The
Order of the Teutonic Knights of St. Mary's Hospital in
Jerusalem (Official names: , ), or for short the
Teutonic Order (Today: German Order), is a
German Roman Catholic religious
order. It was formed to aid
Catholics
on their pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to establish hospitals to
care for the sick and injured. Its members have commonly been known
as the
Teutonic Knights, since they also served as
a
crusading military order during the
Middle Ages. The membership was always small and
whenever the need arose, volunteers or mercenaries augmented the
military forces.
Formed at
the end of the 12th century in Acre
, in the
Levant, the medieval Order played an
important role in Outremer, controlling the
port tolls of Acre. After Christian forces were defeated in
the Middle East, the Order moved to
Transylvania in 1211 to help defend
Hungary against the
Cumans. They were expelled in 1225 after allegedly
attempting to place themselves under
Papal
instead of Hungarian sovereignty.
In 1230, following the
Golden Bull
of Rimini,
Grand Master Hermann von Salza and Duke
Konrad I of Masovia launched the
Prussian Crusade, a joint invasion
of
Prussia to Christianise the
Baltic
Old Prussians.
The Order then created
the independent Monastic State of the Teutonic
Knights
in the conquered territory, and subsequently
conquered Courland, Livonia, and Estonia
.
The Kings
of Poland
accused the
Order of holding lands rightfully theirs.
The Order lost its main purpose in Europe with the
Christianisation of Lithuania.
The Order became involved in campaigns against its Christian
neighbours, the
Kingdom of Poland, the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania,
and the
Novgorod Republic (after
assimilating the
Livonian Order).
The
Teutonic Knights had a strong economic base, hired mercenaries from
throughout Europe to augment their feudal levies, and became a
naval power in the Baltic
Sea
. In 1410, a Polish-Lithuanian army decisively
defeated the Order and broke its military power at the Battle of
Grunwald
(Tannenberg).
In 1515,
Holy Roman Emperor
Maximilian I made a
marriage alliance with
Sigismund
I of Poland-Lithuania. Thereafter the Empire did not support
the Order against Poland. In 1525, Grand Master
Albert of Brandenburg resigned and
converted to
Lutheranism, becoming
Duke of Prussia. Estonia and Livonia
soon followed, and also the Order's holdings in Protestant areas of
Germany.
The Order kept its considerable holdings in Catholic areas of
Germany until 1809, when
Napoleon
Bonaparte ordered its dissolution and the Order lost its last
secular holdings. The Order continued to exist as a charitable and
ceremonial body. It was outlawed by Hitler in 1938, but
re-established in 1945. Today it operates primarily with charitable
aims in Central Europe.
The Knights wore white
surcoats with a black
cross.
A
cross pattée was sometimes used as
their coat of arms; this image was
later used for military decoration and insignia by the Kingdom of
Prussia
and Germany
as the
Iron Cross. The motto of the Order
was:"Helfen, Wehren, Heilen" ("Help, Defend, Heal") .
Names
The officially used full name of the Order in
German is
Orden der Brüder vom Deutschen
Haus St. Mariens in Jerusalem.Its
Latin
name is
Ordo domus Sanctæ Mariæ Theutonicorum
Hierosolymitanorum (engl. "Order of the House of St. Mary of
the Germans in Jerusalem"). It is commonly known in German as the
Deutscher Orden (official short name, engl. "German
Order"), historically also as
Deutscher Ritterorden
("German Order of Knights"),
Deutschherrenorden or
Deutschritterorden ("Order of the German Knights").
The Teutonic Knights have been known as
Zakon Krzyżacki in
Polish and as
Kryžiuočių
Ordinas in
Lithuanian,
"Vācu Ordenis" in
Latvian, "Saksa
Ordu" or, simply, "Ordu" ("The Order") in
Estonian, as well as various names in
other languages.
Medieval organization of the order
the administrative structure of the German order about
1450
universal leadership
Generalkapitel
The Generalkapitel (general chapter) was the collection of all the
priests, knights and halfbrothers. Because of the logistical
problems to assemble the members, who were spread over large
distances, only deputations of the Balleien and Kommenden gathered
to form the Generalkapitel. The Generalkapitel was designed to meet
once in a year, but the conventions usually were limited to the
election of a new Hochmeister. The decisions of the Generalkapitel
had a binding effect on the Großgebietigers of the order.
