Duchy of Prussia

The Duchy of Prussia was a hereditary duchy created in 1525 when the Teutonic Order’s Prussian lands were secularized under its last Grand Master, Albert of Brandenburg-Ansbach.

Teutonic Order: A Catholic military order founded in the late twelfth century to aid Christians in the Holy Land. Its Prussian branch ruled the lands secularized to form the duchy.
Feudalism: A system of political and landholding relationships organized around obligations between lords and vassals. Prussia’s duke held the territory as a fief of the Polish Crown.
Kingdom of Prussia: A European kingdom established in 1701 under the Hohenzollern dynasty. The elector of Brandenburg assumed kingship in Prussia, elevating the duchy’s title and status.
Livonian Order: A Catholic military order that ruled territories in present-day Estonia and Latvia before its dissolution in 1561. Its lands were also reorganized during the Reformation, but not into Albert’s hereditary duchy.
Albert of Brandenburg-Ansbach: The last Grand Master of the Teutonic Order and first duke of Prussia. He converted the order’s Prussian territory into a hereditary duchy in 1525.
Duchy of Prussia–Brandenburg personal union: The dynastic union, beginning in 1618, under which the Hohenzollern ruler governed Prussia and Brandenburg. One ruler joined the duchy to Brandenburg without initially merging their separate legal territories.
Brandenburg-Prussia: The composite Hohenzollern state formed from Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia in the seventeenth century. The duchy became one part of this growing dynastic state.
Duchy of Courland and Semigallia: A Baltic duchy created in 1561 from territories formerly ruled by the Livonian Order. It was another secular successor to a crusading order, established under different political conditions.
Treaty of Kraków: The 1525 agreement that formalized the end of the Teutonic Order’s rule in Prussia and Albert’s investiture as duke. It established the duchy’s legal relationship with the Polish Crown.
Treaty of Wehlau: The 1657 treaty by which Poland renounced its feudal overlordship over the Duchy of Prussia. It removed the Polish Crown’s feudal authority over the duchy.

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