In 1525 Teutonic State in Prussia has been a fief of Kingdom of Poland due to the conditions of the Treaty of Thorn signed in 1466 that ended the Thirteen-Year War between the two states. And like in case of all fiefs, each Grandmaster of the Teutonic Order was bound to pay homage to the Polish king and support him, at least in in theory. Grandmasters of the Order, having substantial influence in the highest circles of the German nobility did not intend to follow the treaty if it could have been avoided. Grandmaster Heinrich von Richtenberg already refused to support Poland as a vassal in 1470. His successor, Martin von Wetzhausen openly rebelled against his senior, but Casimir IV quickly quelled rebellion, securing the homage of von Wetzhausen as well as that of the successor of the latter, Johann von Tieffen. The next Grandmaster, Friedrich Wettin realized that the Teutonic State is too weak to resist Poland on its own, decided to negotiate the support of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. Jan I began to organize a retaliatory expedition in 1501, but died unexpectedly, and his similarly short-lived successor, Alexander I was more concerned with the threats posed by the rise of Muscovy and incursions of the Tatars. When Sigismund I was crowned in 1507, he quickly focused on the problems posed by the recalcitrant Teutonic Order and refused to any mediation proposed by both the Grandmaster and the Emperor, stating that the Treaty of Thorn clearly states the political status quo. Eventually he yielded to talks that happened in 1510 in Poznań, but he made it clear that he won't change his mind. Due to similarly strong resistance from Teutonic Order, the talks proved to be uneventful. In the next year Friedrich Wettin died and the title of the Grandmaster has been bestowed by the Teutonic Chapterhouse onto Albrecht Hohenzollern, Sigismund's cousin, likely as an attempt to warm the relations between Poland and the Order, and facilitate political understanding.

In 1511, representatives of the conflicted sides gathered again, this time in Thorn (now Toruń, Poland). Polish archbishop Jan Łaski proposed that Polish king should be elected Grandmaster, and the lands of the Teutonic Order should be incorporated into Poland, forming a Polish-Teutonic-Lithuanian Commonwealth united against the Muscovy, Crimean Khanate and Ottomans. However, Albrecht Hohenzollern was more interested in an alliance with the Holy Roman Emperor and other German rulers. Emperor managed to formally ask Duke Elector of Brandenburg, Duke Elector of Saxony and Duke of Pomerania to support Albrecht, but this more an empty gesture, as Imperial rulers were not partial to render help the Teutonic state. This changed in 1514, when Vasily III, Duke of Muscovy allied with Maximilian I against Poland and Lithuania. Sigismund I realized the gravity of the situation and with the help of his brother, Vladislav II, king of Bohemia and Hungary, managed to strike a deal with the Emperor. The latter was to revoke his alliance with Vasily III and abstain from taking actions against Poland (what included political or military support for the Teutonic Order) and in return, Polish king declared that if the Bohemian-Hungarian king of Jagiellon family dies with no heir, said countries will be transferred under the Habsburg rule with Poland abstaining from the claim. Although uncertain (Vladislav II had an adult son and daughter), this deal seemed far more lucrative than anything Emperor could have gotten from the Teutonic Order and thus Maximilian I agreed to the terms officially known as the Treaty of Vienna, abandoning Vasily III and Grandmaster Albrecht. The latter, although heavily weakened by this turn of events, decided to continue his resistance, what led to the last Polish-Teutonic War of 1519-1521 that eventually ended with the Second Treaty of Thorn/

In the meantime, a seminal event happened in Germany, courtesy of an Augustine monk, Martin Luther. Until that time, Albrecht Hohenzollern thought of himself that his position as a ruler of Polish fief with an elective government that was in addition dependent on the papacy cannot be changed. Thus, he initially considered ceding his title of Grandmaster onto Duke Erich of Brunswick and swear an oath of fealty to the king of France. But in 1523, during the peace talks between the Order and Poland, Albrecht met personally with Luther who allegedly suggested another possibility, that is a formation of a secular state in Prussia, where Albrecht could have ruled like any other hereditary, independent ruler who could have renegotiate his relations with other countries. It is also possible that this was an idea of Albrecht himself, as he was in close contact with Georg Polentz, bishop of Sambia and Erhard Queiss, bishop of Pomezania, who were partial to the ideas of Reformation. It goes without saying that such idea was pretty interesting to Albrecht himself.

