Treaty of Bromberg

, Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia The Duchy of Prussia was established as a Polish fief under duke Albrecht (Albert) in the Treaty of Cracow of 8 April 1525. The fief was hereditary, and if Albrecht or his brothers' house became extinct in the male line, the fief was to pass to the Polish king, who was to appoint a German-speaking Prussian-born governor. The privilege provided for the succession of the Brandenburgian electors as Prussian dukes upon the extinction of the House of Hohenzollern-Ansbach in 1618. After fighting along with the Swedish Army in 1656, most prominently at the Battle of Warsaw, Hohenzollern Frederick William I was willing to abandon his ally when the war had turned against them and signalled his willingness to change sides if Polish King and Lithuanian Garnd Duke John II Casimir Vasa would grant him similar privileges as previously Swedish King Charles X Gustav, conditions that were negotiated in Wehlau (Welawa, now Znamensk) and Bromberg (Bygost, Bydgoszcz). The Polish interest in an alliance with Brandenburg-Prussia was born out of the need to end the war against Sweden as soon as possible. On 3 November 1656, the Truce of Vilna had promised Alexis of Russia's election as a successor on the Polish throne at the next diet in return for halting his offensive in Poland–Lithuania and to fight Sweden instead. In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, there was support for the treaty from the nobles, who hoped for positions with more privilege, but that was not true for the Kingdom of Poland, where the elites looked for ways to circumvent Alexis's succession. For a fast end to the war against Sweden to be able to avoid the implementation of the Truce of Vilnius, the anti-Swedish alliance had to be extended. A second ally, the Austrian Habsburgs, were won in the first and the second Vienna Treaties, but the Habsburg forces were to be maintained by Poland, the prize for the alliance was bound to rise while the war lasted. Thus, the Habsburgs were interested in Frederick William I changing sides and sent diplomat Franz Paul Freiherr von Lisola to mediate a respective settlement. "supplementary treaties" or one treaty, which is sometimes referred to as "Treaty of Wehlau and Bromberg" or "Treaty of Wehlau-Bromberg." ==Ratification==

The preliminary treaty of Wehlau had been signed on 19 September 1657 by Frederick William I's envoys von Schwerin and von Somnitz, as well as by Warmian (Ermland) prince-bishop and Wincenty Korwin Gosiewski for the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and Habsburg delegate and mediator Freiherr . The amended and final version of the treaty was ratified on 6 November by Frederick William I and John II Casimir in Bromberg (Bydgoszcz). The Brandenburgian elector and the Polish king attended the ceremony with their wives, Luise Henriette of Nassau and Marie Louise Gonzaga, respectively. The Treaties of Wehlau and Bromberg were confirmed by the parties and internationally recognized at the Peace of Oliva, which ended the Second Northern War in 1660, and by the Polish Sejm in 1659 and 1661. ==Agreements==

The treaty ratified in Bromberg had three parts. The first one contained 22 articles and dealt primarily with the status and succession of Prussia, the Brandenburg-Polish alliance, and military aid. It was drafted in Wehlau and signed there by the Brandenburgian and Polish plenipotentiaries and the Habsburg mediator. The second part was a special convention ("Specialis Convention") containing 6 articles, also drafted and signed by the plenipotentiaries and the mediator in Wehlau, which further detailed the alliance and military aid. The third part amended the Wehlau agreement and primarily detailed Polish concessions. Status of Prussia The Duchy of Prussia—where Frederick William I had become fully sovereign by the Brandenburg-Swedish Treaty of Labiau—was likewise accepted by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth to be the sovereign possession of the House of Hohenzollern. However, Ermland (Ermeland, Warmia) was to be returned to Poland. retain its possessions and income and be granted religious freedom. Military aid Brandenburg-Prussia was obliged to give military aid to Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth against the Swedish Empire during the ongoing Second Northern War. Frederick William I had in Wehlau agreed to aid John II Casimir Vasa with 8,000 men, and both parties agreed on an "eternal alliance". In Bromberg, it was agreed that from his Prussian province, Frederick William I would dispatch 1,500 foot and 500 horse to join the army of the Polish-Lithuanian monarch. Financial and territorial agreements and Labiau (November 1656). In return, the Polish crown granted Brandenburg-Prussia Lauenburg and Bütow Land as a hereditary fief. In an amendment, Brandenburg-Prussia was obliged to return the town to Poland once the latter had bailed it out with 400,000 thalers. The third Polish concession was the payment of 120,000 thalers to Brandenburg-Prussia for war-related damage suffered upon entering the war by Poland. The sum was to be paid in annual rates of 40,000 thalers, and Brandenburg was to keep Draheim if the money had not been paid by the end of the third year. The Catholic communities were to stay subordinate to and to be represented by the Kuyavian bishop and keep all of their income, and the Electors of Brandenburg and the local nobility were to have patronage over the churches. The rights of the nobility of Lauenburg and Bütow Land were to be left unchanged, and previous court sentences and privileges were to remain in force. The administration of the region should be conducted just as it had been handled by the Pomeranian dukes. In a note issued separately from the treaty, John II Casimir assured the nobles that Poland would continue to treat them as members of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and so the nobles would enjoy the same rights and opportunities as the Polish nobles if they decided to leave for Poland. ==Implementation==

