The Relations of the Teutonic Order to Franciscans of the Borussia’s Custodia till 1466. Part II: 14 th –15 th century

Abstract

The Teutonic Order needed Franciscans to Christianize the subjugated heathen ofBorussia and to carry on the cure of souls of numerous urban and rural settlers(coming to Borussia chiefly from German-speaking countries) as well as to summonthe crusades in the Empire. Franciscans possessed then in the State of the TeutonicOrder all in all seven cloisters, viz., in Torun, Chelmno, Welawa, Gdansk, Nowe,Braniewo and Barczew. However, the first five of them were under the immediatecontrol of the Teutonic Knights only. On the other hand, the Order was a founder ofthe first three also. They made up one custodia, which belonged first to the Czech-Polish Province, next to the Saxon Province. Moreover, the Teutonic Knightsintended to set up a cloister of Minorites in Ragneta, but the project went bust.Franciscans — due to manifold help obtained from the Order — reshaped (in the14th century) the previous plain wood-and-clay buildings into conspicuous stone-and-brick edifices. It can be safely assumed that during the period in questionthe relations of Minorites of Borussia with the Teutonic Knights were very good.Throughout the 14th and till the 15th century the founded Franciscan cloisters couldbe even spoken of as favored by the Knights. The reasons are understandable enough.The country of both was Germany, and the social-political patterns of both stemmedtherefrom too. It was of pivotal importance that the Franciscans of Borussia didnot interfere into (public) political matters, and did not prompt any aggressive orsensational outbreak of religious nature. Moreover, though being mendicants theywere not importunate and, consequently, not tiresome. It seems that (till the end ofthe analyzed period) the Franciscans of Borussia exhibited decent conduct, whichpositively contributed to how they were perceived. The friendly and submissiveattitude of Minorites of Borussia towards the Order, could have resulted, one theone hand, from their being financially dependent upon the Teutonic donationsand from their poor economic situation; on the other hand, from their being notnumerous. This all contributed to settling between them a firm and stable relation— a relation typical of the weaker towards the stronger. It is also probable thatFranciscans (under dominion of the Knights) acted, as a rule (till the end of theperiod in question) in the interests of the State of the Teutonic Order.