Editing Royal Prussia (section)

===Incorporation into the Polish Crown===

According to the 1454 treaty signed by King Casimir IV, Royal Prussia was incorporated into the [[Crown of the Kingdom of Poland|Kingdom of Poland]]{{sfn|Górski|1949|p=54}} and their elites enjoyed the same rights and privileges as the elites of the Polish kingdom.{{sfn|Frost|2015|p=218-219}} At the same time Royal Prussia was granted a considerable degree of autonomy. Already instituted law codes were retained, only Prussians could be appointed on public offices (''[[ius indigenatus]]''), borders of the province had to remain intact and all decisions regarding Prussia had to be consulted with the Prussian council.{{sfn|Frost|2015|p=219}} Thorn and Danzig retained the right to mint coins.{{sfn|Friedrich|2000|p=23}}
[[File:PRVSSIA1576Casparo Henneberg.png|thumb|left|1576 map of Prussia by [[Caspar Henneberg]], Royal Prussia (without southern Pomerelia) appears in white]]
The Polish model of political and administrative organisation was introduced into the province. Royal Prussia was divided in 1454 into four [[voivodeship]]s: [[Pomeranian Voivodeship (1466–1772)|Pomeranian]], [[Chełmno Voivodeship|Chełmno]],
[[Elbląg Voivodeship (1454–1466)|Elbląg]] (since 1467 [[Malbork Voivodeship|Malbork]]) and [[Królewiec Voivodeship|Królewiec]] ([[Königsberg]]), which ceased to exist after the Second Peace of Thorn. Voivodeships were divided subsequently into [[powiat]]s.{{sfn|Friedrich|2000|p=23}}

By the decision of the [[Sejm of the Kingdom of Poland|Polish Sejm]] in 1467{{sfn|Friedrich|2000|p=24}} the main governing body of Royal Prussia was the Prussian council ({{langx|de|Landesrat}}), which emerged from the secret council of the Prussian Confederation. Three [[voivode]]s, three [[castellan]]s (of Chełmno, Elbing and Danzig), three chamberlains ({{langx|pl|podkomorzy}}) and two delegates from each of the main cities: Thorn, Danzig and Elbing were part of the council.{{sfn|Friedrich|2000|p=24}} Later bishops of Warmia (1479) and Chełmno (1482) were admitted into a council, which ultimately consisted of 17 members.{{sfn|Frost|2015|p=381-382}} Since the council wasn't able to impose taxes without the consent of the commons, the gathering of all estates shortly emerged, at first known as ''Ständetage'' and later as ''Landtag''. In years 1512-1526 it developed into a bicameral Prussian parliament.{{sfn|Frost|2015|p=382 and 397}}

At first, the bishop of Warmia claimed that his principality was independent and subordinate only to the Pope. After a short war — the so-called "[[War of the Priests (Poland)|priests' war]]" — the matter was settled in the king's favour; in 1479 Warmia was formally incorporated into Poland. The bishop's subjects were given the right to appeal to the king, to whom they swore allegiance. The Bishop of Warmia became, ''[[ex officio]]'', a member of the Prussian council. From 1508 the bishop headed the council.{{sfn|Frost|2015|p=384-385}} The bishopric of Warmia was a [[suffragan]] of the archbishopric of Riga until 1566; after that date it was subordinated directly to the Pope. It was not part of [[archdiocese of Gniezno]].{{sfn|Friedrich|2000|p=23}}

The Prussian states stood for deep particularism. They were reluctant to participate in the institutions of the kingdom. The members of the council refused to participate in the meetings of the royal council and sent only token delegations to the royal elections in 1492, 1501 and 1506.{{sfn|Frost|2015|p=382}} During the war the king exercised his authority over the province through the position of governor, which was first held by [[Jan Bażyński]], and after his death in 1459 by his brother [[Stibor von Baysen|Stibor]]. As the governor was elected by the estates and only approved by the king, Casimir abolished this office and appointed Stibor as voivode of Malbork. In 1472, the king introduced in Prussia the office of {{ill|starosta general|pl|starosta generalny}}, who was solely dependent on the king. Son of Stibor Nicholaus was appointed voivode of Malbork and administrator of Prussia. In 1485 Nicholaus resigned his office and led the Prussian opposition against the violation of Prussian privileges, above all the ''ius indigenatus''.{{sfn|Frost|2015|p=383}} In response, King Casimir strengthened the position of the Malbork starosta, to whom he always appointed a non-Prussian. In 1485 it was a magnate from [[Lesser Poland]], [[Zbigniew Tęczyński]].{{sfn|Frost|2015|p=384}}
[[File:Prusse1751Vaugondy aires.png|thumb|1751 map showing Royal Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Poland, and Ducal Prussia, a vassal duchy of Poland.]]

