By 1425, the Teutons were on the road to financial recovery and relative safety. More needed to be done...
V: Time for Discretion
Recovery
Christmas 1425, a time for celebration for the privileged few within the
Ordenstaadt. Peace suited the nobility/clergy just fine: A chance to lick old wounds, train the next generation of knights, and profit from their holdings. A small minority chafed at the lack of religious wars and general lack of direction, but elders quieted them with promise of future adventures.
The middle class, still small but strengthening with every year, also prospered. Trade through the Baltic seemed secure, and the slow thawing of relations between Marienberg and Krakow meant increased opportunities there as well. Further, Hochmeister von Plauen renewed his promise to start repaying the Order's debt, and given he didn't have to take that step the burghers were prepared to take him at his word.
The peasants alone suffered. Austerity measures such as summoning and equipping the army only in times of need did not stop or even slow Tressler von Freiburg's taxmen. Peace at least meant no rampaging armies, and not one comet could be spotted from one year to the next.
On the diplomatic front, the Teutons celebrated their renewed alliance with the Livonian Brotherhood, ringing the Polish/Lithuanian union with potential threats.
That ended the good news: The Bohemian emperor was weak, an afterthought, at least until the Duke of Burgundy had the poor manners to die without issue in January 1426.
The French immediately asserted their claims to the duchy's southern core. The northern lowlands defaulted to the Emperor.
(I think this event is bugged, as Burgundy ceased to exist. Further, every nation in the region formed a coalition against Burgundy despite the fact it no longer existed, and did so continually throughout this episode. Hopefully it stops when I restart)
In May, those nobles who wanted a fight found their rallying point: The Livonian Brotherhood used a trifling insult as an excuse to attack and then conquer the city state of Pskov, pushing eastward beyond Lake Peipus to the Novgorod border.
One month later Zygmunt I (A3 D4 M5) rose to the Polish/Lithuanian throne, and if Wladyslaw had been leaning towards peace, the new ruler of Poland sought a Baltic corridor. In August Polish agents trying to stir trouble in Danzig were expelled, followed by Kulmerland in August.
(Claims both.)
The Bohemians won a fiercely contested election upon Vaclav's death, and Vladimir I took the Imperial throne. Apparently the electorate preferred a weak emperor, for the troubled kingdom didn't strengthen. Indeed, they found themselves in a hopeless war against England over the Low Countries.
There wasn't much von Plauen could say to any of these, and indeed nothing needed saying. Instead the
grossgebetiger accelerated efforts to bring the Kulmerland into the fold, flooding Thorn and surrounding cities with German settlers, officials and priests. The Polish majority naturally resented this, but with the last failed rebellion fresh in their memories the peace held.
(Begin shifting their culture. Efforts continue through this chapter)
The
grossgebetiger responded to Bohemian weakness by increasing pressure on the Duke of Pomerania to join the Teuton fold.
(Claim on Vonpommern) Much later, in 1429, Hochmeister von Plauen made it his personal mission to continue exposing the emperor's weakness by sending agitators into Neiderlausitz.
(Mission, and ongoing as of the end of this chapter.)
As Polish relations began cooling once more, diplomats began reasserting ancient claims to Posen and Samogitia as well.
(Ditto.)
All this saber rattling had a predictable effect on international trade. Though some loans had been paid off, the Danzig burghers still held quite a bit of influence. Now they used it, urgently requesting the council in general and von Plauen in particular to back down.
The War of the Brothers
Von Plauen allowed himself to be influenced, believing that in general he'd made his point to the new Polish king: His alliance held and he'd shown his willingness to fight. If the Pole came...well, it would be the Teutonic Order claiming land in the resulting peace, not the other way around.
Indeed, the Hochmeister spent some time trying to return to the Order's roots. Flooding German immigrants into the Kulmerland was a good start: Indeed, bringing in settlers had been the Order's tactic of choice for pacifying an area for the past two hundred years. He dreamt of bringing the Hinterpomeranians around as well through similar means. By then surely an opportunity would arise for Crusade, either in Russia or Lithuania.
(Admin 4. In the 1399 scenario you choose your first idea. I went historical with 'Religious.' This might not be the ideal move at this point, but I couldn't imagine the Teutons picking anything else.)
In March 1429, diplomats from Novgorod sailed into Marienberg asking for help against Muscovite invaders. The
grossgebetiger met in emergency session. Von Plauen believed this was a sign from God, that returning to the Order's roots was the right idea. True, Novgorod consisted largely of schismatics, but the Muscovites were just as bad. Join the war, he counseled, then just sit there and watch as Orthodox kills Orthodox.
Good idea, except much the same discussion was being held in Wenden, the headquarters of the Livonian Brotherhood. Herrenmeister Konrad von Vietinghof had previously signed an alliance with Muscovy, and now the Russians asked for help. The Muscovites might be bad, but Novgorod was
in the way.
Von Vietinghof agreed to join the war, but much like the Teutons expected to stay out of it. He had enough problems: A major Pskovian rebellion trying to retake their homeland plagued his east, while Hussite heretics seized Reval.
Here the herrenmeister blundered, badly. In an effort to intimidate the Teutons into truly staying out of it, he signed an alliance with Poland.
Even if von Plauen had been of a more even temperament, with Polish/Teuton tensions rising he couldn't have let this pass unchallenged. Given his temperament, he ordered Grand Marschal von Altenburg to mobilize his army and prepare for an extended campaign.
The Hochmeister then wrote Archbishop Johann of Riga, the
de jure head of religious affairs in the Baltic, demanding he excommunicate von Vietinghof. Johann wisely declared neutrality, which didn't stop von Plauen from declaring his counterpart anathema one month later.
This didn't sit well with newly elected Pope Johannes XXIII, who reasonably felt that declaring people anathema was his prerogative. He issued a bull commanding his Orders to stop fighting. Von Plauen replied that he wasn't fighting anyone, but liberating Livonian souls from a tyrant with ties to the Orthodox faith. Von Vietinghof added that, while the fighting hadn't started yet, the pope would be able to tell when it did from the puppy-like cries issuing from Marienberg.
As increasingly agitated letters flowed back and forth from Romagna, the Teuton and Novgorod navies blockaded all Livonian ports, trapping von Vietinghof's army on Osel. This had the unfortunate side effect of allowing the Hussite heresy to spread, while Teuton armies marched into Kurland and Semigalia.
February 1430
This did not sit well with peasants in and around Konigsberg. Though Danzig was much larger, its at times troubled loyalty meant Konigsberg was usually thought of as the Order's 'second' city and a possible haven should Marienberg ever fall. While this earned the small Baltic city some prestige, it also meant Teuton officials paid
significant attention to what happened there. Tiny little corruptions or vices that might pass elsewhere, such as 'miscalculating' taxes or service owed, were ruthlessly rooted out and punished by officials eager to prove themselves.
In February, with the army distracted, they decided they'd had enough and sent an ultimatum to Marienberg.
Right...