Publication details
Päpstliche und kaiserliche Privilegien im Spannungsfeld der drohenden Deligitimierung der Ordensherrschaft in Preußen
| Title in English | Papal and imperial privileges around conflict concerning the threatening delegitimization of the Order's power in Prussia |
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| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2022 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | During the most intense period of the conflict between the Order of the Teutonic Knights and the Polish-Lithuanian Union, i.e. between 1386 and 1422, the privileges granted to the Order by the Pope and the Emperor, respectively the Kings of the Romans, since the Order was founded came to the centre of the dispute. In my presentation I will pursue some key aspects in respect to what significance possessed the privileges in the intricate dynamics and course of the dispute. How did the members of the Order themself perceive the privileges? Was the legitimacy of its existence and power derived directly from them? This question is in a way related to the historiographical concept of the so-called “Ordensstaat,” but also to the dual role of the Grand Master, who was both the head of the religious corporation and the supreme government in Prussia. Certain significance of the privileges for the members of the Order is obviously shown by the numerous preserved cartularies containing transcriptions of them. On the other hand, the privileges were not the only source of the identity and legitimacy of the Order. The privileges issued for the Order seemed to be undisputable. Polish scholars and jurists (Andrzej Łaskarzyc, Paulus Wladimiri), who had initiated special legal polemic, tried to prove the opposite. I will present not only their arguments against the privileges, as well as the response of the Order to it. Since the polemic was only part of the multi-layered dispute, it must be embedded into the broader historical context trying to determine why it was conducted right this way. Finally, I will try to conclude whether the ideological and legal dispute could threaten the power of the Order in Prussia or not, comparing with other parallel crisis phenomena that the Order's power had to face at that time. |
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