The Thirteen Years' War (German: Dreizehnjähriger Krieg; Polish: wojna trzynastoletnia), also called the War of the Cities, was a conflict fought in 1454–1466 between the Prussian Confederation, allied with the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, and the State of the Teutonic Order.
After the defeat suffered by the Teutonic Order at the Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg) in 1410 and the ensuing political, military and economic problems, the state was rife with internal conflict between the ruling Order and the local Prussian nobility. Eventually, this tension led to an uprising by the Prussian Confederation representing the Prussian nobility and cities, who sought the protection of the Polish King Casimir IV Jagiellon. Once the King granted his assent, war broke out between the Prussian Confederation, supported by Poland, and the proponents of Teutonic Knight rule.
The Thirteen Years' War ended in the victory of the Prussian Confederation and Poland and in the Second Peace of Thorn. The Teutonic Order became a Polish fief and its Grand Masters had to commit to homage to the Polish King within 6 months of acquiring power. This was honored for approximately the next two centuries with tensions rising seldomly during this period. The Teutonic Order also returned Pomerelia to Poland after nearly 150 years and ceded the Prince-Bishopric of Warmia, which together formed Royal Prussia, as both lands fell under direct rule of the Polish King. Tension quickly flared up afterward, and this was soon followed by the War of the Priests (1467–1479), a drawn-out dispute over the independence of Warmia, in which the Knights sought revision of the Peace.
Background
Reasons for war
A dispute between Poland and the Teutonic Order over control of Eastern Pomerania had lasted since the 1308 Teutonic takeover of Danzig (Gdańsk), when the territory was contested and annexed by the Teutonic Order. This event resulted in a series of Polish–Teutonic Wars throughout the 14th and 15th centuries. In the 15th century, the towns of Prussia rapidly grew economically. However, this was not followed by an increase in their political influence. The rule of the Teutonic Knights was seen as more and more anachronistic – taxes (customs) and the system of grain licenses (every trader had to pay large fees for the privilege of trading grain) were hindering economic development in the province. At the same time the nobility wanted a larger say in the running of the country and were looking enviously at neighbouring Poland, where the Polish nobility enjoyed wider privileges. The Knights were also accused of violating the few existing privileges of the nobility and the cities. Craftsmen were discontented because of competition from so-called partacze, or artisans settled by the Knights near their castles. Kashubians, Poles, Germans, and Prussians were slowly melting into one nation, and as national differences disappeared, the common goals of all the ethnic and social groups of Prussia became more prominent, and the Prussian estates leaned increasingly towards Poland.
In 1397 Prussian knights had founded a secret organisation called the Eidechsenbund (English translation: Lizard Union), more or less against the Teutonic Knights, but that organization had failed as it was not supported by the urban population. After the victory by the Polish and Lithuanian forces at Grunwald during the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War (1409–1411), the Prussian estates eagerly pledged allegiance to King Władysław II Jagiełło (Jogaila) of Poland. But they quickly returned to the order's rule after the Poles were unable to conquer Marienburg (Malbork). A clause in the peace treaty stated that it was guaranteed by the Prussian states, which would gain the right to defy the Teutonic Order if it broke the treaty. In the succeeding wars the Prussian estates opposed any conflict, and pushed the Grand Masters of the Teutonic Knights to make peace.
On 21 February 1440, a group made up of individuals from the Prussian cities, nobility, and clergy, formed the Prussian Confederation. The main contributors were from the nobility of Culmerland (Chełmno Land), Thorn, Culm (Chełmno), and from the Hanseatic cities of Elbing (Elbląg) and Danzig. Grand Master Paul von Rusdorf was seen to approve the existence of the confederacy, but his successor, Konrad von Erlichshausen, opposed it. His non-compromising policy was followed and intensified by Ludwig von Erlichshausen who took that office in 1449 or 1450.
1452–1454 negotiations
In 1452, the Prussian Confederation asked Emperor Frederick III for mediation in their conflict with the Teutonic Order. Disagreeing with the confederacy, Frederick banned it and ordered it to obey the Teutonic Order on 5 December 1453.
