European Kingdoms

Bishops of Samland (Sambia)
AD 1252 - 1577

The Prussian peoples were Balts who were closely related to the tribes of Lithuania and many of those in Latvia. One of their tribes, the Sambia, lived in the sparsely populated northern Prussia, in an area roughly to the immediate north and west of Königsberg (now called Kaliningrad), on the peninsula which reaches out towards the Baltic Sea. Once the area had been conquered by the Teutonic Knights, a bishopric was formed in 1252, comprising the districts between the Frisches Haff (Vislinskii Zaliv) and Kurisches Haff (Kurskii Zaliv) , with Königsberg serving as the administrative headquarters. It was the youngest of the four bishoprics of Prussia, those of Culm, Ermland, and Pomesania being formed in 1243.

During this period the inhabitants of Prussia were in a dismal state. Treaties signed between the Prussians and the Teutonic Knights had not been fulfilled; the Prussians were forbidden to live in towns, and they were driven out of their native areas and moved to the eastern districts of the state. Large numbers of Prussians died and their farms were destroyed during the crusade and the revolts of 1260-1274. The Knights ordered the colonisation of Prussia by German peasants with the result that the few Prussians who survived found themselves surrounded by Germans and were gradually assimilated. It was only in Samland that they constituted a majority, but even here they eventually became extinct.

1252 - 1254

Dietrich I

First bishop of Samland.

1254 - 1274

Heinrich I von Streittberg

1260 - 1274

The Livonian Knights, along with the Teutonic Knights, are abandoned by their Estonian and Couronian vassals and severely defeated at the Battle of Durbe in Livonia by the Samogitians. As a result, numerous rebellions break out against the Teutonic Knights all across the Baltics, including a general uprising throughout Prussia. The Prussians win several battles against the hard-pressed Knights and by 1264 the situation is critical. Reinforcements arrive from Germany and the Order launches an attack against the rebels, with final defeat of the Prussians coming in 1274. Several uprisings occur in the thirteenth century, but none as serious as this.

1274 - 1276

Hermann of Cologne

Died 1287.

1276 - 1295

Christian of Mühlhausen

1295 - 1318

Siegfried von Reinstein

1318 - 1320

The position is vacant for two years.

Pobethen Church in Samland, dating to the fourteenth century

1320 - 1344

Johann I

1344 - 1354

Jakob von Kulm

1354 - 1378

Bartholomäus

1378 - 1386

Thilo von Marburg

1387 - 1395

Kuwal

1395 - 1414

Heinrich II von Seefeld

1415 - 1416

Heinrich III, Graf von Schanenburg

1416 - 1425

Johann II Saalfeld

1425 - 1442

Michael Jung

Died 1443.

1442 - 1470

Nikolaus I Schlotterkopf

1466

At the conclusion of the Thirteen Year War, along with the Teutonic Knights, the bishopric of Samland falls under the suzerainty of Poland.

1470 - 1474

Dietrich II von Kulm

Died 1477.

1474 - 1497

Johann III von Rehewinkel

1497 - 1503

Nikolaus II Krender

1503 - 1505

Paul von Watt

1505 - 1518

Günther von Bünau

1518 - 1550

Georg von Polenz

1525

The Teutonic Knights' Ordenstaat is secularised and converted to Lutheran Protestantism as the duchy of East Prussia. In the same year, the reverberations of the Peasants' War in Germany reach Prussia. The inhabitants of Samland, Prussian and German peasants, revolt, demanding personal liberty and the abolition of indentured labour. However, the forces pitted against them are overwhelming and the revolt is put down.

1550 - 1571

Joachim Mörlin

1569

The Union of Poland-Lithuania, Ruthenia, Livonia, Polotsk, and Samogitia is effected, establishing the Commonwealth of Poland. Sigismund II Augustus becomes king of a united Poland-Lithuania.

1571 - 1577

Tilemann Hetzhusius

1577

The bishopric of Samland is dissolved and the territory is submerged within the duchy of East Prussia. Samland is the last region of Prussia in which the Old Prussian language is spoken before the native people become extinct at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Samland eventually becomes part of Kaliningrad after the conclusion of the Second World War.