Võnnu deal is made

01. April 1533

Margrave Wilhelm, who needed outside support much more than the lawful bishop Buxhoeveden, began to search for allies right away. The priority was to gain the approval of the Pope. Initially, Wilhelm and his supporters hoped that the Pope had not confirmed Buxhoeveden to the position, but soon they found out, that this had happened already in the summer of 1532.
Protests by Wilhelm's delegates did not sway Pope's decision, mainly because they did not have enough funds. The case did not progress in kaiser's Chamber Court either. Then, quite unexpectedly, Wilhelm managed to strike a deal with the Order. It is likely that the Old Master of the Order, Wolter von Plettenberg, agreed to support Wilhelm to stop the civil war from expanding, and to avoid the situation where Wilhelm's allies abroad got involved in Livonia's domestic issues.

The Order regarded the king of Denmark, Frederim I, as biggest threat: on many occasions Frederim I had emphasized his support to Wilhelm, and accused Order of supporting his rival, Christian I. It is very likely that with making a deal with Wilhelm, the Order hoped to improve its relationship with Denmark. The third new player was the Lutheran town of Riga, which tried to avoid falling under the influence of Catholic bishop, and to which the Master had promised freedom of religion.

All three parties formed an alliance on April 1, 1522 in Võnnu, excluding the kaiser and the Pope, and prohibited the allies to look for military support abroad. This was an obvious makeshift from Orders side, a deal that they gave up as soon as an occasion presented itself. It seemed to Wilhelm however, that the war against Buxhoeveden had been won even before weapons had had to be put use. Wilhelm hoped, that the Order will help him to become the master of all of Ösel-Wiek.