ALBERT (1490-1568), Grand Master of the Teutonic Order,
and first duke of Prussia, was the third son of Frederick of
Hohenzollern, prince of Ansbach and Bayreuth, and Sophia,
daughter of Casimir IV., king of Poland. Born at Ansbach
on the 16th of May 1490, he was intended for the church, and
passed some time at the court of Hermann, elector of Cologne,
who appointed him to a canonry in his cathedral. Turning
to a more active life, he accompanied the emperor Maximilian
I. to Italy in 1508, and after his return spent some time in
Hungary. In December, Frederick, grand master of the Teutonic
Order, died, and Albert, joining the order, was chosen as his
successor early in 1511 in the hope that his relationship to
Sigismund I., king of Poland, would facilitate a settlement
of the disputes over east Prussia, which had been held by the
order under Polish suzerainty since 1466. The new master,
however, showed no desire to be conciliatory, and as war
appeared inevitable, he made strenuous efforts to secure
allies, and carried on tedious negotiations with the emperor
Maximilian I. The ill-feeling, influenced by the ravages of
members of the order in Poland, culminated in a struggle which
began in December 1519. During the ensuing year Prussia was
devastated, and Albert consented early in 1521 to a truce for four
years. The dispute was referred to the emperor Charles V.
and other princes, but as no settlement was reached the master
continued his efforts to obtain help in view of a renewal of the
war. For this purpose he visited Nuremberg in 1522, where
he made the acquaintance of the reformer, Andreas Osiander,
by whose influence he was won over to the side of the new
faith. He then journeyed to Wittenberg, where he was advised
by Martin Luther to cast aside the senseless rules of his
order, to marry, and to convert Prussia into an hereditary
duchy for himself. This proposal, which commended itself to
Albert, had already been discussed by some of his relatives;
but it was necessary to proceed cautiously, and he assured
Pope Adrian VI. that he was anxious to reform the order
and punish the knights who had adopted Lutheran doctrines.
Luther for his part did not stop at the suggestion, but in
order to facilitate the change made special efforts to spread
his teaching among the Prussians, while Albert's brother,
George, prince of Ansbach, laid the scheme before Sigismund of
Poland. After some delay the king assented to it provided that
Prussia were held as a Polish fief; and after this arrangement
had been confirmed by a treaty made at Cracow, Albert was
invested with the duchy by Sigismund for himself and his heirs
on the 10th of February 1525. The estates of the land then
met at Konigsberg and took the oath of allegiance to the new
duke, who used his full powers to forward the doctrines of
Luther. This transition did not, however, take place without
protest. Summoned before the imperial court of justice, Albert
refused to appear and was placed under the ban; while the order,
having deposed the grand master, made a feeble effort to recover
Prussia. But as the German princes were either too busy or
too indifferent to attack the duke, the agitation against
him soon died away. In imperial politics Albert was fairly
active. Joining the league of Torgau in 1526, he acted inunison
with the Protestants, and was among the princes who banded
themselves together to overthrow Charles V. after the issue
of the Interim in May 1548. For various reasons, however,
poverty and personal inclination among others, he did not take a
prominent part in the military operations of this period.
Continued on page two.
This article is from the 1911 edition of an
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