Historical Calendar: July 8, 1343 – conclusion of the peace of Kaliski

Anniversary of peace between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Teutonic Order.

Today in our Calendar we will look at the first period of the regulation of Kazimierz III the Great. This ruler inherited a tiny and weak country, ruined by many years of wars with the majority of its neighbours. Under these circumstances, the fresh king noted the request to establish relations with rivals in order to gain time for interior reforms and strengthening his domain. First of all, he willingly approached the thought of a reunion in Visegrad, which took place in 1335. Apart from the Polish ruler, the conference was attended by kings of the Czech Republic and Hungary and representatives of the Order.

During many days of discussions, the dispute over Pomerania of Gdańsk and Kujawy was sought and the right to the Polish crown. It was agreed that Pomorze would stay at the order, but the Teutonic Knights must give Poland to Kujawy and the Dobrzyń Land. In the case of the crown, the Czech king demanded a sum of 20,000 copies Prague pennies in exchange for relinquishing your rights. The Polish ruler accepted these conditions and thus gained peace at the borders and could focus on interior problems. The decisions of the reunion concerning Pomerania were evidently unsatisfactory to the Polish monarch, so he accused the Teutonic Knights before the papal court. The Papal conviction was again beneficial to Poland – he ordered the Order to return Pomerania and pay compensation for war damage. Unfortunately, erstwhile again, erstwhile again, the functioning Teutonic agent in Rome has led to the suspension of the execution of the sentence.

Meanwhile, there was a dispute in Germany over the succession of the imperial crown. The Austrian Habsburgs, parts of Luxembourg and the Brandenburg Wittelsbachs fought each other. By joining the dispute, Kazimierz made an exotic as an alliance with Brandenburg and Austria seems. The Czech Republic was so frightened that Jan Luxemburg sent a message to Poland. The agreement contained in Sandomierz in 1336 broke the Czech and Teutonic Order alliance.

In 1339 Casimir made a close alliance with Hungary, ensuring that his ruler, Charles Robert, would hand over the Polish throne to his dynasty in the event of his childless death. He later signed a akin pact with Charles' successor Louis of Hungary. The alleged "survival arrangement" guaranteed the taking of the throne in Poland and Hungary by the second dynasty in the event of the childless death of 1 of the rulers. In 1369, feeling his close death, Kazimierz adopted his grandson Kazimierz IV Słupski and wrote him a crown in his will. This was aimed at preventing the expiry of the Piast dynasty and the takeover of the Polish throne by Hungarians.

Seeing the failure of mediation and court cases with the Teutonic Knights, the king decided to negotiate, dissolving his hands besides in the northern direction. The talks held in Kalisz took place in 1343 and ended with the peace writing on 8 July. By his power, Kujawy returned to Poland, but Pomeranian Gdańsk remained in the hands of the Order. However, the Polish king retained the right to call himself Lord and heir of Pomerania, which sanctioned his objections to disputed lands and helped to regain them in the future. Additionally, the Teutonic Knights paid Poland 10,000 florins for the business of Dobrzyń Land.

The first peace treaty in Kalisz has been preserved to our time.

The peace in Kalisz proved to be exceptionally durable for Polish-Crescent relations. In addition to local and insignificant clashes at borders, he provided a state of peace between both states until 1409 and the celebrated “great war” which we know mainly from the conflict of Grunwald.

Previous entry from our calendar is available Here.