Editing Teutonic Order (section)

===Against Poland===
{{Main|Teutonic takeover of Danzig}}
[[File:Pommerellen.png|thumb|Pomerelia (''Pommerellen'') while part of the [[monastic state of the Teutonic Knights]]]]

A dispute over the claims to [[Pomerelia]] embroiled the Order in further conflict at the beginning of the 14th century. Duke [[Władysław I the Elbow-high]] of Poland wanted the region, citing inheritance from [[Przemysł II]]. He was opposed by some [[Pomerania]]n nobles, but also a [[Christopher II of Denmark|Danish prince]], who supported the Margrave of [[Waldemar, Margrave of Brandenburg-Stendal|Brandenburg]]'s claim that the region had been granted to Brandenburg as a fief by King [[Wenceslaus III of Bohemia|Wenceslaus]]. Forces from Denmark and Brandenburg had tried and failed to take the site in 1301 and 1306 but, in the summer of 1308, Brandenburg's forces tried again, targeting the present-day site of [[Gdańsk]], where a rebellion had erupted in their favor. Władysław pressed the Teutonic Order for help and the Teutonic Knights, led by Grand Master [[Siegfried von Feuchtwangen]], drove Brandenburg out. The Knights requested payment in exchange and Władysław refused.

By November, the Order forces under a Prussian Landmeister [[Heinrich von Plötzke]] took the site for themselves. According to some sources, they [[Teutonic takeover of Danzig (Gdańsk)|massacred the town's inhabitants]], although the exact extent of the violence is unknown and widely recognized by historians to be an unsolvable mystery. The estimates range from 60 rebellious leaders, reported by dignitaries of the region and Knight chroniclers, to 10,000 civilians, a number cited in a papal bull (of dubious provenance) that was used in a legal process installed to punish the Order for the event; the legal dispute went on for a time, but the Order was eventually absolved of the charges. In the [[Treaty of Soldin (1309)|Treaty of Soldin]], the Teutonic Order purchased the castles of Gdańsk, [[Świecie]], and [[Tczew]] and their hinterlands from the margraves for 10,000 marks on 13 September 1309.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The New Cambridge medieval history|url=https://archive.org/details/newcambridgemedi00allm|url-access=limited|date=1995–2005|publisher=Cambridge University Press|author=McKitterick, Rosamond|isbn=0521362911|location=Cambridge [England]|pages=[https://archive.org/details/newcambridgemedi00allm/page/n773 752]|oclc=29184676}}</ref>

Control of Pomerelia allowed the Order to connect their monastic state with the borders of the Holy Roman Empire. Crusading reinforcements and supplies could travel from the Imperial territory of [[Hither Pomerania]] through Pomerelia to Prussia, while Poland's access to the Baltic Sea was blocked. While Poland had mostly been an ally of the knights against the pagan Prussians and Lithuanians, the capture of Pomerelia turned the kingdom into a determined enemy of the Order.<ref>Urban, p. 116</ref>

The capture of Gdańsk marked a new phase in the history of the Teutonic Knights. The persecution and abolition of the powerful Knights Templar, which began in 1307, worried the Teutonic Knights, but control of Pomerelia allowed them to move their headquarters in 1309 from Venice to [[Malbork|Marienburg (Malbork)]] on the [[Nogat River]], outside the reach of secular powers. The position of Prussian Landmeister was merged with that of the Grand Master. The Pope began investigating misconduct by the knights, but no charges were found to have substance. Along with the campaigns against the Lithuanians, the knights faced a vengeful Poland and legal threats from the Papacy.<ref>Christiansen, p. 151</ref>

The [[Treaty of Kalisz (1343)|Treaty of Kalisz of 1343]] ended the open war between the Teutonic Knights and Poland. The Knights relinquished [[Kuyavia]] and [[Dobrzyń Land]] to Poland, but retained [[Chełmno Land]] and Pomerelia with Gdańsk (Germanized as ''Danzig'').