Hochmeister
The Hochmeister (grand master) was the highest officer of the
order. Until 1525, he was elected by the Generalkapitel. He had the
rank of an ecclastic
emperial state
and was sovereign prince of Prussia until 1466. Despite this high
formal position, practically, he only was a kind of first among
equals.
Großgebietiger
The Großgebietiger were high officers with competence on the whole
order, appointed by the Hochmeister. There were five offices.
- The Großkomtur (Magnus Commendator), the deputy of the
Hochmeister
- The Treßler, the treasurer
- The Spitler (Summus Hospitalarius), responsible for all
hospital affairs
- The Trapier, responsible for dressing and armament
- The Marschall (Summus Marescalcus), the chief of military
affairs
national leadership
Landmeister
The order was divided in three national chapters,
Prussia,
Livland and
the territory of the
Holy Roman
EmpireHighest officer of each chapter was the Landmeister
(country master). They were elected by the regional chapters. In
the beginning, they were only substitutes of the Hochmaster but
were able to create a power or their own. Within their territory,
the Hochmeister could not decide against their will. In the end of
the rule over Prussia, factual, the Hochmeister only was
Landmeister of Prussia.There were three Landmeister
- The Landmeister in Livland, the successor of the Herrenmeister
(lords master) of the former Livonian Brothers of the
Sword
- The Landmeister of Prussia, since 1309 united with the office
of the Hochmeister, who was situated in Prussia since then.
- The Deutschmeister, the Landsmeister of the Holy Empire. When
Prussia and Livland were lost, the Deutschmeister also became
Hochmeister.
regional leadership
Because the properties of the order within the rule of the
Deutschmeister did not form a cohesive territory but were spread
over the whole empire and parts of Europe, there was an additional
regional structure, the Ballei. Kammerbaleien were governed by the
Hochmeister himself. Some of these Baleis had the rank of imperial
states
- Deutschordensballei Thuringia
(Zwätzen)
- Deutschordensballei Hesse
Marburg
)
- Deutschordensballei Saxonia
Lucklum)
- Brandenburg
- Deutschordensballei Westfalia
(Deutschordenskommende Mülheim
)
- Deutschordensballei Franconia (Ellingen
)
- Kammerballei Koblenz
- Deutschordensballei Schwabia-Alsace
-Burgundy (Rufach
)
- Deutschordensballei at the Etsch and in the
Mountains (south tyrol) (Bozen
)
- Utrecht
- Lorraine (Trier)
- Kammerballei Austria
- Deutschordensballei Alden Biesen
- Sicily
- Deutschordensballei {{Apulia]] (San Leonardo)
- Lombardy (also called Lamparten)
- Kammerballei Bohemia
- [[Deutschordensballei Romania (Achaia, Greece)
- Armenien-Zyprus
local leadership
The smallest administrative unit of the order was the
Kommende. It was ruled by a Komtur, who had all
administrative rights and controled the vogteien (district of a
reeve) and Zehnthöfe (tithe collectors) within his rule. In the
Kommende, all kinds of brothers lived together in a monastical way.
Noblemen served as Sariantbrothers, armed soldiers and as
Halfbrothers, working in economy and healtcare.
Special offices
- The Kanzler (chancler) of the Hochmeister and the
Deutschmeister. The chancler took care of the keys and seals and
was recording clerk of the kapitel.
- The Münzmeister (master of the mint)of Thorn.In 1246 the order
recieved the right to produce it's own coins the Moneta Dominorum
Prussiae – Schillingen.
- The Pfundmeister (customs master) of Danzig. The Pfund was a
local customs duty.
- The Generalprokurator the representant of the order at the holy
seat.
- The Großschäffer, a trading representant with special
aithority.
Foundation
In 1143
Pope Celestine II ordered
the
Knights Hospitaller to take
over management of a German hospital in Jerusalem, which, according
to the chronicler Jean d’Ypres, accommodated the countless German
pilgrims and crusaders who could neither speak the local tongue
(i.e. old French) nor Latin (
patriæ linguam ignorantibus atque
Latinam). However, although formally an institution of the
Hospitallers, the pope commanded that the prior and the brothers of
the
domus Theutonicorum (house of the Germans) should
always be Germans themselves, so a tradition of a German-led
religious institution could develop during the 12th century in
Palestine.
