The Eidechsenbund 1397
The Eidechsenbund — the “Lizard League” — was an alliance of the Prussian gentry formed at Christburg on 21 March 1397 in protest against the Order’s commercial and judicial policies. The alliance, whose members sealed the document with the heraldic emblem of a lizard, prefigured the Prussian Confederation of 1440 and is one of the most revealing episodes in the long history of the Teutonic state’s relations with its subjects.
The Background of the League
The Prussian gentry — a class of landed nobles of mixed Prussian, German and Polish origin — had, by the late fourteenth century, grown increasingly restive under the Order’s authority. The gentry objected to the Order’s policy of restricting the gentry’s political and economic rights, and the gentry objected to the Order’s attempts to extend its regalian rights at the gentry’s expense.
The gentry’s most substantial grievance was the Order’s policy of staffing the local Komtureien with knight-brothers and of appointing the Order’s officials to the local courts. The gentry argued that the Order’s policy of excluding the gentry from the local administration was a violation of the gentry’s rights. The gentry’s second most substantial grievance was the Order’s policy of imposing new taxes and customs duties, particularly the Pfundzoll — the transit duty on the Vistula trade.
The Negotiations
The negotiations were a long and difficult process. The negotiations were conducted, on the gentry’s side, by a delegation of the most prominent Prussian gentry, and, on the Order’s side, by Grand Master Konrad von Jungingen and the Order’s senior officers. The negotiations were facilitated by the Polish king Władysław II Jagiełło, who was interested in extending the Polish crown’s influence over the Prussian gentry.
The gentry’s principal demands were a moderate set of demands. The gentry demanded the right to participate in the local administration, the right to be subject to the local courts, the right to be exempt from the new taxes and the new customs duties, and the right to be represented in the Order’s chapter general. The gentry’s demands were similar to the demands that the Prussian Confederation would later make in 1440.
The Order, for its part, was interested in defusing the gentry’s grievances. The Order was, in the late fourteenth century, engaged in a major military campaign against the Lithuanian grand dukes, and the Order was unwilling to wage a second campaign against the Prussian gentry. The Order was also interested in securing the Polish crown’s support for the Order’s Lithuanian campaign, and the Order was prepared to make concessions to the Polish crown.
The Terms of the League
The league was concluded at Christburg on 21 March 1397, in the presence of the Polish king Władysław II Jagiełło and the Grand Master Konrad von Jungingen. The gentry was granted the right to participate in the local administration, the right to be subject to the local courts rather than to the Order’s courts, and the right to be exempt from the new taxes and the new customs duties. The league was guaranteed by the Polish crown, which undertook to defend the gentry’s rights against any violation by the Order.
The league was a substantial concession by the Order. The gentry’s right to participate in the local administration was a substantial concession, and the gentry’s right to be subject to the local courts was a substantial limitation on the Order’s regalian rights. The Polish crown’s guarantee was a substantial intrusion into the Order’s sovereignty.
The Significance of the League
The Eidechsenbund was an important precedent for the later formation of the Prussian Confederation. The league was a formal recognition of the gentry’s right to organise, and the league was a formal recognition of the gentry’s right to negotiate with the Order as a collective body. The league was, in addition, an important precedent for the Polish crown’s intervention in Prussian affairs. The Polish crown’s guarantee of the league was an important precedent for the Polish crown’s later intervention in the Thirteen Years’ War.
The league was, however, also a substantial limitation on the Order’s sovereignty. The Order’s acceptance of the league was a substantial departure from the Order’s traditional policy, and the Order’s acceptance of the league was a substantial concession to the gentry and to the Polish crown.
The Aftermath
The aftermath of the league was a long and difficult process. The league was, in 1397, signed by only a faction of the Prussian gentry, and the league was opposed by another faction of the Prussian gentry, which argued that the league was a violation of the gentry’s traditional rights. The league was, in addition, opposed by the principal Prussian towns — Danzig, Thorn, Elbing, Königsberg — which objected to the gentry’s political aspirations.
The league was, by 1404, effectively suspended, and the league was replaced by a new agreement between the Order and the gentry. The new agreement was less favourable to the gentry than the league, and the new agreement was a substantial reversal of the concessions that the Order had made in 1397.
Sources
- Biskup, Marian. Wojna Polski i Litwy z Zakonem Krzyżackim w latach 1409-1411. Olsztyn: Wyższa Szkoła Pedagogiczna, 1969.
- Boockmann, Hartmut. Der Deutsche Orden: Zwölf Kapitel aus seiner Geschichte. Munich: Beck, 1981.
- Kuczyński, Stefan Maria. Wielka Wojna z Zakonem Krzyżackim w latach 1409–1411. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1980.
Related Reading
For the broader context of the Prussian gentry’s relations with the Order, see the main article on the Thirteen Years’ War. The peace that ended the war is examined in the article on the Second Peace of Thorn. For the context of the Order’s economy and the Pfundzoll, see the main article on the economy of the state. For the consequences of the league, see the decline and dissolution of the Order and the article on the secularisation of 1525.