Faced with that situation the Prussians sent envoys to Poland – although the Prussian Confederation, under the influence of Thorn and the Pomeranian and Culmerland nobility, had already sought contact with the Poles. They received support, especially from Greater Poland and from the party of Queen Sophia of Halshany, mother of King Casimir IV Jagiellon of Poland. The Bishop of Kraków, Zbigniew Oleśnicki, opposed this support and tried to prevent war.
In January 1454, the year that Casimir IV was married to Elisabeth of Austria, the Prussian faction asked Casimir IV for protection by the Kingdom of Poland. Casimir asked the Prussian Confederation for a more formal petition. On 4 February 1454, the Secret Council of the Prussian Confederation sent a formal act of disobedience to the Grand Master. Two days later the confederacy started its rebellion and soon almost all Prussia, except for Marienburg, Stuhm (Sztum), and Konitz (Chojnice), were free from Teutonic rule. Most of the captured Ordensburg castles were immediately destroyed. Seen from within Prussia, the conflict was essentially a civil war.
On 10 February 1454, the confederacy sent an official delegation to Poland, headed by Johannes von Baysen. By 20 February, the delegates were in Kraków and asked Casimir to bring Prussia into the Polish kingdom. After negotiating the exact conditions of incorporation, the king agreed and delegates of the Prussian Confederation pledged allegiance to Casimir on 6 March 1454.
Poland sent the Grand Master a declaration of war, predated to 22 February. Both sides expected the war to end quickly.
International situation
In 1454 Poland was in conflict with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which meant that although Casimir IV was Grand Duke of Lithuania as well as King of Poland, Lithuania sent no aid during the war to Poland and, aside from a few ineffective raids, did not participate during the conflict. There was also the threat of attack by the Grand Duchy of Moscow.
Elsewhere, the international situation was quite good for Poland, as no outside states were likely to intervene. The southern border of Poland was more or less secure because of the weakness of the Bohemian lands, which resulted from the Hussite Wars. Although the Hanseatic League sympathized with the Prussian cities, the league backed the Teutonic Knights because the order granted them extra privileges. The Livonian Order had problems with Denmark and was unable to help the Teutonic Knights in Prussia. Because of conflict between Sweden and Denmark, both sides stayed more or less neutral in the upcoming conflict.
France and England were too weakened after the Hundred Years' War, and England was also embroiled in civil war, the Wars of the Roses. The Duke of Burgundy, Flanders, and the Netherlands, Philip the Good, was more interested in creating an independent Kingdom of Burgundy. Pope Nicholas V's primary concern was dealing with the Ottoman Turks.
Forces of belligerents
The main part of the Polish army of that period was conscripted. All noblemen, when called by the king, had to appear accompanied by their village-mayors and village-administrators. Cities gave wagons with horses, food, and service to them (including escorts). Units were divided into choragwie (standards) of two kinds: family, which were made by very large clans, and land which were from nobles from particular territory. Peasants also participated as infantrymen. The highest command belonged to the king. The total army could amount to 30,000 cavalry.
From the beginning of the 15th century, the Polish Crown started to hire mercenaries, who usually fought under the flag of St. George (especially Bohemian (Czech) mercenaries). The flag was either a red cross on white, or a white cross on red; the latter was used only when two Bohemian units met on opposite sides of a battlefield and had to be differentiated. The concept of tabor, learned from the Bohemians, was an important tactic.
The Poles had artillery, at first primitive cannons such as bombards. Pistols, or handguns, were used but were ineffective. More important were crossbows, which, when properly used, could cause large losses.
The army of the Prussian estates consisted of conscripts and small units provided by cities (around 750 people per unit). In total they could provide about 16,000 soldiers, plus a few thousand armed peasant infantry. They also had more artillery than the Polish army.
The Prussian cities were also able to raise a sizable navy, partially from armed trade ships, partially from hired privateers from other cities.