The situation changed in 1498 when [[Frederick of Saxony (Teutonic Knight)|Frederick of Saxony]] was elected [[Grand Master of the Teutonic Order]] and started a hostile politics against Poland in an attempt to reclaim lost territories in Royal Prussia. As a result, the newly elected bishop of Warmia, [[Lucas Watzenrode]], and Nicholaus von Baysen began to take part in meetings of the royal council. During 1509 Sejm Watzenrode took part in a Senate meeting as the first representative of the Prussian council. [[Ambroży Pampowski]], starosta of Malbork between 1504 and 1510, also bore the title ''Haupt des Landes'', and although he was non-Prussian, he was accepted as such by the Prussian council.{{sfn|Frost|2015|p=387-389}} A monument of the reapprochement between Prussia and the rest of the kingdom was the Statute of Prussia, promulgated in 1506, in which many Polish legal solutions were introduced into the Prussian legal system.{{sfn|Frost|2015|p=389}} An important achievement was the establishment of a central Prussian treasury.{{sfn|Frost|2015|p=389-390}} In 1511, a supreme tribunal was established for the Prussian courts, excluding the courts of Danzig, which denied the right of appeal to the Prussian court and decided cases internally. It sometimes resorted to royal and parliamentary courts.{{sfn|Frost|2015|p=389-390}} Closer ties with the rest of the kingdom found support primarily among the ordinary nobility, for whom the Polish political and legal solutions were more favourable. In particular, the inheritance rules applied under [[Kulm law]], which guaranteed inheritance also in the female line, resulted in the fragmentation of estates.

In years 1519-1521 [[Albert, Duke of Prussia|Albrecht von Hohenzollern]] lost the Order's [[Polish–Teutonic War (1519–1521)|last war against Poland]]. As a result Order's state was secularised and became a fief of the Polish crown, held by Albrecht and his direct heirs as "dukes in Prussia".{{sfn|Frost|2015|p=393}} Albrecht ruled as a Lutheran ruler. Lutheranism also spread in Royal Prussia, especially in the big cities. Albrecht decreed that Luther's [[Catechism]] was to be translated into the [[Old Prussian language]], [[Polish language|Polish]], and [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]], so that the creed could unite the people of both the [[Duchy of Prussia]] and Royal Prussia. Cultural unity between the two parts of Prussian was threatened by the Polish strive to unite Royal Prussia with Poland proper.<ref>{{cite book|title=Tausend Jahre Nachbarschaft: die Völker des baltischen Raumes und die Deutschen|editor=Wilfried Schlau|publisher=Bruckmann|year= 1995|pages=191}}</ref> The Polish king attempted to stop spread of Protestantism, but it was declared the ruling religion in Danzig, Elbing and Thorn (Gdańsk, Elbląg, Toruń) after 1526 (of course, part of the population remained Catholic in these cities).  
During the war, the Polish General Assembly descended to Toruń in 1519 and to [[Bydgoszcz]] in 1520. Some Prussian nobles attended it.{{sfn|Frost|2015|p=396}} In 1522 the Prussian nobility gathered in the ''Landtag'' demanded the introduction of the Polish model of inheritance and land ownership, excluding the burghers. They also demanded the right to send one deputy from each province to the Polish Sejm. In 1526 the Prussian ''Landtag'', headed by the king, established [[sejmik]]s, local assemblies of noblemen, who elected deputies to the Prussian parliament, where they sat together with representatives of 27 smaller towns. The Prussian council formed the upper house – the senate – of this assembly.{{sfn|Frost|2015|p=398}} In 1529 a monetary union was established between Royal Prussia and Ducal Prussia and the rest of the kingdom.{{sfn|Frost|2015|p=398-399}} From 1537 summons to the Sejm were continuously sent to the Prussian sejmiks. The Prussian nobility appeared permanently at the Sejm as observers. In 1548, after the death of King [[Sigismund the Old]], for the first time, a delegation of both Prussian chambers went to the Sejm as deputies and senators.{{sfn|Frost|2015|p=399}}