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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;talerman, post: 3281695, member: 89314&quot;]Nice little coin with, as you indicate, a lot of interesting history behind it, going back to the Order of the House of St. Mary of the Germans in Jerusalem (generally known in English as the Teutonic Knights).&nbsp; It was formed in 1192 to aid Christians on their pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to establish hospitals. After Christian forces were defeated and kicked out by Saladin, the Order moved to Transylvania in 1211 to help defend Hungary against barbarian invaders. Kicked out of Hungary because they would not accept allegiance to the King but only to the Pope, the Knights moved on to invade Prussia in 1230 with the mission of bringing Christianity to the pagan Prussians.&nbsp; They soon established their own monastic state in Prussia and Livonia, including lands claimed by the Christian Kings of Poland.&nbsp; After Lithuania officially accepted Christianity in 1387 the Order theoretically lost its main purpose but continued to enjoy its state with frequent conflicts with its Christian neighbours, Poland, Lithuania and Novgorod. Finally, in 1410, a Polish-Lithuanian army decisively defeated the Order and broke its military power at the Battle of Tannenberg.&nbsp; In 1525 the last Grand Master of the Order, Albrecht of Brandenburg, resigned and converted to Lutheranism and was able to convert the Order&#039;s Prussian territories into a secular duchy of Prussia. He defected from both the Papacy and Holy Roman Emperor and agreed to do public homage to Sigismund I, King of Poland (who was in fact his uncle) in return for being granted the title of secular duke of Prussia as a vassal of Poland.&nbsp; Albrecht was the first European ruler to establish Lutheranism, and thus Protestantism as the official state religion of his lands.</p><p><br /></p><p>Prussia would remain a Polish fief until 1657 when King Jan Casimir would grant Friedrich Wilhelm, Albrecht&#039;s succesor, and the Hohenzollern dynasty of Brandenburg hereditary sovereignty under the Treaty of Wohlau.</p><p><br /></p><p>My thanks to Wikipedia for filling in many gaps in my memory. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lucas_Cranach_d.%C3%84._-_Bildnis_des_Markgrafen_Albrecht_von_Brandenburg-Ansbach_(Herzog_Anton_Ulrich-Museum).jpg" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lucas_Cranach_d.%C3%84._-_Bildnis_des_Markgrafen_Albrecht_von_Brandenburg-Ansbach_(Herzog_Anton_Ulrich-Museum).jpg" rel="nofollow"><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e9/Lucas_Cranach_d.%C3%84._-_Bildnis_des_Markgrafen_Albrecht_von_Brandenburg-Ansbach_%28Herzog_Anton_Ulrich-Museum%29.jpg/220px-Lucas_Cranach_d.%C3%84._-_Bildnis_des_Markgrafen_Albrecht_von_Brandenburg-Ansbach_%28Herzog_Anton_Ulrich-Museum%29.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></a></p><p>Albrecht of Prussia, painting by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucas_Cranach_the_Elder" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucas_Cranach_the_Elder" rel="nofollow">Lucas Cranach the Elder</a>, dated 1528[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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