Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book refers to the relations between Gdansk and the State of the Teutonic Order in Prussia, and the Kingdom of Poland under the rule of Piast and Jagiellonian dynasties. It discusses the political situation of Gdansk in the second half of the fifteenth and in the sixteenth century, when the city was strengthening its political and economic autonomy within the Crown of Poland. The chapter also discusses issues connected with the form of government in Gdansk and presents them as an example of the implementation of municipal republicanism idea and the functioning of an urban organism. It emphasizes the political and economic role of patricians who strengthened their position in the city under the rule of the Teutonic Order by funding church altars and influencing their ideological designs.