Hieronymus Roth

Who was Hieronymus Roth?

Hieronymus Roth was a lawyer and alderman of Königsberg who led the city burghers in opposition to Elector Frederick William.

In the Treaty of Oliva of 1660 the Elector had managed to have himself recognized as sovereign in Ducal Prussia and no longer a vassal of the King of Poland. The Prussian Estates and Roth saw this as a step towards tyranny: before, when a conflict between the Estates and the Elector arose, the Estates always had a recourse to a higher authority, the King of Poland, but now this check had been removed. In 1661 the Prussian council, led by Roth, repudiated the Treaty of Oliva, stating that the transfer of sovereignty from Poland to the Elector was not valid without their consent. Roth then sent a plea to the King of Poland John II Casimir Vasa, asking for assistance. Furthermore, Roth and the burghers objected to Frederick's requirement that henceforth the Prussian Estates could meet only with his approval, and to the higher taxes the Elector had levied without their consent. As a result, Königsberg and her council refused to make an oath of allegiance to the Elector, and sent letters to the Polish king in Warsaw asking if they could "become Polish subjects once more, as had been in the past".