74 PIAST
Hermann von Salza had persuaded Pope Gregory IX, to put Prussia under papal
protection. At the same time he persuaded the Emperor Frederick II to grant all
the Prussian lands to the Order as a future principality, which, without forming
part of the Empire, would enjoy all the rights of the German princes. On both
these scores, he cleverly misrepresented the scope and nature of the agreement
with Konrad of Mazovia, and obtained the sanction of the supreme authorities
of Christendom to open-ended and unconditional claims. Henceforth, he could
declare the Order to be reichszugehorig, that is, 'associated with the Empire'. At
the same time, he need only obey those imperial policies which suited him. In
1235, the Brotherhood of Dobrzyn was absorbed, and in 1237 the Order of the
Brethren of the Sword in distant Livonia. In the conquered lands, new cities
were built and incorporated according to the 'Law of Kulm': Thorn (1231),
Kulm (1232), Marienwerder (1233), Elbing (1237), Braunsberg (1240), Heilsberg
(1240), Konigsberg (1286). New villages were founded, and settled with German
colonists; a system of District administration was established under komturs.
Communications were organized, with roads and castles, and with regular ship-
ping services out of Lubeck for Elbing and Riga. Much of the Order's work
struck contemporaries as highly commendable. But it also aroused a growing
sense of moral outrage. An Order licensed to spread the gospel of charity was
conducting its affairs against a background of blood and coercion. Recurrent
rebellions were suppressed with calculated ferocity. It was not just that the
Knights showed no greater awareness of Christian values than the average, bru-
talized nobility of Europe from which they were recruited. The real objection
lay in the fact that in the name of Christ they systematically manufactured the
violence on which they thrived, and that they continued to plague their Catholic
neighbours long after their original goals were achieved. What was worse, they
were encouraged by all the vested interests of Christendom - by the Papacy, by
the Empire, by the Hansa, by patronizing kings like Ottokar II of Bohemia (after
whom Konigsberg was named), and by a great array of ambitious clerics, mer-
chants, and princes. Modern Poles, whose understanding of Germanity is equiv-
alent to what the rest of the world thinks of as 'Prussian', may be forgiven for
imagining that the Teutonic Order provided the shock troops of a national
German enemy. But this was not so. The Order was the manifestation of some-
thing more universal. Its membership, though predominantly German in com-
plexion, was swelled by professional recruits from all over Europe, and by the
seasonal ranks of crusading package tours. They were the incarnation of the
most un-Christian elements of the Christian world and they enjoyed immense
worldly success.
The Piasts first came into open conflict with the Knights over the seizure of
Gdansk in 1308. In that year, a Pomeranian rebellion had unseated the Polish
rulers. When the rebels invoked the help of Waldemar of Brandenburg, the
Polish magistrate invoked the help of the Order. The assistance was forthcom-
ing. Having first bought the legal rights of the Brandenburgers' doubtful claim
to Gdansk - a transaction subsequently confirmed by the Emperor — the Knights