Konrad III Zöllner von Rotenstein

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Konrad III Zöllner von Rotenstein was the 24th Grand Master of the Teutonic Order between 1382 and 1390. His career with the Teutonic Order started in 1353 when he became a procurator in Przezmark and shortly thereafter he became a house komtur of Christburg. In 1368 von Rotenstein became the komtur of Danzig and in 1372 the Great Hospitaller and the komtur of Christburg. Despite the fact he did not belong to very influential people within the Teutonic Order and was lacking political experience, he was chosen the 24th Grand Master in 1382 after the death of Winrich von Kniprode, the previous Grand Master. His first matter of order was to take care of the inside problems of the country. Command of the army and the war with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was left to Konrad von Wallenrode, who was made the komtur of Königsberg. Von Rotenstein reformed the administrative divisions of Prussia, supported the colonization of uninhabited regions, let form new Baltic states and founded a university in Kulm. It was during his rule when Lithuania was christianized and Władysław II Jagiełło became the new king of Poland. He was forced to see the end of the Teutonic expansion within the lands inhabited by the Balts and the Order losing the idea of building its monastic state by conquering the pagan nations of Eastern Europe. The last few years of his life, von Rotenstein spent trying to break up the Polish-Lithuanian Union and cause a strife between the two great dukes of Lithuania, Witold and Jagiełło.

Konrad III Zöllner von Rotenstein died on August 20th, 1390 in Marienburg. He was buried in the mausoleum of the Grand Masters under the Chapel of Saint Anna.