Stibor of Stiboricz - Diplomacy

Diplomacy

The genius of Stibor of Stiboricz's diplomacy is shown in the work of Wenzel and on this ground, in that of Antoni Prochaska and Daniela Dvorakova. As Sigismund wished to sell Neumark (Brandenburg) in order to reinforce the economy, Stibor set up a plan to make Teutonic Knights to pay much higher price that expected, keeping in mind that they would not then be able to finance a bigger army against Poland. Neumark at this time was a troubled land as there was no order and the land was well known to have robber barons terrorizing the population and making the land dangerous to visit. To buy Neumark was to buy problems, a fact of which the Teutonic Knights were very well aware. It is also the reason why they did not hurry to buy the property. On the other hand, Neumark would surround Poland and give the Teutonic Knights protection from being attacked from that side. A problem for the Teutonic Knights arose when they were notified that Stibor was to be in charge of selling Neumark to Poland for a much smaller amount of money. The price was low and not realistic to accept for King Sigismund. But it would be surely to be understood to put pressure on the Teutonic Knights to buy the property since they could not afford to be surrounded by Polish forces from the west.

Agreement was made between Stibor and two powerful Lords in Poland to sell Neumark to Poland. The agreement states that if selling Neumark to Poland would fail, all the properties of those three Lords who signed the agreement would go to the Polish Crown as compensation for the loss. A loss such as that would be remarkably high keeping in mind that Stibor owned almost half of western Slovakia at the time of negotiations. As the Teutonic Knights were forced to buy the land, they also had to pay all the penalty for breaking the agreement with Polish Lords. It is noted in Teutonic books that Stibor was one of their top expenses at the time. The price of Neumark was not just 3 times higher than its value; the penalty that Stibor took from the Knights was astronomic. Added to this, the problems inside Neumark made it very costly for the Knights to organize the territory. This was beginning of the end of the power of Teutonic Knights.

After losing the war in Grunwald year 1410, they had to pay an additional penalty to Polish Crown to survive. It is significant that all those penalties that had been paid to the Polish Crown as compensation for losses in the Grunwald war, ended in Hungary and the treasury of King Sigismund on the basis of diplomatic work by Stibor of Stiboricz and Zawisza Czarny. In return, Poland gained Spiš that was in the hands of Poland to the time of partition. However, the most significant and amazing information in the documents are about those two Lords that signed the agreement to sell Neumark to Poland. They were Sędziwuj de Szubin, the Duke of Kalisz and Mostko de Staszow, Lord Castellan of Poznan.

The first one was father of Stibor's wife and the second was of Clan of Ostoja family . There is no sources that can confirm that the penalty was ever paid to the Polish Crown, in fact there is no information at all about the agreement in the documents that consider the Crown.

It is remarkable that many of those who were assigned to negotiate between Poland and the Teutonic Knights with Sigismund as a part in negotiations, were members of the Clan of Ostoja, creating picture of family meetings. It is also possible that Zawisza Czarny also was a relative to the Clan and the fact that he spent much time visiting many castles of the Clan during many years also show close connection between this famous Black Knight (named so because of wearing black armor) and the Ostoja. Another interesting fact is that is that King Jogaila was also a member of the Order of the Dragon, the most powerful association of Kings, Duke's and mighty Knights in Europe at that time. It was a secret society and there was never any member list done at the time. However, all members of this Order formed one political body against the enemy of Christianity (read Ottoman Empire). No member of the Order represented the Teutonic Knights. Secret meetings and agreements between Hungary and Poland and so between the Sigismund and Jogaila, using their most trusted couriers, question wherever there was ever any serious dispute between both ruling Kings. Declaring war against Poland in 1410 was more of a show in order to gain economic advantage from Teutonic Knights, than a real war. The facts remain, Teutonic Knights paid a considerable amount to Sigismund for declaring and attacking Poland from south. The outcome was small piece of land burned down to show the Teutonic Knights some action. The penalty paid by Teutonic side after losing the Battle of Grunwald was much bigger and was transferred as a loan to Sigismund. All together, the diplomatic game showed on paper that Poland and Hungary were enemies, but in reality they were close friends.

In the end, it was the Clan of Ostoja that was the leading force in breaking down the Teutonic side, they did it not only by using the fine art of the sword but also with outstanding diplomatic skills.