Treaty of Melno
Peace treaty (1422) between the Teutonic Knights, the Kingdom of Poland and the Duchy of Lithuania
The Treaty of Melno (Lithuanian: Melno taika; Polish: Pokój melneński) or Treaty of Lake Melno (German: Friede von Melnosee) was a peace treaty ending the Gollub War. It was signed on 27 September 1422, between the Teutonic Knights and an alliance of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania at Lake Melno (German: Melnosee, Meldensee; Polish: Jezioro Mełno), east of Graudenz (Grudziądz). The treaty resolved territorial disputes between the Knights and Lithuania regarding Lithuania Minor and Samogitia, which had dragged on since 1382, and determined the Prussian–Lithuanian border, which afterwards remained unchanged for about 500 years. A portion of the original border survives as a portion of the modern border between the Republic of Lithuania and Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, making it one of the oldest and most stable borders in Europe.
Background
The First Peace of Thorn of 1411 did not resolve long-standing territorial disputes between the Teutonic Knights and the Polish–Lithuanian union. The peace transferred Samogitia to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, but only for the lifetimes of Polish King Jogaila (Władysław II Jagiełło) and Lithuanian Grand Duke Vytautas. At the time both rulers were aged men. Soon disagreements arose as to the Samogitian borders: Vytautas claimed that the entire northern bank of the Neman River, including the port of Memel (Klaipėda), was Samogitian territory. The dispute was mediated at the Council of Constance and by Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor. When Sigismund delivered an unfavorable judgment to the Lithuanians, Jogaila and Vytautas invaded the monastic state of the Teutonic Knights in July 1422, starting the Gollub War.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Treaty of Melno” is peace treaty (1422) between the Teutonic Knights, the Kingdom of Poland and the Duchy of Lithuania. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Treaty, Melno and Peace, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “peace treaty (1422) between the Teutonic Knights, the Kingdom of Poland and the Duchy of Lithuania” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q693964. VIAF identifies the subject as 186461765. The Library of Congress control number is n2006048661. Authority coordinates are 53.432, 18.988. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1422, 1382 and 1411.
Later summaries often reconcile disputed chronology or motive more neatly than the contemporary record permits. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Treaty of Melno” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.