History of Gdansk

13th century, Gdańsk was reincorporated into the reformed Polish kingdom under Przemysł II. A conflict between Poland and Brandenburg in 1308 led to the intervention of the Teutonic Knights, a German Roman Catholic military order that had established a political presence to the east in Prussia. Originally allied with Poland, the Knights turned against their former allies and seized Gdańsk, insinuating a massacre of many of the town's residents.

Under the Teutonic Knights, Gdańsk (then increasingly known by its German name of Danzig) was consolidated into a monastic state. Initially stagnating under the order's religious militarism, the Knights realized Danzig's importance to Baltic seagoing trade could no longer be ignored. Teutonic controls over the town were relaxed by the mid-14th century, as the town was allowed to join the Hanseatic trading alliance. Now within the Hanseatic League, a degree of prosperity arrived, yet discontent with Teutonic rule remained under the surface. 53 of the region's prominent nobles and clergymen in 1440 formally signed into the Prussian Confederation, a group opposing the rule of the Teutonic state. After the Thirteen Years' War's conclusion in 1466, which saw Polish forces defeat the Knights, the town was reincorporated back into the Polish kingdom, although endowed with significant autonomy.

By the 16th century, ethnic Germans constituted a majority in Danzig, with Slavic Polish and Kashubians a minority. Despite initial suppression by the deeply Catholic Polish state, Danzigers largely embraced Protestantism as the Reformation spread from northern Germany. During this period, one of the high points of the Renaissance in Poland, Nicolaus Copernicus visited and worked in the city, with the abstract of his work, Narratio Prima published first in Danzig in 1540. Danzig's prosperity, however, would be severely interrupted by both the Thirty Years' War and the Swedish Deluge between the