ALBERT (149o-1568), last grand master of the Teutonic Order, and first duke of Prussia, was born at Ansbach, May 16, 149o, the third son of Frederick of Hohenzollern, prince of Ans bach and Bayreuth, and Sophia, daughter of Casimir IV., king of Poland. In 151i Albert was made grand master of the Teutonic Order, which had held East Pnissia under Polish suzerainty since 1466. In ;I o Albert was at war with his Polish suzerain, and though a truce was made in 1521 the dispute, which was referred to the emperor, remained unsettled. Albert was then converted to Protestantism, and, supported by the advice of Martin Ipther, determined to make Prussia a hereditary duchy, though he was at the same time assuring Pope Adrian VI. that he intended to reform the Order and repress Lutheranism among the knights. Eventually in 1525 a treaty was signed at Cracow by Sigismund I. of Poland, agreeing to the creation of a duchy, provided it were held as a Polish fief, and Albert was formally invested on Feb. Io.
The new duke proceeded to further Protestantism in East Prussia. He was deposed from the grand mastership, but the Teu tonic knights were unable to recover Prussia, and, although he was placed under the ban of the empire, it was never enforced. In imperial politics Albert was fairly active. Joining the league of Torgau in 1526, he acted in unison with the Protestants, and was among the princes who banded themselves together to overthrow Charles V. after the issue of the Interim in May 1548. The early years of Albert's rule in Prussia were fairly prosperous. Although he had some trouble with the peasantry, the lands and treasures of the church enabled him to propitiate the nobles and for a time to provide for the expenses of the court. He did something for the furtherance of learning by establishing schools in every town and by giving privileges to serfs who adopted a scholastic life. In 1544, in spite of some opposition, he founded a university at Konigsberg, where he appointed his friend Osiander to a profes sorship in 1549. But Osiander's divergence from Luther's doc trine of justification by faith involved him in a violent quarrel with Melanchthon, who had adherents in Konigsberg, and these theological disputes soon created an uproar in the town. The duke strenuously supported Osiander, and the area of the quarrel soon broadened. After Osiander's death in 1552, a preacher named John Funck, with an adventurer named Paul Scalich, exercised great influence over him. The state of turmoil caused by these religious and political disputes compelled the duke to consent to a condemnation of the teaching of Osiander, and in 1566 the estates appealed to Sigismund II., king of Poland, who sent a commission to KOnigsberg. Scalich saved his life by flight, but Funck was executed; the question of the regency was settled; and a strict form of Lutheranism was declared binding on all teachers and preachers. The duke, a disappointed man, lived for two years longer, and died at Tapiau on March 20, 1568. See J. Voigt, Briefwechsel der beriihmtesten Gelehrten des Zeitalters der Reformation mit Herzog Albrecht von Preussen (Konigsberg, 1841) ; K. Lohmeyer, Herzog Albrecht von Preussen (Danzig, 189o) ; E. Joachim, Die Politik des letzten Hochmeisters in Preussen, Albrecht von Brandenburg (Leipzig, 1892).