Brandenburg had pawned the Neumark to the Teutonic Knights in 1402, and it had passed completely under their control in 1429, although the Order neglected the region as well.

After the Teutonic Knights' defeat in the Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg) in 1410, the future Grand Master Michael Küchmeister von Sternberg had used the Neumark as a staging ground for an army of German and Hungarian mercenaries which he later used against the forces of King Władysław II Jagiełło of Poland.

This had allowed the Order to retain much of its territory in the First Peace of Thorn in 1411.

The Knights' mismanagement leads in 1454/1455 to their pawning of the Neumark back to Brandenburg, by now led by Elector Frederick II of the Hohenzollern dynasty (Treaties of Cölln and Mewe).