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PiotrBirecki
onAlbrecht’spredecessor’sactsfromtheverybeginning.Thepredecessor
wastheGrandMasteroftheTeutonicOrderaswell.Withtime,Albrecht
becamemoreandmoreindependentand,soonenough,hegaveupsome
ofhiscustomaryduties.Theseincludedchurchvisitations,whichwere
theresultofrecordswrittenintheTeutonicOrder’sstatute.Friedrich’s
court,whichispresentedhere,wassetupaccordingtoCourtOrdinance
from1499,whichreferstotherulesoftheusualhumanisticcourtofthe
Renaissanceprince.Friedrichvaluedcourtlife,whichincludedbutwas
notlimitedtohuntingandrevelry.Hedecidedtomodernizethecapital
king’scastle,renovatetheCathedralinadditiontoothercastlesand
Teutonicsettlements.Hehiredapainterresponsibleforcreatingnew
imagesoftheformerGrandMasters.Itissuspectedthatthepainter
wasalsoassignedtocopy(todayunknown)theearlyworksofAlbrecht
Dürer.Atthesametime,theGrandMasterwasdoinghisbesttoattract
agroupofintellectualswhowouldco-createthisnewenvironmentinthe
court.Withthepassageoftime,ErasmusStella,PaulvonWett,Hans
vonSchonbergandDietrichvonWerthernappearedinthecourt.The
RoyalCastle,whichoficiallywasstillamonastery,wassuddenlyvisited
bywomen.WhenthesuccessorofFriedrich,AlbrechtmarriedDorota
Oldenburgin1526,ordinationforthewomenresidinginthecastlewas
issued.ThiswascalledFrauenzimmerordnung,whichregulatedtheir
courtduties.
2
Longbefore1525,Albrecht,thelastgrandmasterofPrussia,
hadbeenalreadypreparingthepowerstructuresforducalcentralization.
Hebegan,forexample,byreducingtheinfluenceofTeutonicoficials
onhisdecisions.AlbrechtdidnotappointNicolausvonPflug’ssuccessor
asthegrandhospitaller(Großspittler).ThegrandmarshalGeorgvon
EltzwassentwithapoliticalmissionfarfromPrussia.Albrechtalso
startedreducingthenumberofcommandersand,asaresult,heruled
withoutanyoneelsehavingtheabilitytoobjecttohimsince1522.For
Sambia’sbishop,henominatedGeorgvonPolentzwithwhomhefought
in1509forMaximilianIintheItaliancityofRoverto.FortheBishop
ofPomesanien,heappointedErhardvonQueis.Theybothsupported
thedukeonhiswaytoreformtheCatholicChurchinPrussia.In1525,
LutherpublishedhisessayonthetruepurityoftheTeutonicmonks.He
encouragedthemtobecomemarriedandconverttheTeutoniclandinto
nobleheritage.However,itwastooearlytoputhisadviceintopractice.
3
2K.Forstreuer,DieHofordnungenderletztenHochmeisterinPreussen,“Prussia.
ZeitschriftfürHeimatkundeundHeimatschutz”,1931,Bd.29,29and35-41.
3U.Arnold,VomOrdenslandzumHerzogtum.ReligiöseÜberzeugungoderpo-
litischesKalküldesHochmeistersAlbrechtvonBrandenburg-Ansbach?,Zapiski
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