 soldiers, as well as on the pospolite ruszenie of freemen and Schultheiß, grouped into district banners.