313 Financial Aid to Mendicant Friaries in Prussia Donated by the Teutonic Order at the Turn of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries Piotr Oliński In the Monastic State of Prussia around the year 1400, there were about 28 houses of various monastic communities. Tere were two Cistercian monasteries, in towns there were three Cistercian-Benedictine convents, one Cistercian convent in Żarnowiec, one convent of Premonstratensians, six Dominican friaries, seven Franciscan friaries, one Carmelite friary, one Carthusian monastery, one Bridgettine convent, four (fve) friaries of the Augustinian Hermits 1 . In the area of approximately 58000 km 2 inhabited by about 480000 people in almost 30 towns there operated 28 religious houses, which means that on average there was one for 18000 inhabitants, in an area of 2000 km 2 2 . Contrary to some opinions, their number was not insignifcant. Te subject matter needs further comparative research. Nevertheless, the fact is that the Monastic State had a similar number of religious houses as many regions of the neighbouring Kingdom of Poland at that time, excluding Silesia 3 . Interestingly, the number of religious houses 1. Biskup Marian, “Średniowieczna sieć klasztorów w państwie zakonu krzyżackiego w Prusach (do 1525 r.)”, Zapiski Historyczne, 64 (1), p. 35-61; Biskup Marian, “Średniowieczna sieć klasztorów w państwie zakonu krzyżackiego w Prusach (do 1525 r.)”, in Gapski Henryk and Kłoczowski Jerzy (eds.), Zakony i klasztory w Europie Środkowo-Wschodniej X-XX wiek, Lublin, Instytut Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej, 1999, p. 49-70; Radzimiński Andrzej, Kościół w państwie Zakonu Krzyżackiego w Prusach 1243-1525, Malbork, Muzeum Zamkowe w Malborku, 2006, p. 97-116. 2. Biskup Marian and Labuda Gerard, Die Geschichte des Deutschen Ordens in Preussen. Wirtschaft- Gesellschaft-Staat-Ideologie, Osnabrück, Deutsches Historisches Institut Warschau, 2000, p. 15; Czaja Roman, “Miasta i ich posiadłości ziemskie w państwie zakonu krzyżackiego w Prusach”, in Nowak Zenon Hubert (ed.), Państwo zakonu krzyżackiego w Prusach. Podziały administracyjne i kościelne od XIII do XVI wieku, Toruń, Towarzystwo Naukowe w Toruniu, Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika, 2000, p. 45-65. 3. In Masovia (about 33500 km 2 ) operated 15 friaries and 15 other monastic houses, in Great Poland (about 60000 km 2 ) and Kuyavia (about 6200 km 2 ) 57 monasteries. Pacuski Kazimierz, “Formowanie się sieci klasztorów i placówek zakonnych na Mazowszu do końca XV wieku”, in Gapski Henryk and Kłoczowski Jerzy (eds.), Zakony i klasztory, op. cit., p. 71-75; Wyrwa Andrzej Marek, “Średniowieczna sieć klasztorów w Wielkopolsce i na Kujawach. Stan, potrzeby badań i wstępna analiza problemu”, ibid., p. 76-146. Copyright Presses universitaires de Rennes