After the
loss of Jerusalem in 1187, some merchants from Lübeck
and Bremen
took up the
idea and founded a field hospital for the duration of the siege of Acre in 1190, which became the
nucleus of the order; Celestine III
recognized it in 1192 by granting the monks Augustinian Rule. Based on the model of
the
Knights Templar it was, however,
transformed into a military order in 1198 and the head of the order
became known as the
Grand Master
(
magister hospitalis).
It received papal
orders for crusades to take and hold Jerusalem
for Latin
Christianity and defend the Holy Land against the Muslim
Saracens. During the rule of Grand
Master
Hermann von Salza
(1209-1239) the Order changed from being a
hospice brotherhood for pilgrims to
primarily a
military order.
Originally based in Acre, the Knights
purchased Montfort
, northeast of Acre, in 1220. This castle, which
defended the route between Jerusalem and the Mediterranean Sea
, was made the seat of the Grand Masters in 1229,
although they returned to Acre after losing Montfort to Muslim
control in 1271. The Order also had a castle near Tarsus
in Armenia
Minor. The Order received donations of land in the
Holy Roman Empire (especially in
present-day Germany and Italy
), Greece
, and
Palestine.
Emperor Frederick II elevated his
close friend Hermann von Salza to the status of
Reichsfürst, or "Prince of the Empire",
enabling the Grand Master to negotiate with other senior princes as
an equal.
During Frederick's coronation as King of Jerusalem in 1225, Teutonic
Knights served as his escort in the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre
; von Salza read the emperor's proclamation in both
French and German. However, the Teutonic Knights
were never as influential in
Outremer as
the older
Templars and
Hospitallers.
In 1211,
Andrew II of
Hungary accepted their services and
granted them the district of
Burzenland
in
Transylvania.
Andrew had been
involved in negotiations for the marriage of his daughter with the
son of Hermann, Landgrave of Thuringia, whose vassals included the family of Hermann von
Salza. Led by a brother called Theoderich, the Order
defended Hungary against the neighbouring
Cumans and settled new German colonists among those
who were known as the
Transylvanian
Saxons, living there before. In 1224 the Knights petitioned
Pope Honorius III to be placed
directly under the authority of the
Papal
See, rather than that of the King of Hungary. Angered and
alarmed at their growing power, Andrew responded by expelling them
in 1225, although he allowed the new colonists to remain.
Prussia
In 1226,
Konrad I, Duke of Masovia in west-central Poland, appealed to
the Knights to defend his borders and subdue the pagan Baltic
Prussians, allowing the Teutonic
Knights use of Chełmno
Land
(Culmerland) as a base for their campaign.
This being a time of widespread crusading fervor throughout Western
Europe, Hermann von Salza considered
Prussia a good training ground for his
knights for the wars against the
Muslims in
Outremer. With the
Golden Bull of
Rimini, Emperor Frederick II bestowed on the Order a special
imperial privilege for the conquest and possession of Prussia,
including Chełmno Land, with nominal papal sovereignty. In 1235 the
Teutonic Knights assimilated the smaller
Order of Dobrzyń, which had been
established earlier by Konrad.
The
conquest of Prussia was
accomplished with much bloodshed over more than 50 years, during
which native Prussians who remained unbaptised were subjugated,
killed, or exiled. Fighting between the Knights and the Prussians
was ferocious; chronicles of the Order state the Prussians would
"roast captured brethren alive in their armour, like chestnuts,
before the shrine of a local god".
The native nobility who submitted to the crusaders had many of
their privileges affirmed in the
Treaty of Christburg. After the
Prussian uprisings of 1260-83,
however, much of the Prussian nobility emigrated or were resettled,
and many free Prussians lost their rights. The Prussian nobles who
remained were more closely allied with the German landowners and
gradually assimilated.
Peasants in frontier regions, such as
Samland
, had more privileges than those in more populated
lands, such as Pomesania. The
crusading knights often accepted
baptism as
a form of submission by the natives. Christianity along western
lines slowly spread through Prussian culture. Bishops were
reluctant to have Prussian religious practices integrated into the
new faith, while the ruling knights found it easier to govern the
natives when they were semi-pagan and lawless.
The Order
ruled Prussia under charters
issued by the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor as a sovereign monastic
state
, comparable to the arrangement of the Knights Hospitallers in Rhodes
and later in
Malta
.
To make up for losses from the
plague
and to replace the partially exterminated native population, the
Order encouraged the
immigration of
colonists from the
Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation
(mostly
Germans,
Flemish, and
Dutch) and from Masovia (
Poles), the later
Masurians.