The Teutonic Order in 1454 lost most of its arsenals, but later it was able to raise armies from loyal knights (free Prussians) and peasants. However, most of its forces were hired mercenaries, mainly from Germany and Bohemia.
Overview
First phase
The first land operations from February to August 1454 were carried out by Prussian state conscripts, supported by Czech mercenaries from Moravia and soldiers from Lesser Poland. This force, commanded by Scibor von Baysen (Polish: Scibor Bażyński), brother of Johannes von Baysen, tried to besiege the Grand Master Ludwig von Erlichshausen in the city and castle of Marienburg, but without much success due to the professional command of Heinrich Reuß von Plauen the Elder, Komtur of Elbing.
In the meantime there was some organised support for the Teutonic Order from the German principalities, mainly in Saxony. The reinforcements entered Prussia in the second half of March 1454, from the direction of the Neumark. They were able to take the highly important strategic city of Konitz, which was situated on the important route from Poland to the mouth of the Vistula. Johannes von Baysen moved conscript and mercenary forces there, and they were soon followed by Mikołaj Szarlejski of the Clan of Ostoja, who was the representative of the Polish kingdom and received the title of "Supreme Commander of Forces in Prussia".
In 1454 and 1455, the Teutonic Knights first pawned, then sold the Neumark back to the Margraviate of Brandenburg in the Treaties of Cölln and Mewe.
At the end of April 1454, the Prussian army started the siege of Konitz; the defence of the city was commanded by Heinrich Reuß von Plauen from Greitz. However, Szarlejski lacked any significant commanding skill, his army had not enough artillery, and the Prussian estates were unable to pay their mercenaries, so Konitz was not seriously endangered.
After the arrival of Casimir IV, when he received the official oath of allegiance from his new subjects in Elbing and Thorn, he directed to Konitz a pospolite ruszenie (levée en masse) of Polish nobles from Kuyavia, which replaced the unpaid mercenaries. Cavalry forces such as the nobles, however, were ill-suited to the taking of castles, so the situation in Konitz did not change. The king also sent his own units and a levée en masse to lay siege to Marienburg, but Polish forces were unable to take the castle even with Prussian reinforcements, which were relocated to Malbork after taking Stuhm on 8 August 1454. The Teutonic Knights defended themselves skillfully and were able to defeat forces from Danzig in a sudden attack on 13 September 1454.
The degrading situation of the Polish crown worsened further when in September 1454 a large army of mercenaries under the command of Rudolf, prince of Sagan (Żagań), and a Moravian nobleman, the talented soldier Bernhard von Zinnenberg (Polish: Bernard Szumborski) arrived in Prussia from the Holy Roman Empire. The army had 9,000 cavalry and 6,000 infantry, plus artillery and many wagons in tabor formations.
Rudolf's army slowly moved to Konitz to rescue it from the Polish siege. It forced Casimir to call a levée en masse of Greater Poland, without the traditional approval of the provincial sejmik. Noblemen, angered by the disruption of the harvest and the unconventional form of the call, massed near the village of Duża Cerkwica (Cerekwica, Groß Zirkwitz) and demanded from the king several privileges, which were granted in the privilege of Cerekwica on 14 September 1454.
Casimir divided his forces into seven large units and the army marched to Konitz, where it was joined by Prussians. On 18 September 1454 the Teutonic Knights defeated the Polish army in the resulting Battle of Konitz.
The defeat was a near disaster. The Polish army quickly withdrew from Marienburg, and Stuhm was recovered by the Teutonic Order. They were also able to take other large towns, such as Mewe (Gniew) and Dirschau (Tczew). Impressed by the crusaders' victory, some Prussian lands also capitulated. This was a great victory for the Teutonic Knights, although they lacked enough money to pay the victorious mercenaries. On October 9, the Grand Master promised them that if he could not pay them by 19 February 1455, they would receive all cities, castles, and lands of Prussia, with the rights to sell them.