At the same time, in Polish political circles, the ideas concerning the approach to the Teutonic issue were divided. King himself wanted to gain the title of the Grandmaster and thus gain a formal control over the Order and its lands. Grand Chancellor Krzysztof Szydłowiecki and several other high-ranking members of the court supported the idea of formation of the independent Teutonic state (possibly supporting the aristocracy concerned with the fact that the prolonged war might result in further privileges granted to the lower nobility, as it was happening since the mid-15th century). Archbishop of Gniezno, Jan Łaski, together with Senate, composed largely of high-ranking Polish clergy was in favour of a complete incorporation of the Teutonic State lands to Poland and relocation of the Order itself to Balkans, so that the immediate Teutonic threat could have been resolved once and for all. After a series of secret meetings between the Polish and Teutonic diplomats, the idea of secularization was presented to the Sigismund I who did not object.

Please note that the fact of the Teutonic Order being a religious organization directly connected to the Pope was of no issue here. The relations between Poland and papacy were strained, chiefly because of the conflict with the Order, and it was Polish clergy that voiced an opinion that the Order should be brought down by force and its lands should be incorporated to Poland. In addition, almost completely German composition of the Teutonic Order and its close ties to the German rulers made it as 'Germanic' as 'Catholic' if not more so in the opinion of people involved in contemporary politics. The conflict with Poland was purely secular in nature and thus the idea of dissolution and seizure of the lands was considered not only viable, but even preferable by many. Thus, the dissolution of order and transformation of the Teutonic State into a secular, hereditary Duchy of Prussia was definitely not opposed by Polish king, court and senate.

It is true that Albrecht Hohenzollern has been deemed traitor by the Emperor and a heretic by the Pope and was promptly exiled in absentia by the former and excommunicated by the latter. But there was very little that pope could have done against Sigismund I. Poland and Lithuania, although not united formally yet (The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth will be officially formed via Union of Lublin in 1569), were operating very close since the Union of Krewo in 1385 and together they presented a formidable power, easily rivaling any other polity in Central Europe. Holy Roman Empire was torn by the raging Peasants' War and the Luther's proclamation of 1517 that will eventually irreversibly change the religious landscape of Europe. In addition, fall of Constantinople few decades earlier, and an openly hostile politics of Ottomans, at the time led by very competent sultan Suleiman I (Suleiman the Lawgiver/the Magnificent) created a new threat in the East. Before 1525 Suleiman I managed to capture Rodos and endanger Habsburg realm (in September 1526 Hungarian army aided by Moldavian and Polish allies will suffer a fateful defeat at Mohacs, and in 1541 Suleiman I will capture part of Hungary itself). By the early 16th century, Poland, generally not interested in territorial expansion and located in close proximity to Ottoman Empire and Crimean Khanate gained a reputation of the 'Christian first line of defence' (antemurale Christianitatis) that was readily supported by renowned Renaissance scholars, such as Filippo Buonaccorsi, Erasmus of Rotterdam or Niccolo Macchiavelli. In addition, as noted before, Polish king was a brother of Vladislav II, king of Bohemia and Hungary, whose lands bordered directly with those of Ottoman Empire. In such circumstances, antagonizing Poland (Lithuania was largely Eastern Orthodox anyway) was something that papacy could have simply not afforded at the time. It is also worth noting that both Sigismund I in his letter to the Pope Clement VII and Andrzej Krzycki, bishop of Przemyśl to the papal legate to Hungary leveraged the fact that the Prussian Homage finally ends the tensions between Teutonic Order and Poland, allowing both powers to focus on the new dangers, such as the quick rise of the Ottomans that was considered a threat to the entire Christianity.