ABSTRACT
The idea that the Teutonic Order constituted a permanent nightmare for the Polish people throughout the Middle Ages, which is the repeated assumption of such opinions, is completely erroneous. The status of the Order as a religious corporation determined many of the peculiarities of the constitution of its state in Prussia. Rule was vested in the Order as a whole, rather than the grand master, and only members of the Order had the right to participate in government. Prussians could achieve administrative influence in other ways. There were a number of offices that were reserved to Prussians on practical grounds, such as that of the Tolke, who served as interpreter for the Order’s high dignitaries. The period of the conflict with the Estates of Prussia brought about changes in the Order’s treatment of individual groups of Prussians. The Order maintained a benevolent policy towards the minor freemen, who, in contrast to the knights, had largely retained the Prussian language.
