PRUSSIAN LANDS THROUGHOUT THE AGES − TERRITORIAL AND POLITICAL CHANGES

Abstract: Warmia and Mazury is a compound region, which today constitutes a homogenous administrative unit: Warmińsko-Mazurskie Voivodship. Nowadays it is situated in the north-eastern part of Poland, but in the past it spread from the Lower Vistula to Niemen. In the prehistoric times the region was inhabited by Bałt tribes, and later on Prussian tribes. In XIII century Prussian tribes were conquered by the Teutonic Order, which formed the most powerful religious state in contemporary Europe here. There was constant struggle between the Polish and the Order over the Prussian lands until 1466, when created Royal Prussia (Gdansk Pomerania, Chełmno and Michałów Land, Warmia bishopric, Toruń, Elbląg and Malbork). The Grand Master moved the capital to Królewiec (Koenigsberg), and his lands were hence called Order (Teuton) Prussia. Next, in XVI c. Grand Master of the Order Albrecht Hohenzollern converted to Lutheranism, secularized the Order and converted it into a secular duchy. He made his homage in Kraków to the Polish king and Princely Prussia became a Polish fief. In 1657 Princel