The colonists included nobles, burghers, and peasants, and the
surviving Old Prussians were gradually assimilated through
Germanization. The settlers founded numerous
towns and cities on former Prussian settlements. The Order itself
built a number of castles (
Ordensburgen) from which it could defeat
uprisings of Old Prussians, as
well as continue its attacks on the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and
the Kingdom of Poland, with which the Order was often at war during
the 14th and 15th centuries.
Major towns founded by the Order included
Königsberg
, founded in 1255 in honor of King Otakar II of Bohemia on the site of a destroyed Prussian
settlement, Allenstein 
, Elbing
, and Memel 
.
In 1236
the Knights of St Thomas, an
English
order, adopted the rules of the Teutonic
Order. The
Livonian Brothers of the
Sword were absorbed by the Teutonic Knights in 1237; the
Livonian branch subsequently became known as the
Livonian Order.
The Teutonic Order's
nominal territorial rule extended over Prussia, Livonia,
Semigalia, and Estonia.
Its next
aim was to convert Orthodox
Russia
to Roman Catholicism, but after the knights
suffered a disastrous defeat in the Battle on Lake Peipus (1242) at the hands
of Prince Alexander Nevsky of
Novgorod, this plan had to be
abandoned. A contingent of Teutonic Knights of indeterminate
number is traditionally believed to have participated at the
Battle of Legnica in 1241 against
the
Mongols. However,
recent analysis of the 15th century
Annals of Jan Długosz
by Labuda suggests that the German crusaders may have been added to
the text (listing the Allied Army) after the chronicler
Długosz had completed the work. Legnica is
the furthest west the Mongol expansion would reach in Europe.
Novgorod
In 1242,
the Teutonic Knights invaded the Republic of Novgorod (located in
modern-day Russia, but then
an independent state of combined Finno-Ugric & Russian
inhabitants, the only such ever to exist. Novgorod was later
demolished by Ivan III), but were defeated
at Lake
Peipus
and pushed back by the forces of prince and
commanding general at Novgorod Alexander Nevski. This battle is
known in Russia as the
Battle of the
Ice.
Against Lithuania
The
Teutonic Knights began to direct their campaigns against pagan
Lithuania (see Lithuanian
mythology), especially after the fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem at Acre in 1291. The knights moved their headquarters to
Venice
, from which
they planned the recovery of Outremer. Because "Lithuania Propria" remained non-Christian
until the end of the 14th century, much later than the rest of
eastern Europe, many knights from western European countries, such
as England and France
, journeyed
to Prussia to participate in the seasonal campaigns
(reyse) against the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Some
of them campaigned against pagans to obtain remission for their
sins, while others fought to gain military experience.
Warfare between the Order and the Lithuanians was especially
brutal. Non-Christians were seen as lacking rights possessed by
Christians. Because enslavement of non-Christians was seen as
acceptable at the time and the subdued native Prussians demanded
land or payment, the Knights often used captured pagan Lithuanians
for forced labor.
The contemporary Austrian
poet Peter Suchenwirt described treatment he
witnessed of pagans by the Knights:
Women and children were taken captive; What a jolly
medley could be seen: Many a woman could be seen, Two children tied
to her body, One behind and one in front; On a horse without spurs
Barefoot had they ridden here; The heathens were made to suffer:
Many were captured and in every case, Were their hands tied
together They were led off, all tied up — Just like hunting
dogs.
The Knights of the Ritterbruder were a source of many of the
victories of the Order. These knights wore extremely heavy armor.
The most impressive part was their helmet. It had two, long horns
which from far made the wearer look like a demon. The Lithuanian
farmers, archers and light infantry (which most of the army
consisted) would flee in panic.
Against Poland
A dispute over the succession of the Duchy of
Pomerelia embroiled the Order in further conflict
in the beginning of the 14th century. The Margraves of
Brandenburg had claims to the
duchy which they acted upon after the death of King
Wenceslaus of Poland in 1306. Duke
Władysław I the
Elbow-high of Poland claimed the duchy as well basing on
inheritance from
Przemysław II,
but was opposed by some
Pomeranians
nobles.
They requested help from Brandenburg, which
subsequently occupied all of Pomerelia except for the citadel of
Danzig
in 1308. Because Władysław was unable to
come to the defense of Danzig, the Teutonic Knights, then led by
Hochmeister
Siegfried von
Feuchtwangen, were hired to expel the Brandenburgers.
