Prussian Homage

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The Prussian Homage or Tribute (German: Preußische Huldigung; Polish: hołd pruski) was the formal investment of Albert of Prussia as duke of the Polish fief of Ducal Prussia.

In the aftermath of the armistice ending the Polish-Teutonic War Albert, Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights and a member of the House of Hohenzollern, visited Martin Luther at Wittenberg and soon therefter became sympathetic to Protestantism. On April 10, 1525, two days after signing of the Treaty of Kraków, in the market of the Polish capital Kraków, Albert resigned his position as Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights to become a Lutheran and receive the title "Duke of Prussia" from his uncle King Zygmunt I the Old of Poland. In a deal partially brokered by Luther, the Duchy of Prussia became the first Protestant state, anticipating the Peace of Augsburg of 1555. Nevertheless investiture of Protestant fief of Duchy of Prussia was better for Poland for geostrategical reasons than Catholic fief of State of Teutonic Order in Prussia, formally subjected to the Holy Roman Emperor and Papacy.