thumb|Coat of Arms of Martin Truchseß von Wetzhausen as Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights
Coat of Arms of the Family Truchseß von Wetzhausen
(c. 1435 – 3 January 1489) was the 34th
Grand Master of the
Teutonic Knights, serving from 1477-1489.
Von Wetzhausen hailed from a family of
Imperial Knights, later
barons from the
Würzburg area in
Franconia. Several members of his family settled in
Prussia and held important posts within the Teutonic Order. Early in his career, he was a monk in
Mewe,
Strasburg, and
Elbing.
From 1462 von Wetzhausen became an adviser to Grand Master
Ludwig von Erlichshausen and since 1476 the Komtur of
Osterode. On August 4, 1477 the Order's
Capitulum elected him Grand Master, despite him having once pledged that "
ehe er welde dem Könige von Polen schweren, er welde ehe in seinem Blutte vortrincken", meaning he'd rather drown in his blood than pay homage to the King of Poland - which the Grand Masters were obligated to do since the
Second Peace of Thorn (1466).
Von Wetzhausen supported
Nicolaus von Tüngen, a candidate for
Bishop of Warmia, in the
War of the Priests, which had started as a dispute in 1467 when King
Casimir IV Jagiellon of Poland did not accept his candidature. In 1478, after having gained international support from King
Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, but hardly any support from within Prussia, von Wetzhausen took a military stance against Poland and captured
Culm, Strasburg, and
Preußisch Stargard. The Polish army under the command of
Jan Biały and
Jan Zieleziński, supported by
Royal Prussia and
Danzig, defeated the Order's army quickly and the Grand Master had to paid the
homage to the Polish king on 9 October 1479 in
Nowe Miasto Korczyn.
Afterwards, von Wetzhausen focused on internal policy within the Order and its problematic financial situation. In the summer of 1488, the Grand Master became very ill and he died in early 1489 in
Königsberg. He was buried in
Königsberg Cathedral.