Prussia The treaty first met with the protest of the Prussian estates, which feared a loss of privileges. As a leader of the opposition, Königsberg mayor Hieronymus Roth was incarcerated for 16 years until his death. Lauenburg and Bütow Land Lauenburg and Bütow Land was officially handed over by John II Casimir's envoy Ignatz Bokowski and received by the Brandenburg-Prussian envoys Adam von Podewils and Ulrich Gottfried von Somnitz in April 1658. The Brandenburgian electors amended their title with dominus de Lauenburg et Bytaw, despite Polish protests aimed at a change from dominus (lord) to fiduciarus (fiduciary). After 1771, the region was governed from Stettin (now Szczecin), like the rest of Brandenburgian Pomerania, and allegiance to subsequent Prussian kings was given with the other Pomeranian estates in Stettin. but he yielded the neutrality agreement that he had concluded with Russia in 1656. but the Prussian troops withdrew the following year when Russia mediated its exchange for the Polish Crown Jewels as a security for the bills receivable. When Augustus the Strong failed to pay, the town was reoccupied in 1703, during the Great Northern War, but the Prussians again withdrew shortly afterwards because of Swedish pressure. Before the 1773 treaty, Poland had the nominal right to bail out Draheim, which was never pursued. Nevertheless, the Polish crown underlined that right by granting privileges to the local Schulze until 1680. In Article V of the Warsaw Treaty, Poland renounced its right to buy Draheim back and ceded it to Prussia "for eternal times". ==Assessments==

According to Robert I. Frost the House of Hohenzollern, Wehlau-Bromberg was a "major geopolitical gain and surge in wealth and prestige", and Poland had "substantially benefited" from Brandenburgian support during the war. Clark thus views Frederick William as a "beneficiary of international developments beyond his control" and verifies his thesis by the post-Bromberg developments in which the elector lost all further war gains because of French intervention at the Treaty of Oliva. Józef Włodarski regards the treaty as one of the greatest mistakes in Polish foreign policy towards Prussia with fatal consequences for Poland. According to Anna Kamińska, the treaty marked the end of Polish influence on the Baltic and the decline of Poland–Lithuania's position in Europe. Frost says that the treaty was subject to criticism of historians such as Kazimierz Piwarski, who considered that the price paid by Poland in Bromberg was unnecessarily high. According to Frost, these critics argue from a view after the partitions of Poland and neglect the complexity of the contemporary situation: "Contemporary [Polish] politicians were aware of the dangers of conceding sovereignty, which they accepted not because they were stupid, indifferent, or lacking in foresight, but because the alternatives seemed more damaging to the Commonwealth's interests". Frost regards as having merit Piwarski's assertion of the Polish decision to have been heavily influenced by the Habsburgs but also states that the Polish interest in a rapprochement with Brandenburg had emerged before 1656, long before Lisola entered the scene. ==See also==