Prussian Homage

Timeline

1. 1525Kraków · PolandAfter the 1519–1521 Polish–Teutonic War ceasefire, Grand Master Albrecht accepted Martin Luther's advice, abandoned the Order's rule, converted to Lutheranism, and established a hereditary duchy. On 8 April he signed the Treaty of Kraków with his uncle Sigismund I, ending the war and providing for the secularization of the Order's state as a hereditary fief of the Polish Crown.
2. 1525Kraków market square · Lesser PolandTwo days later, Albrecht knelt before Sigismund I in the Kraków market square, swore fealty, resigned as Grand Master, and was invested as 'Duke of Prussia'. The king presented him with a black eagle banner bearing the letter S (Sigismundus) and a neck crown as a symbol of vassalage. The public ceremony confirmed the end of the Order's rule in Prussia.
3. 1525Königsberg · PrussiaThe Prussian estates at Königsberg accepted Albrecht as secular duke and adopted Lutheranism, making the Duchy of Prussia the first Protestant state in Europe. The pope and Emperor Charles V refused to recognize the secularization, and the Order elected another Grand Master, but could no longer recover Prussia.