After the Teutonic Knights occupied these lands, they became the sole controllers of the raw material. As early as 1312, perhaps not fully realising the value of this material, Grand Master Karl of Trier confirmed the prior rights of the fishermen of Osiek to collect amber, in exchange for dues to the Order. However, when the Teutonic Knights realised how much income the trade in the raw material brought in, they monopolised both the extraction and trade of amber.
The handling and export of amber outside the borders of the Teutonic State was managed by the Grand Treasurer, whose seat was the castle in Königsberg, while the income from sales went to the Grand Marshal of the Order. An office of the Amber Master (Bernsteinmeister) was also established in the Königsberg convent, who supervised the extraction of amber from the coasts belonging to the commandery. His seat was the castle in Lochstedt on Sambia (today, the virtually non-preserved castle is known thanks to Konrad Steinbrecht's reconstruction drawings). The area of the Vistula Spit, rich in amber, was divided among the commanderies in Bałga, Elbląg, Malbork, Königsberg, and Gdańsk. Officials responsible for amber extraction in these commanderies were obliged to sell it exclusively to the Grand Treasurer. The extraction of amber in the Bałga commandery was managed by the castle commander, while in Elbląg and Szkarpawa, it was the responsibility of the Fish Masters (Fischmeister).
Even in the 13th century, the Sambian bishops also obtained the right to gather amber from the Order. It was stored in the bishop's castle in Fischhausen. The Cistercian monastery in Oliwa also received permission to collect amber. This privilege, confirmed by the Teutonic Knights in 1342, was owed by the Cistercians to the effective policy of Abbot Rudgier, who, with the help of forged documents, obtained permission from Wenceslaus III in 1305 to fish for amber from a part of the coast of the Bay of Gdańsk.
The richest amber deposits were found along the coast from the Sambian Peninsula, through the Vistula Spit, to Stogi in Gdańsk. Amber fishermen most often went out to sea after a storm, dressed in appropriate gear and equipped with specialised equipment, primarily so-called "kaszorki" (a type of net). On the shore, as suggested by surviving illustrations, such as those by Comenius, they were guarded by watchmen. Fires were often lit on the beach to warm up after coming out of the water during the cold spring or autumn weather. Some researchers refer to amber fishermen as "bursztyniarze" and artists who carve this material as "bursztynnicy".
In the early period, amber from the lands of the Teutonic Order was mainly exported to Bruges and Lübeck, where amber guilds operated (from 1302 and 1360 respectively). It was mainly there that rosaries, figurines, and „amber paintings,” i.e., bas-reliefs, were created. These two cities, particularly in the 14th and 15th centuries, met the demand from European courts for amber products, primarily by manufacturing rosaries from it.
Malbork Castle, as the seat of the convent and the Grand Master, conducted trade in amber. Mentions of amber objects and payments to amber masters appear in the pages of the Malbork expenditure book, known as the. Tressel Bucha. This book lists, among others, the amber carver „Johan from Königsberg,” who was paid several times in 1399-1400 for completed rosaries and plaques, and even received a half-yearly salary. He created two amber paintings, likely as part of a diptych intended for the Grand Master's private chapel. The accounts also mention an amber plaque with five angels, three other amber pictures, a St. Veronica, and several rosaries made of white amber, one of which was kept in a „box with a white picture”. Amber, as one of the most important goods in the Teutonic state and the main driver of the Order's economic power, could certainly have been stored in the treasury of Malbork Castle. It is possible that amber masters' workshops operated temporarily within the castle.
Brothers and religious dignitaries used amber rosaries (paternosters). Due to their intensive, daily use, these medieval rosaries have not survived to our times, as after partial wear they could presumably be used for burning in incense. The Castle Museum houses one of the oldest and largest amber rosaries in world collections. Malbork sources indicate that artistic amber objects were part of the furnishings of castle chapels and could have constituted diplomatic gifts from the Grand Masters to other rulers of medieval Europe.
The most interesting surviving work of this type is a walrus tusk candlestick with a Baltic amber figurine of the Madonna, formerly belonging to Queen Sophia of Bavaria, now in the collections of the museum in Bratislava (temporarily exhibited at the exhibition in Malbork entitled „Amber Contexts”, opened in November 2011). Today known as the „Queen Sophia's Lamp”, it was probably a gift from Grand Master Konrad von Jungingen to the wife of Wenceslas IV.
It is not known whether the 12 cm statuette of a throned Madonna, made from a single piece of clear amber, could have been carved within the territory of the Teutonic Order. The creator was undoubtedly a highly skilled artist, as evidenced by the subtle rendering of the folds and the detail of the sculpture, which has been damaged by the centuries. The Madonna's face, to distinguish her complexion, was made from a different type of amber, known as. Bone amber, resembling somewhat ivory. The figurine of the Madonna, although it was created around 1400, similar to the gilded canopy, as stylistic features indicate, was not originally part of the candlestick. The inscription mentions St. Catherine, whose figurine, at some point in the 15th century or at the beginning of the 16th century, must have been replaced by the figure of the Madonna preserved to this day.
After the Thirteen Years' War, the organisation of amber procurement and trade changed very little. The office of the amber master still existed, and the revenue from amber sales belonged directly to the Grand Master, who resided in Königsberg from 1457. Amber craftsman Hilger is mentioned in Königsberg documents, possibly the author of the only surviving medieval amber relief, currently in the collection of the Deutsches Bernsteinmuseum in Ribnitz-Damgarten.
In the last quarter of the 15th century, organisations of amber craftsmen were established in Słupsk and Gdańsk. The first amber craftsman from Gdańsk to be known by name was Paul Slogelt. Further guilds were formed in Elbląg, Koszalin, and Kołobrzeg. Given the small number of surviving artefacts, it is difficult to determine which of these centres might have produced the lost sculptures known from photographs in a pre-war publication by Alfred Rohde, a pre-war director of the amber museum in Kaliningrad, such as St. Barbara from St. Mary's Church in Gdańsk or the Madonna from Kamień Pomorski. One thing is certain – the establishment of guilds led to the breaking of the Teutonic Knights' monopoly on amber extraction, which resulted in a dispute between the Order and the major Prussian cities.
Although Königsberg did not have a amber workers' guild until the 17th century, from the 16th century onwards the Hohenzollerns – first Albrecht, still as Grand Master, and then as Duke of Prussia – employed artists working for them. In the first half of the 17th century, the power and innovation of the Königsberg centre were publicised by, among others, Georg Schreiber, but his work already marked the beginning of a completely new era – the golden age of amber craftsmanship. The period of modern flourishing of amber art is richly illustrated by the most valuable artefacts at the exhibition. „Amber contexts”, to which I cordially invite you to the Malbork Castle Museum.
Dr Anna Sobecka is the curator of the Amber Collection at the Malbork Castle Museum