Polish-Teutonic dispute Council of Constance

Polish-Teutonic dispute during Council of Constance 1414-1418.

One of the major events in late medieval Europe was the Council of Constance.

The Council was some kind of international congress where were cardinals, archbishops, bishops, delegates and ambasadors from most of the european countries and it took place in Constance, on the German territory.
According to chronicler Ulrich von Richental in the council took part 33 cardinals, 5 patriarchs, 47 archbishops, 145 bishops, 217 doctors of theology, 361 doctors of law both cannonic and civil, 171 doctors of medicine, representants of 37 universities, ambasadors of 38 kings and dukes, 173 counts, 71 barons, over 1500 knights.



The main purpose of the Council was to end the Western Schism (In 1414 there were three Popes in Europe:Pope Gregory XII and Anti-Popes John XXIII and Benedict XIII).

The second issue which was discussed was the heresy of John Wyclif and Jan Hus from Bohemia.

The third issue which was discussed was a conflict between the Kingdom of Poland and the German Order of Teutonic Knights.

The Polish delegation was in very difficoult situation. First its leader Mikolaj Traba (pol. Mikołaj Trąba) betrayed Polish interests when was offered to become new pope. However his candidature lost and for the new pope was elected Oddone Collona - Martin V. After his betrayal the new leader of Polish delegation became Pawel Wlodkowic known under his latinised name Paulus Vladimiri. He was a late medieval scholar, rector of the Krakow University and lawyer.

First Polish delegation was the only one (except Bohemian) which opposed the council when it condemned Jan Hus to death and burned him. This action didnt make Polish situation any better. New pope Martin VI was already siding with the Teutonic Knights who had also the support of German empire and sympathy of many western european kingdoms.

In such diplomatic situation which was hard for Poland took place Polish - Teutonic dispute.

The Teutonic delegate who became main opponent and adversary of Polish delegation was a German monk Johhanes Falkenberg who greatly exploited all the weaknesses of Polish delegation such as:

1.the fact that Polish king was a Lithuanian who was born pagan and was babtised by Poles when they offered him Polish crown and throne.
2. That during the battle of Grunwald/Tannenberg in 1410 Poles were allied not only with the Lithuanians who in the west were still considered pagans but also with lenients of Lithuania who were orthodox christians of Rus and infidels such as Tatars of the Golden Horde.
3. The fact that Polish delegation voted against condemning the doctrines of heretics John Wyclif and Jan Hus.

So in his writings and speeches during the Council Falkenberg was calling Polish king: the infidel dog, mad dog hungry of christian blood, unworthy to be king. He also wrote that:

"the Emperor has the right to slay even peaceful infidels simply because they are pagans (...). The Poles deserve death for defending infidels, and should be exterminated even more than the infidels; they should be deprived of their sovereignty and reduced to slavery."


The response of the Polish delegation had a dual nature. First its ambassador Pawel Wlodkowic aka Paulus Vladimiri presented new Polish international doctrine which suited well to political situation of the Polish kingdom and sounded revolutionary in medieval Europe:

1. People have the right to tell to what nation they belong,

2. People have the right to decide their own future and for the sake of the nation, rulers are obliged to respect the individual religious beliefs of its subjects,

3. Conversion by force is not valid, illegal, sinful and worthy of condemnation,

4. The conversion cant be used as an excuse for war against sovereign nation.

5. Maintenance of peace requires the creation of an international tribunal and the ruling of this tribunal must be obeyed also by the emperor and the pope,

6. In the justified war the catholic nations can support non catholic nations or use the help of non catholic nations.

The second Polish action was to demand from the new pope to condemn Teutonic ambassador Falkenberg, to accuse him for heresy and execute him.

Pope Martin V took hostile position towards Poland favouring the vievs and arguments of Teutonic Order. On the 4th mai 1418 when pope Martin V refused to give audience to Polish delegation which came again to demand the arrest and condemnation of Falkenberg, group of Polish knights under command of Zawisza the Black of Garbow and Janusz of Tuliszkow forcibly broke into the papal palace, broke its gates, disarmed its guards and forced the pope to officially condemn Johannes Falkenberg together with all his works.

The works of Paulus Vladimiri became a great achievements of medieval pre-reneissance Polish political thoughts.

In his work "Ad aperiendum" he stated that Teutonic Order became just a heretic sect which was only plundering others property and that knights should either retire or be relocated into the area of Turkish frontier. The armed missions of Teutonic Knights were always connected with murder and robbery and were in the conflict with natural law. In his works in brillant way he proved that Polish wars against Teutonic Order are "just" wars while Teutonic attacks against their neighbours - for example peacefuly christianised by Poles Samogitia are unjust and need to be condemned.


Edited by Mosquito - 30-Mar-2016 at 19:09

Could you please speak more plainly because I dont understand the question. Please keep in mind that Im not a native english speaker. I have noticed long ago that I got problems with understanding your messages.