ABSTRACT

The letters were quite often only one link in a chain of messages and oral exchanges. In November 1412, the Grand Master wrote a letter to the officials of the Teutonic Order in the Empire, in which he first mentioned the mission of Georg Eglinger, Vice-Commander of Thorn, to inform them on the situation in Prussia. The most common argument advanced in the letters in support of the Order's diplomatic objectives is the love of or the quest for peace, following the well-known peace ontology of Saint Augustine, who depicted the commitment to peace as a part of natural law. A number of other rhetorical strategies were repeatedly employed, especially in letters to the Order's traditional supporters in Germany and western Europe. The Grand Masters very often pointed out to the recipients of letters that their ancestors long ago had supported or even fought for the Order and that by their blood they had contributed to the Christianization of Prussia.