Michael Küchmeister von Sternberg

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Michael Küchmeister von Sternberg (born in 1370 in Schlesien, died December 15th, 1423 in Danzig) was the 28th Grand Master of the Teutonic Order between 1414 and 1422.

Between 1396 and 1402 he was the procurator of Rastenburg and later on the Great Trader of Königsberg. From 1404 he held the position of vogt of Samogitia and from 1410 the vogt of Neumark. After the battle of Grunwald he tried with his army of mercenaries and vassals to re-take the control of regions lost by the Teutonic Order. In September of 1410, von Sternberg lost the battle of Koronowo and was captured by the Polish army, and was not released from prison until the summer of 1411. The lost battle has prompted the signing of the First Treaty of Torun in 1411. In the aftermath of the defeat at Grunwald, the Teutonic Order lost much of its military and economic importance. The way of thinking of the Old Prussians has changed as well. It is not surprising that when the Grand Master Heinrich V von Plauen was heading towards the war with the Kingdom of Poland, on September 29th, 1413 his army (consisting of Prussian nobility and villagers) stationed near the village of Lautenburg refused to fight the Poles, he was relieved from his position of the Grand Master by von Sternberg.

On January 7th, 1414 Michael Küchmeister von Sternberg was chosen as the 28th Grand Master of the Teutonic Order. As the Grand Master, von Sternberg preferred negotiations over war, yet he strengthened the Marienburg Castle with an extra wall on the north side. He held this position until his resignation in March of 1422. Michael Küchmeister von Sternberg passed away in Danzig on December 15th, 1423 and was buried in the mausoleum under the Chapel of St. Anna in the Marienburg Castle.