The Order, under Prussian Landmeister
Heinrich von Plötzke, evicted the
Brandenburgers from Danzig in September 1308. Von Plötzke presented
Władysław with a bill for 10,000
marks
of silver for the Order's help, but the Polish duke was only
willing to offer 300 marks. After this refusal, the Teutonic
Knights occupied the entirety of Danzig, and massacred its Polish
inhabitants.
In the Treaty of Soldin, the Teutonic Order
purchased Brandenburg's claims to the castles of Danzig, Schwetz 
, and Dirschau
and their hinterlands from the margraves for 10,000
marks on September 13, 1309.
Control of Pomerelia allowed the Order to connect their monastic
state with the borders of the Holy Roman Empire. Crusading
reinforcements and supplies could travel from the Imperial
territory of
Hither Pomerania
through Pomerelia to Prussia, while Poland's access to the Baltic
Sea was blocked. While Poland had mostly been an ally of the
knights against the pagan Prussians and Lithuanians, the capture of
Pomerelia turned the kingdom into a determined enemy of the
Order.
The capture of Danzig marked a new phase in the history of the
Teutonic Knights.
The persecution and abolition of the
powerful Knights Templar which began
in 1307 worried the Teutonic Knights, but control of Pomerelia
allowed them to move their headquarters in 1309 from Venice to
Marienburg 
on the Nogat River
, outside of the reach of secular powers. The
position of Prussian Landmeister was merged with that of the Grand
Master. The Pope began investigating misconduct by the knights, but
the Order was defended by able jurists. Along with the campaigns
against the Lithuanians, the knights faced a vengeful Poland and
legal threats from the Papacy.
The
Treaty of Kalisz of 1343
ended open war between the Teutonic Knights and Poland.
The
Knights relinquished Kuyavia and Dobrzyń Land to Poland, but retained
Culmerland and Pomerelia with Danzig.
Height of power
The Order's possessions around
1300
In 1337 Emperor
Louis
IV allegedly granted the Order the imperial privilege to
conquer all Lithuania and Russia. During the reign of Grand Master
Winrich von Kniprode
(1351-1382), the Order reached the peak of its international
prestige and hosted numerous European crusaders and nobility.
King
Albert of Sweden
ceded
Gotland
to the Order as a pledge (similar to a fiefdom), with the understanding that they would
eliminate the pirating Victual
Brothers from this strategic island base in the Baltic Sea. An invasion force under Grand Master
Konrad von Jungingen conquered
the island in 1398 and drove the Victual Brothers out of Gotland
and the Baltic Sea.
In 1386 Grand Duke
Jogaila of Lithuania was
baptised into Christianity and married Queen
Jadwiga of Poland, taking the name
Władysław II Jagiełło and becoming King of Poland. This created a
personal union between the two
countries and a potentially formidable opponent for the Teutonic
Knights. The Order initially managed to play Jagiello and his
cousin
Vytautas against each
other, but this strategy failed when Vytautas began to suspect that
the Order was planning to annex parts of his territory.
The baptism of Jagiello began the official conversion of Lithuania
to Christianity. Although the crusading rationale for the Order's
state ended when Prussia and Lithuania had become officially
Christian, the Order's feuds and wars with Lithuania and Poland
continued. The
Lizard Union
was created in 1397 by Prussian nobles in Culmerland to oppose the
Order's policy.
In 1407
the Teutonic Order reached its greatest territorial extent and
included the lands of Prussia,
Pomerelia, Samogitia, Courland,
Livonia, Estonia, Gotland, Dagö
, Ösel
, and the Neumark, pawned by
Brandenburg in 1402.
Decline
In 1410
at the First Battle
of Tannenberg — known in Polish as the Battle of Grunwald
and in Lithuanian as the Battle of Žalgiris — a combined
Polish-Lithuanian army, led by Władysław II Jagiełło and Vytautas,
decisively defeated the Order in the Polish-Lithuanian-Teutonic
War. Grand Master
Ulrich
von Jungingen and most of the Order's higher dignitaries fell
on the battlefield (50 out of 60).
The Polish-Lithuanian army then besieged
the capital of the Order, Marienburg
, but was unable to take it owing to the resistance
of Heinrich von Plauen.
When the
First Peace of Thorn
was signed in 1411, the Order managed to retain essentially all of
its territories, although the Knights' reputation as invincible
warriors was irreparably damaged.
