At the origins of the Territorial Organisation of Teutonic Prussia –
The Division of Prussian Lands between the Bishop of Prussia and the Teutonic
Order in a Treaty of 1232.
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Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
Online publication date: 2018-01-03
Publication date: 2018-01-04
KMW 2017;298(4):547-567
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ABSTRACT
In this article, the author attempts to establish the circumstances and meanings of the texts of the 1240s
and 1250s, concerning the division of the Prussian lands, which the Bishop of Prussia along with the Teutonic
Order had signed with the papal legate William of Modena. This agreement sub-divided the Prussian lands with
a ratio of 2:1 in favour of the Order and according to the author’s findings came to fruition in 1232, during the
forgotten Prussian mission of Wilhelm of Modena in autumn of this year. It was accompanied by a second agreement, in which, in exchange for the Bishop’s acceptance of the unfavourable division of Prussia, it was agreed to
increase his property rights in the Kulmerland. This arrangement was the first agreement between Christian and
the Teutonic Order to divide all the Prussian lands, for granting Christian of Rubenicht from the start of 1231,
under which the Bishop gave the Teutonic Order a third of their Prussian lands, encompassed only the lands
acquired by the Bishop, to come into his possession by voluntary means from the converts of Prussia and not on
Prussian lands which were to become the targets of conquest. The partitioning of autumn 1232 proved to have
far-reaching consequences in the history of the Teutonic Order State in Prussia, for it became a model for regulating the division of the Prussian territories between the bishops and the Order made by William of Modena in
the Act of 28th July 1243.