Hello and welcome to the History of the Germans, Episode 137, The Conversion.

Now this week we'll talk about the end of the rule of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia.

Instead of a land controlled by Chevalrigoda answering the Pope, Prussia became a secular

state, ruled by a Protestant prince and run by a newly created class of landowners, the famous

Prussian Juncker's, whose impact on German history stretched well into the 20th century.

But the conversion of the last Grandmaster in his submission to the Polish crown wasn't

the end of the order.

In fact, the order still exists to this day, though in a fundamentally different form, which

is another fascinating history we'll explore in this episode.

But before we start, a big thank you to our supporters who've signed up on patreon.com

slash History of the Germans or have made a generous one-time donation at Historyof the

Germans.com slash support.

And this week I want to acknowledge James H.S., Oliver K., Cole P., Fleuritz, and Dominique, who've already signed up.

Last week, we left the scene in 1466 when Grandmaster Ludwig von Erichausen

signed the second piece of Torn, bringing an end to devastating 13 years of war.

At the end of the conflict, Prussia was divided into

two parts. Royal Prussia that comprised the old Polish duchy of Pomerilia and Western Prussia,

and then the Orders state of East Prussia with its capital at Koenigsberg, modern-day Kaliningrad.

Royal Prussia, as the name indicates, was ruled by the King of Poland,

whilst East Prussia was all that was left of the Order's territory in Prussia.

Eastern Prussia was by far the poorer part.

The great centres of Gdansk, Elblag and Turun were lost to the order,

...