While Poland and Lithuania were growing in power, that of the
Teutonic Knights dwindled through infighting. They were forced to
impose high taxes to pay a substantial indemnity but did not give
the cities sufficient requested representation in the
administration of their state. The authoritarian and reforming
Grand Master Heinrich von Plauen was forced from power and replaced
by
Michael
Küchmeister von Sternberg, but the new Grand Master was unable
to revive the Order's fortunes.
After the Gollub
War the Knights lost some small border regions and renounced
all claims to Samogitia in the 1422
Treaty of
Melno
. Austrian and
Bavarian knights feuded with those from
the
Rhineland, who likewise bickered with
Low German-speaking
Saxons, from whose ranks the Grand Master was usually
chosen. The western Prussian lands of the
Vistula River Valley and the Brandenburg Neumark
were ravaged by the
Hussites during the
Hussite Wars. Some Teutonic Knights
were sent to battle the invaders, but were defeated by the
Bohemian infantry. The Knights also sustained a
defeat in the
Polish-Teutonic War .
In 1454 the
Prussian
Confederation, consisting of the
gentry
and burghers of western Prussia, rose up against the Order,
beginning the
Thirteen Years'
War. Much of Prussia was devastated in the war, during the
course of which the Order returned Neumark to Brandenburg in 1455.
In the
Second Peace of
Thorn , the defeated Order recognized the
Polish crown's rights
over western Prussia (subsequently
Royal
Prussia) while retaining eastern Prussia under nominal Polish
overlordship.
Because Marienburg Castle was handed over to
mercenaries in lieu of their pay, the Order moved its base to
Königsberg in Sambia
.
The Order
was completely ousted from Prussia when Grand Master Albert of Brandenburg, after the
Polish–Teutonic
War , converted to Lutheranism in
1525, secularized the Order's remaining Prussian territories, and
assumed from King Sigismund I the
Old of Poland, his uncle, the hereditary rights to the Duchy of
Prussia
as a vassal of the Polish Crown in the Prussian Homage. The Protestant Duchy
of Prussia was thus a fief of Catholic Poland.
Although it had lost control of all of its Prussian lands, the
Teutonic Order retained its territories within the
Holy Roman Empire and
Livonia, although the Livonian branch retained
considerable autonomy. Many of the Imperial possessions were ruined
in the
Peasants' War from 1524 to 1525
and subsequently confiscated by Protestant territorial princes. The
Livonian territory was then partitioned by neighboring powers
during the
Livonian War; in 1561 the
Livonian Master
Gotthard Kettler
secularized the southern Livonian possessions of the Order to
create the Duchy of
Courland, also a vassal
of Poland.
After the loss of Prussia in 1525, the Teutonic Knights
concentrated on their possessions in the Holy Roman Empire. Since
they held no contiguous territory, they developed a three-tiered
administrative system: holdings were combined into
commanderies which were administered
by a
commander (
Komtur). Several
commanderies were combined to form a
bailiwick headed by a
Landkomtur.
All of
the Teutonic Knights' possessions were subordinate to the Grand
Master whose seat was in Bad Mergentheim
. Altogether there were twelve German
bailiwicks: Thuringia, Alden Biesen (in
present-day Belgium
), Hesse, Saxony
, Westphalia, Franconia,
Koblenz
, Alsace-Burgundy, An der Etsch und im Gebirge
(Tyrol), Utrecht, Lorraine, and Austria
. Outside of German areas were the bailiwicks
of Sicily, Apulia
, Lombardy, Bohemia, "Romania" (Greece), and Armenia
-Cyprus
.
The Order gradually lost control of these holdings until, by 1810,
only the bailiwicks in Tyrol and Austria remained.
Following the abdication of Albert of Brandenburg,
Walter von Cronberg became
Deutschmeister in 1527, became Administrator of Prussia
and Grand Master in 1530. Emperor
Charles V combined the two
positions in 1531, creating the title
Hoch- und
Deutschmeister, which also had the rank of
Prince of the Empire.
A new Grand Magistery
was established in Mergentheim in Württemberg
, which was attacked during the Peasants' War. The Order also helped
Charles V against the
Schmalkaldic
League. After the
Peace of
Augsburg in 1555, membership in the Order was open to
Protestants, although the majority of brothers remained Catholic.
The Teutonic Knights now were tri-denominational, and there were
Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed bailiwicks.
