RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Prussia
large territory under the rule of one person. Pope Innocent IV. accordingly divided Prussia, in 1243, into four episcopal dioceses: Culm, Pomerania, Ermland, and Samland; and these four bishoprics together with those of the Baltic provinces were put under the authority of the archbishop of Riga. This was entirely after the desire of the Teutonic order; for an archbishop living in Riga could not hinder their plans in Prussia. Moreover, the Teutonic knights established the tradition that the bishoprics and cathedral chapters should be occupied by priests from their own order. The treaty of peace between the Prussians and the order, concluded at Christburg in 1249, throws light upon the inner history of the mission. The Prussians prom-
nothing for learning, and did not effect the Christianization of the people. The first to introduce real Christianity was the first Evangelical prince of the duchy of Prussia, Albert of Prussia (q.v.; 1525- 1568) ; but by his time the pitiable remnant of the knights had been almost entirely absorbed by the Germanic colonization. (Paul Tschackert).
II. Statistics: The modern kingdom of Prussia with an area of 134,588 square miles contained,
according to the census of Dec, 1905,
i. Gain a population of 37,293,324 (1900,
and Loss. 34,472,509), who are distributed among
88 town districts and 489 country districts. The confessional distribution of the population is shown in the following table:
Provinces.
Area, Square Miles.
Evangelicals:
Old Lutheran and
Old Reformed.
Roman Catholics.
Other Christians.
Jews.
Without Confession.
East Prussia.
West Prussia
Brandenburg
Berlin, District of
Pomerania
Posen
Silesia
Saxony ....
Sleswick-Holstein
Hanover .
Westphalia
Hesse-Nassau
Rhenish Prussia
Hohenzollern
14,266 9,856
15,377
11,627
11,183
15,563 9,749 7,336
14,865 7,801 6,060
10,420
1,720,565
764,719
3,238,207
1,695,251
1,616,550
605,312
2,120,361
2,730,098
1,454,526
2,361,831
1,733,413
1,420,047
1,877,582
3,040
278,190
844,566
230,599
223,948
50,206
1,347,958
2,765,394
230,860
41,227
371,537
1,845,263
585,868
4,472,058
64,770
13,352,444
(35.80%)
17,781
16,254
21,540
19,140
7,829
2,907
9,839
9,981
4,834
10,222
18,471
13,430
30,304
13,553
16,139
40,427
98,893
9,660
30,433
46,845
8,050
3,270
15,581
20,757
50,016
55,408
1,133
2,916
Prussia
23,341,502
(62.59%)
182,533
(0.49%)
409,501
(1-10%)
392,322
1.14%
7,344
(0.02%)
1908.
21,817,577 63.29%
12,113,670 35.14%
139,127 0.40%
9,813 0.03%
ised to renounce heathenism entirely and adopt Christianity; however, a long time passed before the entire country as far as the Lithuanian boundary was subjected. The order was assisted in 1254 by Ottocar II., king of Bohemia, to whom was assigned the castle of Konigsberg; and in 1266 by Margrave Otto III. of Brandenburg, who built the fortress of Brandenburg. By 1283 the knights were masters of the country from the Vistula to the Eastern border of modern East Prussia. In 1309 the grand master removed his seat to Marienburg (27 m. s.e. of Danzig), and for about 100 years from that time the order performed a leading part in the events of eastern Europe until the envy and hatred of the Poles broke their power in the terrible battle of Tannenberg (75 m. s.w. of Konigsberg) (1410). The territory west of the Vistula was surrendered to the sovereignty of Poland, and that eastward of the river was accepted as a fief. The seat of the order became Konigsberg in 1466. The Teutonic order had conquered Prussia in its own interest as a support to the German nobility, became wealthy through trade but the object of hatred, built at the seats of occupation such churches as the cathedral at Konigsberg and the Church of St. Mary at Danzig, and allowed the entrance of twenty-four monasteries for men and nine for women; but it did
From 1817 to 1900 the percentage of Evangelical population increased steadily, so that finally Protestants and Roman Catholics were almost equally proportioned. From 1900 there is noticeable a retrogression on the Evangelical side, due among other causes to Polish immigration. From change of confession as well as additions and losses the Evangelical church in Prussia had, in 1905, a gain of 6,911 persons against a loss of 3,741. Conversions from the Roman Catholic to the Evangelical church have increased in the last ten years in proportion to the increase of population: in 1895, 3,228; in 1905, 5,939. The loss of the Evangelicals to the Roman Catholics is far smaller: in 1895, 295; in 1905, 441. The Prussian state churches were increased also by the conversion of 346 Jews. The sects, however, and especially the dissidents of the Evangelical church, caused heavy losses. In Berlin and vicinity more than 1,000 people left the Evangelical church in 1905, mostly from anti-Christian motives; in the whole of Prussia there were 3,245 withdrawals, so that the net gain was reduced to 3,170. According to the latest statistics of 1906, 12,007 persons left the State Church as dissidents. It is to be assumed that most of them renounced Church and Christianity through the agitation of the Social Democrats.
Prussia