Ludolf König von Wattzau (sometimes spelled Weizau; 1280s – 1347 or 1348) was the 20th Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights

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 1342 to 1345.

König was born sometime between 1280 and 1290. It is not known when he joined the Teutonic Order, but he is first mentioned in 1332 as the Grand Treasurer. In 1338 König became the Grand Komtur of Marienburg

Malbork

Malbork is a town in northern Poland in the Żuławy region , with 38,478 inhabitants . Situated in the Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999, it was previously assigned to Elbląg Voivodeship...

 and intensively colonized the surrounding region. In 1342 the Order's capitulum

Chapter (religion)

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

 named him Grand Master.

The most famous event during König's short reign was the signing of the Treaty of Kalisz with the Kingdom of Poland on July 8, 1343.

As many Grand Masters before him had done, König led wars against 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...

. A retaliatory war by Lithuania in 1345 caused large scale damage 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...

, causing König to develop a mental illness according to some chronicle

Chronicle

Generally a chronicle is a historical account of facts and events ranged in chronological order, as in a time line. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events, the purpose being the recording of events that occurred, seen from the perspective of the...

rs of the Order. He resigned as Grand Master in 1345 and took the post of Komtur of Engelsburg

Pokrzywno, Grudziadz County

Pokrzywno is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Gruta, within Grudziądz County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland. It lies approximately west of Gruta, south-east of Grudziądz, and north of Toruń....

. According to chronicles, he regained his mental health but died in 1347 or 1348.