History of Friedrich II of Prussia, vol 3 | Page 9

they were German mostly by

blood, and by culture were wholly German; but preferred Poland to a
Teutsch Ritterdom of that nature. Nothing but brabblings, scufflings,
objurgations; a great outbreak ripening itself. Teutsch Ritterdom has to
hire soldiers; no money to pay them. It was in these sad years that the
Teutsch Ritterdom, fallen moneyless, offered to pledge the Neumark to
our Kurfurst; 1444, that operation was consummated. [Pauli, ii.
187,--does not name the sum.] All this goes on, in hotter and hotter
form, for ten years longer.
"PERIOD THIRD begins, early in 1454, with an important special
catastrophe; and ends, in the Thirteenth year after, with a still more
important universal one of the same nature. Prussian BUND, or
Anti-Oppression Covenant of the Towns and Landed Gentry, rising in
temperature for fourteen years at this rate, reached at last the igniting
point, and burst into fire. February 4th, 1454, the Town of Thorn,
darling first-child of Teutsch Ritterdom,--child 223 years old at this
time, ["Founded 1231, as a wooden Burg, just across the river, on the
Heathen side, mainly round the stem of an immense old Oak that grew
handy there,--Seven Barges always on the river (Weichsel), to fly to
our own side if quite overwhelmed" Oak and Seven Barges
is still the Town's- Arms of Thorn. See Kohler,
Munzbelustigungen, xxii. 107; quoting Dusburg (a Priest
of the Order) and his old Chronica Terrae Prusciae, italic> written in 1326.] and grown very big, and now very
angry,--suddenly took its old parent by the throat, so to speak, and
hurled him out to the dogs; to the extraneous Polacks first of all. Town
of Thorn, namely, sent that day its 'Letter of Renunciation' to the
Hochmeister over at Marienburg; seized in a day or two more the
Hochmeister's Official Envoys, Dignitaries of the Order; led them
through the streets, amid universal storm of execrations, hootings and
unclean projectiles, straight, to jail; and besieged the Hochmeister's
Burg (BASTILLE of Thorn, with a few Ritters in it), all the artillery
and all the throats and hearts of the place raging deliriously upon it. So
that the poor Bitters, who had no chance in resisting, were in few days
obliged to surrender; [8th February, 1454, says Voigt (viii. 361); 16th,
says Kohler (Munzbelustigungen, xxii. 110).] had
to come out in bare jerkin; and Thorn ignominiously dismissed them

into space forevermore,--with actual 'kicks,' I have read in some Books,
though others veil that sad feature. Thorn threw out its old parent in this
manner; swore fealty to the King of Poland; and invited other Towns
and Knightages to follow the example. To which all were willing,
wherever able.
"War hereupon, which blazed up over Preussen at large,--Prussian
Covenant and King of Poland VERSUS Teutsch Ritterdom,--and lasted
into the thirteenth year, before it could go out again; out by lack of fuel
mainly. One of the fellest wars on record, especially for burning and
ruining; above '300,000 fighting-men' are calculated to have perished in
it; and of towns, villages, farmsteads, a cipher which makes the fancy,
as it were, black and ashy altogether. Ritterdom showed no lack of
fighting energy; but that could not save it, in the pass things were got to.
Enormous lack of wisdom, of reality and human veracity, there had
long been; and the hour was now come. Finance went out, to the last
coin. Large mercenary armies all along; and in the end not the color of
money to pay them with; mercenaries became desperate; 'besieged the
Hochmeister and his Ritters in Marienburg;'--finally sold the Country
they held; formally made it over to the King of Poland, to get their pay
out of it. Hochmeister had to see such things, and say little. Peace, or
extinction for want of fuel, came in the year 1466. Poland got to itself
the whole of that fine German Country, henceforth called 'WEST
Preussen' to distinguish it, which goes from the left bank of the
Weichsel to the borders of Brandenburg and Neumark;--would have got
Neumark too, had not Kurfurst Friedrich been there to save it. The
Teutsch Order had to go across the Weichsel, ignominiously driven; to
content itself with 'EAST Preussen,' the Konigsberg-Memel country,
and even to do homage to Poland for that. Which latter was the bitterest
clause of all: but it could not be helped, more than the others. In this
manner did its revolted children fling out Teutsch Ritterdom
ignominiously to the dogs, to the Polacks, first of all,--Thorn, the eldest
child, leading off or setting the example."
And so the Teutsch Ritters are sunk beyond retrieval; and West
Preussen, called subsequently "Royal Preussen," NOT having homage
to pay as the "Ducal" or East Preussen had, is German no longer,