Werner von Orseln was the 17th Grand Master of the Teutonic Order

Teutonic Knights

The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem , commonly the Teutonic Order , is a German medieval military order, in modern times a purely religious Catholic order...

, serving from 1324 to 1330.

Von Orseln hailed from a noble family of vogt

Vogt

A Vogt ; plural Vögte; Dutch voogd; Danish foged; ; ultimately from Latin [ad]vocatus) in the Holy Roman Empire was the German title of a reeve or advocate, an overlord exerting guardianship or military protection as well as secular justice...

s (reeves) of the Counts of Falkenstein

Counts of Falkenstein (Rhineland-Palatinate)

The Grafen von Falkenstein was a dynasty of German nobility descending from the Ministeriales of Bolanden, who held land and a castle at Falkenstein in the Palatinate region....

 in Oberursel near Frankfurt

Frankfurt

Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...

. It is not known when he joined the Teutonic Order. He is first mentioned in 1312 holding the office of a Komtur

Komtur

Komtur was a rank within military orders, especially the Teutonic Knights. In the State of the Teutonic Order, the Komtur was the commander of a basic administrative division called Kommende . A Komtur was responsible for the alimentation of the Knights by the yield from the local estates, he...

 at the Ordensburg

Ordensburg

An Ordensburg was a fortress built by crusading German military orders during the Middle Ages. "Ordensburg" was also used during Nazi Germany to refer to training schools for Nazi leaders.- Medieval Ordensburgen :...

 of Ragnit

Neman (town)

Neman is a town and the administrative center of Nemansky District of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia. It is located in the historic Prussia region, east of the town of Sovetsk, on the steep southern bank of the Neman River, where it currently forms the border with the Klaipėda Region in...

 (present-day Neman) near the border of the Order State

Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights

The State of the Teutonic Order, , also Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights or Ordensstaat , was formed in 1224 during the Northern Crusades, the Teutonic Knights' conquest of the pagan West-Baltic Old Prussians in the 13th century....

 with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

Grand Duchy of Lithuania

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state from the 12th /13th century until 1569 and then as a constituent part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1791 when Constitution of May 3, 1791 abolished it in favor of unitary state. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic...

. In 1314, Grand Master Karl von Trier appointed von Orseln Grand Komtur at Malbork Castle

Malbork Castle

The Marienburg Castle in Malbork is by area the largest castle in the world. It was built in Prussia by the Teutonic Knights, a German Roman Catholic religious order of crusaders, in a form of an Ordensburg fortress. The Order named it Marienburg...

. During a coup d'etat

Coup d'état

A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...

 in the Monastic State, he supported the Grand Master and was exiled along with him. However, he returned in 1319 and he held the position of von Trier's resident

Resident (title)

A Resident, or in full Resident Minister, is a government official required to take up permanent residence in another country. A representative of his government, he officially has diplomatic functions which are often seen as a form of indirect rule....

 in Prussia

Prussia (region)

Prussia is a historical region in Central Europe extending from the south-eastern coast of the Baltic Sea to the Masurian Lake District. It is now divided between Poland, Russia, and Lithuania...

. He negotiated discussion and restored hierarchic discipline within the Order.

Upon the death of Karl von Trier, the Order's capitulum

Chapter (religion)

Chapter designates certain corporate ecclesiastical bodies in the Roman Catholic, Anglican and Nordic Lutheran churches....

 on 6 July 1324 chose von Orseln as the next Grand Master. Immediately after being elected, von Orseln was forced to start negotiations with King Władysław I the Elbow-high of Poland over the contested lands of Pomerelia

Pomerelia

Pomerelia is a historical region in northern Poland. Pomerelia lay in eastern Pomerania: on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea and west of the Vistula and its delta. The area centered on the city of Gdańsk at the mouth of the Vistula...

, which the Knights had annexed after the takeover of Gdańsk

Teutonic takeover of Danzig (Gdansk)

The city of Danzig was captured by the State of the Teutonic Order on 13 November 1308, resulting in a massacre of its inhabitants and marking the beginning of tensions between Poland and the Teutonic Order. Originally the knights moved into the fortress as an ally of Poland against the...

 in 1308. The discussions did not produce any results, however, and the Teutonic Order started preparations for war with Poland. In 1326 the Grand Master formed an anti-Polish coalition at Brodnica

Brodnica

Brodnica is a town in northern Poland with 27,400 inhabitants . Previously part of Toruń Voivodeship [a province], from 1975 to 1998, Brodnica has been situated in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999...

, consisting of the Masovian

Duchy of Masovia

The Duchy of Masovia with its capital at Płock was a medieval duchy formed when the Polish Kingdom of the Piasts fragmented in 1138. It was located in the historic Masovian region of northeastern Poland...

 dukes Siemowit II

Siemowit II of Masovia

Siemowit II of Masovia was Duke of Masovia from 1310 to 1345. He was a member of the House of Piast. Siemowit was Duke of Warsaw and Liw . In 1313, he became the ruler of Duchy of Rawa...

, Trojden I

Trojden I, Duke of Masovia

Trojden I of Masovia was a member of the House of Piast. He was Duke of Czersk from 1310. From 1336 to 1340 he was Regent of the Duchy of Płock...

 and Wenceslaus of Płock

Wenceslaus of Płock

Wenceslaus of Płock was a member of the House of Piast. He was Duke of Płock from 1313 until his death and was a vassal of Bohemia from 1329.- Duke of Płock :...

 as well as of several Silesian Piasts

Silesian Piasts

The Silesian Piasts were the oldest line of the Piast dynasty beginning with Władysław II the Exile, son of Bolesław III Wrymouth, Duke of Poland...

 and King John of Bohemia. The pretext to start the Polish–Teutonic War

Polish–Teutonic War (1326–1332)

Polish–Teutonic War was the war between the Kingdom of Poland and the State of the Teutonic Order over Pomerelia, fought from 1326 to 1332.-Background:...

 gave King Władysław I by the invasion of Płock in 1327. In retaliation, the Grand Master ordered the conquest of Polish Kujavia and Dobrzyń Land

Dobrzyn Land

Dobrzyń Land is a historic region around the town of Dobrzyń nad Wisłą in Poland, east of the Vistula River and south of the Drwęca, where it borders on the Kulmerland...

.

Yet during the war, von Orseln died at Malbork Castle as a result of several wounds after an assassination attempt by a mad knight, Johan von Endorf. His mortal remains are buried in the cathedral of Marienwerder

Kwidzyn

Kwidzyn is a town in northern Poland on the Liwa river, with 40,008 inhabitants . It has been a part of the Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999, and was previously in the Elbląg Voivodeship . It is the capital of Kwidzyn County.-History:...

 (Kwidzyn).

As the superior of the Order, von Orseln paid special attention to spiritual life. Despite the ongoing war with Poland, he was able to organize two assemblies

Deliberative assembly

A deliberative assembly is an organization comprising members who use parliamentary procedure to make decisions. In a speech to the electorate at Bristol in 1774, Edmund Burke described the English Parliament as a "deliberative assembly," and the expression became the basic term for a body of...

  of the Prussian clergy and issue several administrative acts forming the base of the political system of the state for decades.