The Grand Masters, often members of the great German families (and,
after 1761, members of the House of
Habsburg-
Lorraine), continued to preside over the
Order's considerable holdings in Germany. Teutonic Knights from
Germany, Austria, and Bohemia were used as battlefield commanders
leading mercenaries for the
Habsburg
Monarchy during the
Ottoman
wars in Europe. The military history of the Teutonic Knights
ended in 1809, when
Napoleon
Bonaparte ordered their dissolution and the Order lost its
remaining secular holdings to Napoleon's vassals and allies.
Grand Masters' tomb uncovered
Polish
archeologists report DNA testing has confirmed the skeletal remains
found in a Kwidzyn
(German: Marienwerder) cathedral are the
600-year-old remains of three of the Teutonic Knights' more famous
Grand Masters.
Archeologist Bogumil Wisniewski, says that researchers are 95 %
sure the remains are those of Grand Masters Werner von Orseln, the
knights' leader from 1324 to 1330; Ludolf Koenig, who ruled from
1342 to 1345, and Heinrich von Plauen, who reigned from 1410 to
1413.
The skeletons, found in wooden coffins, were draped in silk robes,
painted with gold, as was the custom of only those in high
positions, during the Middle Ages.
Several other indicators supported the find, including murals
showing the three knights and historic documents indicating two of
them were buried beneath the church.
After the scientific studies are complete the remains will be put
on public display in the ancient church, under a special glass
shield.
Modern Teutonic Order
The Order
continued to exist in Austria
, out of Napoleon's reach. Beginning in 1804
it was headed by members of the
Habsburg
dynasty until the 1923 resignation of the Grand Master,
Archduke Eugen of Austria.
In 1929 the Teutonic Knights were converted to a purely spiritual
Roman Catholic religious order and were renamed
Deutscher Orden ("German Order"). After Austria's
annexation by
Nazi
Germany, the Teutonic Order was suppressed throughout the
Großdeutsches Reich from 1938
to 1945, although the
Nazis used imagery of
the medieval Teutonic Knights for
propaganda purposes. The Order survived in Italy,
however, and was reconstituted in Germany and Austria in
1945.
By the end of the 1990s, the Order had developed into a
charitable organization and
incorporated numerous
clinics.
It sponsors
excavation and tourism projects in Israel
. In
2000 the German chapter of the Teutonic Order declared bankruptcy,
and its upper management was dismissed.
A 2002–03
investigation by a special committee of the Bavarian
parliament
was inconclusive.
The Order currently consists of approximately 1,000 members,
including 100
Roman Catholic priests, 200
nuns, and 700
associates.
While the priests are organized into six
provinces (Austria, the Czech Republic
, Germany, Italy, Slovakia
, and Slovenia
) and predominantly provide spiritual guidance, the
nuns primarily care for the ill and the aged. Associates are active
in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Italy.
Many of the priests care for German-speaking communities outside of
Germany and Austria, especially in Italy and Slovenia; in this
sense the Teutonic Order has returned to its 12th century
roots — the spiritual and physical care of Germans in foreign
lands. The current General
Abbot of the Order,
who also holds the title of Grand Master, is
Bruno Platter.
The current seat of the Grand Master is
the Deutschordenskirche
in Vienna
.
Near the
Stephansdom
in the Austrian capital is the Treasury of the
Teutonic Order which is open to the public, and the order's Central
Archive. Since 1996 there has also been a museum
dedicated to the Teutonic Knights at their former castle in
Bad
Mergentheim in
Germany, which was
the seat of the Grand Master from 1525-1809.
Influence on German and Polish nationalism
German
nationalism often invoked the
imagery of the Teutonic Knights, especially in the context of
territorial conquest from eastern neighbours of Germany and
conflict with nations of Slavic origins, who were considered by
German nationalists to be of lower development and of inferior
culture. The German historian
Heinrich von Treitschke used imagery
of the Teutonic Knights to promote pro-German and anti-Polish
rhetoric. Such imagery and symbols were adopted by many
middle-class Germans who supported German
nationalism. The converse was also true for
Polish
nationalism (see:
Sienkiewicz "Crusaders"), which used the
Teutonic Knights as a symbolic short-hand for Germans in general,
conflating the two into an easily recognizable image of the
hostile.
During the Weimar Republic
, associations and organisations of this nature
contributed to laying the groundwork for the formation of Nazi Germany.
