Albert, Duke in Prussia

Who was Albert, Duke in Prussia?

Albert of Prussia was the last Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, who after converting to Lutheranism, became the first monarch of the Duchy of Prussia, the secularized state that emerged from the former Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights. Albert was the first European ruler to establish Protestantism as the official state religion of his lands. He proved instrumental in the political spread of Protestantism in its early stage, ruling the Prussian lands for nearly six decades.

A member of the Brandenburg-Ansbach branch of the House of Hohenzollern, Albert's election as Grand Master had brought about hopes of a reversal of the declining fortune of the Teutonic Knights. He was a skilled political administrator and leader, and did indeed reverse the decline of the Teutonic Order. However, Albert, who was sympathetic to the demands of Martin Luther, rebelled against the Catholic church, and the Holy Roman Empire by converting the Teutonic state into a Protestant and hereditary realm, the Duchy of Prussia, for which he did homage to his uncle, the King of Poland. The arrangement was confirmed by the Treaty of Kraków in 1525.