Schuldenverwaltung und Tilgung der Forderungen der Söldner des Deutschen Ordens in Preußen nach dem Zweiten Thorner Frieden. Ordensfoliant 259 und 261, Zusatzmaterial

This illuminating and thoroughly researched volume presents two remarkable administrative codices produced in the later 1400s and early 1500s by the rulers of the Teutonic Order in Prussia to manage their extensive debts in the aftermath of the so-called ‘Thirteen Years’ War’ (1454–66). This destructive civil war pitted the grandmaster of the Teutonic Order and his allies against the Prussian Confederation, a mixed association of Prussian nobility, clergy and cities, allied to the kingdom of Poland, with disastrous results for the former. As well as losing the western and richer half of Prussia to Poland, including their administrative seat and key fortress of Marienburg (now Malbork in Poland), the Teutonic Order had to swear allegiance to the Polish Crown and pay a significant war indemnity of 15,000 Hungarian Gulden. Just as importantly, the thousands of mercenaries employed by the grandmaster to prosecute the war needed remuneration, a cost that had...

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