Emperor
William II of Germany
posed for a photo in 1902 in the garb of a monk from the Teutonic
Order, climbing up the stairs in the reconstructed Marienburg
Castle
as a symbol of the German Empire's
policy.During
World War II,
Nazi propaganda and
ideology made frequent use of the Teutonic Knights'
imagery, as the Nazis sought to depict the Knights' actions as a
forerunner of the Nazi conquests for
Lebensraum.
Heinrich
Himmler tried to idealize the SS
as a 20th
century incarnation of the medieval knights.
However, in spite of these references to the Teutonic Order's
history in the propaganda, the Order itself was abolished in 1938
and its members were persecuted by the Nazi regime
Timeline of events
- see also Polish-Teutonic
War
- 1241 The Battle of
Legnica
- 1242 The Battle of the Ice, 20
Knights killed, 6 captured
- 1242–1249 First Prussian
Uprising
- 1249 Treaty of Christburg
with the pagan Prussians signed on February 9
- 1249 Battle of Krücken,
54 Knights slaughtered
- 1260–1274 Great Prussian
Uprising
- 1260 Battle of Durbe, 150
Knights killed
- 1262 Siege of
Königsberg
- 1263 Battle of Löbau, 40
Knights killed
- 1264 Siege of
Bartenstein
- 1271 Battle of Pagastin, 12
Knights killed
- 1279 Battle of Aizkraukle,
71 Knights killed
- 1308–1309 Teutonic
takeover of Danzig and Treaty of Soldin
- Polish-Teutonic War
for Kuyavia, with involvement of Lithuania
and Hungary
- 1331 Battle of Płowce, 73
Knights killed, 56 captured
- Treaty of Kalisz ,
exchange of Kuyavia for Kulm and other territories
- 1409–1411 Polish-Lithuanian-Teutonic
War, the teutonic knights are defeated by Polish king Władysław
II Jagiełło at the Battle of Tannenberg
- 1414 Hunger War, 86 Knights
killed
- 1422
Gollub War ending with the Treaty of
Melno
- Polish-Teutonic
War
- 1454–1466 Thirteen Years'
War
- 1466 Second Peace of
Thorn
- 1467-1479 War of the
Priests
- Polish-Teutonic
War
- 1525 Order loses Prussia due to the Prussian Homage
Coats of arms
Image:Teutonic order COA drawing.svg|Image:Den tyske ordens
skjold.svg|Image:Crux Ordis Teutonicorum.svgFile:CoA - Bruntal
Castle.jpg|Coat of arms of Prince Charles Alexander of
Lorraine, Grand Master from 1761 to 1780
Seals and coins
Image:Siegel_Grossmeister_Deutschritterorden.jpg|Seal of
the HochmeisterImage:Teutonic Order Coin B ubt.jpeg|Reconstructed
coinImage:Teutonic Order Coin A ubt.jpeg|Reconstructed
coin
See also
Notes
- Dieter Zimmerling: Der Deutsche Orden, S. 166 ff.
- Der Deutschordensstaat
- Monumenta Germaniae Historica,
SS Bd. 25, S. 796.
- Kurt Forstreuter. "Der Deutsche Orden am Mittelmeer".
Quellen und Studien zur Geschichte des Deutschen Ordens, Bd
II. Bonn 1967, S.
12f.
- Seward, p. 100
- Seward, p. 104
- Christiansen, pp. 208-09
- Christiansen, pp. 210-11
- Barraclough, p. 268
- Urban, p. 106
- Christiansen, p. 211
- AllEmpire.info. " The Battle of Liegnitz (Legnica), 1241".
Accessed October 5, 2006.
- Christiansen, p. 150
- Sainty, Guy Stair. The Teutonic Order of Holy Mary in Jerusalem.
Accessed June 6, 2006.
- Geschichte-Feuchtwangen.de. " Die Expansion des Ordens von Preußen nach Westen."
Accessed June 8, 2006.
- Urban, p. 116
- Christiansen, p. 151
- Westermann, p. 93
- Christiansen, p. 248
- Seward, p. 137
- Urban, p. 276
- Urban, p. 277
- Deutschordenskirche, Wien 1 - an explanatory pamphlet
(in German) of the Order available in the Deutschordenskirche, by
Franz R. Vorderwinkler, 1996, published by Kirche & Kultur
Verlag mediapress, A-4400, Steyr.
- Mówią wieki. " Biała leganda czarnego krzyża". Accessed June
6, 2006.
- Christiansen, p. 5
- Desmond Seward, Mnisi Wojny, Poznań 2005, p. 265.
References
External links
Top topics
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search
